Got beer?

I may be well on my way to being a confirmed drunkard. Not an alcoholic mind you, just a drunk. Alcoholics go to boring meetings and drink shitty coffee. If I go to boring meetings, I'm on the clock and getting paid while I nap.

It is an observation of mine that people tend to disparage their local brewery. Naturally there are exceptions. Yuengling being a notable one. I have yet to meet anyone from Pennsylvania who is a vocal critic of America's oldest brewery. The Genesee Brewery in my home town of Rochester NY on the other hand tends to be generally crapped on. Admittedly I engaged in a fair amount of that myself without having tried the product.

I still haven't had Genny Lite or Cream Ale because both of those hold zero interest for me. I avoid light beer like I avoid dinner at my mom's house when she's experimenting with new recipes. And Cream Ale- that just sounds like two things which should not be put together. Regular Genny and Genny Bock beer, those are good for the price if not just plain good beer. Genny costs about the same as Pabst Blue Ribbon or Budweiser and beats both- in my highly subjective opinion.

But like most things, this whole topic can be traced to Israel in less than six degrees. My friends there seem to prefer Heineken and Carlsburg to the local Goldstar and Maccabee. Now, I'll agree that Maccabee is over-hyped piss-water. But Goldstar is pretty good and cheaper than the imports. So guess what I would like a fridge stocked with next time I'm there? I hope it will still be 15 Shekels (That's about $3.00) a bottle from the vendors on the Tel Aviv Promenade.

So try your local non-microbrew beer. Unless you live in St. Louis or Golden Colorado, odds are it's better than you think.