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The Great American Saloon Series
Beers to You, Santorum
Meet the real Rick Santorum, the one prudish reporters keep missing.
Difficult as this is to admit, I owe Rick Santorum a huge correction. On the day of his Iowa triumph, I wrote that if he won the GOP nomination, I would start the rumor that he’s secretly a Mormon. “What kind of a Catholic,” I asked on Facebook, “forgoes both alcohol and caffeine?”
There are indeed some Catholics who refrain from alcohol and caffeine, though not for religious reasons. Rick Santorum is not numbered among them. We’ll get into the particulars in due course. A correction is owed Santorum rather than an apology because I was misled. But perhaps that is self-serving and I should have known better.
American Spectator readers were subjected recently to a whole column by yours truly about an awful sentence from Politico’s new e-book serial The Right Fights Back, by Mike Allen and Evan Thomas. (It had to do with political consultants and nuns and the Virgin Mary and… just go read it.) Now, it looks as though the dumbfounding duo has done it again.
Allen and Thomas didn’t spend much space on Santorum in their book. The most memorable thing they said about him was contained in this sentence: “Despite eight town meetings that day, Santorum did not have a drink — he does not even touch caffeine.”
Now, it’s possible that Santorum doesn’t drink caffeine, though I’d bet it’s just as likely he didn’t want to get too wound up to go to bed that night. But the insinuation that he doesn’t drink beer — a notion cemented by the very next sentence: “His relaxation is Fantasy League Baseball” — is pure, undiluted hogwash. I know this, ironically, because of an article in Politico.
A piece by Caitlin McDevitt ran on the Politico website in December under the hard-to-mistake headline “Rick Santorum, Beer Connoisseur.” The article photo has Santorum wearing a gray jacket over a black mock turtleneck tossing back a beer sampler at Iowa’s Millstream Brewery.
“I don’t do wine tastings. I do beer tastings,” Santorum explained. Then he went on to show that he was not kidding. He said his taste in beer runs to “the stouts, the bocks and then the white ales and the wheats.” Santorum said he will drink Guinness or, in a pinch, a light beer, but only “if it’s really hot.” He also, correctly in my estimation, judged IPAs to be “a little too bitter.”
Allen and Thomas got the story wrong here for two reasons. One, they played a journalistic game of telephone and didn’t listen closely. The setting was Kay’s Kafe in the town of Corning, Iowa. Santorum stopped in “late on a raw early November night and found six patrons watching the last game of the World Series on TV,” and who was also there but “Joe Klein, the Time magazine columnist.”
Readers who know anything about baseball can probably spot the obvious clanger there. The World Series recently stretched into November, but it’s unusual. So I checked and, sure enough, the last game of the World Series for 2011 was on October 28. (The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers 6 to 2.) The second reason they got the Santorum beer story wrong is that it reinforced their narrative of Santorum as a no-hope candidate with unstinting Puritanical instincts. Allen and Thomas can take some solace in the fact that they aren’t the first journalists to get tripped up over their notions of the man. Just last August, former New York Times editor and current op-ed columnist Bill Keller confused the very Catholic Santorum for an evangelical. His paper had to issue an embarrassing, though sober, correction.
About the Author
Jeremy Lott is editor of RealClearPolicy.com, RealClearBooks.com and RealClearReligion.org and associate editor of RealClearScience.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (156) | Leave a comment
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Jack in Wi.| 1.5.12 @ 7:41AM
Nobody likes Santorum because he is a nasty warmonger and hypocrite. The fact that I am the first commenter here proves it. Even on this webbsite Santorum gets little action. He was pumped up in Iowa by Talk radio and a few mega church pastors who want to bring on the end of theworld by starting WW3. Of course the Republican machine got behind him and Mitt as well. Heaven forbid we ever have any change from the staus quo in this country.
Doctor Right| 1.5.12 @ 7:56AM
Please disappear, you one-track, neo-Nazi windbag.
What no one cares about is your opinion of Rick Santorum in an article devoted to his love of good beer, not politics.
You must be a sad little person, getting up so early in the morning in frigid Wisconsin to make sure and be the first person to post a comment on TASOnline.
Plenty of people, myself included, like Rick Santorum, and always have. He's a stalwart political and social conservative, and a decent, honest human being. He's not a Nazi, so you understandably dislike him, but that's life.
Since this article is about beer, and since Nazis loved beer, allow me to make a hearty recommendation:
Weyerbacher Merry Monk Ale.
It is an outstanding Belgian-style ale brewed in Easton, PA that goes especially well with spicey food.
Enjoy!
Deborah D | 1.5.12 @ 8:29AM
Thank you, Doctor. I really get tired of the Paulites hogging every thread on TAS. And, thank you for pointing out the obvious as it pertains to this article. Sheesh! Crazies abound, don't they?
Mike D.| 1.5.12 @ 11:36AM
Rick Santorum, whatever he is or isn't screwed up the Ron Paul coming out party scheduled for yesterday thats now permanenty lying upside down in a ditch on the side of Fate road so the paulbots are a little cranky this morning about Rick. Like a red flag at a bullfight, Jackboot saw the Santorum word on the column and did what good paulbots do are trained to do, attack, no matter what the content or topic of the article!
John Navratil| 1.5.12 @ 11:37AM
Deborah D,
It's so hard to ignore these people because their delusions scream for rebuttal. I've found correcting 'Purp' too difficult to pass up at times, so I cast no stones toward those who wish to engage these posters.
I'm sure when someone new comes along I'll feed the trolls again - and live to regret it.
I have managed to scroll past Clint and Jack in Wi. I've given up on the recently missing Purp. We can reclaim the dialog by ignoring them.
(Advice from a sinning troll feeder).
Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 1:24PM
Yeah, it's kind of learned behavior. When I've had a rough day at work, rather than kick the dog or yell at the kids, I just hit Clint or Jack as hard as I can. Relaxes me to do that, especially as I know that Clint is a yellow striped gunsel who won't even take on a guy with an ostomy bag. And that brings me to Ronpoo's finish in Iowa---3rd. Rhymes with turd. Which is what Jack and Clint are.
But John N, your stuff is beautiful.
Jack in Wi.| 1.5.12 @ 11:42AM
See: What did I say. If it wasn't for me this column on Santorum, would get few comments. No body likes him. They are all here to attack me. When is the Spectator going to send me a check for all the action I bring to this site?
Ron Paul has already won. No prowar Republican can ever be elected President again. The people in huge majorities want out of these wars. Obama will be running as the peace candidate again. He will campaign as the man who is bringing the troops home and got Bin Laden. How are you going to top that with a couple old crazy chickenhawks like Romney and Santorum?
Mike D.| 1.5.12 @ 12:06PM
No dufus, the comments below are staying on topic about beer which you can't seem to do. The rest are dealing with YOU, as usual, making an @ss out of yourself NOT about Santorum. Oh, one more thing, he garnered a little under 4000 more votes than your boy yesterday, so you might want to amend that statement about "nobody cares" to "more people care about Santorum than my boy". How's that grab ya?
Guy| 1.5.12 @ 1:34PM
YAWN!
Echo 4 Mike| 1.5.12 @ 10:45PM
Whats funny is most of you Paulturds have never been in war much less seen it on anything except news and Modern Warfare. You scream you whine and well make all sorts of noise about how bad it is. Yet you have never been there. Its actually not that bad and some times fun as long as no one gets hit.
Anyways try and study history a little bit when you arent to busy smoking pot and try and read up on Stanley Baldwin and Nevil Chamberlain and there isolationist policies and then look at what happened it might due you some good and you just might learn something.
Echo 4 Mike| 1.5.12 @ 10:45PM
Whats funny is most of you Paulturds have never been in war much less seen it on anything except news and Modern Warfare. You scream you whine and well make all sorts of noise about how bad it is. Yet you have never been there. Its actually not that bad and some times fun as long as no one gets hit.
Anyways try and study history a little bit when you arent to busy smoking pot and try and read up on Stanley Baldwin and Nevil Chamberlain and there isolationist policies and then look at what happened it might due you some good and you just might learn something.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.6.12 @ 12:25AM
Echo 4 Mike:
You can go back even further. Click my handle to read one of my old blog posts about the Philippics of Demosthenes & Cicero. Those of Demosthenes having the most significance.
His Philippics were so named because they were a collection of his warnings to the government of Athens against the threat posed by Philip of Macedon, & later his son & successor, Alexander. Alexander ordered him arrested for his outspoken views. Rather than be taken prisoner as a propaganda prize, Demosthenes took his own life.
"But if anyone here, Athenians, is inclined to think Philip too formidable, having regard to the extent of his existing resources & to our loss of all our strongholds, he is indeed right, yet he must reflect that we too, men of Athens, once held Pydna, Potidaea, & Methone & in our own hands all the surrounding territory, & that many of the native tribes now in his service were then free & independent & indeed were more inclined to side with us than with Philip.
If, therefore, Philip had then come to the conclusion that it was a difficult task to fight the Athenians while they held such strong outposts in his own territory & he was destitute of allies, in that case he would have never gained his present successes, never acquired his present power. But, men of Athens, Philip saw clearly that all these outposts were but open prizes of war, that by natural right the property of the absent belongs to those who are on the spot, & the property of the careless to those who can face toil & danger.
It was precisely by acting on this principle that he has mastered & now holds them all. Some he has seized by right of arms, others he has won by alliance & friendship. For indeed alliance & respect are willingly offered by all men to those whom they see as ready & prompt to take action.
And you too, men of Athens, if you are willing to adopt this principle, now if ever before, if each citizen is ready to throw off his diffidence & serve the state as he ought & as best he may, the rich man paying, the strong man fighting, if, briefly & plainly, you will consent to become your own masters, & if each man will cease to accept that, while he does nothing himself, his neighbor will do everyting for him, God willing, you will recover your own, you will restore that which has been frittered away, & you will turn the table on Philip."...Demosthenes Speach Against Philip of Macedon, 351 BC
Iran is certainly today's Macedon/Philip/Alexander.
Moe Blotz| 1.6.12 @ 4:24AM
Mesopotamia was the place where brewing was originated over 4,000 years ago. Have you ever read the Ode to Ninkasi?
Mike D.| 1.6.12 @ 8:13AM
What Athens also didn't understand was the military war machine Philip had revolutionized into the world's most devastating combined arms strike force. The anvil(long piked phalanx) and the hammer(companion heavy cavalry) led by genius level military commanders. Alexander gets credit for using the macedonian war machine but it was Philip who built it and honed it.
Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 1:21PM
Echo,
Thanks for your excellent views. I've always felt that it is better to destroy one's enemy while he is weak, than wait until he is strong. But then, I actually read Liddell-Hart's Strategy.
Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 1:26PM
Actually, I would be commenting on how much I enjoy hearing from some very lovely people, like, say, ConChef and Resist and Ken and John II and John N and Stuart, etc. I wouldn't miss you at all, Jack. You're a raving, annoying loon, and yet another reason to hate the Packers.
Dan Mathewson| 1.6.12 @ 5:10PM
Nice! You hate the Packers as well! Which is your team?
Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 1:12PM
You know, I don't drink, Dr R, but I do take notes because one must be a gracious host. Thanks.
Ya know, I like Rick, too. he just seems like a good guy with a brain. And he's paid attention to the demographic numbers, too.
And Jack, your boy finished third in Iowa. What that rhymes with describes you and your gunsel, Clint, well.
By the way, Clint, Dr R just supported a devout Catholic for office. Please go in on your Vatican rant today and amuse us.
Brian Mc| 1.5.12 @ 8:29AM
I love a cold Point Pale. Due to its robust flavor, I'm able to overlook that it's from Wisconsin whose ambassador's remarks here leave much to be desired. Make like an ale and chill.
irish19| 1.5.12 @ 2:18PM
I have fond memories of those Blue Bullets. Only tried the pale ale once though. Not too bad.
Moe Blotz| 1.6.12 @ 4:30AM
The colder you chill beer, the less you can taste the components. When you imbibe of ale below 50 degrees Fahrenheit the malt flavour fades and all you get is the bitterness of hops. IPA was intended to be sipped at cellar temperature, or 52 degrees F. Drinking from the bottle also prevents your nose from collecting the aromas that would emanate from your brew, so decant your beverage and let it blossom.
W| 1.5.12 @ 10:04AM
Jack
Please explain the logic that because you were the first commentator today on this article it therefore proves that Rick is a nasty warmonger and hypocrite?
And whether there is a Republican machine, it is still up to the voters in each primary or caucus to vote. The so called machine does not vote. People vote. Do you think the Republican primary voters just follow what some mythical "machine" wants?
Mike D.| 1.5.12 @ 10:58AM
Really simple, he can't pass up the opportunity to bloviate on his political agenda no matter what the topic is. Remember, the paulbots are still butthurt from yesterday, their fearless leader even admitted he doesn't see himself being President as about 95% here have seen ALL along with the exception of course it seems of his own Kool Aid drinking followers. Remember, our Jew hating friend from Wisconsin once turned a simple debate about abortion into a Jewish plot. So, nothing new here.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 10:24AM
We all know that Jackboot likes Ron Paul's "pale ale."
Czarina Suprema| 1.5.12 @ 12:20PM
So, Satorum is a beer-drinking, regular guy. Puhraise Gawd and pass me a Bud. And thank you Jesus for beer, and . . . fuhget it.
Jack Sprat| 1.5.12 @ 12:22PM
I love beer more than I love Jesus.
Poobah| 1.5.12 @ 12:24PM
Ha, don't we all.
jio55 | 1.5.12 @ 12:26PM
The more it tastes like horse piss, the more I like it.
Bob| 1.5.12 @ 12:27PM
You mean the more pissed you are the more you like it. RightO?
irish19| 1.5.12 @ 2:20PM
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
-B. Franklin
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 8:16AM
Dr.Reich Likes His Weyerbacher Beer With His Usual Crap Sandwich.
Doctor Right| 1.5.12 @ 9:38AM
Actually, Clint, it's you moronic Paul-bots who are eating BIG excrement sandwiches these days now that your Jew-baiting, blame-America loony-tune hero is effectively out of the race. :)
As for Weterbacher, I would have thought you'd have heard of it since you claim to be from Pennsylvania...
But then I remembered that you're not old enough to drink alcohol.
When you finally turn 21 in a few years (6? 7?), I heartily recommend you try it, little boy.
Dick Nome| 1.5.12 @ 10:06AM
He probaly drinks Bud Light. That's as close to water as it gets. He probably couldn't survive more than 2 real beers.
chuck| 1.5.12 @ 11:53AM
I'm thinking Coors Lite, but isn't that really redundant?
Clint is definitely a "girlie beer" drinker, or more likely, that Boone's Farm fruity wine crap that you gave your high school girl to loosen her up.
Bob Grant| 1.5.12 @ 12:31PM
He enjoyed Zima.
albert constantine jr| 1.5.12 @ 1:43PM
About a little more than a decade ago, I was enjoying a beer with a couple of state troopers who were discussing a rumor that one of their colleagues was really actually gay. Amongst the potential evidence offered by one was "We were out drinking after the Notre Dame game, and he ordered a Zima".
Bob Grant| 1.5.12 @ 2:26PM
Enjoying Zima was a clear indication that (A) you were gay - not that there's anything wrong with it - and (B) you had extremely bad taste alcoholic beverages.
So, you basically stayed away from Zima at all costs.
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 5:21PM
Chuckie Uses Ripple To Loosen His Boyfriend Up.
Clint| 1.5.12 @ 5:24PM
Real Men Drink Yuengling Here, Joisey White Trash Anti-Catholic Bigot GirlieBoy, Dr.Reich.
Moe Blotz| 1.6.12 @ 4:45AM
Yuengling what? Lager, Lord Chesterfield, Porter, Black and Tan, or Octoberfest? Did you ever try Valley Forge Brewing before they closed? You live very close to Downingtown, home to Victory Brewing and one of the best IPAs around. (All barley malt beers BTW) Yuengling brews with corn as an adjunct and is still preferable to the swill flowing from multinational beer factories. Being cheap beer with good flavour has made Yuengling beers the huge success they are today.
Mike Hawk| 1.6.12 @ 8:31AM
A cold Yuengling Lager would probably destroy you. Go back to your fizz water.
Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 1:14PM
Clint: you have earlier stated that you don't drink (neither do I). Get your stories straight, please.
Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 1:16PM
The anti-Catholic bigot boy who is supporting a Devout Conervative Catholic for President that you oppose, Clint.
Must be tough, in your brain, to maintain the strain.
Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 1:27PM
I think Clint is actually in CA. His name is Clint Air, after all, although I can't find a Colonel Air in WWII while searching on the web. I simply mention this because Clint implies that his dad was a big macher under Patton. But no trace....
Ivan Ivanovich| 1.5.12 @ 8:28AM
I like Rick better now as I prefer Guinness also. Not much, but just once in a while. Maybe he is like me and gets drunk after 3 beers.
Moe Blotz| 1.6.12 @ 4:51AM
Guinness is a mere shadow of what used to be the standard for Stout in the brewing industry. DIAGEO bought Guinness PLC several years ago and set out cutting costs by selling off the little floor malting operations they had in the UK. The old Guinness bottles had a trace of yeast residue in the bottom of the bottle and a fuller body in the beer. Today's Guinness will yield a roasty flavour, but nothing like the coffee and bitter chocolate you could detect in the original.
Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 1:17PM
You know, though, the local Irish pub in town has a great specialty cherry soda, which goes well with their shaved lamb French dip sandwiches for lunch. I like Irish pubs; I just don't drink.
Moe Blotz| 1.6.12 @ 8:49PM
How do you absorb your liquids, through osmosis?
Timothy L. Pennell| 1.5.12 @ 8:53AM
How long have I been writing about DICTATORSHIP 101? How long have I been saying that this guy is a Dictator, and he's getting away with it, because we have a sycophantic Press, only too happy to Inform us of his Greatness, and Cover Up the rest?
We heard, in 2008, when his ASSOCIATIONS with Communists, and Marxists, and Socialists, and Maoists, and Anarchists were brought up, that WE WERE GUILTY of perpetrating "Guilt by Association". We were lectured that 'Birds of a Feather', don't necessarily 'Flock Together'. And we were derided as RACISTS, when we used the words of CHRIST: "Men shall know you bye the company you keep".
Yesterday, the Man with his Life's Documentation SEALED in a Vault, on an Island State, in the Middle of the Ocean, Crossed the Rubicon. He picked up a Hammer, walked over to the Library of Congress, smashed the case that holds the Constitution, and WIPED HIS *SS with it.
He has decided, by himself, that "I" am not gonna stand by, while a Minority (Irony, anyone?) in the Senate is doing things that will harm this Economy (Projection) while I'm trying to save the Middle Class." (Lie)
"I'm" not gonna stand here. "I'm" not gonna allow it.
I thought he was a Constitutional Professor? I thought that he taught the Constitution? Of course, that was all just one more LIE, from the Media. One more LIE from people like Historian: Michael Beschloss, who told Don Imus that Obama is probably the Smartest person to ever be President, and that his I.Q. "is off the Charts". When asked, by Imus, if he knew what his I.Q. was? Beschloss replied: "I have NO IDEA, but I'm sure that it's really high".
He HIDES his Records, in a Vault, like the Vatican would hide something that would PROVE that there's no GOD. Obamas' Acolytes preach the MYTH about the Man, and it's up to the rest of us, to Prove otherwise.
He was in the U.S. Senate when Harry Reid, and Dick Durbin, and Chuck Schumer, and all of the rest of the SCUM, did the exact same thing, while George Bush was President, as the Republicans are doing, now.
Where's the Media? Where's ABC, CBS, NBC, and NPR? They all KNOW this to be true. He's in Direct Confrontation with the Constitution, AGAIN. Everybody knows it, and yet, so far, nobody's doing anything.
"All that Evil needs, to succeed, is for Good Men to do Nothing."
He doesn't talk with his Cabinet. He doesn't talk with Congressional Leaders. And, why should he? Did King George do these things? Did Napoleon? Did Hitler? Did Kim Jung Il?
If he isn't Stopped now? We're looking at Civil War. Anyone, who LOVES THIS COUNTRY, and would wish this guy harm? Might just find themselves, out of options. There's 360 Million people here. And it only takes 1.
To our Friends at the Secret Service: You know your OATH. It's to the Constitution. It's not to HIM. It's to the Constitution. When you take that Oath, you swear to PROTECT the Constitution from all enemies, both Foreign and DOMESTIC.
How do you Define: Domestic Enemy? What are the Parameters? Can a President, ever be that Domestic Enemy? This President is tearing down the Fabric of this Republic. He has divided us in to 2 Camps. We look more and more like present day IRAQ, than we do, The United States of America. We are running out of time.
I have Faith that GOD will not permit this THING to go on long enough, to Destroy this Country. And I believe that, somewhere out there, someone will do what's right, and put an end to the ATTROCITIES, that are being perpetrated against the American people, on an almost Daily Basis.
This needs to be Fixed, through the Proper Channels of Government - The House and the Senate - and through the Media. Otherwise, in a Country of 360 Million people, someone out there might end up feeling FORCED, to fix it the Wrong Way.
I'm just saying.
Moe Blotz| 1.6.12 @ 4:56AM
But what do you think of beer? The Impostor President likes his beer light, at least one Republican candidate likes his full flavoured.
Tina B| 1.5.12 @ 8:55AM
I love it, Santorum is both beer drinker and hell raiser. I can relate to both. He has it under control or he wouldn't be where he finds himself today. It was beer drinkers and hell raisers that fought for the birth of this country. (hell raisers as in guys who will fight for what they believe to be right regardless of the status quo)
If he's light on caffeine, he might have learned at what time and at which number of cups he needed to stop every day so he can sleep soundly. I went from about 12 cups a day as a young waitress and new schoolteacher, but as I aged it had different effects on me. Now I am down to max 3 cups a day, all before noon.
Rick Santorum looks more real deal every day, and if no one in Central Florida is manning his campaign I think it's time for this newly retired woman to make some calls and put on her walking shoes.
Tim the Enchanter| 1.5.12 @ 4:00PM
Wasn't that a song by ZZ Top? On the Tres Hombres album, I believe.
Tina B| 1.5.12 @ 6:43PM
True, for 50 points and a pint of Guinness.
Barry De Leed| 1.5.12 @ 9:17AM
"Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin
steve b| 1.5.12 @ 9:29AM
Try an Old Speckled Hen ale from merry olde England--superb!
Vern Crisler| 1.5.12 @ 9:30AM
I believe our politicians ought to be held to very high standards. I can't really vote for a candidate who hasn't gotten drunk a time or two.
W| 1.5.12 @ 10:13AM
The voters should have a drink given the candidates.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 10:36AM
With Ron Paul, you need something stronger than beer. I prefer Black Bush Irish Whiskey.
W| 1.5.12 @ 10:50AM
I like single malt scotch and all italian and california reds. Rolling Rock, Yeungling, and Sraub for beer.
chuck| 1.5.12 @ 11:56AM
Yuengling Black and Tan is good for a cheap beer.
Did you ever do a home-brew? My wife got me a kit, and I do a red-ale that is really good. You have to like strong beers, though.
W| 1.5.12 @ 12:02PM
I think Yuengling, in Pa, is the oldest brewery in the US. My source was reading a beer label so you may want to verify it.
Never made beer, I make wine, usually zinfandel. Will have to try beer.
irish19| 1.5.12 @ 2:24PM
Done quite a bit of homebrew in the past. I need to take inventory on what I've got and start up again.
The kits are easy. Have you tried adding additional grains or playing with the hops yet?
chuck| 1.5.12 @ 4:23PM
Haven't been able to brew any lately, just moved into a house we renovated, and my beer stuff is still in storage. My favorite is a red ale, and I need to experiment a bit with the hops. After aging a month, its still on the bitter side, and I'd like to mellow it out a little. If I let it age about 3 months, most of the bitterness is gone, but by then, most of the beer is gone too! I guess I have to exercise a little more patience before breaking it out.
irish19| 1.6.12 @ 12:20AM
Bigger batches.
If it's still in print, I suggest "The New Joy of Homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian.
Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 1:29PM
Dear Chuck,
that sounds good even to me.
Billy le Kid| 1.5.12 @ 1:14PM
I like beer laced with phenobarbatals. Such a nice buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Niniane| 1.5.12 @ 8:21PM
Bushmills was my favorite. And in college we all drank Carlsberg Elephant beer. (My grandparents used to make their own wine until the fermentation did not stop and all the corked bottles in their closet began firing -- they thought they were being attacked and no one dared open that closet door.)
These days, all I can handle is Milwaukee's Best Light --real cheap.
chuck| 1.5.12 @ 9:14PM
I had a real friend that used to drink Milwaukee's Best, 3-6packs a night. Probably why he died at 57. Miss the guy......
Anyway, I used to kid him about how bad the crap was, and he told me that, yes, it tasted like shit, but at least no one wanted to bum beer off of him. He also said that he always started out with a couple of Heinekins, and after that, Milwaukee Best didn't taste too bad.
Ronnie "Pappie" King.........RIP
Ryan| 1.5.12 @ 9:51AM
Practically my taste in beers as well.
IPA....UGH. nasty...
Mike Hawk| 1.5.12 @ 10:02AM
I like the bitterness of hops over the malt. A good IPA is my preference. It's a matter of personal taste, is it not??
Chauntzy| 1.5.12 @ 1:14PM
I like the bitterness of hemlock.
irish19| 1.5.12 @ 2:25PM
Malt over hops.
Bob Grant| 1.5.12 @ 10:05AM
Too many pretentious beer snobs for my taste. Miller Lite is still one of the best tasting beers around.
Brian Mc| 1.5.12 @ 10:25AM
Want a 'light' beer...add an icecube.
Too many pretentious lite drinkers looking down their collective noses at 'real beer' drinkers.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 10:33AM
I'd have to agree with Mr. Santorum. When its hotter than the hinges of Hell, like it usually is where I vacation in Destin, an ice cold Coors Lite is nice. But not NEAR as nice as an ice cold Pacifico or Presidente.
Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 1:30PM
Con---try Northern Minnesota in the summer, pal. Gorgeous lakes, blue skies, temps in the 70s.
Bob Grant| 1.5.12 @ 10:41AM
I guess it's the annoying 'cute' little names for their specialty brews. Like, naming your beer after your pet Labrador or first girlfriend will increase sales.
Enough already!
John Navratil| 1.5.12 @ 11:46AM
Bob Grant,
In the coming command economy, there will be only one beer and you will like it :)
My own taste is for heavier hoppy lagers (Grolsch, Pilsner Urquell, Budvar) and while I can drink a Miller Lite on a hot day, two will give me heartburn (really).
On to the funny names... The St. Arnold's Brewery in Houston crafts a beer called "Lawnmower beer." Its name came from the owner lamenting the sales of his offerings suggesting that Houstonians didn't drink "real" beer, only "lawnmower" beer.
If you can't beat 'em....
Bob Grant| 1.5.12 @ 12:02PM
"..In the coming command economy, there will be only one beer and you will like it :)"..
And that beer will be called:
Jug Ears Kenyan Dark Ale
irish19| 1.5.12 @ 2:26PM
Jug Ears couldn't handle a dark ale. A Coors Lite drinker for sure.
Mike Hawk| 1.5.12 @ 1:53PM
When I hear someone say 'heavy', it invariably means they prefer a beer made mostly with corn or rice adjunct (Miller Light, Budweiser or Coors) and not barley malt. Usually it also means they don't like hops either. The uneducated palette. If that makes me a beer snob, then so be it.
Mike Hawk| 1.5.12 @ 2:00PM
P.S. I'm not saying I don't occasionally consume one of the aforementioned. It just isn't where my tastes are found. I like the various malt and hops flavors and aromas.
John Navratil| 1.5.12 @ 2:52PM
Mike Hawk,
I did say heavIER. Like you, I have been know to drink the aforementioned (usually at a crawfish boil or after working outside), but I really cannot remember the last time I've bought any. (Several years, at least).
À chacun son goût.
Mike Hawk| 1.5.12 @ 5:22PM
Ditto, let me know when the next crawfish boilis. I'm coming.
Moe Blotz| 1.6.12 @ 5:01AM
Yins, younz, youse, y'all, are beer ENTHUSIASTS , not snobs. Cheers.
Bob Grant| 1.6.12 @ 10:08AM
Come on! With a name like Moe Blotz, you MUST only drink Keystone, Pabst Blue Ribbon, or Lone Star. On special occasions you'll perhaps buy a six pack of Michelob. Come on!
Moe Blotz| 1.6.12 @ 9:02PM
Guess again, zymosis breath. I have made better beer than you have ever drunk. Do you know what floor malted barley is? What gives beer its Colour? Tell me the difference between top and bottom fermenting yeast and the optimum temperature for each one to work. Why did the hop industry move to the western states? Have you ever had cask conditioned beer served from a firkin or kilderkin? (Either from stillage or beer engine) Who was the only US brewer making IPA in 1974? What is unique about Belgian beer? What part of the humulus lupulis imparts bitterness in beer? Better yet, meet me in San Franciso and we can discuss it over a pint of Anchor Porter. (The best porter I have had in the USA) I have forgotten the names of more beers that I have drunk than you will ever drink.
Dick Nome| 1.7.12 @ 7:19PM
Moe told me he used to like Blatz a long time ago.
Mike D.| 1.5.12 @ 11:40AM
Man, you got that right. Singing the praises of p!ss beer like that "light" stuff is heresy. That crap should be banned from the solar system.
John Navratil| 1.5.12 @ 11:47AM
Mike D.
Of course you are right, except for my friends who actually like the stuff.
John Navratil| 1.5.12 @ 11:49AM
Brian Mc,
Remember in the '70s when Coors was the effete beer? Affecting a taste for Coors was more about going to where you could get it than for the product. I'll never forget a college buddy coming back from Colorado with a trunk full to sell on campus. I really looked forward to trying this elixir. I still remember my disappointment.
Bob Grant| 1.5.12 @ 11:56AM
Back in the day the beer was offered in a tin can. Maybe that explains it.
albert constantine jr| 1.5.12 @ 1:49PM
I was told that Coors was unpasteurized, and as such had to be kept refrigerated at all points from the brewery to the consumer. As a result, their distribution network didn't make it east of the Mississippi, and it could be a rare commodity. In the late 70s, I believe Johnny Paycheck released a tribute to Coors called "Colorado Koolaid", which used to be the B side to "Take this Job & Shove It" at the tavern I frequented in that era.
irish19| 1.5.12 @ 2:27PM
Remember Oly? "It's the(ir) water."
Brian Mc| 1.5.12 @ 3:26PM
Oh, yes, John...I can dig up some old photos from Lowry AFB; all of us sitting around our Coors Pyramids...they had two holes in the top: one for drinking and the other for venting!
Henry O.| 1.5.12 @ 1:16PM
I like a beer with a crispy, giant pretzel after the bartender has blown his nose on it.
Dick Nome| 1.7.12 @ 7:16PM
I used to like Old Frothingslosh. The only beer with the head on the bottom.
bill| 1.5.12 @ 10:12AM
Santorum's fiscal policy is outdated and will fail to convince SC voters. He lacks money and organization to compete with Romney machine in a "huge media market state" like FL. Santroum will lose SC to Rick Perry, and FL to Romney. He'll be done for 2012.
He should have gone for a rematch with Bob Casey for his old senate job.
Bob Grant| 1.5.12 @ 10:29AM
Why do you guys hold out hope for Perry? What exactly has he said or done to inspire confidence he'll become even a half way decent candidate?
I agree with much of what he stands for but, sheesh, come on!! It just ain't happenin' ....too many bad days/performances, not enough good ones. His team DOES make good commercials.
bill| 1.5.12 @ 10:48AM
That's what they said about Ronald Reagan in 1980. IA has caucus, not a primary. Reagan lost IA , won SC,and won the GOP nominee.
Santorum tied with Romney in the IA Caucus, and will lose NH to Romney. He cannot win SC because his fisacl policy is outdated. Romney will stumble in SC because he is a "big government liberal" republican. Gingrich and Ron Paul cannot win in SC because of troublesome past and foreign policy respectively. That left Rick Perry. He'll revive, rebound, and regain his "front-runner" status by winning SC.
He'll be viable alternative to Romney in FL,too.
Margie| 1.5.12 @ 4:07PM
"Why do you guys hold out hope for Perry?"
Because it ain't over 'till it's over!
Henrietta Snodgrass| 1.5.12 @ 5:53PM
Margie, dear, you should have written " . . . it ain't over 'til . . ."
The apostrophe before the t takes the place of un.
Margie| 1.5.12 @ 6:11PM
Henrietta dearest,
I DID place the apostrophe before the t.
But I don't know why I added that extra l in til.
Oh well.
Bob Grant| 1.5.12 @ 6:17PM
Marge,
Nevermind him. That's only Clint trying to be cute.
Henrietta Snodgrass| 1.5.12 @ 10:11PM
Clint?
Clint is as deficient in grammar and punctuation as he is in political savvy.
Somebody besides Clint.
bill| 1.5.12 @ 6:02PM
Because Perry is the only viable candidate who can beat Obama.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 10:31AM
Not an IPA fan. I DO dig lagers like Sam Adams, Stella Artois, Moosehead, Heinie, Red Stripe, Presidente & Pacifico.
As far as other types of beer, I'm always down for a good pint of Harp or Guiness, depending on my mood. And I miss having John Courage, an English beer. I used to get it at the grocery store where I grew up in Memphis, but haven't had it since moving to this idiotic state of PA. Even at $10 a sixpack, it was still some of the best beer I've ever had.
Anyone know of this beer or where to find it?
chuck| 1.5.12 @ 12:00PM
Did you ever try Smithwicks, its by the company that makes Harps and Guiness. It's a good brew.
Of course, if you like bratwurst and sauerkraut, you need to wash it down with a couple of Beck's dark.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 2:25PM
Brats & kraut! You're killing me, Chuck!
chuck| 1.5.12 @ 4:32PM
If ever I was a condemned man, my final meal would have to be Brat, sauerkraut, and a 6 of Beck's Dark!
irish19| 1.5.12 @ 2:30PM
Man, I haven't seen Courage for years. I'd also like to find someplace that has Watney's.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 3:55PM
Samuel Smith's ain't bad, though.
irish19| 1.6.12 @ 12:24AM
Oatmeal stout. Or Young's Double Chocolate Stout.
Brian Mc| 1.5.12 @ 3:30PM
Back when I lived in MD/VA there was a micro out of D.C. called Old Heyrichs(sp?)...man, did they know how to make a lager! Haven't seen one of those bottles in years.
Petronius| 1.5.12 @ 10:32AM
To Rick
When you come to visit us down here under the Anheuser Busch, you will find quite a selection on offer. Billy Busch is back in the business with his premier lager Kraftig which is redolent of great grand dad's recipe. For an IPA without the hard edge try Magic Hat, Not Quite Pale #9; very drinkable for the non bitter drinker. For the distinguished palate, it's Abbots; a cream ale from Green King, Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk. So let's have a few pints while I outline my plan for your administration and the Republican Congress to blow Liberalism off the face of the earth by passing a law declaring it a religion so that all the destructive characteristics it engenders can be demolished in court through the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment.
Bob Grant| 1.5.12 @ 11:03AM
I take back everything I said about pretentious beer snobs. There's no such animal.
W| 1.5.12 @ 12:10PM
Only wine drinkers can aspire to be pretentious snobs. Didn't John Kerry ask for a chilled 1979 chardonay with his philly cheesesteak during the 04 campaign stop in Philly?
Petronius| 1.5.12 @ 12:45PM
Shame on J F***ing Kerry. Red wine with red meat!
John Navratil| 1.5.12 @ 4:21PM
Petronius,
Not that I'd drink a Chardonnay, but the red is all cooked out of any cheesesteak I've had in Philly. The offense isn't and hanging on, is it?
John Navratil| 1.5.12 @ 4:43PM
Can't type... The offense isn't a hanging one, is it?
Petronius| 1.6.12 @ 2:05AM
I'm on the Membership Committee in Hell. When he gets here J. F**ing Kerry's menu will have only one selection; White Castles, extra pickles.
Alcoholic offenses are dealt with on a case by case basis. If Kerry is allowed any wine, I'll make damned sure it comes in a box.
Mike Hawk| 1.5.12 @ 1:06PM
Lurch never ate that cheesesteak he posed with. He hates plebian gut crap like that. Not only that, it had tomatoes and ketchup on it and he hates anthing made or done with tomatoes, Theresa's money excepted.
Bob K.| 1.5.12 @ 11:20AM
Great column Mr. Lott!
It is a high honor for a Presidential Candidate to be mentioned favorably in the "Great American Saloon Series" of "The American Spectator."
Much water has gone over the dam and ale over the gums since AS was founded over a cheap domestic ale in McSorley's Old Ale House in 1924.
The Editorial Board should meet every 4 years about this time of year in a bar in the anthracite coal region near Pottsville, PA to drink some of Yuengling Brewery's (America's Oldest Brewery) fine domestic "Old Chesterfield Ale" and endorse a
a truly Republican candidate for the Presidency!
Ron| 1.5.12 @ 12:20PM
many people seem not to like it, but I love all of the Samuel Adams lines of beers.....Just damn good beers. The "Latitude 48" finishes well and goes great with just about any food, and the "Winter Lager" is spiced just right.
irish19| 1.5.12 @ 2:32PM
Sam ain't bad. They have the Boston Lager on tap at my local shebeen. I wish I could find their Old Fezziwig Christmas Ale again.
Ric| 1.5.12 @ 1:27PM
Mr. Santorum is no more eligible to be president than Barak Obama. Neither are "natural born" citizens.
John Navratil| 1.5.12 @ 4:15PM
Ric,
Your parents do not have to be citizens to be natural born. It's a myth. I'm one! Read the 14th amendment to see the two ways one may become a citizen. There is no third way.
Mike Hawk| 1.5.12 @ 5:19PM
Natural Born Citizen, US Code Title 8 Section 1401 is the legal statute for defining this. I'm tired of posting it, but it is that which defines what the Constitution states. Rick Santorum, Bobby Jinal and Marco Rubio are all Natural born citizens.
Charie| 1.5.12 @ 3:13PM
Now I know I have to vote for Santorum. As soon as I saw the glass of dark beer sitting in front of him I was definitely in like.
Any of you try Leinenkugel? Like their Creamy Dark, Honey Weiss and Red. However, favorites are wheaty Spotted Cow (New Glarus) and hubby and I both like Newcastle.
Brian Mc| 1.5.12 @ 3:35PM
What ever happened to their Northwoods Lager? I can't find it anywhere. Leinie persistently makes outstanding beers but, I'm on a Point Pale trip that will not end anytime soon.
chuck| 1.5.12 @ 4:29PM
We have a Leinenkugel glass, courtesy of a local tavern's beer-of-the-month glass give away. I think it was a seasonal brew, but it was a good beer.
Abita is another good, inexpensive beer. Comes from Louisiana, the Amber ale is good, Purple Haze is okay, but has a strange after taste. Their turbo-dog is quite good, and strong.
irish19| 1.6.12 @ 12:27AM
Member of the Leinie Lodge. Don't care for the flavored stuff. The red is good.
You from the Great White North, Charie?
John Schuh| 1.5.12 @ 3:33PM
I don’t drink a lot of beer, but when I do, I like what Santorum likes.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.5.12 @ 3:56PM
Well played!
Bob From District 9| 1.5.12 @ 6:59PM
"Just last August, former New York Times editor and current op-ed columnist Bill Keller confused the very Catholic Santorum for an evangelical."
Are you sure he's not an Evangelical Catholic?
Tina B| 1.5.12 @ 7:56PM
Oh Bob, you said just what I told my son this morning, only I called him a Catholic Evangelical. I can honestly say I know a couple of them and they are far more Evangelical than they seem to be Roman Catholic.
Richard Baker| 1.5.12 @ 8:55PM
My favorite is anything by Yuengling out of Pottsville, PA and the oldest brewery in America. This whole thing about beer and caffeine shows the absolute pettiness of some of these pundits and their fellow travelers. Hoist one for me, Rick.
Richard Baker| 1.5.12 @ 8:59PM
Wonder what beer Margie drinks?
Margie| 1.5.12 @ 9:06PM
Not the type of strong drink you're drinking:
"Give strong drink to him who is perishing.." Prov. 31:6,
chuck| 1.6.12 @ 8:44AM
""Give strong drink to him who is perishing.." Prov. 31:6,"
From the day we're born, we all start dying.
Close enough for me, anyway.
Hand me another beer!
PapistDan| 1.5.12 @ 11:04PM
The real question is what does Margie's husband drink.
Con Chef (NB) | 1.6.12 @ 12:29AM
Lady Astor to Churchill:
"If you were my husband, I'd give you poison."
Churchill's reply:
If you were my wife, madam, I would drink it."
I'm sure it ain't too different around Margie's trailer.
POST American| 1.5.12 @ 9:31PM
---------------------FINAL WORD-----------------------
"There was unquestionably widespread
voter fraud in Iowa."
-BEV HARRIS
Director Black Box Voting
ALEX JONES ---yesterday.
This really is TREASON kiddies.
-------------------------------------------REALLY.
POST American| 1.5.12 @ 9:38PM
------------------------PS ALERT!-----------------------
And BTW ----catch ALEX lay out the
latest of Bisphenol A saturation of the
food chain and the enviornment.
Then check out your own estrogen
levels.
Seems they've even put it in the printer
paper and ink ----and your toilet paper
so its absorbed directly through your
membrane.
Putting aside functional infertility among
males now hitting 90% ---male hormones
are now being widely prescribed to men
in their 30's just to be aroused.
---------BTW --it's also now in beer!
Maybe that's whay NO ONE's gutting up
or getting it up to take on the in our face
Globalist USURY, TREASON and EUGENICS
OP?
--------------------------------------MAY -----BEE!
NOW ----about that HUAC/ Nuremberg thing.
bill| 1.5.12 @ 9:40PM
SC will determines the 2012 GOP nominee. Rick Perry and Santorum still have chance winning in SC, and take the momentum to big state like, FL, and thus seal the deal. I predict Perry will stage a come from behind victory in SC and FL.
irish19| 1.6.12 @ 12:30AM
I dunno. I'm not sure how much momentum any candidate will be able to build before Super Tuesday. Things are still up in the air.
irish19| 1.6.12 @ 12:31AM
Mr. Lott,
Excellent column! The Great American Saloon Series, IMHO, needs to be a regular feature on AS. At the very least, it gets people's minds off politics at least for a while.
chuck| 1.6.12 @ 8:46AM
It's been too many years since I subscribed to the print version, but I well remember the Great American Saloon Series! Maybe it's time to start subscribing again.
Richard Baker| 1.6.12 @ 2:20AM
PapistDan:
Next thing you know Margie will be telling us that the water Jesus changed into wine at the wedding was grape juice. I actually heard a Baptist minister in Texas say that.
chuck| 1.6.12 @ 8:49AM
Grape juice!
There was a reason people drink wine. The water supply was unclean, and drinking it would either make you ill, or more likely, kill you. The alcohol in the wine, killed the bacteria and made it fit for drinking. Same with beer.
Moe Blotz| 1.6.12 @ 9:12PM
With beer you have to raise the temperature of the brewing liquor (water) to 180 degrees F to convert carbohydrates in your malted barley into fermentable sugar, the temperature kills the bacteria.
POST American| 1.6.12 @ 3:58AM
----------------------FINAL WORD--------------------------
ASIDE from the plundering,
the deliberate handover of the American
economy to the Globalist haven of RED China
---IS TREASON
the deliberate cover-up, downplay and overlook
of the in your face stealth weaponization of
the food, water and air for EUGENICS
---IS TREASON
the UNDISPUTABLE overturning of the
U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights by
NDAA 1031 ----IS TREASON
the systematic cultural degradation
of American and, indeed, western and now
world culture for EUGENICS ---IS EVEN
BEYOND TREASON
(i.e. attacking the family/ aggressive promotion
of extermination of the unborn, the unfit,
the old and the 'inconvenient' and SOD-dummie
of every conceivable variety)
TREASON has always been universally
recognized as the absolutely highest, and
lowest, crime there is ---bar none.
TREASON is so awesome it has also
carried the Law of Attainder punishment
with it (the staining of the entire family
connected with it) ---even for generations
afterward.
TREASON, like heresy, like sin itself,
is horrific in its 'die-namic', ever deepening
ever expanding, ever destructive effects, and consequences.
TREASON uses everything and everyone for
its age-enda.
TREASON knows well how to SOD-dumb-ize
even SOD-dummy itself.
-----Mark it well because the government
is now long hijacked and subverted.
It's now SOD-dumb-izing ---US.
---------WE ARE DEALING WITH TREASON--------
Dan Mathewson| 1.6.12 @ 5:13PM
You just keep going on with all this treason blather, HUAC/Nurmeburg nonsense dontcha?
Mike Hawk| 1.7.12 @ 7:00PM
Cut him some slack. Monday is a full moon and even his meds can't help then.
Richard Baker| 1.7.12 @ 7:12PM
Hawk:
Was that him I heard howling at the moon then?