Bock Beer

  This should be of interest to all beer drinkers out there.  I will explain the origin of Bock Beer.  But first some background:

  In the late 40s My dad had a  job as third shift boiler tender at the Centlivre brewery in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  It was a really old fashioned brewery.  During one summer my brother and I went along to work with dad several times.  I know that was highly illegal, but what the hell??

The brewery was an interesting place with lots of different stuff to see.  The management even provided an on site tap room for the employees to toss back a few after work.  This made for a happy workforce.  My brother and I used to go to the taproom and draw off a bucket of beer and take it back down to dad in the basement.  Dad had a hot plate that was supposed to be used to heat coffee.  We would boil a pound of weenies in the beer and enjoy a 3 AM snack.

  On the way up to the taproom we had to pass some huge open vats of beer that was aging.  If you can imagine, they looked like huge mugs of beer complete with a foam head.  As I remember the vats were 12 to 15 feet in diameter and about 20 feet high.  They were made of beautiful cypress wood and held together by huge steel rings.  The construction made them look like huge whiskey barrels or a farmers silo.

Now to the bock beer.  Dad said that every spring they had to drain the vats to clean off the "scum" that had collected on the inside of the vats.  The first batch of beer that was aged in the vat was "colored and flavored" by the remains of the loose scum.  Thus bock beer.  Now you know

Birthday in July

 Birthday in July.

I was born on July forth, 1938.  It was at the very tail end of the great depression.  Roosevelt saw that things were looking up so he removed many of the programs that aided people to get back on their feet.  Unfortunately his action was premature.

  My father had just gotten a job in January just a few weeks before the bottom dropped out again.  My folks were so confident that they bought all new furniture to replace the "orange crates" .  They took out a 90 day loan to pay for the furniture.  Then dad lost his job as the downturn started.  And mom was pregnant with me.

The loan was due just before the end of June.  Since dad could not come up with the cash to pay off the loan the finance company repossessed the furniture on July first, just three days before I was born. With no furniture in the house dad had to borrow a bed from a neighbor so that I did not have to be born on the floor.  (no joke )

  My birth was uneventful and mom came through just fine.  Since the folks had no money they could not afford the $5 fee for a doctor to make a house call to perform my circumcision.

The rest is history