People may be surprised to learn that today I had a BEER with my lunch! OK, so I only got a 12oz (since they didn’t have half-pints), but it was a real beer, not a malted beverage (Mike’s Hard Lemonade) or hard cider.
Kate, our instructor, wanted to have at least one field trip where we got to see one of the local industries at work. Her original plan to get us into one of the pharma companies fell through despite her starting on it over a month ago. So she came up with a tour of Upland Brewing Co. which is located in Bloomington.
So after our morning lesson (where one of the chemistry librarians showed us around the online chem library – excellent resource!), we headed off to Upland for lunch and then our tour. Kate drove those of us staying on campus, but everyone else drove themselves.
For lunch, I ordered the fish & chips and, after Kevin let me sample his beer, I also got a beer: Upland’s Weizen. Although the taste itself wasn’t all that, I liked the yeasty aftertaste. (I think I’m supposed to use “finish” instead of “aftertaste.”)
Once again, Kate was overly generous and bought our lunches (she rocks, you know). And then we headed off to the brewery section to have our tour. Photography was allowed, so photograph I did! Visit my gallery for a detailed tour of Upland Brewing Co. Very educational and informative. And Kate even managed to relate it to stuff we’d been talking about in class. Great day!
Now that you’ve become a beer drinker, you’ve got to learn the song: Drunk last night. Drunk the night before, Gonna get drunk tonight like I never been drunk before, For when I’m drunk I’m as happy as can be; For I am a member of the Diveley family, Now the Diveley family is the best family That ever came over from Old Germany. With the Highland Dutch, and the Lowland Dutch; And the Rotterdam Dutch, and the God damned Dutch. Now when God made the Dutch, he didn’t make much; But he surely made ’em better than the Rotterdam Dutch Sing Glorious! Sing Glorious! Sing one keg of beer for the four of us! Sing and glory be to God that there are no more of us; For one of us can drink it all alone! – Damn Quick!
What a neat slide show. I can see this used in your classes. Tell the students whose parents have delicate sensibilities that Wheat Beer is much like root beer, just not as dark. Dad
Ah, good argument. Now, how can I convince their parents to not put an orange slice in their wheat beer?
Impossible not to wonder how often Caleb the Master Brewer gets asked if there’s a Master Baiter around somewhere. (Oops, sorry, probably just me who thinks that.) And unpelleted hops being used for some brews immediately made me think, “It’s for Rabbit Beer!” (For bunnies to drink, not made out of bunnies. I guess that would be, uhm, rabbit stew?) The floor drain made me think of when I was temping at Gallo, but I never thought, “Alas, poor wine!” since quite frankly, I hated being in the bottling areas cos of how much they stunk of wine…blech! (They also were unbelievably loud with the clank of endless bottles on the conveyor belt/assembly line.) BTW, the lab there didn’t look too terribly different from the little research nook we had around the corner from HR at Gallo, either–but there was also an entire building devoted to R & D as well. The hula girl was a nice touch. 😀
Beer is wonderful! Great pics…
Trina dosen’t always drink beer but when she does… stay thirsty my friend.