85 Degrees. High ABVs. $2 Water.

If you check out the #goose25 hashtag on twitter, you’ll get a sense of how I spent my Sunday. It was a vaguely miserable experience, and not one I’d expected out of one of my favorite beer companies.

Even so, just a vaguely miserable experience wouldn’t have motivated me to write anything for the blog. What’s prompted me to put up a post on the matter was Goose Island Beer Company’s decision that water should only be available for $2/bottle at the event. I noticed this almost immediately after entering the fest and was a little shocked.

This event was outdoors, in a largely unshaded space, on a day with an expected high of 85F. They were serving beers up to 14% ABV. The only water to be had was for sale.… Continue reading →

I Love a Thunderstorm. And Tea.

Yesterday, I checked the weather and was a bit boggled to see Chicago was looking at 70F and rainy all day. Boggled and unhappy, to be perfectly honest. I’m not really a fan of 70F in Chicago in November. Makes me worry, a little, that we’re going to have another not winter.

The rain? The rain doesn’t faze me. I admit, I don’t like to be out in it, but that’s mostly because I haven’t yet bought boots to keep my feet dry. I don’t much mind being rained on, though. I’m too much of a desert baby to hate rain. Precipitation. Water.

Water.

I may be a desert baby, but I live in a land of (seeming) water excess. Of people I know who grew up in this area, none have ever even thought of things like water rationing or xeriscaping.… Continue reading →