Latest / Family Tree Food Stories / Fascinating History of Bars and Pubs: From Ancient Taverns to Modern Social Hangouts
Transcript
- 0:09Hey everybody, it's Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely from Family Tree Food and Stories
- 0:14we're digging into, well actually maybe we're not digging into, we're raising
- 0:18a glass in this episode to some of our favorite roots and traditions.
- 0:23One bite and well, in this case, one sip at a time.
- 0:27Hey.
- 0:27Yeah, we're drinking our way into this right we're gonna
- 0:32talk about bars and beer.
- 0:33Now I'm a wine kind of girl, but, I'm loving this beer thing because
- 0:38we all wanna raise a pint, right?
- 0:39it's like a catch a kind of thing, you know?
- 0:41It's the Irish in me.
- 0:43And, all the, slang words around beer is fun, but, beer kind of goes
- 0:48together with bars, Better than peanut butter and jelly and, salsa and chips.
- 0:52Pretzels and mustard, if you like, those big soft ones, Fred
- 0:57and Barney from the Flintstone.
- 0:58So my gosh, I don't know if the kids are watching those things today or not, but
- 1:02there's something really just comfortable and cozy about sitting in a dark,
- 1:07comfortable, not too fancy local bar that.
- 1:10Brings you back to feeling kind of homey.
- 1:12I don't know what it was, bars at home, who knows?
- 1:15But it certainly reminds me of college for sure.
- 1:17Well, actually I will make one statement about Fred and
- 1:20Barney from the Flintstones.
- 1:21my children and my grandchildren actually do watch these shows.
- 1:25It's amazing because you can reach back in music and in shows
- 1:29and in food and you can bring old kinds of things back into the news.
- 1:33So, but we'll talk more about that later.
- 1:35But, before we even had fancy, bars or any even bars at all, people made their.
- 1:40Own, They were able to share stories and laughter and I don't know, there
- 1:43just something about the spirit, you know, that's what we call it.
- 1:47Kinda those tales they tell, and including me and you and everybody are little
- 1:53taller than maybe reality might reflect.
- 1:56Right?
- 1:56it depends on how deep that pint is.
- 1:59But I have a quick story 'cause Bob made beer.
- 2:01Hmm.
- 2:02My mom got Bob into making beer because one year at Christmas time,
- 2:07she was trying to find some sort of gift for him, and she found one of
- 2:09these Mr. Beer kits, which is tiny.
- 2:12And so we made them and it was pretty good.
- 2:15And he says, well, I'll just get refills.
- 2:16Well, you can't do a refill for Mr. Beer, all the stuff that's
- 2:19in it because it's, so tiny.
- 2:21So it took us to the local beer making shop, which then turned into
- 2:25the court, to the gallon, to the car, to the, the beer overflowed.
- 2:30then we ended up in wine.
- 2:31But, it was really pretty good.
- 2:33And we had fun names for the beer because.
- 2:35We named them after our dogs, our poodles.
- 2:37So, but that's, that's a side story.
- 2:39Beer, it's a very family business and is a very family thing,
- 2:42especially when you're making it yourself and sharing with friends.
- 2:46And you know, probably the iconic image that we all have in mind talking about
- 2:50old shows, like, uh, the Flintstones and things like the old show, cheers.
- 2:55And remember the byline where everybody knows your name or in some
- 2:59cases, like when I'm traveling it's because nobody knows my name and I
- 3:03go to a bar so I can be anonymous.
- 3:06But it was an iconic show.
- 3:08It lasted 11 seasons.
- 3:09I think
- 3:10Yeah.
- 3:1011 seasons and I've been in the Cheers bar.
- 3:13Boston.
- 3:14it's a very famous place that people always seem to wanna go to
- 3:17when there're a tourist in Boston.
- 3:18It's on the corner of Beacon Street, a in Beacon Hill area, which is the capital
- 3:22region, 84 Beacon Street, and you go down and it's, it's kind of dark and cozy.
- 3:27It's not big at, all.
- 3:28But, Yeah, it's kind of interesting.
- 3:30There's a bit of trivia about that beer in that bar.
- 3:33Well, the bar, not the beer, but on March 10th in 2009, the Boston
- 3:38Globe reported that the longtime cheers bartender Eddie Doyle, with
- 3:42a 35 year tenure, was laid off.
- 3:45Can you imagine laying off your favorite bartender that's like, I don't know,
- 3:49losing your best friend, but the owner at the time, Tom Kershaw cited the recession
- 3:55and well, you know, come, gimme a break.
- 3:57People are still drinking during the recession.
- 4:00However, the block that the Cheers is on that corner there, they've actually
- 4:05named it the Eddie Doyle scare.
- 4:08Not the Eddie Doy scare, but the Eddie Doyle Square in his honor.
- 4:12I think that's kind of a cop out in letting the guy go, right?
- 4:16as a restaurant owner, your bartender is so key and I can't imagine you
- 4:20wouldn't let something else go because it's about a bartender getting to know
- 4:25their regulars, knowing your drink when you walk in the door, oh, so Sylvia,
- 4:30you're gonna have a chardonnay tonight?
- 4:31And I always mix it up.
- 4:32'cause sometimes I don't.
- 4:33But they always know and they always ask.
- 4:36So I mean, that's one of the hottest employees.
- 4:37Employees To find
- 4:40After 35 years.
- 4:42I mean, that's like ludicrous.
- 4:43Why would you do that?
- 4:45Uh, I had to be a venture capitalist.
- 4:46That's all I said.
- 4:47Somebody who's just thinking about money and not about, well, you gotta think
- 4:50about money if you're owning a restaurant.
- 4:52'cause it's pretty tough.
- 4:53But still, that bartenders bringing 'em in.
- 4:55Yeah.
- 4:56but, you know, that brings to mind other places.
- 4:58And one of my favorite stories that my son, while I was in Duluth, it
- 5:02plays such a role in my life, right?
- 5:05He told me about the Come on in.
- 5:07That's K-O-M-O-N.
- 5:11And it is a bar that at one time it started in 19, well,
- 5:151933 ended prohibition.
- 5:17Right after that, the Come On Inn was founded and it's been an operation,
- 5:21so many old traditions in Duluth, but it was so neat to hear about it
- 5:26'cause I researched it then and a sign painter had painted murals on
- 5:30the Come On Inn Walls that depicted.
- 5:33Early crowds that would come particularly in the fifties when the
- 5:37industries, the manufacturing industries, were at their heights.
- 5:40the workers would come in, they'd get paid, they'd come in and They'd
- 5:43drink their pints, and they would share their stories with other people.
- 5:46And these murals depicted the history.
- 5:48Talk about heritage.
- 5:50Nancy's, what we're into.
- 5:51Depicted the heritage of Duluth, Minnesota, and those workers
- 5:55who are no longer there, those factory sites are no longer there.
- 5:59And, I just love that.
- 6:00I, I, the next time I go, I'm gonna go to the, come on in, let's do a field trip.
- 6:05You know, it's funny 'cause come on, it sounds like a southern
- 6:07thing, a pun on something.
- 6:09And my sister, when I went to visit her in Oklahoma, I was giving a speech out
- 6:13there in Tulsa area at one point and I'm driving out to see her and, we were
- 6:17out one day driving around I see the gas stations that's called the Come & Go,
- 6:22sorry.
- 6:23shut your mouth, Nancy.
- 6:24Don't say that.
- 6:25But anyway, speaking back to bars, there's nothing that Bob and I
- 6:30probably enjoy more when we're out on vacation or just driving or anywhere
- 6:34for, overnight someplace is instead of sitting and eating in a restaurant.
- 6:38We prefer to sit at the bar because the foods is usually the same anyway.
- 6:43But there's something about getting to know the local color and the
- 6:46local flavor, and we have learned so much and actually been accepted
- 6:50as local locals in some cases.
- 6:53And every Thanksgiving we would go.
- 6:54For years we went up to Marblehead, Massachusetts.
- 6:57And spent the weekend up there during the Thanksgiving weekend
- 6:59and one year, this Pubby restaurant that we liked was, well, all the
- 7:04restaurants are closed on Thanksgiving.
- 7:05Right.
- 7:05And well, especially in Massachusetts, even after hours because the blue laws.
- 7:10But this one opened up and.
- 7:12They had no food because the chefs were off that night, but they ordered
- 7:16sandwiches from , the subway sandwich and they had them there and just
- 7:20one bartender and maybe probably about 10 or 15 people came in.
- 7:24But getting to know some of the local guy, I learned a lot about the
- 7:27restaurant business just sitting there that night, which we talked about.
- 7:30And it was quite interesting to hear how the stories have followed
- 7:34the bar industry and the restaurant industry across the country, and
- 7:37that's what we learned that night.
- 7:39I'm listening to the far end and finally I, like I said, Bob I gotta
- 7:42get up and talk to those guys.
- 7:43And he said, no, you can't talk to them.
- 7:45I get up and I walked in.
- 7:46They were fabulous.
- 7:47They opened up.
- 7:48I said, well, this is what we've learned.
- 7:49So it was pretty cool.
- 7:50Bernie and I do the same thing.
- 7:52We sit at the bar, people tease us about our chairs at the bar of our restaurant.
- 7:56But, and this is a quick story and this one is a, has a bit of a serious
- 8:00tone to it, but it just shows you how people open up at bars because I'm
- 8:04credited with this person's breakthrough.
- 8:06He had suffered a real tragedy in war and he couldn't write about it.
- 8:10And I teach storytelling.
- 8:11And we started talking one night and he had this moment of clarity.
- 8:16Now he's been through several years of therapy, so I won't claim to, to do that,
- 8:20to have brought him, through therapy.
- 8:22But he's now in my writing classes and I meet with him regularly about
- 8:26the breakthrough he had that night and he's now writing regularly and he has
- 8:30such a story to tell, but I don't know.
- 8:32It's just something about, and then you've got the bartender there.
- 8:35That's why I like to do it in strange cities.
- 8:37I can get to know the young people, usually although some of them are long
- 8:40tenured, like Eddie at Cheers, 35 years.
- 8:43But many of them are young and they're trying to make it, and
- 8:46they're trying to go to college.
- 8:47They're trying to do all kinds of things and they're working part-time.
- 8:49I love to get to know those young people.
- 8:51I'd love to take a trip just to do it.
- 8:53Yeah, the two famous bars and restaurant, well, the bar slash restaurant in
- 8:57Westport, Connecticut, where, I spent a lot of, time was the ship's
- 9:01restaurant when that was closed.
- 9:02Oh God.
- 9:03, that's where you went if you were newbie to go to meet people and just sort of
- 9:06hang out in the, with the local color is and the black duck, which has been
- 9:10featured on diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
- 9:13And as soon as that happened.
- 9:14There were lines out the street, you know, to the street, to the train
- 9:18station, which is around the corner to that place, but the duck, yeah.
- 9:21You had to be careful when you went into ladies and make sure you didn't fall
- 9:23through because it was an old barge.
- 9:26You end up in the Saugatuck River, but where are a lot of actually different ways
- 9:30of, describing bars and, pubs these days,
- 9:33Oh yeah, there are pubs, saloons, taverns, and each of them kind of
- 9:36brings to mind something different.
- 9:38like, what's a tavern?
- 9:39You think about lodging and that kind of thing.
- 9:41and then you have Miss Kitty from gun smoke.
- 9:44And that was a saloon.
- 9:45The old west, the swinging doors and many of them were really beautiful
- 9:49and ornate with the swinging doors and the wood bar and all that kinda stuff.
- 9:53Probably not so much as Miss Kitty and Matt Dylan and Gun Smoke.
- 9:57many people are too young.
- 9:59But it is actually on it's syndicated now.
- 10:01Gun smoke is syndicated.
- 10:02You can watch gun smoke.
- 10:04Turner Broadcast Network probably.
- 10:06Yeah.
- 10:07So if you haven't seen Ms. Kitty in Guns Smoke, go take a look.
- 10:10But, up in Massachusetts, where we moved from Long Island to Massachusetts, when
- 10:14I was a kid in high school, The Old Inn.
- 10:17Mattapoisette Inn had this pubby kind of bar.
- 10:20Really?
- 10:20They had a restaurant, but it really wasn't a restaurant.
- 10:22You went to the bar there and on Friday and Saturday nights, it was dark, it was
- 10:27wood, it was cozy, it was people wearing fisherman's sweaters kind of thing.
- 10:32it's Massachusetts, new England.
- 10:34It's old tradition and.
- 10:36Beer, as I remember was predominantly was the drink of the day, but they
- 10:40would sing old Irish, Irish sea shanties say that three times fast.
- 10:45you can imagine like whatever they are, you know, I can't even do that.
- 10:49I'm not even gonna try to make a noise that sounds like a Shandy.
- 10:52But the fiddles and it was just great.
- 10:55It was a good place just to hang out.
- 10:57and get to know people and, meet with friends and just to have a
- 11:01glass and chill out and then go home.
- 11:03It was fine, but Mattapoisette Inn Massachusetts.
- 11:06Yeah,
- 11:06Have you ever thought how tavern kind of I, something about the word tavern?
- 11:10I love going to Boston.
- 11:12You, I don't go very often, but when I do, there's just this
- 11:14old worldly kind of feel for it,
- 11:17everything's old in Boston.
- 11:18And I think of taverns, where you could find lodging in the old days and
- 11:21have a pint and then go to your room.
- 11:23You didn't have to drive home, you didn't have to worry about that.
- 11:25But let's see here.
- 11:26Now Samuel Coles Inn was founded in 1634.
- 11:31but before that, Samuel was a Puritan who supplied liquor to.
- 11:35His fellow, I guess, Puritans,
- 11:38Oh
- 11:38What a, what a hypocrite he was.
- 11:41but there is the longest running tavern,
- 11:44I'm gonna stop you right there.
- 11:45Wait a second, but let's keep people guessing.
- 11:47I'm gonna guess what is the oldest or longest established
- 11:52and running working tavern
- 11:54Let's have fun.
- 11:55Yeah.
- 11:55Hey.
- 11:56So we'll be right back.
- 11:59So Sylvia, we're talking about everything old taverns, bars, pubs,
- 12:03and I guess you don't want an old beer, but we left everyone asking the
- 12:06question, what is the oldest tavern?
- 12:10Country.
- 12:11That is still serving.
- 12:12Yeah.
- 12:12Yeah.
- 12:13So what is it?
- 12:13Oh, are we gonna reveal it now?
- 12:16It is the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island.
- 12:20and it's, the 10th oldest in the world.
- 12:23let me just ask you this.
- 12:24Where do you think the oldest continuous bar in the world is?
- 12:28I'm gonna say it's somewhere in the uk.
- 12:30Oh, you're close.
- 12:31Ireland, of course.
- 12:33Ireland.
- 12:34It's called Sean's Bar.
- 12:36SEAN.
- 12:37Sean's bar and the picture of it.
- 12:39is so cool.
- 12:41It just looks like it's 1100 years old,
- 12:44have to put a, picture in the show notes at the bar.
- 12:47Ireland is where it
- 12:48Alon Ireland.
- 12:49Oh, I had a a stuffed toy rabbit called Loney So I'll think of, every time I
- 12:54think of Loney, I'll think of a Aloney Ireland instead that's pretty funny.
- 12:59An acquaintance of mine, has an Irish accent and he said there is
- 13:03nowhere he goes, that he doesn't get a drink bought for him.
- 13:07When he says, says he's Irish, the Irish were masters at, drinking a pint
- 13:11and making up and maybe a little bit of truth to their stories, but they
- 13:15are the founders of stories, the myths, the legends, all of those things.
- 13:20It's so neat.
- 13:21Ireland, I love that.
- 13:22So he's got a real Irish pro then a real strong thick accent.
- 13:26Yeah, I bet his magically delicious craft is pulling a pint outta someone for free.
- 13:33I'm Irish.
- 13:34Maybe I should fake it, you know?
- 13:36yeah.
- 13:36Sucking on the suds is what you would call, say, well,
- 13:39that sounds actually perverted.
- 13:40I probably shouldn't say that, but maybe it is a family show.
- 13:43So I have a question for you.
- 13:44You said that a tavern is a place that you could stay overnight.
- 13:48is that the difference between a tavern and a pub
- 13:50there's not a lot of difference from what I can tell, but, taverns
- 13:54usually meant you had like a bed.
- 13:57Uh, , they weren't fancy.
- 13:59I remember reading about John Adams and some of the early American leaders.
- 14:02They would share rooms.
- 14:03, It was very common.
- 14:05You only got a bed and then you'd go to the tavern, and now it's
- 14:09not so much, but I just say.
- 14:11My mind if I see something called a tavern, I'm like, oh, I wanna go there.
- 14:16It's just something that brings back the idea of tradition and old.
- 14:20pub is sort of more where I think of cozy, Tavern, I
- 14:23think of, I guess New England.
- 14:25Not any place else, but that's not necessarily true.
- 14:27It's just a matter of what they offered.
- 14:29Hmm.
- 14:30Interesting.
- 14:31But, bar feels kind of cold.
- 14:32I don't like the name.
- 14:33, It's a bar.
- 14:34, It's where this symely kind of people go.
- 14:36Not not the cool folks, but I get it.
- 14:39a bar, we all know, whether hanging out at the bar, you're sitting at the bar.
- 14:41But if somebody calls or establishment a bar, it doesn't have the same
- 14:46feeling as coziness, I guess.
- 14:47Yeah, and bringing in the idea of family.
- 14:50I always think of pubs being places where you can bring the
- 14:54family and everybody sits around.
- 14:56I can just see jolly people remember in Titanic where they wanted to spend
- 15:00their time was in the, lowest level
- 15:02Mm-hmm.
- 15:03help hung
- 15:04out and.
- 15:05Yeah, it was, it was very fun and it was very stodgy up, on top,
- 15:09where the rich people hung out.
- 15:11But, in northern Kentucky, there was a very powerful senator and there
- 15:14was an attempt to say in, in law that you couldn't bring anybody under the
- 15:19age of 18, say, I don't know if that was specifically it, into a bar.
- 15:23And he was able to defeat that because Northern Kentucky
- 15:27consists of small German.
- 15:29Enclaves.
- 15:30that was settled by the German families and pubs were where you
- 15:34went to raise a pint, to cheer on the family, to cheer on anything.
- 15:38and I think that is one of the reasons we have such a different laws now across
- 15:42the country about children drinking
- 15:44I remember growing up and, and we were not allowed as kids to go into the bar area in
- 15:49restaurants unless you were a certain age.
- 15:51So if you're young, you couldn't go and cross into that particular.
- 15:55Reason.
- 15:56So that, that's kind of interesting.
- 15:57But pubs do remind me, of family because it's pub food, right?
- 16:01It's cozy.
- 16:01You bring the kids, they have the burgers, you have the fries, you have the steak
- 16:06fries, it's not, it's not fancy food.
- 16:08It's.
- 16:08It's comfort food is pub food, I would say.
- 16:11And, and so pubs and families, I get that.
- 16:14there's sort of a core nostalgia to what goes on.
- 16:16And beer of course plays a starring role in much of it.
- 16:20I Why would you go and drink anything else other than a beer at, at a pub?
- 16:24Do you
- 16:25on.
- 16:25do you.
- 16:26I do.
- 16:27And there's nothing that I, and well I'll go back to my early days in college.
- 16:32I was not, first of all be pre-college.
- 16:35I was not a drinker, did not drink, didn't have a drink, was nothing.
- 16:38And my first week at school, I helped one of the seniors, a, a
- 16:42girl, bring all Her luggage and whatnot, up four flights of stairs.
- 16:46She said, you do that?
- 16:47I said, sure, I've got nothing better to do, you know, from four flights of stairs.
- 16:50I got some exercise.
- 16:51And she says, well, let me buy you a beer at the pub.
- 16:53We had a pub in the basement of the, of the building at school, and I
- 16:57thought, am I allowed to do that?
- 16:59Of course, I was allowed to do that.
- 17:00She wouldn't be inviting me otherwise, and.
- 17:03They served beer in solo cups.
- 17:05They were clear solo cups, not red solo cups.
- 17:07And I had half a beer and I thought I was drunk, but that was, I remember exactly
- 17:13where it was when I had my first adult beer at college again, it was a way for
- 17:19me and her to introduce me to others.
- 17:22It was social, it was gathering, it was the connection.
- 17:24A welcoming place.
- 17:26So kind of like, cheers.
- 17:28Yeah, well.
- 17:29My underage drinking story, I went to Morehead State University and had never
- 17:33had a drink in my life, and somebody invited me to a party they had punch Uhoh,
- 17:39someone gave me a glass of the punch, and only memory I have of that night
- 17:43is I'm pictured holding a giant frog.
- 17:47I have no idea where it came from.
- 17:48I have no idea where it went.
- 17:50the good news is I had someone who was looking after me and got me somehow home.
- 17:55Punch.
- 17:55That is a
- 17:56funny.
- 17:56drink.
- 17:57Punch.
- 17:57Yes.
- 17:58Yes.
- 17:59But so back to beer, Sylvia, you know, I, I think the interesting fact is,
- 18:03especially 'cause we're family tree food and stories, is that farms are so family
- 18:07oriented and we kind of forget that in this day and age because you go to the
- 18:11grocery store and you buy everything.
- 18:12But without farms we wouldn't have hops.
- 18:15And without hops we wouldn't have beer.
- 18:16I guess there are other ways to produce it, but I found it was interesting that
- 18:20a number of years ago I had heard that New York State was the largest producer
- 18:25of hops at one time in the country.
- 18:27They had over 60,000 acres in production.
- 18:30Washington State now is the largest producer and they year, they yield
- 18:34over 64.1 million pounds alone of hops.
- 18:39And that was last year.
- 18:40But can you imagine looking out and driving through the hills of upstate New
- 18:44York and just seeing these hops growing?
- 18:47We actually saw some hops growing locally.
- 18:50When we first moved in here and it was, they were, they grow on long strings.
- 18:54I mean, these were, it's like a vine.
- 18:57It was fascinating to see.
- 18:58So it was a small producer, but it would be beautiful to see those.
- 19:02Anyway, it's, you know, versus different seeing the, the grape vines.
- 19:06Okay, well, let me tell you, I'm not a beer drinker, so help me out here.
- 19:09Um, an IPA and I hear a lot of people say they don't like EPAs.
- 19:14Is that because of the bitterness
- 19:16of the hops?
- 19:17EPAs.
- 19:17That's a different,
- 19:18Oh no.
- 19:19EPA is nothing.
- 19:20Totally not that IPA isn't that great.
- 19:25Okay.
- 19:25You can tell I'm not a beer drinker, but full of hops, which brings
- 19:29bitterness, And history because more hops was added in the ships that had
- 19:34to go back to the colonies in India.
- 19:36So it's India Pale Ale, I think is what it stands for, right?
- 19:40so that that's because of the British colonies . And then lager is what?
- 19:44Lager is.
- 19:46You like lager, right?
- 19:47It's milder.
- 19:48I'm not an aficionado, but I do, I do enjoy a cold one every now and then.
- 19:52You see, I just, I never acquired the taste, which is a good thing
- 19:55because, you know, I'm a wino.
- 19:57What, what can I say?
- 19:58In Virginia, we were only allowed to drink beer as kids, you know, in, in 18 to 21
- 20:02you had to wait for wine and alcohol.
- 20:05I was like, really?
- 20:06Come on.
- 20:07I know anyway.
- 20:09But anyway, we have, uh, gen Z coming along.
- 20:12How are they gonna change things?
- 20:13Well, gen Z, that's pretty interesting.
- 20:15They, followed a trend and we picked up on it here at our house.
- 20:18They enjoy beer, but apparently a, according to 2023 Gallup Poll, young
- 20:24Gen, Z'ers Young, meaning that they're at least a day or two younger than us,
- 20:28are actually drinking less alcohol.
- 20:30But, They're going for non-alcoholic beer and it's amazing.
- 20:34Non-alcoholic beer is the fastest, growing segment of the alcohol or the
- 20:39drink, adult beverage drink business.
- 20:42And I guess, I don't know, is non-alcoholic beer considered an adult
- 20:45beverage or can kids drink a two?
- 20:46I never thought about that.
- 20:48I think psychologically our still wouldn't give kids.
- 20:50Underage and non-alcoholic beer.
- 20:52I don't think I'd do that, but we have, a couple ones that we actually
- 20:55enjoy one of the fastest growing ones I think is, um, well, we like Sam
- 21:01Adams and Heineken, of course Corona.
- 21:04There's Guinness.
- 21:04There's a bunch of, I like the new Guinness ones.
- 21:06And then there's Athletica is the big brand that has really exploded.
- 21:11I don't particularly like that brand at all, but
- 21:14I have a question.
- 21:15now they say that, you've got mocktails too.
- 21:18That's really popular now.
- 21:19We have a whole fleet of mocktails at our bar, but, premium beer
- 21:24brands are seeing growth.
- 21:26Now.
- 21:26Do these brands, Guinness, Modelo, Corona, Heineken, and Samuel Adams,
- 21:30they also have a non-alcoholic
- 21:33Sam Adams has a non-alcoholic, Heineken.
- 21:35Corona does.
- 21:36I think Modelo, I don't know if Modelo does a Guinness does.
- 21:39Miller does.
- 21:39I mean, they all tend to, they've now jumped on the bandwagon.
- 21:43But, you mentioned the premium beer.
- 21:45We saw a beer the other a couple months ago, and I thought it was interesting.
- 21:49It was made by some monks overseas.
- 21:51Belgian monks, and it was in sort of a, a large bottle.
- 21:55And I thought, well, let's, let's give that a try.
- 21:57One bottle of beer was like $30.
- 22:00I was crazy.
- 22:01But that said, I did try it.
- 22:04We did try it.
- 22:04It was really, it was a dark beer.
- 22:06It was very, very good.
- 22:08And I might try another one again for Christmas or my
- 22:11birthday, but it's something I'm gonna drink every single day.
- 22:15$30 for a bottle of beer.
- 22:16Like really?
- 22:17But you said it was big, so maybe
- 22:19it's worth it
- 22:19You could get two glasses out of it, but e even still that, that breaks
- 22:23down to like $15 a glass for a
- 22:25beer.
- 22:25Like, man, that's kind of pushing it.
- 22:26I mean, you're a restaurant too.
- 22:28How many, how much are people gonna pay for a glass of beer?
- 22:30yeah.
- 22:30One of my favorite things about beers though, uh, talk
- 22:33to us about drinking songs.
- 22:36100 bottles of beer on the wall.
- 22:38100 bottles of beer.
- 22:39You take one down, pass it around 99 bottles of beer on the wall.
- 22:43How many people have done that to get to sleep?
- 22:45just to get to like, yeah.
- 22:47To get mom and dad say, let's sing the song or, or camp songs, right?
- 22:51Like we felt like adults.
- 22:52, Actually one of my favorite songs is a Willie Nelson song.
- 22:56It's Whiskey for My Men and Beer for My Horses.
- 23:00I
- 23:00Oh, Willie, I love Willie.
- 23:05songs and games, right?
- 23:07Beer pong.
- 23:08Now you know what that is, right?
- 23:10Uh, you know, I've heard of it.
- 23:12What is a beer pong?
- 23:13Is that where you
- 23:14You throw the, throw the ping pong balls in, the glasses and if you
- 23:17don't make it, you, it's like you, you
- 23:19get a drink kind of thing.
- 23:20Yeah.
- 23:21So anyway, I had learned the other day that my dad's alma mater in Dartmouth
- 23:26was apparently where , the beer pong game started Yes, he did drink.
- 23:30He had a scotch every now and then.
- 23:32He wasn't a heavy drinker and he was a member of a, fraternity.
- 23:36But if he had heard that, that's where the beer pong started.
- 23:40First of all, he probably wouldn't even know what beer pong was.
- 23:42He'd be mortified.
- 23:44He's like, oh, not my school.
- 23:46Yeah, dad.
- 23:46Your school.
- 23:47Yeah.
- 23:47Where Animal House was all about, sorry dad, but anyway.
- 23:53uh, reminiscing about dads.
- 23:54my dad loved Papst Blue Ribbon beer.
- 23:57That was the, he worked in the factory, in the early fifties, and that's what
- 24:03he drank was Papst Blue Ribbon Beer.
- 24:05I, I think you can still get it and like the, come on in.
- 24:08I don't know, but, he had a big garage.
- 24:10My dad was.
- 24:11Was a wannabe farmer.
- 24:13That's what he always wanted to be.
- 24:15So he had a giant garage and, and the garage was probably bigger than
- 24:18their tiny little house in a working class neighborhood in Lexington.
- 24:21And he would go out and he called it his barn.
- 24:24And you'd go out there periodically and there'd be all these paps blue ribbon
- 24:28beer sacks of Paps blue ribbon beer cans.
- 24:31I mean, he just loved it.
- 24:32And I tell the story when the.
- 24:35Preacher would come to the front door.
- 24:36My mother would let the preacher in, and my dad would take off out the back door
- 24:40with his beer and I would follow him.
- 24:42So I don't know what kind of heritage that is.
- 24:45But anyway, that's, we've had fun talking bars and brews and
- 24:48telling our stories, haven't we?
- 24:50Because
- 24:50that's what it's all about.
- 24:52what happens in the barn or the garage?
- 24:54Stays in the garage with Dad and Sylvia.
- 24:57So listen, if you haven't had a pint lately, please raise one and think
- 25:01about family tree food and stories, because this one's all about bars,
- 25:05, and well, a few suds along the way.
- 25:07Every meal has a story and every story has a feast., But while you're feasting,
- 25:11would you go to podcast Family Tree Food and Stories like and subscribe.
- 25:16So you get updates on everything that's going on.
- 25:18And by the way, we're doing some quick little video clips every
- 25:21day on hints of what's going on in each episode on Facebook.
- 25:26I think you'll enjoy those two.
- 25:28There are a lot of fun, but every meal has a story and every story is a feast.
- 25:32And I have to say, I think every meal has a better story when
- 25:35you've got a pint in your hand.
- 25:37What do you think Sylvia?
- 25:38Hey, I tell you what, until next time, we'll, let's go have a. And you
- 25:42know, actually Nancy, interesting.
- 25:44People are actually sharing a pint on Zoom and other kinds of media like
- 25:49you and I have never met, but we could have a glass of wine and just talk or a
- 25:53beer, you know.
- 25:55Yeah.
- 25:55So raise your Frosty mug and remember family Tree, food and Stories.
- 25:59Take care and cheers.
- 26:00Bye-bye.