How pathetic is this? A local establishment endows their outdoor tables with beer umbrellas that advertise the non-alcoholic version of a wimpy imported beer. Imagine the chain of decisions -- by the producer, distributor, and proprietor -- that led to a row of these umbrellas here in Portland.Years ago when I was traveling in Finland, I thought it was funny that all the cafe umbrellas had a Roman numeral "I" after every beer name, because it was legal to advertise the lower alcohol formulas, but not the stronger "III" beers, even though they had the same brand name. This N.A. umbrella strikes me as even sillier than that.
I guess I've told some of you where these are. Has anyone else noticed these, or can you guess the location?
I think it's sad when a brewpub does not offer a decent N/A option. I enjoy brews with alcohol but my wife cannot drink them. She often requests a N/A brew and either gets nothing or a Macro N/A (she'd rather drink water). However, there are many imported N/A brews that have flavor and she enjoys them. While St Pauli Girl is not her favorite, we would definitely stop at this pub. I would hope that they have several decent craft brews on tap as well.
ReplyDeleteBahHumBrew: What are some of your wife's favorite N/A choices? I agree with you, it would be nice to have good non-alcoholic beer options.
ReplyDeleteKaliber is her favorite. She's also partial to Haake Beck and Erdinger Weissbier. Many of the other imports are acceptable but she hasn't found a US made N/A that's better than iced tea or water. It would be nice if one of the US craft brewers would produce a decent N/A beer.
ReplyDeleteIt that Jeff Alworth's house?
ReplyDelete:-O
Doc: Nope! Guess again.
ReplyDeleteBahHumBrew: Never knew about that Erdinger, I'll look for it.
About 20 years ago I quit drinking for a year, and my favorite was Clausthaler, but I would sometimes go for a Buckler or Texas Select (this was in Austin), they were cheaper.
A nursing mother brought some Clausthaler to a party on our block this summer, it's actually pretty good. Kind of Grolschy in those green bottles.
That's the Grand Central Bowling place, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteWe have a winner! Thanks, Mary Sue!
ReplyDeleteOh... Thank god.... My next thought was Green Dragon...
ReplyDeleteMy wife actually prefers Clausthaler Amber over their green bottle style. I see that Grand Central does have a fair selection of craft brews so I would be ok there. Maybe they just got a great deal on the N/A umbrellas.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's easier for a beer bar to stock decent N/A brews than for a brewpub. It would seem that with all these N/A brews being imported, someone in the US craft industry would step up to the plate.