Hey everybody!

I would say that I've been driven to the drink by an unfortunate series of events that has limited my source of happiness to small molecules that provide solace via mental impairment but that's simply not true. I probably could say something like that considering some of the stuff that goes on in my extended family... for example, I joke that my mom works at the jail just to maintain a regular relationship with my cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. but it's still just not true. I could say that I am genetically inclined to adult beverages thanks to a thoroughbred lineage of alcoholics on both sides of my family. That one probably is true, hence the predicaments that the aforementioned extended family members tend to find themselves in.

But to be honest, I think I'll have to blame my inclinations towards the amber-hued nectar of the gods on the fact that I just fucking like beer. Not just any beer, but pretty much all beer. Hell, I'd even drink that crap they call the "King of Beers" if there really were no alternatives to horsepiss. You never wondered why they chose the horse as their mascot? Yeah, "mascot."

I'll mostly have to blame my preferences for the more expensive section of the beer case on the fact that I started my obsession at the local brew pub, the Atlanta Bier Garten (rest in peace). I swear to this day that I have had only one or two other beers that even came close to the Bier Garten Alt. Perhaps the fact that it is currently unavailable has exalted it's status in my personal beer rankings, but the point is that after swearing beer off thanks to the flavor of beer made with god damn rice and then rekindling your beer experience a second time with such superior beer tends to ruin your palate for the better.

I think it also helped that beer made a comeback in the southeast at about the same time that I started drinking the stuff. Not necessarily at the time we turned 21 thanks to the hotties at the Bier Garten, huh Brian?

This is already longer than I expected it to be. For a little about my personal life, I teach in a public high school. More than enough reason to drink. I live in the metro area of Atlanta, Georgia, the most rootin'-tootin'-est city in the US of A! At least they had the sense to up the beer alcohol content to 15% this summer. I've been able to sample some of the finer beers thanks to that little piece of legislation and I got to help make the first legal batch of high alcohol content beer at Sweetwater Brewing Company, an opportunity that would not have arisen without the generous built-in vacation schedule associated with my job. I still think that getting them to sell beer on Sunday in Georgia would be harder than getting them to let gay people get married.