Rantsville » newcastle brown ale

Meal Time Conversation Or Lack Thereof

Curmudgeon — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:31:12 +0000

Less than ten blocks from home is a hole in the wall family restaurant. It just happens the food is really good, portions large and service to our liking. Yep, you guessed it, we get in there frequently. So it was Saturday morning.

Shortly after we were seated a family of four got seated at a table next to us. It was hard not to notice the two boys (approximately 5 and 6 years of age) following their parents. Each boy was far to occupied with their portable game units to pay attention to anything else. Once seated the gaming continued through the ordering and until their food was place before them. Mom and dad conversed approximately as much. With food in front of them, each parent dutifully cut up pancakes and made sure the boys didn’t overflow syrup onto the table. Conversation remained sparse during their entire meal and soon as the boys finished eating their game units were once again activated.

Please don’t misunderstand me here, if I were to get started with one of those game things it would probably be all over but the shouting for some time. At the same time I look back on my childhood (OK, maybe it was so long ago that memory is seriously fogged) and wonder how mom and dad would have reacted to that sort of lack of interaction at meal time. Not acceptable comes to mind.

Then there are the pre-teens and beyond that are much too involved with texting to engage in verbal conversation with their parents. The big question is do the parents give them the cellphone so they don’t have to talk with their kids or what is the deal? Observing how little some parents and offspring communicate with each other from such early ages really frightens me.

That’s the Newcastle Brown Ale moment for tonight.

Foreign Beer – Domestic Beer

Curmudgeon — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 04:42:55 +0000

After a long day taking care of business nothing quite equals indulging in a couple of late evening beers. It’s no secret I have a taste for Newcastle Brown Ale, a British import with marvelous flavor and impressive punch IMHO. Newcastle is my drug of choice but that isn’t to say there are no domestic brews that suit my taste. A regional brewery I like supporting is Leinenkugel’s of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. They have gained some notoriety over the years and their products are widely distributed.

Last week I spied some six packs of this years yield of Leinenkugel’s 1888 Bock, a seasonal beer , dark in color, rich in flavor and unfortunately around only a short while. This year in each six pack was a pencil. Yep, a regular number 2 lead pencil with the 1888 Bock label printed in green on it. In years past their advertising claim was that when you poured it into a glass the head was so thick you could stand a pencil in it. This year they even included the pencil but made no mention why anywhere on the packaging. Of course Janice questioned what it was about which provided the opportunity to tout my diverse knowledge (yeah right). Next evening when I cracked one open Janice wanted to see the pencil stand in the foamy head. It did and she was impressed.

Knowing it is a seasonal experience I decided to latch onto a couple extra six packs today. Wouldn’t you know the neighborhood store was out and didn’t know if they would be getting more in. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll give a try at a much larger liquor store several miles further and see if I can score there.

For tonight I resigned myself to watching Fringe with a Newcastle in hand. Oh gosh, darn, woe is me and all that kind of stuff. Don’t you all feel bad for me?

Don’t answer that!