Steve Body

SO…take a city – any city, these days – in which craft brewing has taken hold…which is most American cities not in Dead-Red, tractor-pull, dishwater lager-addicted Middle America. I checked google maps on three random cities, this morning, to test this Point. Chattanooga, Tennessee: 16 breweries. Lincoln, Nebraska: 11 breweries. Fargo, North Dakota: 8 breweries. These were chosen by closing my eyes and laying my finger on the screen. In each case, I limited the search to just that city.

There is a growing, well, for lack of a better term, “substratum” of US craft beer that’s been labeled “convenience store only”. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably seen some of ’em: tall, 19.2 ounce cans, usually cartoon or otherwise attention-grabbing artwork, and the message “9%” large and unmistakable, there on the front. As one of those tiresome beer snots who does NOT, like EVER, buy his beer in a convenience store, I didn’t find out about these beers for a very long time.

I got this sample from the folks at Double Mountain Brewery & Cidery, located in the absurdly, other-worldly gorgeous Columbia River Gorge, in quaint-but-JUMPIN’ Hood River, Oregon, and groaned audibly when I opened it and saw the label. “What’s wrong?” asked my darlin’ new bride. “I’ve just been PUN-ished by Double Mountain Brewing,” I replied, proud of myself, with what I felt was a justified twinkle in my eye.