I recently had the pleasure of taking my family to the State of Delaware for a family vacation and had the further pleasure of spending it with in-laws. We got to go to the beach, which for my children who have never seen the ocean, was a real pleasure (the looks on their faces as we passed over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was priceless and something I will look back on fondly). I collected sea shells with my daughter, chased waves and got buried in sand with my son and got to walk a small length of Bethany Beach with my wife.
Our first night was spent in Rehoboth Beach as we got to eat at the famed “Dogfish Head Brewery”. It’s one of my father and brother-in-laws favorite breweries. I read about Dogfish Head in an article that appeared in Smithsonian Magazine called “Beer Archaeologist”. The beer I was interested in is called “Midas Touch” and was reproduced from samples that were excavated in Turkey that may have come from the tomb of the actual King Midas (I was secretly hoping that Dr. Patrick McGovern would be there so I could talk with him at length about it his work but, alas, it was not meant to be). I sampled some beers from my father in laws “beer flight” and tried the Midas Touch, an Indian Pale Ale (IPA) and what was labeled as a pomegranate beer but had a vicious after bite (note: a beer flight is a collection of beers in 4 oz. glasses that act as “tasters” and usually are organized from lighter beers to heavier beers).
While two of the places that I got try beer were in Maryland, let’s face it: the only thing that separates the two of these states is a man-made boundary. The people and customs are pretty much the same and the beer is pretty much the same. However, the setting is what separates how the beer is presented and sold to the general public.
At Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Dogfish Head brewery caters to the tourist nightlife eclectic, putting up a “come as you are” Bohemian welcome to any and all tourists whether their on spring break, family vacation or some surfer dude looking for a good beer.
Travel across the border to Maryland and the same micro-brew style that is presented suddenly becomes just as haughty to be paired with food to make it more delectable.
Travel right down the road to a baseball stadium and a pilsner with a ripped-off image from an opposing team suddenly becomes the drink of drinks of a certain baseball team and its sports fans.
While I’m not saying that National Bohemian beer would pair up well with certain kinds of food (it may pair up well with fish and chips), I find it fascinating that Beer changes with setting here in the US of A, but not with the people as it does in other places of the world. What are your thoughts? What do you think?
The Midas Touch was a lighter beer, somewhere between a white wine and a pilsner. It made me wonder what the exact ingredients were and just how much beer King Midas was buried with for his journey into the afterlife. At the same time, it got me wondering about the ethical questions surrounding topics such as the ownership of beer from archaeological sites, who profits from the sales…but that’s a blog for a different time.
The feeling of the Dogfish Head brewery was somewhat Bohemian and laid back and (at least for this night) kid friendly. The beers were as eclectic and varied as the people who walked the streets toward Rehoboth Beach.
As our vacation went on, I got to travel to Baltimore with my wife, brother-in-law and sister in law. We got to see the Indians win against the Orioles at Camden Yards (which is an awesome stadium) and drink some local beers beforehand. We stopped at a restaurant on the harbor called the Rusted Spiggot and I tried a couple of local micro-brews with my brother in law. The restaurant, despite the name, was upscale and the beers paired very well with the fresh seafood.
The Midas Touch was a lighter beer, somewhere between a white wine and a pilsner. It made me wonder what the exact ingredients were and just how much beer King Midas was buried with for his journey into the afterlife. At the same time, it got me wondering about the ethical questions surrounding topics such as the ownership of beer from archaeological sites, who profits from the sales…but that’s a blog for a different time.
The feeling of the Dogfish Head brewery was somewhat Bohemian and laid back and (at least for this night) kid friendly. The beers were as eclectic and varied as the people who walked the streets toward Rehoboth Beach.
As our vacation went on, I got to travel to Baltimore with my wife, brother-in-law and sister in law. We got to see the Indians win against the Orioles at Camden Yards (which is an awesome stadium) and drink some local beers beforehand. We stopped at a restaurant on the harbor called the Rusted Spiggot and I tried a couple of local micro-brews with my brother in law. The restaurant, despite the name, was upscale and the beers paired very well with the fresh seafood.
We then drove back to our hotel which was directly across the street from Camden Yards. Next door to our hotel was a local pub called “the Pickled Pub” which was advertising about, quote “cheap a** beer!!” While not sounding appealing in the slightest, we wanted to enjoy the pre-game festivities with the locals. My brother-in-law talked with a gaggle of locals once we were carded and approved by security for the bar. We asked what local beer we should try to which they all enthusiastically agreed that we should try the “National Bohemian Beer”.
The can for the beer- needing one of those key chain looking can openers to pop the lid- was orange and featured what looked like a rip-off of the Cincinnati Reds baseball headed mascot only with a white circle for a head and a Cyclops eye, dressing up like an Oriole baseball player from an age long ago. The beer tasted like Natural Light, only heavier and packed a punch that snuck up on you at the end. It was kind of like the Baltimore Orioles fans that heckled us Indians fans that night: Light Hearted heckling and jesting in fun, but stingy in their words.
a buckeye on the plains 