A Bobcat Walks Into a Bar…

Yeah, it’s a bad joke that probably ends up with Marlin Perkins and “Jim” arguing over who’s going to buy the next round.

In the real world, in the real Wild West, wild animals do still belly up to the bar I guess. In Cottonwood, Arizona, right up the road from Beer Rant HQ a rabid bobcat attacked some local saloon patrons. You can read the story here. I also see that a couple of news stories have already made the YouTube circuit and they include camera footage from the incident. Cool.

When A-1 Wasn’t Just a Steak Sauce…

I happened to snap a photo of a neat old beer sign while visiting another remote Arizona town a week or two back. A-1 beer has been out of circulation for years but this sign looks to be fully functional and in great condition, atop a pole outside a building in Aguila, Arizona.

I posted a piece about the A-1 women’s baseball team awhile back. You can see it here. You can also visit A-1 Beer Prints for a great history of A-1 beer. My last recollection of A-1, is drinking it warm out of cans that sported images of famous figures in western history. I think the mountain man Bill Williams was on the can I last had – wish I’d saved that can.

Four Peaks Brewing evidently offers their Sunbru Kolsch as an homage to A-1 beer but you’d be hard pressed to figure that out in looking at their literature. (Not much of an homage if you don’t tell people!) Maybe I just dreamt up that whole homage thing. Here’s my earlier take on Sunbru. I didn’t know of its link to A-1 at the time I wrote this post, so I’m more inclined to try Sunbru again and will next time I visit the Four Peaks outlet near me. (Probably should quiz the server to see what he or she knows about Sunbru’s connection to A-1. Probably get a blank stare…I’m used to that, I have kids and grandkids.)

But while we’re on the topic of Arizona sites, here’s a picture of the original Four Peaks covered in a dusting of snow.



(More) Last of the Winter Wine
As I compose this, I’m drinking what will likely be the last glass of Gordon Biersch Winter Bock until much later this year. The label indicates it was bottled on November 5th, 2008 and it has held up well these few months, squirreled away in a cabinet out in the garage. But, with temperatures here starting to climb, I’m not eager to let this one weather the elements for too long so the option was bring it inside or drink it now. I’ve been busy with a lot of things – not this blog, that’s for sure – and as a bit of a wind down, I’ve decided to drink it today.

Watch out for them bobcats.