Grateful Dead

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I've actually largely given up beer, my preferred drink being fine whisky in the winter and vodka in the summer. However, certain situations still call for beer. Living in Colorado, the beer capital of the world, one has been overwhelmed with good fortune for decades now as the beer gods have been smiling down upon our plethora of outstanding craft breweries and their tasting rooms.

I happened upon a media credential for the GABF (that's Great American Beer Festival, to the uninitiated) for the better part of ten years until 2018, which I took off, and 2019 which I attended as a civilian. We got into all the VIP events, tastings, after hours affairs, brunches and - most importantly - every session, four in all. Midway through day two, it took a little taste of the Peruvian just to keep powering through it all. Ah, those were heady times...

There are so many beers in so many styles, the world of beer has become almost overwhelming. It's like wine now, where you have food pairings. After numerous sessions of focusing on fruit beers, or medal winners only, or regional favorites, I've come to the realization that my preferred beers are Short Line Lagers.

That is, any big beer (8% or above only, please) that one can walk right up to and sample a pour. At the end of the day, those beers are as good as any. It's all subjective anyway.

Cheers!

I used to drink Micky's Big Mouth when I was 16, before I knew better. I woke up one morning and about six hours of the night before had been magically erased.. what a bad feeling. Back then.. Heineken, Becks and Bass Ale were as good as you could get where I lived. At any price. Good beer was simply not available, nor was good coffee, good weed.. well I digress.

I drink less beer now because it adds lbs too easily, still.. it is lower alcohol so it's good when I don't want to wake up with a headache. More red wine (good red wine) and unfortunately I have acquired a taste for really good tequila (extra anejo) and on rare occasions really good bourbons and every now and again good scotch. I really try to steer clear of liquor, but hey.. I'm human.

I wish I drank less.. so far this year I am doing amazing well with restraint. There are a couple alternative items which I dare not mention or they will delete my posts again that are safer, non addictive and a hell of a lot less damaging to your body and mind. Unfortunately I am often too busy to get zonked out so they are fewer and farther between. Geeze.. I am not a fan of censorship, you end up masking what you say and write.

Over and out.. have a great weekend all. Dipping my big toe back into 1977.. halfway through the June Winterland run. Man, there has been a lot of 77 released. 77 used to be my favorite year. I don't know.. 1977 is sort of like dating a supermodel.. it's great for a while but eventually you crave something that's imperfectly brilliant in it's own way, the '85 discussion is a perfect example, I might substitute '74 or '68. I have a high opinion of 1985, my opinion mirrors Angry Jack and Oroborous'.

Never drank OE800.
But have had my share of Mickey’s Big Mouths.

In 89 Schlitz (blue bull on label) came out with Red Bull (not the energy drink). Schlitz Red Bull was a higher alcohol version of the blue bull. You had to choke down about 1/3 of the bottle before the alcohol started to take effect and made you forget how bad it tasted.

But then we found Midnight Dragon, $0.99/40 oz.....
Wow, that stuff could take you places.

Something to discuss during the lull in releases.
A lot of us seem to like beer, and we are super lucky to have the huge variety of craft brews to enjoy. Funny that craft brew is only about 24% of the U.S. beer market. When I drink quality craft beer I pee out Miller Lite.

Estimated-Eyes:
Bell’s Bright White is just Winter White with a new name and label. That’s the wheat beer I drink when I can’t get Oberon.

Slowdog Noodle:
Drinking a 3 Floyd’s right now.
When I was at Fare Thee Well I was at a beer store a few blocks west of Soldier Field. An employee was on the phone with someone who asked if they had any Zombie Dust and another employee said there was some in the back. I asked if I could have a 6-pack and they said yes. I didn’t drink alcohol during the show but as soon as I got back to McCormick Place I pulled one out of the fridge and it was awesome. Drank Zombie Dust and Oberon those nights after the shows.

Sammy Smiths.
Ice cold and $5 as you exited the venue. They were awesome then, but a few years ago I bought some and they pretty much sucked compared to what we are drinking now.

Funny, I saw Jai Alai Fronton in Bolo’s message and knew it didn’t mean Happy New Years, and just figured he was being a prankster. Never clued in that it was a clue.

Beer and small venues:
Anyone remember the band Box Set in the 90’s? One of the members, Jeff Pehrson, later was a backup singer in Furthur.
I saw Box Set play at Great Basin brewing in Sparks, NV in the late 90’s.

Any Olde English 800 is an over do. Liquid seconal.

Some story.. wow. Glad it all turned out ok. Were the rental units involved in the aftermath?

Stoltzy.. ah, OE800 overdose. That could sour anyone. Honestly, I would probably be better off if the same happened to me..

Aren't we due for the official DaP 33 roll-out complete w/ seaside chat, song listing and another episode of Distracted Dave, our beloved vested crusader.

Great clip of the band at Monterey. Wonder where that's been all these years?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0FsuN6sFPP5wnyG…

🙏❤️😎 enjoy my brothers & sisters 💀🌹

Angry Jack, you are right about that Portland show. It was a gorgeous sunny day and then it snowed during the show. I remember it well because it was also my first show.

Walking around town with the gathering fleet of other dead heads made quite an impression on me at 19. It was like some stoner wonderland.

The band opened with Music Never Stopped, a song I knew from Blues for Allah, but I was such a novice that I remember wondering where the girl singer was. (Also, where was the sax?) Ha! Garcia's clear tone hit me right away, though, just delicately plucking at my limbic system.

Between sets, we moved from the floor to some seats off to the side to meet up with some other friends. My roommate decided to eat more paper. Later, when drums started, he began walking up and down the stairs, looking a little anxious.

When Space hit, he started jumping two or three rows down into some empty seats below us. Head first. Fortunately, he was a former high school gymnast and was still slender and wiry. So he somehow avoided injury. He must have done this three times before we could grab him. But we couldn't hold him long. When Day Tripper started, he took off into the portal out by the refreshment stands. He must have decided he was hot, because he started stripping off his clothes. He got down to his skivvies before the cops saw him and gave chase.

Panicked, he burst through an exit door and into the snow. A cop tackled him and held him down by his arms. ( I was right behind them. Fully clothed.) My buddy still squirmed in resistance so the cop wadded up some snow and pushed it into my friend's face. Being a naïve white suburban kid, I grabbed the cop's arm. Somehow he didn't punch me. I even managed to convince him that I could calm my buddy down and the cop eased up a bit. At this point, though, my buddy was nearly catatonic, so the cop put us both into the back of his car - gently- and drove us to the hospital.

I was worried about what was going to happen, but the ER docs put my friend in a back room and gave him Thorazine. About 30 minutes later, he was back to normal, if a little slow. Somehow, our other friends found us at the hospital and we managed to drive back to school at about 30 miles an hour through the snow.

My buddy never saw another show or ate any more paper, but he turned out quite well. About 30 years later, he managed to sell the company he founded for over 75 million and retired at 52.

I've revisited the show on you tube and while it doesn't hold up that well - the china doll was a total train wreck- Garcia does a little post china doll jam that is very interesting. And it definitely brought me back for more.

Pardon for the long post.

I haven't had a beer since 1983

a over-do with Old English 800 made beer (and alcohol in general) verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry unattractive.