Milestones

For over 12 years Mahar’s has been offering a party that is known as a Shebeen. He gets 10 hard to find beers, beers that he has never had at their bar, and provides a selection of food to snack on. It has always been a great get together with other beer geeks, and it doesn’t hurt my numbers at Mahar’s. This Shebeen had been postponed since June and I was a little taken a back when it was threatened to be the last one. Mahar’s has been trying to run two places, and with some trouble with the staff it has been turning out to be difficult to keep up this tradition. So I prepared for the last Shebeen, somewhat expecting a mother of a blowout.

Unfortunately, this party was a bit of an afterthought. No setup, no specialty food, not much fun. Several of the other patrons were vocal about their disappointment (not me, order my beer, sip nicely, go on with my day). The road was blocked off for a street party, the taps weren’t set up for the day, and although there was money for pizza, there wasn’t anything else. It sort of reminded me of when Spirit Café ended at POP, no leadership to say goodbye just the workers to hold the bag. Oh well, the beer selection was still good. My favorites were Duck-Rabbit Dopplebock and Dogfish Head Saison Du Buff. I was hoping to have enough of a selection to reach 10K beers, but I was disappointed. So instead I headed over Oliver’s Beverage and found La Trappe Isid’or, named after one of the founders of the only Trappist Monastery in the Netherlands. A nice beer that I’ll cellar for a while before enjoying it.

So there it is, 10000 beers. It seems like I’ve hit a milestone, but I know it is just a stepping stone to some other achievement. – 5603/10001

"It takes beer to make thirst worthwhile." – German Saying