Previously: 40 Years in Beer, Part Forty: Here’s why my tenure at Rich O’s BBQ began in 1992.
You’ll recall that it was a warm midsummer’s day in 1987 when I stepped into Sportstime Pizza for the first time to have lunch with my lifelong friend TR, who’d previously reconnoitered the establishment while I was in Europe.
Our experience at this former Noble Roman’s chain-pizza-purveyor-turned-local-independent was positive, and soon I returned for more, with visits increasing in frequency once bottles of Pilsner Urquell turned up on the beer list, a short time later leading me to a new friend, recently arrived from Czechoslovakia.
Then one thing led to another, and a weird and inexplicable time warp occurred, from which I was shaken awake on a chilly February morning in 2018, now seated at the generic conference table of a downtown law firm, scribbling my name on successive sheets of paper to finalize the sale of my one-third share of New Albanian Brewing Company (formerly Sportstime Pizza and Rich O’s Public House) to Amy and Kate, and transforming myself into their former long-term business partners.
What’s more, a glance at my driver’s license confirmed that I had reached the puzzling age of 57. Next door...
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