Ode to the Parlour

My bar, my bar, I long for your return.
It has been too long and my mouth grows parched.
I miss your rough worn bar top,
weathered from slouching men of broken spirits.

I have searched to find another,
but none can satisfy me as you have.
Always there with a sturdy stool,
and two fingers of golden bliss.

My bar, my bar, the great times we've had.
The cold pint after a hard days work,
the numbing of the nicotine's grasp.
The satisfaction of a greasy meal settled in my stomach.

The barkeep never let me go thirsty.
You welcomed me with beer and whiskey, as if open arms.
You always did me right.
You eased my mind and calmed my spirit.

My bar, my bar, the others just don't compare.
I've been to lounges and pubs and taverns a plenty.
I've drunk with townies and hipsters and frat boys and yuppies.
I've tried them all, from the upscale to the corner dive.

I have enjoyed many adulterous libations.
I can't say I haven't had my share of fun.
The others satisfy the random urge,
but can never provide the comfort you do.

My bar, my bar, you were not perfect, but nothing is.
Your flaws were what gave you character.
You weren't the cleanest or the hippest,
you weren't the cheapest or the most well stocked.

But when I just needed a drink or an escape from the world,
when I needed a smile and laugh with friends,
you were always there for me.
You were my bar.


...I'll miss you, friend.

Water...

Saw this over at The Beer Diary, laughing my tail off.

Yuengling Bock

Ahh, Yuengling Bock. You claim your beer "lives up to the quality Yuengling drinkers have come to expect." Is that the 'nicer' version of a mass produced approximations of a style, because that's what I get from your bock. A good 12 weeks after release I got some [8-10 my ass] ($4 for 32 oz growler) and I'm just not blown away. I like bocks, but I like bocks with body and character. This is just full-flavored boring. Like regular Yuengling. And like those Eastern PA beer swilling asses who've suddenly upgraded from Sam Adams. Good for the price, but not really good.

Now, the Genesee I had earlier was great. Cold, expected to be boring, slightly corny. Like going back to your high school and finding the same creature comforts available from the same places.

And yet Genny falters the Yuengling beer is incredibly popular. Well made, well marketed, its astounding. People whine about not getting Yuengling in Chicago all the time. But they're Cubs hat wearing Chad's trying to get their Trixie girlfriends drunk. Fuck them.

Back in NYC

Well, we're back in NYC for a few days before we progress upstate. I miss New York. I was ready to leave when I did, leaving for school (my wife's mainly, not mine) but now I'm trying desperately to come back. Luckily, I'm a layabout grad student and can work from anywhere- so I is really the royal I of marriage. Remember the days when women were counted, even in the census, as part of the man? Those were bad days. We gave that rib willingly, and if we recognized that more we'd have a lot less inequality.

Anyway, this is about drinking, so lets talk about that. Last night I went out to the Blind Tiger, where I have been before. Unfortunately, I don't remember ever being there before, as I was entertaining a British colleague (back when I had a real job) and he was quite the traveler and drinker. Having 25 years and 75 pounds on me, I was drunk into submission while he chatted with my then girlfriend. Good times. A fine little bar with a history on the NYC scene, tucked neatly into the last vestiges of Bleecker Street- by the cheese shop, butcher and bread place. You could be in olde New York, if it weren't for the fact that only the butcher has been there more nothing seems to have been there more than twenty years.

Still, a good bar. I was on a quest to drink some Sixpoint beers- named after that hipster star people get tattooed on them, though once a nautical symbol, their website tells me. But no luck (I even checked Beer Menus the day before). I had a IPA from Chelsea on 'Gravity' and the Green Flash IPA. I preferred the latter, it had more malt backbone and a higher FG to balance the hops. Both good beers.

Lots of local chatter, but I couldn't start a conversation. I got up for a moment to get some free cheese and bread (from the neighbors) and some dude took my seat. Chasing him off of it might have been the manliest thing I've done at a bar since college, though all were relatively polite about it. Not polite enough to 1. Notice the half full pint at my seat, or, 2. Ask the dude next to me if it was occupied, but hey, they still let people from 'The Island' into town.

Later this week I'll post some images of the city rubbing salt in the wounds of the bankers who tried to ruin it. Also, beer menus = amazing, check it out.