Beer & Me

I dropped into a local good beer shop earlier this week and found a brand new bottle. I’m a fan of Thelonious Monk’s music so I was drawn to the label.

Besides groovy packaging this Belgian strong dark ale is a beer with a mission. A portion of the proceeds from each sale will go to the Thelonious Institute. Its mission is “to offer the world’s most promising young musicians college level training by America’s jazz masters.”

Sounds like a worthy cause to me. I haven’t tried the beer yet but I’ll share my tasting notes here when I do. I’ve no doubt I’ll enjoy it; I have yet to be disappointed with anything made by North Coast Brewing Company.

It gives a whole new meaning to “big beer.”

Carlton, another “me, too” lager brewed in the Victoria, Australia, hit on an interesting marketing gimmick. Even for a macro-lager, an industry noted for interesting marketing if not very interesting beer, this was a remarkable move. During the morning commute a giant hot air balloon in the shape of a Carlton Draught pint, or pot to the Aussies, glass drifted over Melbourne.

Did you miss it? Well, not worries. If you live in Australia you’ll still have a few more chances to see it again. The balloon will fly again during the Australian Rules Football finals series before taking off for a tour of the country when Australians all over might very well be heard to say, “What’s that in the air? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, mate, just a giant pot of piss beer!”