put your beer goggles on, it's time for the...

See, I knew that if I posted my PBBL on the blog, it would motivate me to actually complete them. Couple weeks ago, John & my brother Josh & I hit the road to Pottsville, PA. When I say that this town better be thankful they have Yuengling, it's not an understatement. It's pretty much out there in the mountains, with nothing else around. But Yuengling was old and charming and dirty and authentic.

My favorite part, besides the free samples were the caves, where they used to make and store the beer. They were dark, cold, wet and creepy. Just how I like em'.

And before you go thinking "Hey, I don't know why this is on the Pre-Baby Bucket List, you could probably bring a kid to this place", look below. The place looked like the set of a Scooby Doo episode. You know, Scooby Doo and the Case of the Hops Monsters or something...

No but really, kids were not really welcome here. Case in point, on our tour, the group walked up a set of stairs to gather around our guide to hear her talk about the Mashtun or Cereal Cooker. At the top of the stairs was a couple with a 2 year old, waiting to get back down the stairs. Well, our group was big, so they were standing there awhile. The tour guide asked them why they were up in this room by themselves and they said the tour was too much for the kid (really?!?!) and that they wanted to leave but they couldn't find their way out. So while they stood there waiting, they were letting the kid touch the controls on the machines and run amok. Our lovely young tour guide rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, and told them not to let the kid touch anything.

Yeah, they pretty much ignored her. So our tour guide stood there, giving them the cockiest look I'd seen in awhile and let them know that they were disrupting our tour. They couldn't get out of that room fast enough. As soon as they were down the stairs, our guide, who had been eyeing them the whole time, turns back to our group, plasters a smile on her face and continues the tour. As if she hadn't just turned into a complete bitch. It was awesome. And honestly, if I were that tour guide, I would have done the same thing. Passive aggression, it works wonders.




Schlemiel, schlimazel, hasenpfeffer incorporated!
(yeah, i googled it)

Looks delicious no? It was. It was the best Yuengling I'd tasted in my life. And I've sampled a lot.

Other trip highlights that weren't documented include:

The Penn State Schuylkill Campus Drum Corp practice that could be seen from the road. About 150 shirtless college boys. John wouldn’t let me take pictures.

The lineup of motorcycles outside the brewery that Josh wanted to push over, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure-style. First we tattoo him, then we kill him!

The realization that drivers of particular vehicles give each other a hand gesture of recognition/solidarity/whatever. Harley’s are obvious but did you know that Mazda Miata drivers have one too? I think they think they’re being cool, but in my opinion, they’re signaling to someone that they’ve grown too big for the toy car their driving and they need help getting out. Oh and I came up with one for Nissan Altima drivers. Look for me on the road to check it out.

I'll see you here next week for another installment of PBBL 2009. Thanks for visting.