Our mission: to help in the transition from drinker of quantity to drinker of quality. Along the way, we'll have some laughs, or someone's catching heck. Prolly me.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Gesture


By Clash Glasses
Last weekend the fair lass and I went for a ski trip into the heart of the wintry north (or at least the southern edge of the wintry north) Wilmington Vermont.  We stayed at a sweet little  spot called the Wilmington Inn and Tavern  - great food and a perfect little chill out area with a bar, fireplace, and a smattering of plush leather chairs to sink into while you enjoy the warmth and slake the thirst. 

The lady and I timed our approaches perfectly (she from Boston and I from Albany) and we both hit the driveway within 40 seconds of each other - nice!  Of course being flatlanders, neither of our rides have snow tires and they are both very non-SUV, they are Japanese 4-cylinder cars on pizza cutters. We could not make it up the driveway and I managed to get mightily hoisted into snowbanksville during my backward descent.  I lived in Buffalo NY for a while, and have seen my fair share of snow (and I keep a snow shovel in the car). I was not phased, I just hopped out and started digging.

After a time the proprietor (John) came out to lend a hand, I later learned that he is a recent transplant from NYC only a couple years back.  We hacked away at it and traded off the shovels, mine snow and his metal for the ice layer, and finally we got my beast free (a sweet ass 2001 Nissan Altima that is tricked out to the gills - or more likely just my beloved banged-up beater).

We both parked across the street in a fit of rebellion, temporarily ignoring a paper sign that read "Please Don't Leave Your Car Here."  

We walked our bags up to check in and John was apologetic about the driveway situation - which in my mind was basically our fault for not having snow tires in January in Vermont.  We were just glad to have arrived and to be at the start of our mini-vacation.  John offered to buy us a drink for our trouble.  He proceeded to recommend a Long Trail Imperial Porter - a dark, hoppy, robust brew that fit the bill perfectly for us coming in out of the cold - like the lawnmower beer of snow shoveling.  Not to mention it was a 22 and I love beer in large containers - especially free, good beer in large containers.  It hit the spot and set the tone for our stay perfectly - awesome!  I had several other beers at that bar but none so sweet as the gifted one.  John may have made a new friend for life - how easy was that?!  I am a beer sloot and not ashamed of it.

So buy someone a drink!  It's a classy move and easy to do; the recipient will appreciate it a ton - they may even make you a godfather or beneficiary or something, you never know what karma may bestow. 

Cheers!

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