How'd You Come Up With "The Beer Jockey" As Your Name?

No. It has nothing to do with race horses. Nor is it just a slang term for a beer slinging bartender, in this case.

It started years ago when my now teenaged daughter, Caroline, was in grade school in lovely Liberty, Missouri. Her school was having a fundraising auction. Most of the well employed/self employed parents donated nice respectable gifts such as car washes and accounting services. I checked my wallet- empty, and felt I needed to be creative to make my contribution.

I'd been pouring beer smorgasbords for my friends since I became legal in Milwaukee, Wisconsin many years ago. Then there was my 13 years of working at Miller Brewing HQ and some craft beer related employment in Ohio. So, unsurprisingly, the gift of beer came to mind.

I wrote up my auction offering- something like "Sample ten quality beers with your friends, served up with "industry insider" insights on beer styles, brewing history and the changing beer community".

My son, Dan, then almost legal, read it and laughed (which I have found teenagers enjoy doing in response to their parents).

"So, you are something like a disk jockey, but you serve up beers instead of music?", he queried.

Yes, eureka! I am the Beer Jockey! In fact that is what I believe I try to do even now. A good DJ does more than pour music out on his listeners. He selects each song carefully. Perhaps works out an aptly organized thematic set or show. Hopefully, he explains something about the music, the musicians, where they are from and more. The best DJs always throw something new to their audience.

At the core, a DJ allows you to experience the music more fully and causes you to think a bit. He shares his passion with you. Now don't laugh here- I believe that people should think about what they drink! Who makes it, where, what ingredients? What is their company about?

On my best days, that is what I aspire to do as "The BeerJockey".

Check out my Kansas City Hometown Beer Bus Bus tours or UMKC Communiversity classes and see if I can hold to that standard.

Kansas City Area Hometown Beer Bus Tours- from Pop A Top Liberty & ACME Bike- KCMO Roll Soon!

After running our own Hometown Beer Bus tours as The Beer Jockey, with great cooperation from Boulevard Brewing Company, McCoy's Public House BrewPub (Westport) and other stops such as Paci's Cafe in North KC (1824 Buchanan Street), I am now partnering with some great local groups that love good beer to offer more and better beer experiences! We will visit the above stops, with more to be added but we can now pick you up to start the party with your crew at locations around town!

Kansas City Transportation Group (the City's Designated Driver) which runs Yellow Cab and the the KCI Shuttles remains our transportation supplier. [ Check out the Magic Bus photo above- that is our usual ride! ] See www.kctg.com for transport.

Pop-A-Top Liquor & Deli at Liberty Drive and Hwy 291 Liberty (in the shopping center east of/across 291 from the Dish Pizza), welcomes all Northland brew lovers to sign up for a Beer Jockey Bus tour held on Saturday, May 19th starting at 1:00 pm departing from their store. We'll head to Boulevard with Beers on board, tour their World Class Brewery, sample the latest offerings and then head to historic beer sites in town including the former Heim Brewery and the Muehelbach (later Schlitz) brewing complex in City Market before retreating to McCoy's for more samples of craft beer! (Lunch available on your own). We return you to Liberty around 5:30pm.

Contact John Wheeler, Pop-A-Top owner, at 816.415.0069 for details and to sign up. (You really need to stop and see his growing Beer selection and the cigar case, too when you stop in for a fresh sandwich).

Speaking of Wheelers ... Sarah and the gang at ACME Bicycle Company at 412 E. 18th Street, KCMO (across from Grinders in the Crossroads) say Beer and Bicyclists are an inseperable combination! So- our bus will pick up riders from ACME on Saturday, June 2nd at 11:30am, toast a beer on the bus and head for our Classic route of Boulevard Brewery, Beer History sites and on to the fine fermented offerings at McCoy's - dropping you back in the Crossroads about 3:30pm.

Call 816.221.2045 or stop in at ACME to get on board with this urban beer journey
www.acmebicyclecompany.com

All of our tours include beer education, some beer trivia, beer bluster and assorted B.S. along with your superb servings of hops & malt!

<<<< Watch for more beer events being added on the left hand side of this blog.

Do you have a friend's birthday, fraternal/sports group or company entertainment event you want to run? Think about a Hometown Beer Bus tour and call me at 414.520.7265 or email BeerJockeyJim@Yahoo.com

I look forward to sharing a beer with you.- Jim Quinn- The Beer Jockey

Raise A Beer to Franklin Lear !

Although I am from Wisconsin, I did not personally know Frank Lear, from the Fond du Lac area. He passed away recently and his obituary made quite an impression on me.

Perhaps I have lived outside of Wisconsin for too long. It has been over ten years. Maybe this type of salute is now common in the Badger State. Still, I found the following line from the notice most endearing, real and warm.

In lieu of flowers or memorials please go to your favorite pub and have a beer and shake a game of dice.

I intend to raise a beer glass and shake the dice cup today in Frank Lear's honor. It is my hope that many years from now my friends will celebrate my life in a similar fashion.

Honest people and good beers shared in community are real treasures of life.
(No offense intended to the florists!)

My sincere condolences to the Lear family.

#

Link to Obituary:

http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070126/FON010301/701260565/1295/FONnews

< abbreviated below >

The Fond du Lac Wisconsin Reporter-
Posted January 26, 2007


Franklin L. Lear, 73, died Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007.

Born March 5, 1933, in Shelbyville, Illinois, the son of Jesse and Bertha Viola Lear. Served his country in the U.S. Navy in the Korean War. Married Irene Ray in Mattoon, Illinois, March, 1968. She preceded him in death in October 2001.

Frank worked in the maintenance dept. at the West Bend Company for many years.

Survivors include his children, Sadorus Lear of Iron Ridge, Wanda (Dean) Elder of Niangua, Missouri, Phyllis England and Patti (Gerd) Sterr, both of Fond du Lac, and Leo Ray of Oshkosh; one brother, Lester Lear; two sisters, Geneva Cather and Alberta Hinkle; 19 grandchildren; 27 great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren; and many other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; two grandsons, Brian Bly and James Boesen; and a sister, Dorothy Cook.

Services: Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007, at the Twohig Funeral Home of Fond du Lac with the Rev. Bruce Pangborn officiating and burial at the Rienzi Cemetery. The Trier-Puddy American Legion Post 75 will provide military rites at the gravesite. Visitation: Friends may call from 10 a.m. until the time of the service at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers or memorials in his memory, please go to your favorite pub and have a beer and shake a game of dice.

Thank you to the compassionate staff at the Cancer Center, the caring and professional staff at All About Life Rehab Center and heartfelt thanks to the special staff of Hospice.


Twohig Funeral Home, Fond du Lac, is serving the family. www.twohigfunerals. com.

Beer Bottle Babies

In the years I worked at Miller Brewing Company, I had the honor of working with an excellent brewmaster- Art Rehberger. Prior to coming to Miller, Art was head brewer for Schlitz.

We were talking one time about how people drink when they go out for a beer and the topic of drinking straight out of the bottle came up. Art graced us with a ditty that I honestly believe, if understood and applied, could save numerous marriages and relationships!

Here it is:

Into every bottle of beer I make,
I put a little extra gas,
If you don't let it out in your glass,
it's going to come out of your (body part, rhymes with 'glass')

I am hoping that you understand what he is talking about here, but let me illucidate the technical apsects of Art's concern.

Beer has a few enemies - primarily light, heat and oxygen...
Brown bottles protect against light struck beer, good handling and often Pasteurization fight the impact of heating and cooling brew. In order to eliminate oxygen from the headspace in a bottle, bottling lines usually include a CO 2, carbon dioxide, "blow off" step whereby a blast of CO2 is pushed into the bottle before the crown or cap is slammed on. This displaces unwanted oxygen in the beer.

The downside is it introduces an extra charge of gas bubbles into our favorite beverage.

The result is that you really must Pour the beer into a glass to properly taste and enjoy it. First, if the beer in hand has any good flavors- malt, hops, nuances- you want to to shake those up! Pouring and creating a head serves the purpose of allowing your olfactory skills to get to work and actually taste the beer.

I have to hold myself back when some cowboy says. "I don't drink beer as much anymore, it just fills me up". I am willing to bet that what is filling up our friend Tex is Not beer itself. Tex, or Billy Bob, or whoever is simply sucking down many pounds of CO2 and can't figure out why he is bloated or full.

Criss- if it were a baby you'd recognize and burp the kid!

Short of that, here is the drill:
Pour your beer in a glass! Let it breathe.
Experience the subtle flavors it holds.
(By the way, If the only flavors you detect are grainy rice or corn you may want to get a new beer).

Now, I've heard folks say, well, I don't trust the glasses at my bar to be clean. If a food plate came to you dirty I'd hope you would send it back to the kitchen. Show the same respect for beer. You are paying for it.

If your bar or restaurant can't give you a clean glass you may wish to avoid the place altogether. Is it really too much to ask for a beer clean glass?

So, think about it. A simple act. Pouring beer into a glass, allows you to actually taste your beer, avoid social discomfort and maybe save your love life while possibly reducing your expenditures on antacids!

Take the first step.
Think and then Drink- Enjoy.

Good Beer and Good Places

This may be something of a "Which came first, the chicken or the egg" meditation but in my mind the best public places- bars, restaurants and entertainment venues offer the best beers and most variety of beers.

In my experience, the finest beer drinking establishments tend to be locally owned and have unique character. (Conversely, they are not multiple outlet, cookie cutter chain bars that offer just the top selling national lager beers).

Proprietors of good beer places often seek out the best local or regional brews and then add world class imports to follow the "Think Global, Drink Local" chant. This quality driven melting pot mentality spawns good conversations and helps to build an interesting clientele.

[Of course, an on-premise brewery-pub may also generate the same atmosphere, with ever changing house beers and events. I'll go deeper on brewpubs in upcoming posts].

Longfellow is credited with having said "He who has not been at a tavern knows not what a paradise it is." Quality malt beverages, in my opinion, help stir up the kind of public house discussion that might have prevailed during the American Revolution.

I may be lost in the malt clouds here but I truly think that good beer and people who understand and share it help build good communities. If you look at my book list on the left side here, towards the bottom, two books speak to this in different ways- "The Great Good Place" and the new "Fermenting Revolution" titles.
I'd encourage you to look either of these up for insights.

On a more self serving note, at the top left of this blog are the events that I run as "The Beer Jockey". These, at present are local Kansas City area tastings, bus tours and more "beer-centric" experiences. Please consider attending one or more of these programs. You'll meet good people and sample great beers!

Hope to see you.

Cheers.

Welcome- Can I get you a beer?

Growing up in Milwaukee, Beer has always been a part of my life.

I practiced High School football on a field that later became part of the Miller Brewing Company. Among the chores of my youth was running down to the basement to fetch my father a few bottles of Rhinelander beer ($2.99 a case, 24/12 returnables) at 'Cellar' temperature.

Legal drinking age in Wisconsin was 18 back then and my dad used to joke that the age verification process at the time was seeing if you were tall enough to put your money on the bar!

The Germanic culture in town was such that if I cut the grass for an elderly customer on my paper route, when I was about 14 years old, she wouldn't think twice about offering me a beer. (You work, you deserve a beer!) Yah, Yah! Different times.

In the 1970's, Pabst Blue Ribbon was mother's milk in the Beer City, Schlitz was okay at about $1.25 a pitcher and Miller High Life was something you stole from some old man's garage. (Ironically, all of those beers are now produced at the Miller plant).

Enough on the nostalgia for now. Truth is the late 1970's in America was the absolute low point for good domestic beer choices.

I was fortunate to come of age when the good beer movement in the United States began to build up steam. In fact, I was so damn lucky that I began working at Miller Brewing Company at the age of 19!

Legally, that is when my epic journey into the wonders of beer began.

I intend to share some recollections on malted beverages here. More importantly, I want to talk about the great things happening with beer today.

Please feel free to drop me a note or offer me information on the dynamic new worldwide beer community.

Prosit!