Beer & Clamato

Posted by Ethne~

Shaun is appalled by this post.  He doesn’t understand.  He’s not from North Dakota.  Minnesota boys are prissy when it comes to the subject of beer.  I won’t even get started.

Not that Shaun dislikes beer, mind you.  In fact, Shaun, Lori, Steve & I have a long and gloried history with this beverage, but those are Riot Girls tales for another day.  Shaun and I are of one mind that when we get home from work, a beer is quite satisfying while we cook up dinner.  Sometimes we opt for wine, but we are red-blooded Americans after all, which means ya gotta love beer.

I almost didn't recognize Steve without a button-down shirt on!

My fam in MI are Budweiser loyalists.  I don’t have much commentary on this particular beer since I’m not from MI.

My MN-bred father is a connoisseur of Glueck and Leinenkugel’s beers.  Leinie’s is one of Shaun’s go-to faves.  And I’ll concede that when it comes to a day at Target Field watching a Twins game in the beautiful big city sunshine, a tall Glueck beer is a gift from Heaven above.  Ding dang y’all!  (Is it weird that I fondly associate the smell of spilled beer and peanut shells ground into my jeans with the sport of baseball?)

My dad talking in yet another picture; Whit and I literally
say "no talking" when we take pictures of him.  My Twins shirt
says "MEET ME IN THE DUGOUT".  I'm that classy.

My co-worker calls Schell’s beer the ‘nectar of the gods’.  If you’re ever in New Ulm, MN, where Schell’s is brewed, take a tour through their brewery.  It’s charming.  Seriously.

Here’s why Shaun hates this post.  I’m not much of a beer drinker AT ALL and the only way I drink a beer (except at Target Field) is if there is a splash of Clamato tomato juice cocktail in the beer.  Shaun thinks it’s gross, as do just about any other people who aren’t from ND.  Shaun is especially disgusted that I drink Michelob Ultra beer.  He says I shouldn’t be allowed to call it beer.  He says it’s more like pee, but since he can’t make any claim to having consumed urine, this argument is without merit.  

Thrifty Nana calls it ‘Red Beer’ or ‘Bloody Beer’ but I think those names are dumb (no offense to TN).  I call it Beer & Clamato seeing as I like transparent names for things (remember how annoyed I am that grocery store check-out coupons are called ‘catalinas’?).  Shaun tells me that Budweiser makes B & C canned together, but since I’m not from MI, I’ve never tried it.  [They obviously serve Bud in MN, I just don’t drink it.]  Shaun also tells me that if you put a raw egg into a B & C it’s called a ‘Red Eye’.  Nasty.

B & C (sans raw egg) is REALLY GOOD.  I recommend that you try it.  But the only people I’ve ever known who actually like B & C are from ND.  [If you are from another state and like B & C, please comment below.]  It’s kinda like how North Dakotans and Minnesotans call carbonated beverages (a/k/a soda pop) ‘POP’ and everyone else in the whole country calls it ‘SODA’.  This I really don’t get.  Pop is only one syllable so it’s the way better term.  Or how some people call green mint ice cream with chocolate bits ‘MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP’ and others call it ‘PEPPERMINT BON BON’.  [If you are an expert in these colloquialisms, please explain below.]

(a/k/a Diet Coke) (a/k/a POP)

Beer & Clamato.  If you want to fit into my home state, you ND wannabes out there, you better whet your palate.  [Don’t knock ND you haters, it’s just about the only state in the Union that’s not in the red – hello oil boom!  That’s back-atcha to those east coast kids my 6^th grade elementary school class was ‘pen pals’ with, who told us all about what Nintendo and wheeled suitcases were since they didn’t think technology had made it out to us yet.  Not kidding.  Even at 11 years old, we knew enough to be completely offended.  SNAP!]