First Sign of Fall

I recently spent over $9 on this:
I walked into the liquor store the other day not really knowing what I was going to buy, and not really caring. Good beer is expensive down here, and I usually settle for something, well, not so great. But then. THEN I SAW IT. Shipyard Pumpkinhead! I was stoked. I mean, really really stoked. I grabbed one, searched for a price (not that it mattered), and headed to the counter.

"How much is this?"

"$9.25" (or something like that)

**GASP**

"Uhhhh....do you offer a case discount?"

"Not on beer........", she trailed off on some excuse about how they don't make as much money on beer than booze, and if I want to buy a case of Rum, there would be a good discount on that.

Rum Schmum, bring me the beer. But 9 bucks? *Sigh* I'm not sure if I'll ever get use to not having the variety of reasonably priced craft beer like I did in New England, and the fact that you could find it anywhere. It's one of those things that you take for granted...until it's not available. And I'm not the only one who feels like this.

A few weeks ago we were in the same liquor store and once again I was complaining about the beer selection (apparently I think that if I stand there complaining, new beer will appear in the cooler). So I'm standing there listing beers and companies I wish were offered here, "I wish they had Shipyard or Geary's or Longtrail or blah blah blah..." Meanwhile, Aaron's just standing there trying to tune me out going "uh huh, uh huh", or something like that. And then this guy next to us, all wide-eyed and such says, "Did you just say Geary's????" And then we got into this super exciting conversation about good beer from Maine, I think he was from the Portland area, and how we are frustrated with beer down here.

It didn't make new beer appear, but it made me feel a little better that it's not just in my head.

I'm sure I've lost about half my audience at this point, but I'll continue on, for the few of you who's interest is hanging on by a thread...

So, $9 or not, I'm going back soon to stock up, cause once that stuff is gone from here, it's gone. Just like I'm going to stock up on what's left on Bluepaw I saw there:
See, Florida is all confused down here. It's almost fall, so they are carrying all sorts of 'cold weather stuff' like Uggs, Peacoats (I don't get it either), and Pumpkinhead. But it's still in the 90's, so in addition they are still selling bikinis, flipflops, and Bluepaw.

So, not to make myself seem like a complete lush, today I'm on my way to Denver, Colorado to attend The Great American Beer Fest. Really, I'm headed there to spend time with my cousin and sister. We've been trying to get together just the three of us for a few years now, and it's finally happening. I'm very excited. And thinking of a place to go for a long weekend, why not The Great American Beer Fest in Denver!? Cause really, why not?