On tasting Cincinnati and the stalking Budweiser attorney.

Brew Professor looks to be a good place to keep up with Cincinnati beer news, which has exploded so rapidly in recent years that a casual observer is hard-pressed to keep tabs.

When I caught the headline below, a song came to mind.

The problem is, I've heard it so many times before.

Taste of Cincinnati, yes. Drinks of Cincinnati, no, by Mike Stuart

One of city’s largest summer festivals, Taste of Cincinnati, is intended to showcase local culinary talent and unique local flavors. Most would agree they succeed on this front but their selection of Cincinnati beers have some room for improvement.

For a food festival there are certainly a large number of beer options (warning, some of these “beers” are Bud Light’s mixed drinks). However, for a locally focused festival, it’s sorely lacking an accurate representation of what is produced locally.

Of the 68 beers, only 15 are local from four of the more than 20 locally operating breweries. Yep, about 20% of the beers offered are made here in our community. The rest range from Cleveland to Kalamazoo to St. Louis to Portland.

Paying to play in whatever convoluted fashion serves only to remind us that American capitalism never has been pure or pristine, and when we hear a politician suggest such, our first reflex should be to reach for the rotten fruit and begin mimicking big league fastballs down the (wind) pipe.

In turn, this reminds me of a tangentially related story at Facebook, as relayed by Tom "Orange Blossom Brewery" Moench, who once saved my life in Orlando by providing alcoholic diversions as we were stranded for an afternoon during a family reunion. I've never thanked you enough, Tom, and your words here are sheer poetry.

What are the chances
I walk into a bar downtown and step up to order a couple craft beers for my crew
The fellow next to me barks out
"I'm a Budweiser attorney, explain to me the big deal this craft beer shit"
I tried to engage him, telling him that Bud is fast food and craft is fine dining
"where do you get off selling 3pks for $9" he says
I then tell him I don't want to talk to him anymore
He wouldn't shut up
We walked 25 feet away and he got up and came over to continue berating craft beer
I say "don't come at me like that"
He then insists on buying us Buds
We walk outside to get away from the fool but here he comes, beers in hand
I refuse them, and he tells me he knows the cops and will wipe the street with me
I hold my own hoping he will take a swing, but he was trying to incite me to swing also
I even called him "little fellow" (he was 6'3', I'm 6'4")
Stay Classy Bud

Bud's always classy, Tom.

Like Joe Stalin.

"No water in the lines": Even golf courses are getting crafted.

This is encouraging news. I've been watching for years as golfers stopped by the pub for a "good beer," absent choice at their chosen course. In some locales, the combination is taken for granted; witness the Putts & Pints blog. NABC has been having success with draft beer at Hidden Creek Golf Club in nearby Sellersburg.

The next step for those facilities getting on board is to actively promote the fact that good beer is available. Sadly, it seems that in sporting venues hereabout (not only at golf courses), it's too often the case that operators seem reluctant to let consumers know about available choice. Why? probably out of an unjustified fear of annoying Da Big Boyz.

The best local example is Louisville Slugger Field, where historically, we've seen the ballclub acquiesce in Centerplate's complicity with the AB-InBev monopoly, restricting signage to table tents and doing little to let baseball fans know good beer actually is available. But let's focus on big positives, albeit 3,000 miles away, and hope that the trend grows here in Business As Usual Land.

GOLF COURSE BEVERAGE SALES GET BOOST FROM CRAFT BREWS: Premium beers enhance the experience for customers, say staff, by Marc Figueroa (U-T San Diego)

Whether it’s special Internet rates, free range balls or a free sandwich at the turn, many golf courses are trying everything these days to keep the tee sheet filled and stave off eroding participation.

And some North County tracks are looking to one industry that is booming in business to help boost its own.

Unlike golf, which has seen participation drop by more than 4 million from 2005 to 2011, according to the National Golf Foundation, the local beer industry is blowing up with nearly 60 brew houses in the county and more than 20 in the planning stages. And courses such as Castle Creek Country Club, Twin Oaks Golf Course, Pala Mesa Resort and Maderas Golf Club are capitalizing on it, serving up quality suds like never before.

“Our motto is ‘No water in the lines,’ ” said Scott Butler, tournament sales director at Twin Oaks, which dedicates its four tap lines to locally produced beer. “That means you can’t get a Coors Light on draft here. If you want one, we have them in cans in the back, but that’s not what we’re about. We’re pushing good beer.”