Date:         Fri, 17 Jul 1998 09:42:53 -0100
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Subject:      Re: Beer survey (F; little VW content)
Comments: To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
In-Reply-To:  <3.0.3.32.19980716191725.00759008@mail.abccom.bc.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

We're going to the Grassroots Music Festival (Ithaca, NY) next weekend,
where we will be setting up our usual Westfalia wagon train circle of 4-5
Vanagons.  We usually have a makeshift city within our encampment, complete
with bathroom and gas grill.  This year we decided to bring a keg, and just
the other night discussed what beer we could bring that wasn't too dark for
the Budweiser drinkers among us, but still palatable for those of us who
prefer good beer.  We're going with Pete's Wicked Summer Brew.  If you're at
the festival, look for our site in the on-location vehicle camping lot, and
stop in for a beer!

Probably my favorite beer of all is John Courage Export, from England.
Alas, I think it is no longer available here in the states (although a
different John Courage beer is).  So I usually stock my keg cooler with Bass
or Pete's, and splurge for a six of Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout on my
birthday.  But for a more reasonably priced beer, you can't beat my wife's
favorite, Yuengling Lager, brewed not far from here in Pottsville, Pa.  They
claim to be America's oldest continuously-operated brewery, since the 17th
century as I recall, are still family owned, and will even give you a tour
of the brewery if you stop by.  I've seen Yuengling's lager and
black-and-tan sold as a microbrew elsewhere, but around here it's cheaper
than Budweiser and quite tasty.

A quick beer story.  There was a family-owned brewery in Philly called
Ortliebs, that closed down about a decade ago. (I think someone else is
using the name now.)  They even had a jazz club/pub adjacent to the brewery,
a forerunner of today's microbrewery/restaurants.  For years before he
closed his doors, Joe Ortleib's friends had been telling him that he needed
to market a light beer, in order to keep up with the trends.  Joe refused,
on the grounds that light beer is merely watered down beer.  Well, Ortlieb's
final product offering, just before they shut their doors, was Joe Ortlieb's
Do-It-Yourself Light Beer. It was a six pack containing five bottles of beer
and one bottle of water.

- Ron Salmon
 The Bus Depot
 http://www.busdepot.com
 (215) 234-VWVW