Yay Beer!

Damn, recycling is tough in Cali... even the skunk beer goes to the Reg recycling center!
uke:

But that is my favorite brand, "free"

 

I had the pleasure of touring Sapporo Breweries in 1989 during a trip to Ishikari. The beer was damned fine. Sapporo Draught has been one of my favourites ever since. But it is now brewed here in Canada under license by Sleemans. It is still good, but not the same as it used to be. It is a toss up between that and Heineken which is easier to get here in Dairy Cow stink Chilliwack.:bs:

But Okanagan Beer ! Good God man!

I drove beer truck for a bit years ago too. 10 Ton truck full. 10 skids, 160 dozen to a skid. One time a light turned yellow and I was all ready to keep on truck'n when some little friggin Pinto in front of me hit the brakes. Stood on the air brakes of my truck and the back end of the truck bounced up and down feverously.

When I got to the warehouse and opened the back doors, beer foam just pured out of the truck. 10 Skids, times 160 dozen each, = 1,600 dozen beer, most of which were no longer marketable. They dump that stuff down the drain.:faint2:

Easy Reg. You'll be OK in a minute. Looking at your avatar, I think you saw this happen to me and someone snapped you pic !

As a matter of fact I just had three Sapporo's this afternoon. I am only supposed to have two but I won't tell.

 

It was a strange trip to visit Ishikari, wasn't it? Why did you go there? I think there
are not much to show to 'gaijin'.

I started riding bike when I was 13 years old. Around Ishikari River was one of my
favorite destinations. There are so many small lakes along the river and after a heavy
rain many narrow streets around those lakes were often flooded. I did not have any
licences yet, however, I rode to there and spend the whole day. The bike I rode was like this.
Honda CS92 - CycleChaos

When I was delivering Sapporo beer, we did not use any skids, and we had to
load & unload on our backs. The most of beers in Japan are sold in wine size bottles
as you must have known. Those bottles are kept in plastic milk box like things. 24 bottles
in one box and they weigh about 25kg. We had to carry three to four boxes at a time.
The most of Japanese stores are tiny and not made for folklifts nor even for carts,
so we had to carry them on our backs using a padding (no frame) between boxes and our bodys.
I think Japan had managed to keep those things very primitive. I was very surprised when I came to Canada
first time and saw many diffirent kinds of specialized vehicles. You still don't see American type tow
trucks nor dumpstar garbage trucks over there.

 

One of my postings was Campbell River.(9years) We had a Sister City relationship with Ishikari. I hosted an exchange student for three months. He is now in Manhattan. He is now the Senior Manager, Sales and Product Control for Itoen Tea in North America so he is doing OK for himself. I still keep in touch, and have seen him a couple times since he came back over here.

I went over to Japan as one of six chaperons for 30 students. I stayed with Mashashi and his parents. The only one who spoke English was Masashi who was off with the other students most the time. SO I was left alone with my hosts. It was an experience I do not care to ever forget. I really enjoyed the hospitality shown me over there and would like to go back again.

We could certainly learn a lot form their hospitality.

So to make a very long story short, and to put it back into the theme of this forum, This was my introductins to probably my favourite beer, Sapporo Draught.

 

Did you go with high school kids?
I realized I haven't been to Ishikari for probably 22 years. Thogh Ishikari is only about 20~25km away from my parent's house I haven't had any chance going back there. When I was young there was a small and free ferry service to cross the river . Is there a bridge now? The other side of river was very isolated and I used to enjoy very quiet and scenic rides. I cannot image there have been any big developments over there, so if you have a chance to go back, you should borrow someone's bike and ride around. Borrowing proper bikes could be not easy, but many people have small bikes which haven't been ridden often.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOfaJQCg2LY

Oh, no they buit a bridge. There used to be hardly any road signs nor guard rails.
I could see some trafic and buildings along the highway. The place used to be called as "an isolated island on land". Because the highway was heading to the dead end town with no industry.

I can see Randy riding on motorcycle.

 

My dad was the a Sales Rep for the same brewery I worked at. I can recall him talking about a product complaint he handled. He went to the home with the customary 12 pack and talked to the customer about the complaint. They said that they don't drink beer themselves (bastards), but that the kept some on hand for guests. They gave a beer to their son who complained that the beer burned his mouth.

Dad looked at the bottle and without digging any further into this told the customer that the label on the bottle was 10 years old. Think maybe it was a little skunkie?

I can also remember a time when I was scrubbing tanks there. Usually drained the tailings down the sewer. Depending on the tank, it could have yeast sediment on the bottom which af course is a sandy yellow colour.

Anyway this tank the beer ran out onto the floor as usual. Then the yeast ran out and it was black Well holly S%&T Man ! :jaw: I just about filled my pants. I looked at the message board on this particular tank and I was the last one to clean it. So Here I am about to scrub a 45,000 gallon tank which the yeast had turned black. F&*K. I had ruined 45,000 gallons of beer.


I stewed about this for about 2 hours. I finally went to the bottle shop foreman and told him. He went up one side of me and down the other. I walked around for another two hours thinking I was going to loose my job. 45.000 gallons is a lot of beer. Don't know how many cases but do the math. 12 oz. to a bottle into 45,000 gallons.

Finally the boss told me that the tank contained the Old Stock Malt Liquor beer. They use a black yeast in Old Stock. Could have shot the bastard. Instead I drank a few extra beers at coffee time. This plant had coolers full of beer for the workers at that time. :drinker::drinker::drinker::drinker:Gotta love that guys.

 

Story too long and off topic. PM coming your way

 

MMMMMMMMMM, Old stock,
Now THAT takes me back to my high school days!!!uke:

 

First time I ever got drunk was on Old Stock. I was 15. Mom and dad were on their house hunting trip on a move from Brandon to Winnipeg. We had a transfer party at home. Next time drunk on that stuff was two years later on the May long week-end at Clear Lake. Drank a just shy of a dozen in about 2 hours. :drinker::drinker:uke:

Couldn't stomach beer for a few years after that. Was 19 before I could drink the stuff again. Had to work in the brewery (Redwood and Main) for a year first but sure glad I got over it a very cold beer is just a fine beverage to quench the thirst. Especiall if you can latch onto a Standard Lager

 

I was once out camping with the gang at Falcon lake on a long weekend in 198? and sent the G.F. out for a case of BUD...
She came back with a case of STANDARD!!!!!
She thought it wad BUD, she said it looked the same...
I HAD to turf the poor girl after that.
I still remenber wasting a pair of Metallica tix because we were too drunk to make it back to town.
Gotta love those blurred F'd up years!!!

 

Years ago, Drewery's. Then Carlings, then Carling-O'Keefe had an injunction against Anhauser Busch over that label. Back then they could not sell Buweiser in Manitoba.

 

Had me a Stoudt's Fat Dog Imperial Oat Stout last weekend at The Quarry Tavern in Silver Spring MD. It shot into my top 10 right after the first bottle.

 

Stout. Isn't that the by-product of cleaning tar with cheap bourbon? LOL

 

yup. the cleaning tar is what gives it character. :wink:

 

It has nothing to do with beer but I spent the last 5 hours tasting wine in Napa. My bank account is $250 lighter & I am quite sloshed at the moment.

arty:

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

KC,

See Dean Martin forum. You might even see two right now.

 

In the last 3 days, I visited the following winery's:

Mario Andretti
V Sattui
Beringer
Robert Mondavia
Turning Bull
Van Der Hayden
Heitz
Whitehall Lane
Black Stallion
Beaulieu
Franciscan
Mumm
Alpha Omega
Trefethen

Napa get's :thumb: :thumb: from me.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

super. start a wine thread then. This one's all about the beer, babe.

 

Don't open your HaterAide just yet.

I had a Widmer Hefeweizen at dinner last night. It is not as good as German beers.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2: