How Many Bottles of Beer on the Wall - A Tale of One Man's Yeast Affection
By Patrick Yellen

Back in the early to mid 1980's a few of my friends and I entered the Beer Tasting Club (which would account for my haziness of specific dates in time) at the Parting Glass Pub on Lake Avenue in Saratoga Springs. One only had to "sample" in the neighborhood of 200 beers in an approximate 10 month period and grade it on a scorecard. If you could preview 2 to 3 beers a night, 2 to 3 times a week, this great gift to mankind was very do-able; without requiring emergency room treatment. And do it we did. What a great time we had sampling beers from all over the world. From little 7 ounce Pilsners to the 25 ounce Fosters Lager can, we finished the important job with time to spare. We built many bridges and solved many problems of the world sitting in front of that wonderful bar. One night, during a heavy snowstorm, I actually skied down with my faithful dog Rocky from my apartment off north Broadway; refusing to let Mother Nature sway me from my dedication to important matters concerning the human condition.