The New Beer Track
In the spirit of Barack Obama’s call for national reconciliation and a de-escalation of the culture wars, after knocking off work yesterday I went with Chris Hayes (pictured) and Ari Berman of The Nation and Mike Tomasky of The Guardian to grab some beers and, like any good beer-track voter, pair them with a selection of local cheeses.
This was all in St. Paul’s Summit Heights neighborhood, which seemed to come straight out of liberal elite central casting. Indeed, we literally — and not just Joe Biden literally, but actually literally — wound up in Garrison Keillor’s living room. He turns out to be a very generous host, but not a blog reader. The other place I went in St. Paul that was good was Golden’s Deli on the other side of downtown. A local independent media operation called The Uptake secured the location as a workspace and also secured a bunch of delicious sandwiches.
35 Responses to “The New Beer Track”
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September 4th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Matt Yglesias should take a look at his sentence ridiculing Joe Biden and ponder his own glass house.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Chris Hayes! (to be said in the fashion of ‘Steve Holt!’)
I attended his birthday party at the California Clipper in Chicago a few years back, hence my excitement. Nice guy.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Matt, it is Summit Hill, not Summit Heights.
Also, if you leave before trying a Surly (beer) you will have made a grave error.
Also, have you eaten at Cosetta’s yet (one block from Xcel) – far better pizza than any you will find in DC.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Saw Keillor on the Colbert Report once. He seemed really, really weird.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I second the Surly recommendation (particularly their IPA, Surly Furious).
September 4th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
My mother always listened to Keillor’s show. Keillor was blogging on the radio before there was an internet. The problem with that is you can’t skip the really long posts you don’t like. There were a lot of those.
Jean Shepherd was much better as far as eccentric, slightly entertaining radio story tellers go.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
If you want to understand midwestern culture, you could do worse than to listen to “A Prairie Home Companion” on NPR. Try it a couple times.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Well man, for God’s sake, tell us what beers you had. If you were pairing them with cheese, surely it wasn’t Miller Lite. Hopefully something with some punch, like Surly Furious or at least something from Goose Island or Bell’s. Enquiring beer geeks want to know.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
and not just Joe Biden literally, but actually liberally —
Matt Yglesias should take a look at his sentence ridiculing Joe Biden and ponder his own glass house.
Joycean Ambiguity? Irony? Deliberate misspelling with the intent of sly self-decprecating self- reference? I’m not sure. “B” and “T” are nowhere near each other on the keyboard, though.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I must have missed that, but it’s amusing to imagine Kiellor’s Prarie Home Companion persona against Colbert’s on-air persona. It couldn’t have made for good television, though.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
# QDC Says:
September 4th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I must have missed that, but it’s amusing to imagine Kiellor’s Prarie Home Companion persona against Colbert’s on-air persona. It couldn’t have made for good television, though.
It was good. Colbert was in Southern charm mode, not shouting mode. He was determined to outfolksy Keiller.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
There’s a few blocks of Summit Hill that might come from liberal elite central casting. But there are many other flavors too.
Surly Bender. Guiness meets Newcastle.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Actually if you want to understand A Prairie Home Companion, but haven’t heard the show, watch the movie. I like the radio show a lot, but it takes some getting used to, and I am from town very much like Lake Wobegon, so it probably took me less time to get used to it then it would for others.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
For Pete’s sake. That’s an insult to Surly. Guinness and Newcastle are both very bland beers. Surly Bender’s got some hop kick to it. There are no really well known beers you could compare it to, though certainly many other micro/craft brews are comparable. Dogfish Head India Brown Ale comes to mind…
September 4th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
You’re so lucky! Can I be in the Big Media too?
September 4th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Pretty low-key interview, you can watch it here. (I must have missed it the last time)
September 4th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I’m almost certain the true beer track does not involve pilsner glasses. Only when you have drunk Schlitz or the Beast, my friend, are you qualified to offer political opinions.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Try a case of Pig’s Eye — it will only set you back about $1.50 and give you the worst gut rot of your life, but you’ll be hammered.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I’ll echo jibeaux (#17). Unless you drink cheap beer out of metal cans, which you gleefully fail to recycle when empty, you’re just another liberal wanker.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Oh, shoot, commenters down here beat me to the pilsner glass punch. At least their beers appear to be watery American-style beers, and not cloudy hefeweizens.
Micro-brews = wine track
September 4th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
ohiomeister: Look more closely at Chris’s beer, that is pretty dark. It looks like some sort of ale, which means it is a micro-brew or imported. (Could be a Sam Adam’s too I suppose, but still.)
September 4th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I have to agree, Surly is amazing, but don’t forget about Summit, especially now that the oktoberfest is out.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
At least drinking with a Guardian journalist will help in beer evaluation. After a thousand years of big-brew domination here, America has finally reclaimed glory on the micro-brew front. The Brits fought the lager wars with the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)and won. Cheers…
September 5th, 2008 at 3:26 am
You paired your beer with cheeses? Hmmm. I see that elites has TWO e’s.
Well, I suppose it’s OK if it’s Wisconsin cheese.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:21 am
WA Frost? Great Choice!
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