They're beginning to call it "Black Wednesday," the biggest drinking night of the year, Thanksgiving Eve. The kids are home from college, the adults have four days off work.
I've been celebrating it with my father for at least fifteen years, since I moved back to town in 1992. Back then, we had to get to the honky tonk by 3:30 if we wanted a table. The place isn't quite as crowded these days, but to be safe, we get there by 4:30. For the following five hours, an assortment of friends and family come through for drinks and food. It's one of the most pleasant evenings of the year. And with a little luck and moderation, it won't be followed by one of the nastiest mornings of the year.
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Best-named blog I've ran across lately: The Thirsty Gargoyle. I can't vouch for its content, but it looked decent.
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These guys need a Black Wednesday: Beer sales in English pubs have slumped to their lowest level since the 1930s, brewery representatives have said. Of course, they don't have Thanksgiving Day over there, though I've always liked Chesterton's comment that they should: Just as America is thankful the Puritans came to America, England is thankful they left. (Puritans were a rather difficult lot, our Rockwell vision of them notwithstanding, and it's no coincidence that their intellectual descendants today are secularist East Coast elitists who are quite demanding in their vision of how things ought to be.)
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Looking to plunge into the microbrew market but not sure what to buy? I have some suggestions, but here's a top ten list of microbrews by velocity (sales per outlet) for the twelve weeks ended November 10:
1. Punk'n Harvest Pumpkin Ale
2. New Glarus Brewing Company assortment
3. Great Lakes Christmas Ale
4. Capital Garten Brau
5. Tuckerman Headwall Brown Ale
6. Summer Solstice Ale (Anderson Valley Brewing Company)
7. Abita Harvest Strawberry Lager
8. Squatters Stout
9. Great Lakes Conway Irish Ale
10. Acme California Pale Ale
Needless to say, the time of year has slanted the results a bit.
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Beer picture of the week. I call it, "Simply Thankful":
