A Commonality: American Beer - German Bier - Sex in A Canoe

I once heard a Lufthansa pilot telling a joke to a couple of Lufthansa stewardesses (that would be flight attendants for you politically correct dimwits who want to put a more modern slant on it). I am pretty sure he only told it to them as loud as he did to make sure he had gotten my attention since he knew I worked for the Customs Service at the time and he wanted to give a little jab to an American. The joke went like this:

Pilot: Do you know what is the same mitt American Biers and sex in a canoe.

Stewardess (after glancing over at me): Vhy No Herr Capitan.

Pilot: They are both f''ing close to water.

Stewardesses: Giggles.

Well, I have had a lot of American beers in my days since then from micro breweries. American beers have improved and while that joke may still apply to beers like Budwiper and Spoors, it most certainly does not apply to great brews like Ommegang.

I have also had a lot of German Biers since I heard that joke, I have almost always loved German Biers; and I must admit that until tonight I have never had one that had anything at all in common with sex in a canoe. Yes, that was until tonight when I had a bottle of Valdensteiner Premium Pils and suddenly I imagined myself in the movie Deliverance. (If you have never seen it, rent a copy. My son watched it last week for the first time and liked it. Although he did say there were too many canoeing scenes, he liked it overall and thought the plot was a good one. I am happy I did not have him watch it before our recent road trip to the Shenandoah Valley for some canoeing.) Back to the Valdensteiner - Had I paid for this stuff, I suppose I could have said I had been f'd by or in something close to water because to me it had that watery taste similar to some American beers.

As it was though, my brother-in-law Hans sent three biers to me on Sunday. He sent them with some darned fine tasting pork ribs, the best ribs I have eaten in years. I had one of the biers with them and that bier was yummy too, or actually I should say it was an ale and it was scrumptious. That was a bottle of Sticke Uerige Alt (Uerige being the name of the company I think). Sorry no pic of the bottle, sort of had the shape of a German WWII grenade, and the bang to go with the looks. Aah here it is here on the Uerige website. It was a Belgian Abby type brew, or so it tasted, darned fine stuff. Very strong and excellent taste indeed. Now I have one bottle left over, it too is a bottle of something by Valdensteiner. My guess is that they cannot possibly make two types of canoeing bier, so I am hopeful that one will be much better. As it turns out, that first Valdensteiner is still passing my lips in sips, and it is starting to taste a bit better, but still kind of close to water for a German brew.

All the best,

Glenn B