Beer God

Journal Entry: Nine; Beer God
One of my friends calls Colorado the Napa Valley of Beer. We have a giant supply of micro-brews here. Every summer in Salida there is a Beer Rendezvous. This year the 25th year was celebrated. About forty micro-breweries set up tents in the park by the river in Salida under some massive Cottonwood trees. There are probably about fifteen hundred beer lovers each year. For an entrance fee of twenty dollars, you can have as many beer “samples” as you can handle. Everyone mills around, rambling from tent to tent to see which beer they like the best. My personal favorite is Fat Tire from New Belgium Brewery in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Quite frequently, someone begins a crowd bonding yell with beer glasses raised in the air. It is an official salute to the beer gods, which we instantaneously join in. There are several different food kiosks around the perimeter of the beer tents incase you need to soak up some of the alcohol you have imbibed. The band playing this year was premiere. Their name was Avant Garage. They arrive on stage looking like they just came from their day jobs of being carpenters; blue jeans, work boots, and t-shirts. They strut out and begin playing a large variety of oldies rock music. Before they conclude the beer fest, we are all singing as loud as we can the words to “Secret Agent Man” and “Summertime Blues”. It was astonishing to look around and see all the “grey” beards who knew every word to those songs. On the dance floor we saw all ages enjoying high energy gyrations. Especially, one particular guy, who was having a large time with his excellent display of foot work, adorned with orange crocs, of course.