It really is in comparison to Christmas Eve for the faithful. For the undeterred. For the overly zealous fans of College Football, this weekend is their Mecca. Now, what does this have to do with beer? A lot. Your retailer has beer on sale right now, if you were to ask… they would say it is for the Labor Day weekend… which is a half truth. Yes, it is Labor Day weekend, yes, that is awesome, BBQ, brisket, pools, bikinis, little chitlins running around in the sprinklers, open garages, throwing the football around with your friends at the lake…. All good things. But again, where is the beer in all of this? Well, honestly… What are you going to be drinking while you watch the big games? That may depend on who your team is. If you root for the Longhorns, you’re going to be drinking Natural Light, Keystone, and maybe some Miller Lite. If you root for the Cowboys, you will definitely be drinking Miller Lite, as it is the “Official Beer” of the Dallas Cowboys… Bet you didn’t know that! (See, reading my blog IS informative). Now, if you root for say, the Houston Texas, San Diego Chargers, Seattle Seahawks… you’re going to have a wonderfully brewed, painstakingly measured and aged specialty crafted microbrew. Houston, located in the number two state for craft beer has a wonderful assortment of microbrews at its disposal. (Not to say that Austin does not, but lets face it, who drinks a 512 Porter, or a Real Ale Mysterum Verum, or Russian Imperial stout while you beat up on Rice). Houston, home to the Texans, as well as St. Arnolds… Well that is just a wonderful combination. St. Arnolds is very involved with the local citizens, and caters to them. (Cue Centenni-Ale, a specialty brew coming out in celebration of Rice University’s 100th anniversary.) Also, St. Arnolds, can be bought on draft at Rice football games… #Justsayin’. San Diego, home to SDSU, UCSD, and the Chargers has a plethora of wonderful craft breweries. Stone, Karl Strauss, etc.

Now, what do Aggies drink? We drink it all. I will be walking around Reed Arena on Sunday and from years of tailgating, this is what I will see. In Spence Park, I will see the sorostitutes getting drunk on Natural Light, the frat daddies beer bonging other cheap beers, probably Beer Thirty, Natural Light, and Keystone). I will see the Ol’ Ags drinking Shiner Bock, in the yellow bottles. I will see my buddy Daniel drinking Yuengling from a hidden cooler, I will see a majority of the guys drinking Bud Light in the parking lots, wether it is in maroon cans (Yeah, the ones that read A&M on the side) or in prized koozies, or from a keg that has been iced down over night (Lets face it, it gets HOT in Texas in Aug… September). Myself? I am going to start this weekend with a pair of IPAs (Racer 5, Florida Beer Companys Key West, and maybe a Belgian Wenderlinus) I also have a twelve pack of discontinued bottles from Shiner including the out of production Shiner Light. (Side note: Shiner does have a new family reunion twelve pack out, but the Shiner Light has been replaced with what is called “Old-Alt”, which is alright, but certainly not my favorite Shiner).

So, whatever you drink this weekend, keep it classy, keep it cold and enjoy it.

Prosit!