Beers and Cigars....and a Happy New Year!

Finding things to write about this time of year is pretty challenging, finding things worthwhile to write about is almost impossible...especially after 3 1/2 years of 250 or so posts per year.  Politics these days sucks{the opposite sides will never agree on anything, I am firmly convinced that the days of right, left, Christians, and "others" are never in our lifetimes coming together, until the final days are at hand..The Clintons, Obama, and the PC Crowd within the Education and Media have seen to that}.  Sports, especially college and professional, have become a joke, run by greed, played by criminals and steroid freaks, and the cheerleaders in big media...it is a sad reminder of the 1950s and 60s, when kids could actually look up to these guys...now we get Michael Vick and his ilk.  Basically guys that would be in prison if not for their athletic prowess, but instead are held up as examples of men who have cleaned up their lives...laughable to say the least.

A couple of things are constant...we grow older, and as we do, some of us have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future....I kind of sit on the fence.  In some ways I prefer to stick by the way I have always thought and acted, in others I move grudgingly forward.  Here are a couple of examples, just for shits and giggles:

Beer_____

I have enjoyed the taste and to a lesser extent the effects of Beer since I was 18 years old....that was the drinking age in Ohio back in 1967, and I wasn't one of those that tried it early.  That just wasn't in me.  

I started out being a fan of Pabst Blue Ribbon, then Strohs.  In my Air Force and College days I drank whatever was cheap and available...so I enjoyed/tried to enjoy plenty of rot gut stuff, from Falstaff to Schlitz, and even an occasional Carling Black Label....Nasty Stuff to say the least!  As I aged my taste really didn't get much more refined, and I settled on Miller Lite...you know "Great Taste, Less Filling"?  And it is still my favorite hot weather brew.  However, during the winter months, and fall, to a lesser extent, I have come to enjoy the darker beers and ale that is somewhat more expensive, and which tastes much different than your average American Beer.

Guinness Extra Stout is my favorite cold weather beer, but there are a dozen or more that I enjoy....bottle beer only these days, I can hardly stand the taste of 'canned' brews.  From some of the Sam Adams seasonals to Blue Moon Abby Ale and Harvest Moon, to Imperial Stout, and other hearty dark beers....I enjoy most, one thing about these seasonal and dark beers, they may be more expensive, but you don't drink as much, because of the texture and alcohol content, so price is pretty much a wash.

Garry and I have had a two year bet....that bet started last year was that the Ohio State QB would or would not finish in the top 5 passes(yardage wise) in a single Buckeye season throughout their history...I bet the "would not" side, and in 2009 won a case of beer...Garry won this season, and I am in the process of sounding him out for something he wants to drink.  I picked up a 12 pack of Blue Moon Winter Samplers so far, and he pointed me towards a Pale Ale from Sierra Nevada...add those to another 6 pack of 'something' and our bets will be completed on this....especially since OSU Quarterback Terrelle Pryor is sitting for about half the season next year, if he chooses to come back at all.  So the bet next year will have to be something different.

Garry also makes his own home brew, and told me that he is "brewing" this afternoon and to stop by...with no games, I will probably do just that, and drag along a couple of good quality cigars.

Cigars____

I never was addicted to cigarettes...never like the smell or taste, so back when almost everybody was lighting up, I didn't, and I thank God I never got into the tobacco habit, at least not that kind of tobacco laced with way too many poisons....

Cigars, on the other hand, I enjoyed no occasion.  I would buy a cheap 5-pack when I was stationed at Tan Son Nhut working the graveyard shift.  Sitting in those towers, or driving a relief Jeep during the 10 hour overnight shift, was not conducive to staying alert and awake...so on occasion I would fire up a Phillie or White Owl, to help me stay alert and awake...didn't inhale them, so really didn't see them as a problem.

About 15 years ago, I started reading up on Hand Rolled Cigars, which at that time were undergoing a "boom" among the yuppie crowd.  No stinking yuppie was I, but I did like the taste and smell of the moderate and mild tasting hand rolled types.  I still don't inhale, don't like the after smell on my clothes and body, but I do enjoy the taste of a good cigar.  I might smoke 40 to 50 per year, mostly in the summer months, always out of doors and usually when the temperature is above 70 degrees.  New Years Day will be an exception, when I head over to Rick's for our annual year opening get together.  Cold or not(rain and 45 is predicted), we will doubtless fire a couple up.

Cigars can be quite expensive, and my all time favorite is a Arturo Fuente Don Carlos #2 Torpedo...but at $13 per smoke and $325 per box of 25(more or less depending on where you make a purchase)..I shy away from those, unless somebody else lays one on me.  I've probably had 5 in my life.  I usually go online to Cigar International and pick out a mild Torpedo at around a buck a stick.  Not as good, but one heck of a lot easier on my limited Cigar Budget...on occasion they have a special on Indian Tabac in the Robusto or Torpedo size for around 2 bucks, and I grab a box of those.  So my cigar purchases per year are usually about that of a tankful or two of gas....but if someone wants to send me a box of Don Carlos #2 to sample...I am open to that suggestion...otherwise I'll stick to the off brands or an occasional box of Tabacs.

The New Year is almost upon us___

I'm not sure exactly what 2011 has in store for me or anybody...but it will see me qualify for Social Security come March, and our youngest son Hal get married in February...the rest of what comes is a mystery that will be solved between now and this time in December 2011.

Tomorrow has me scheduled for 3 basketball games.  In the morning, a junior high double header at Russia for their boys Holiday Tournament...then in the evening it is off to my birthplace of Van Wert for a girls JV contest...that will end my 2010 basketball schedule, I will start the 2011 season off on January 4th.

May take tomorrow off, due to the game schedule, but will be back on Friday for a year ending post.

back later>>>>

Beers and Cigars:

Blue Moon's Winter Abbey Ale...pouring a Guinness Extra Stout...Pale Ale from Sierra Nevada.  Cigar International is where I purchase my smokes from usually...the tasty, but expensive Don Carlos #2 torpedoes from Fuente, and my lesser priced smoke of choice...the Indian Tabac brands from Rocky Patel.