You know what really grinds my gears?!!

[dawn_kiebawls]

(sorry for the rant, had to get it out)

So a few weeks ago I took SWMBO on a birthday trip up to Valentine, NE to float the Niobrara National Scenic River (may be recreational river..doesn't matter..) The float went PERFECT! We never (ever) have weather cooperate for us on our vacations and were absolutely blessed this time! Now, on to the gear grinding..

After the float we were both pretty wiped out but decided to make the short drive into Valentine, NE to hit the local brewery (Bollo Beer Co.). It was excellent! Cool atmosphere, fun blend of people to watch ranging from young hipster-ish locals, tourists here for the river, bikers, local ranchers and of course excellent beer all under one roof. I was sitting next to a guy at the bar who would constantly take sips from his flight and smirk or say how unbalanced, or over/under hopped something is, how generic they seem (wild plum gose using locally sourced wild plums doesn't seem that generic to me) and says they're no competition to ANYTHING that comes from Bend, OR where he's from.

I strike up a conversation about Bend and how I worked several wildfires up there, acknowledged their beer scene and mentioned that I'm actually from Eastern (Omaha) NE. He apologized to me for being from Nebraska, then goes to say he left Nebraska 10 years ago for the holy land of Bend (so he, himself is from NE..) and goes on to say how nothing my state is capable of producing can compare to a dumper out of the famed Boneyard (I haven't had the pleasure of trying their brews yet so maybe its true..unlikely, but possible).

At this point I am thoroughly pissed the hell off but play it cool and calmly inform him that the head brewer at Bollo Beer Co. is, in fact, one of the old brewers FROM BONEYARD!!! Suddenly every last drop he drank was delicious, inventive, and truly something to write home about. The brewer was serving behind the bar at that moment and watched me slap him with some knowledge and about burst out laughing.

It really rubbed me the wrong way how in someones mind (WHO'S FROM F'ING NEBRASKA) that just because you're in a small rural town the beer can't be good, or that for some reason you're better than the people and the beer because of where you currently live? Kick rocks..

Thanks for reading! Thats my long winded rant, feel free to blow of some steam of your own!

 

[day_trippr]

"People can be idiots. I try to avoid them whenever possible"

 

[cloudybrewer]

Kick rocks..

He will, but not until he gets back to Oregon, because Bend's rocks are better.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I've had really excellent and creative beer in small middle-of-nowhere towns. The guy just sounds like an idiot.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

The guy sounds like a self-loathing azzhole. I know many people leave NE for various reasons, such as job opportunities, but most that I've met, (a pretty good sized group in NYC) look forward to visiting family, and will congregate to watch Husker football where ever they are. Glad you messed with him, and gave him a dilemma to solve. Fun times.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I've lived in about 8 States, some of them more than twice, vacationed in over 24 countries, many of them over a dozen times, on 3 continents, as well as lived overseas, twice. I've found that people who sit at a bar and compare one place's beer over another (in a pushy or disgruntled way) aren't enjoying the beer they are drinking are really wasting their "in the moment" existence and not really enjoying what life has to offer.

Sorry for my ramble, but I'm drunk...

 

[Steveruch]

I've had really excellent and creative beer in small middle-of-nowhere towns. The guy just sounds like an idiot.

Yes. Rick White, the brewer at Port O'Pints in Crescent City, CA (a small town) just won a couple of ribbons at the California state fair professional beer competition. This is one of the biggest competitions in the country.
This is after some medals in a couple of other competitions earlier in the year.

 

[madscientist451]

Uhh..., you had a great day on the river...why would you care about what some loner J@ck@ss at the bar had to say? When people annoy me, I tune them out, life's way too short to let some idiot spoil a good time.

 

[catdaddy66]

The irony is apparent when you realize he works at the very last Blockbuster video store in America and poor mouths Netflix and Hulu.

 

[madscientist451]

I didn't think there were any Blockbuster stores left....
But you learn something every day, we actually are down to one.

https://www.businessinsider.com/blockbuster-still-exists-in-a-couple-of-places-2017-4

 

[catdaddy66]

I didn't think there were any Blockbuster stores left....
But you learn something every day, we actually are down to one.

https://www.businessinsider.com/blockbuster-still-exists-in-a-couple-of-places-2017-4

Yep! Alaska closed its last two locations a couple of weeks ago and Bend, OR has the last outlet. My older brother managed a Blockbuster for 7 years over 25 years ago.

 

[MaxStout]

Look on the bright side: if you weren't there, he'd just be mumbling to himself.

I'll be passing through NE on the way to CO and UT in Sep. Might have to sidetrack to Valentine for some beers on the way.

 

[Zuljin]

None of this happened in Texas. All the beer sucked.

 

[homebrewer_99]

None of this happened in Texas. All the beer sucked.

LOL! About 12 years ago I was at a sports bar in Lawton, OK (Ft. Sill). Reading through the menu I noticed that Shiner Bock (TX) was on the IMPORT side of the menu (naturally at a higher price). I told them that I was surprised they haven't been hit with a law suit yet.

 

[Zuljin]

LOL! About 12 years ago I was at a sports bar in Lawton, OK (Ft. Sill). Reading through the menu I noticed that Shiner Bock (TX) was on the IMPORT side of the menu (naturally at a higher price). I told them that I was surprised they haven't been hit with a law suit yet.

"Import" is such a sham on beer menus. What it often really means is "Premium" or sometimes just "Beer we charge more for".

 

[homebrewer_99]

"Import" is such a sham on beer menus. What it often really means is "Premium" or sometimes just "Beer we charge more for".

Yeah, that was the point I was trying to make at that bar.

Even Bud products are no longer "American" beers.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

LOL! About 12 years ago I was at a sports bar in Lawton, OK (Ft. Sill). Reading through the menu I noticed that Shiner Bock (TX) was on the IMPORT side of the menu (naturally at a higher price). I told them that I was surprised they haven't been hit with a law suit yet.

Well, maybe you don't quite understand the antipathy between OK and TX. I'm not sure the Sooners have quite accepted that Texas is part of the same country as themselves, and many Texans still think they're an independent country in many ways too lol...

"Import" is such a sham on beer menus. What it often really means is "Premium" or sometimes just "Beer we charge more for".

I don't see "Import" much. However, I often see a heading for "Domestic" which excludes a whole bunch of American craft breweries.

I'm surprised restaurants haven't wholesale gone away from this practice. It doesn't particularly make sense. People know you're going to charge more for craft, so just put all the beers in a list with a price.

Actually, now that I think about it, I wouldn't be shocked if there aren't some beer distributors which will punish their accounts for doing anything that "disparages" BMC... That would be a much more likely explanation for why this very old and outmoded practice of labeling BMC as "domestic" and craft as "other" persists when it makes little sense to customers.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

... I wouldn't be shocked if there aren't some beer distributors which will punish their accounts for doing anything that "disparages" BMC... That would be a much more likely explanation for why this very old and outmoded practice of labeling BMC as "domestic" and craft as "other" persists when it makes little sense to customers.

Well, that could explain why I have recently seen Bud, Miller and Coors listed as "Premium" beer on a menu.

 

[Sailingeric]

As someone who lives in Oregon and gets to travel a couple times a year I can say we have great beers but I have had a lot better in other places. I love trying new beers from new places that are local to where I visit and can almost always find something great to say about them. He sounded like someone who does not know beer and just trying to impress people in a small town.

 

[bleme]

Well, maybe you don't quite understand the antipathy between OK and TX. I'm not sure the Sooners have quite accepted that Texas is part of the same country as themselves, and many Texans still think they're an independent country in many ways too lol...

My grandmother was a proud Texan and was always embarrassed that when her mother went into labor she crossed the state line to the closest hospital, in Oklahoma. Can you imagine being stuck your whole life with a birth certificate from Oklahoma?!?!? The shame! LOL!

 

[homebrewer_99]

Well, maybe you don't quite understand the antipathy between OK and TX. I'm not sure the Sooners have quite accepted that Texas is part of the same country as themselves, and many Texans still think they're an independent country in many ways too lol...

Actually, I would. I was stationed at Ft. Sill, OK and at Red River Army Depot, Texarkana, TX.

At Texarkana we had to walk across State Line Road (from Texas (dry county) to Arkansas) to buy beer. Technically speaking, walking back into Texas with alcohol is smuggling.

 

[catdaddy66]

My grandmother was a proud Texan and was always embarrassed that when her mother went into labor she crossed the state line to the closest hospital, in Oklahoma. Can you imagine being stuck your whole life with a birth certificate from Oklahoma?!?!? The shame! LOL!

A bit off topic, but this reminds me of a quote from the famous Ohio State coach Woody Hayes...

"If I ran out of gas in Michigan, I would push my car to Ohio."

Lmao!

 

[probablynotnick]

Yep, definitely don't need to move to Oregon... I hear Colorado has good beer. Seattle is nice? California???

I was born and raised in Portland, and I gotta say that it has changed rapidly in the last few years especially. The attitude of the people isn't what it used to be. Obviously I'd love to blame people coming in, but it may just be the way modern culture is trending as a whole. Sure hope not.

We also have traffic now, insane housing prices, taxes, kids burn down our wildlands with fireworks... it's a nasty place

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Yep, definitely don't need to move to Oregon... I hear Colorado has good beer. Seattle is nice? California???

I was born and raised in Portland, and I gotta say that it has changed rapidly in the last few years especially. The attitude of the people isn't what it used to be. Obviously I'd love to blame people coming in, but it may just be the way modern culture is trending as a whole. Sure hope not.

We also have traffic now, insane housing prices, taxes, kids burn down our wildlands with fireworks... it's a nasty place

Yeah, we get all that in CA. Occasionally instead of idiots with fireworks we have arsonists. Fun stuff...

I've traveled to Seattle a bit for work, and the traffic there is HELL (said from the standpoint of a Californian). But they get rain so at least you can't burn the place down, right?

I'd move to CO in a hot second if I could take my kids with me... Sadly, their mom [my ex] would cause issues if I tried to do that. Still considering it, though, even if I had to only have the kids for the summer.

 

[probablynotnick]

Yeah, we get all that in CA. Occasionally instead of idiots with fireworks we have arsonists. Fun stuff...

I work at an arch/engineering firm and one of our Cali projects was burnt down by arson during construction. But now we're really getting out into the weeds!

Can I be so bold to summarize a moral to this thread?

"Be excellent to each other" - Ted

 

[bleme]

I work at an arch/engineering firm and one of our Cali projects was burnt down by arson during construction.

Our police department decided to build green and built a new police substation out of straw bales. They must have torched that building at least 3 times during construction...

 

[smurfjuice]

Adobe ...

 

[Murphys_Law]

Yeah, we get all that in CA. Occasionally instead of idiots with fireworks we have arsonists. Fun stuff...

I've traveled to Seattle a bit for work, and the traffic there is HELL (said from the standpoint of a Californian). But they get rain so at least you can't burn the place down, right?

I'd move to CO in a hot second if I could take my kids with me... Sadly, their mom [my ex] would cause issues if I tried to do that. Still considering it, though, even if I had to only have the kids for the summer.

I was going to jump on my “traffic here sucks, home prices are horrible” bandwagon and then I remembered you’re in CA! [emoji41]

But you can always “tip” the young guys standing on the corner begging for weed money! Ya’ll got that yet?! Man, we have it on every corner now!

 

[Cascadesrunner]

Going back to the original start of this thread, you need to understand people that live in Bend. The Bend vortex is a real thing and that is something easy to get sucked into. Bend is a cool resort town that outgrew it's britches and now has more than it's fair share of trust fund halfbacks. It is definitely a cool place that is full of great beer, outdoor fun, mountain views and pretentious people. I have family in Bend and they can be handful, but are good people.

To be fair, I was fan of Boneyard's RPM and Hop Venom when I lived in Oregon. I live in San Diego and have been travelling back to Bend for work. It just didn't didn't taste as good after being in San Diego for a few years. Not an indictment of the quality by any means. There is just sooooo much beer and so many options in SD.

The trick with Bend is that if it has everything you need, then you're set. Otherwise you are 2-1/2 hours from anything else. Island mentality I guess. BTW has this *sshat been to Decorah, IA to try Toppling Goliath? That's pretty rural and they execute solid recipes well.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I was going to jump on my “traffic here sucks, home prices are horrible” bandwagon and then I remembered you’re in CA! [emoji41]

But you can always “tip” the young guys standing on the corner begging for weed money! Ya’ll got that yet?! Man, we have it on every corner now!

My cousin recently moved from Santa Barbara to Denver and was floored to find that she got zero rent relief. I can only imagine the east-coast stoner-bro idiots you guys are inundated with non-stop.

 

[Murphys_Law]

My cousin recently moved from Santa Barbara to Denver and was floored to find that she got zero rent relief. I can only imagine the east-coast stoner-bro idiots you guys are inundated with non-stop.

Rent here is insane!

 

[ifnotuthenwho]

My cousin recently moved from Santa Barbara to Denver and was floored to find that she got zero rent relief. I can only imagine the east-coast stoner-bro idiots you guys are inundated with non-stop.

I’m confused as to why she expected to get rent relief?

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I’m confused as to why she expected to get rent relief?

When she left the mountains of Colorado for the bustling metropolis of L.A. marijuana was not legal and the great migration had not yet begun, she didn't realize that since then Denver has been over-run to the point of being just as competitive housing-wise as L.A.

 

[ifnotuthenwho]

When she left the mountains of Colorado for the bustling metropolis of L.A. marijuana was not legal and the great migration had not yet begun, she didn't realize that since then Denver has been over-run to the point of being just as competitive housing-wise as L.A.

Oh, I see. She expected rent to be less than L.A.

When you said rent relief, I was thinking she expected a discount on the rent being asked for, ala rent control in NYC.

 

[Sailingeric]

I will tell you what grinds my gears, not pushing the clutch in all the way!

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Other things at bars grind my gears . For example, people who become violent after drinking, dudes who sandbag in an effort to take advantage of a woman, people who bring in kids. For me some idiot spouting off about something he doesn’t know anything about in a bar is kind of par for the course.