Beer Moment

I’m getting old enough to see trouble before it’s fully brewed….

For the past couple of weeks I’ve had a bottle of Four Peaks Kiltlifter Scottish Style Ale parked in the refrigerator waiting for the tasting, but I happened to bump into it on tap beforehand. Consequently, you won’t be reading a review of Kiltlifter here at Beer Rant any time soon.

I’m in a two day training session at the Arizona National Guard armory on McDowell Road – no, I’m not a soldier (not any more – that’s a young man’s business). Anyhow, they cut us loose a bit early today and I’d spied a promising watering hole on the morning drive in, so I cajoled Johnny Southside to follow me there after class for a glass of something on draft.


The place turned out to be J Heads, a punk bar. Just as well. I haven’t actually had a real draft beer since, well, maybe since I visited the Coors Brewery in Golden several years ago. We stepped from the bright afternoon sun into the dimly lit interior to find ourselves the only patrons. J Heads is a lot like my prototypical favorite bar: low ceiling, pool table that was carried out on the last chopper to escape Saigon in the early 1970s, and all manner of stuff pinned, stuck, pasted and otherwise attached to the walls and ceiling.

Tap handles showed a couple of worthwhile prospects including Top Down Ale and Kiltlifter. I opted for Kiltlifter, Johnny Southside choosing likewise. A few quarters for the pool table and we were all set.

J Heads (formerly Jugheads – voted Best of Phoenix punk bar in 2007) is the sort of place that used to cause me a lot of trouble and I walked a fine line between finishing my single glass of beer and going home on the one hand and, on the other hand, hanging around until 9 pm, only to wander home covered in glitter and smelling of smoke and strange perfume.

We shot two racks of pool – Johnny Southside won both – and we drank our beers. I chatted with the barkeep, mentioned my blog, and asked him some questions about J Heads, and then Southside and I stepped back out into the afternoon sunlight to head home. I’ve no recollection of the Kiltlifter except that I liked it and thought about it all the way home. The visit to J Heads wasn’t a tasting, but a beer moment.

Once home, I popped the top off of that bottle of Kiltlifter that’s been hiding in the refrigerator and sat quietly in my backyard, enjoying the beer, not covered in glitter, not smelling of smoke and strange perfume and not thinking about the tasting, but instead, watching my two year old granddaughter laughing and playing. This wasn’t a tasting either, but yet another beer moment. Wow, two in one day.



Think I might go back to J Heads tomorrow.
Did I mention that Johnny Southside won both rounds of pool? Geez, I’m slipping.