Brauhaus Nussdorf on the day in question, 1991.
Previously: 40 Years in Beer, Part Thirty-One: Euro beer travel 1991, as history ends and begins again.
In early 1991 I deigned to meet with the publisher of the New Albany Tribune, my hometown newspaper, to pitch a transformative idea—at least for me.
It’s not entirely clear in retrospect whether inspiration, desperation or even perspiration compelled me to approach the figurehead of a moribund entity that I’d never before hesitated to criticize—on occasion somewhat savagely—for its parochially limited horizons and characteristically low common denominators (“but Roger, we have no choice except to write at a 3rd grade level, believe me”), but nonetheless, I plunged straight into the heart of darkness and proposed that I be engaged to write dispatches from Europe for publication as guest columns in the ‘Bune (it’s what my friend Joe K., an ex-employee, called it).
To my mild surprise, the publisher agreed.
To no one’s surprise, he didn’t offer to actually pay me.
Nonetheless convincing myself that the exposure might prove useful in inflicting my opinions on others, I allowed the functionary to accept my offer.
Since there was no guarantee that I’d have access to a typewriter while overseas, the dispatches were to be...
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