Rick wrote:JRNYMAN wrote:Hook me up with a frosty-cold bottle of Heineken or Coor's Light in an even colder, icier mug and I'm a happy camper. I collect beer mugs and steins - but only unusual or different ones. Years ago the wife and I were on vacation and one of our stops was in Lake Geneva, WI (neat place! Had so much fun at Hoggs and Kisses for those who know the place...) We went into this tiny little gift shop/thrift store/sewing center (I swear I'm not making that up!

) They had some super cool stuff and one-of-a-kind type things (think Spencer's Gifts meets Hemeker Schlemmer meets any truck stop gift shop) Anyway, I bought this set of Heineken beer mugs that look like they'd easily hold a couple of beers no problem but they're so thick they only barely hold a 12 oz. beer - if there's no head! The great thing about these mugs is when you freeze them, they stay icy cold for damn near an hour indoors. The glass they're made out of is a lot like those glass insulators you see on telephone poles - very dense, but crystal clear. I've never seen anything like 'em before or since.
There used to be a barbecue joint near here called Railhead. They had the coldest beer I've ever had. The mugs were much like you just described. The frost would grow a half inch thick after they added beer. It was so cold you absolutely had to hold the mug by the handle. Loved that place for the food and the cold beer.
It's places like that, that leave a lasting impression on you. About 20 years ago (God, I'm gettin' old!

) I was in St. Louis on business and the client took me to a place called Westport Plaza which, at the time was this brand new restaurant, hotel, nightclub destination point that was just the coolest, adult-targeted place of its kind I had ever been to up to that point in my life. It was built like a Swiss village with something new and different around every corner. LOTS of cozy pub-type places - each one completely different than the last. Anyway, there was this pub/eatery which served as the landing zone after crawling the rest of the village all evening, called The Blue Stove. Heavy duty picnic tables bolted to the floor, peanut shells and sawdust served as the floor covering, the waitresses were dressed EXACTLY like the St. Paulie Girl model, all carrying huge steins of beer (they were also a micro-brewery with so many very cool, flavored beers. My absolute favorite to this day is their blueberry tainted ale which at first thought may sound like ewwwwww...

but lemme tell ya, it was soooooooooooo fuckin' good! Not sweet, just a really tasty ale with the aftertaste of blueberry. YUM! They had a house band that played 6 nights a week and would play ANYTHING you requested - and fairly respectably too! It held MAYBE 200 people and by 11:00pm, the place was packed to the gills with great looking 20-30 something's having a good time. The reason for the tables being bolted to the floor is because they were also the dance floor. There wasn't any room anywhere else to dance and the band was so good that you just had to dance! And the food......? Everything they served was based on or around one simple theme: Pigs in blankets! Brats in blankets, sausage in puff pastry, etc. They must have had 15 different kinds of them and they were delicious! Every night the band would signal last call by playing The Day the Music Died. When you heard that song start, every single person was up on the tables, stein in hand, and singing along - loudly- every single word - and the band NAILED the song too!
I'll never forget that place. It was so much fun and every aspect of my time there was memorable. Love, love those kinds of places. Nowadays, it seems those places are few and far between with corporate or chain bars dotting the landscape everywhere you look.
Sorry for the dissertation. I tend to be long winded when I'm discussing something I'm passionate about. I guess that applies to Journey too!
