Beer City

[Guido]

So yeah, I live in Beer City, USA. Yep, we have more micro-breweries around here than actually makes sense for a city our size, but you won't hear me complaining at all! Last Friday a client took me to a new brew-pub and I had some "Peanuts & Cracker Jacks", which ended up being a chocolate based brew that was quite tasty. Anyone else go for the craft beer?

[figureaddict]

Heck yea!!!

[Guido]

hmmm, so we're the only beer drinkers on the site? geez. So, do you have breweries in your area, or just cool stores to find the stuff in?

I went down to Founders Brewery and had a Centennial IPA. An excellent brew, this has long been a staple locally, and is now seeing some recognition on a bigger scale. Pretty much everything that comes out of Founders is well worth a try.

[figureaddict]

There is a new one opening soon in Casper Wyoming. Can't wait. There is a great steakhouse in Casper that keeps a lot of odd stuff in stock and there is a great liquor store that gets wierd stuff. I like trying different ones. I'm actually hopeing this winter to try experimenting making home brew. I like a good whiskey too. There is a distiller here in Wyoming that is releasing its very first batch on Dec 1st. Im on the list to get a bottle and can't wait to try it.

[Guido]

That's very cool about the distillery- that's one thing that hasn't been going on around here. It sounds like Casper is close enough to you that it's a good source for trying new stuff.

So the "Beer City" comment was not just a phrase, we actually hold the title this year for Beer City, USA. We share it with Asheville, North Carolina. They are long-time favorites/winners, and we literally came out of nowhere to tie them this year. I own a printing company, and have 4 of the local Brew Pubs as clients, and have partnered with our Convention & Visitors Bureau and print the official t-shirts commemorating the title, so we're having fun being along for the ride. Just this morning we went downtown to a place place re-opening up next monday and installed a 5'x12' logo stencil on one of the interior walls. Then, this afternoon a guy named Eric came into the shop to have me print up some labels for beer he brews in his own kitchen... he brought us a 6-pack of a Blueberry Beer to try. It's in the fridge at work, I'm a little frightened by a strangers "kitchen-brew", but everybody has to start somewhere, right? We'll probably pass a few bottles around the shop tomorrow afternoon so we can give this guy some feedback.

[figureaddict]

If I liked blueberrys that might sound good. Yes, Casper is only 23 miles from where I live. One of my high school buddies/former college roomate also ownes a printshop back in our hometown. We took a lot of graphic design classes together in college. This was early 90's though and they weren't teaching all the computer stuff that they use now. It was all old school with tin plates, rubelin, all that good stuff I liked that my dad taught me in art class.

[Guido]

That's very cool! We definitely live in a digital environment in this industry now. I do imprinting (pens, mugs, etc.) and that uses small metal plates, and we have screen-printing as well which is a whole different beast. Sounds like your Dad is an art teacher, is that right?

lol, everyone is a little scared to try the Blueberry beer, they're all envisioning a Willy Wonka experience!

[figureaddict]

Yeah, My father has been an arts instructor for 40 years and is a master potter.
I just don't like blueberrys and the thought of drinking a beer flavored with them makes my stomach turn. Now, raspberrys or blackberrys, mmmm.

[Guido]

That's an interesting berry distinction. I regularly mix the three you mentioned with some sliced strawberries and take it to work for breakfast, and don't really prefer one flavor too much over any other. Did you have a bad experience at a pie eating contest as a child or something? ;)

Tonight is the grand opening of that bar we were working in last week. We ended up doing about a dozen canvas prints for the interior decor as well as all of the logo applications on the windows and stuff. Last night was a soft open/invite thing, and ALL of the beers I tried were excellent. I'll have to visit a few more times to remember the names of the best, but they had a Belgian wheat that a had a hint of banana that was pretty good, and another really pale ale that was surprisingly mellow.

[figureaddict]

Ooo, the banana one sounds good. No I didn't have an incident with a pie eating contest. Just don't really like the taste of bluberry's. My wife and kids can't eat enough of them though.