The Session #34: Stumbling Home

This month's session is being hosted by me!  The subject is your favorite local watering hole.

If you have been following this blog on a regular basis, it will come as no surprise that I will be talking about the “Cultural Hub of the Midwest”, Bob’s Bar.

What makes Bob’s so special? The beer folks, the beer. It’s a bit of a hole in the wall, located in a small strip mall on a busy road. What I like to tell people is that they have 30 beers on tap, and their crappy beer is Guinness. It’s only a mile from my house which makes it well within stumbling distance.  Once upon a time, Mrs. Rye's cousin was in town for a visit and I told him that there's a place down the road that has Chimay on tap.  His response was typical.  "Can we go there now?"

The drinking buddies: World-Wide-Kev and the 6 Million Dollar Man. At the end of the '08 church softball season, we decided to do their “world tour” at Bob's  (130 beers are on the tour.  Why, oh why didn't I start the blog last year?). $6MMm and I finished the tour early this year. WWK is pacing himself. He’ll probably finish in 2012, just in time for the Aztec Armageddon.  We call him World-Wide-Kev because he'll say things like" "I can't come next week, I'll be in the Ukraine." or Paris or New York or Seattle...  The 6 Million Dollar Man has had a lot of parts replaced for a 40 year old and I suspect that some of them came from Area 51.  I've been coaching 3rd base and when he swings the bat he breaks the sound barrier.  The ball goes whizzing by, and two seconds later you hear the ping of the bat.  He hits it foul.  But it's still impressive.

Low on decor.  High on beer.

The curse of the big mug: When you finish the tour, you get a 25 oz mug, engraved with a phrase of your choice. You can fill your mug for the price of a pint. It’s a good deal. During happy hour, it’s cheaper to drink there than at home. The downside is that 25 oz of a 10% abv beer will knock you on your butt. Hence, the name of the session and the caveat of no cars allowed.

What did you have engraved on your mug? “STOP CALLING IT A SMALL GROUP!”

Huh? At about the same time we started to go to Bob’s, there was a push in our church for people to form small groups that they could meet with regularly and discuss spiritual matters and what-not. Admittedly, a beer tour was probably not what the pastor had in mind and we are not officially church sanctioned.

Jim:  Honey, I'm off to Bob's to meet my small group.
Mrs. Rye:  “STOP CALLING IT A SMALL GROUP!”

The draft line-up as of 12/1/09

Magic Hat #9
Delirium Tremens
Chimay White
Founder’s Backwoods Bastard Bourbon Ale
Loose Cannon Heavy Seas
Great Lakes Christmas Ale
Stone Ruination
Leiny’s Fireside Nut Brown
Hazed & Infused
Lagunitus IPA
Stone Pale Ale
Dogfish Head Theobroma
Guinness
Bass
Dragon’s Milk
Elevator Brewing Co. Procrastination Doppelbock
Brooklyn Lager
Dogfish Head 60 min IPA
Barley’s Brewing Company IPA
Founder’s Breakfast Stout
CBC Pale Ale
Great Lakes Elliot Ness
Great Lakes Edmond Fitzgerald
Strongbow Hard Cider
Stella Artois
Lindeman’s Framboise Lambic