Where have you gone, Lew Bryson, a Commonwealth turns its thirsty heart to you (Woo, woo, woo)
Posted on August 19th, 2008 by jackc
There was apparently something of a horror show up in State College on Saturday according the last half of this BeerAdvocate thread. then, in another thread, Tom Steigelmann has just revealed distressing news for us non-smokers about this Saturday’s Saison Fest at Union Jack’s on the Manatawny.
Both situations would seem to be the result of the PLCB showing its muscles and “protecting” each and every one of us to a fare-thee-well. In their spare time, I might note, the same folks and their allies are also pissing off the wine crowd, just to keep busy.
Dammit, wasn’t The Big Guy supposed to be eliminating this sort of nonsense?
RE: UJ’s
remember the dining room is non smoking. Only the bar area is smoking.
I went to Toronto, just for the record.
Meanwhile, problems at the Penn State Fest surprise me not one bit. The very first time I went to the fest, the second time it was held, I ran into a red-faced PLCB agent screaming at one of the promoters at the entrance. What it boiled down to was that two days before the fest, someone had dropped a dime to the LCB, saying the fest was full of unregistered beers — HORRORS! Rather than getting in touch with the promoters and trying to expedite things to get those brands registered (which is all BS anyway; it’s not like they’re registering guns, it’s about getting money for the State), the LCB guy sand-bags them, and says “get those unregistered beers out of here or I’m shutting this place down!” Oooo, big man, shut me down too!
This happens way too much. Some disgruntled bar or store owner gets pissy-assed about a festival “taking away business” and calls a cop or an LCB-trooper to tell them about real or imagined violations. Happened at a festival I was involved in and almost cost us thousands of dollars (eventually cost us hundreds of dollars worth of lawyer, but we got it cleared up). You never find out who dropped the dime, you never get it nailed down for certain that the complaints are dismissed, all you get is agita.
I’m not kidding. We need to abolish the PLCB, do away with the State Store System, assign the worthwhile functions to other, more efficient agencies (like the State Police and the Dept. of Revenue and the Dept. of Ag, which actually do have pretty good reputations), and let beer distributors start sellling wine and liquor and beer in any package we want to buy. Now…is that really so freakin’ radical?
Looks like Big One and the Other One will be drinking some place else on Saturday. That should make some people happy.
Re: to the Big One and the Other One
The handsome one will be there if only sans his tie. His love for saisons outwieghs his disgust of smoke.
Jack or UJ’s Representative (David):
Can we purchase our saison inside and drink it outside? I have never been there and Saturday is the perfect opportunity.
Cheers,
Kevin
You’ll have to ask Tom. In the past this has always been fine, but with what happened I’m not sure if that will be a possible. I’ll find out and report back.
Actually looks like Tom replied to you on the BA thread.
[...] Tom Stiegelmann of Union Jack’s on the Manatawny checked in just now with the straight skinny on the Saison Fest on Saturday and he says that non-smokers need not panic (as The Other One did on behalf of the Big One in the Comments section to my post yesterday). [...]
anyone wanna catch a smoke?
Jack will you go inside the bar order and serve me my Saison Beer? I of course will tip you for the excellent service.
Other, my friend, I am sure we can work out a deal. You know I always like having a driver. Provide that sort of service and you could cut your tip back to only 20%.
I like your thinking Other One, that plan might work for me too. We’ll just get a pitcher and a couple of glasses. When Jack gets tired, we will get Tie One On to help out.
What time are all of you PLCB hating, non-smoking, saison loving, inside ordering, outside drinking dickweeds going to be there? I’ll see if I can honor you with my presence! (NO, not presents!)
Steve
12:30 PM works for me. Hate to waste a good Saturday afternoon hiding in the dining section.
If I had known this thread was going to turn into a dating service, I’d have established a membership fee. But you can all buy me beers instead….