40 Years in Beer (Book III), Part 88: From Tokaj to Żywiec, and Achouffe to Poperinge (Travel 2002)

Previously:40 Years in Beer (Book III), Part 87: Travel 2001 with English John, Le Tour ― and a gutting personal loss. As 2002 dawned, our nation was engaged in an elastically defined, evolving “war” on terrorism. I hadn’t been in the air since the previous August, flying to Baltimore for two Orioles – Oakland Athletics games at Camden Yards, and too many beers everywhere else in town (particularly at the late, lamented Brewer’s Art). However, in February a chance came to meet up with David Pierce and Rick Kennedy, who were on a Bluegrass Brewing Co. sales junket in Baltimore and Washington D.C., which included a tasting at the famed Brickskeller beer bar (1958 – 2010). BBC, live at the Brick. They’d driven the company van; I flew into BWI and tracked them down. Subsequently a day was devoted to visiting Victory Brewing Co. in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, which provided the opportunity to procure kegs for Gravity Head and conceal them in the BBC van for the ride home. BBC, live at Victory. Rick and David. And the flights? They seemed normal enough, even if shoe bomb paranoia was approaching record levels ― and I have large, very noticeable feet. Fortunately my pale skin color passed muster. Had the warring...Read more