Shortest Month Packs a Punch
By Devry Thayer
February is here, finally! You did great keeping your resolutions so far, and Dry January looked like a breeze for you. I even met some people extending their “Dry Run” for 120 days and beyond, and I am proud. As for my dry January, it was about as smooth as southbound Tully Road has been. (Nailed it)
We have so much crammed into the shortest month in February that it feels like it could use an extra day occasionally. In February, we have the Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, San Francisco Beer Week, 4 Margarita Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, Whiskey Wednesdays, and Thirsty Thursdays. I work on the weekends, so I don’t know if people drink on those days.
With so many exciting things happening, Modesto is in a terrific spot to take advantage of everything happening.
With the Super Bowl happening this month, we get to start off a little slow and build momentum from there. In my experience, the Super Bowl is the day I struggle to keep whatever diet I am on. It’s hard to sit down and resist the urge to crack some light beers and watch the game.
Personal bias- my go-to light beer lately has been Montucky Cold Snacks. Being recently added to Gallo’s portfolio, it is becoming increasingly available in numerous stores and gaining ground from the crown and mountains. Also, it comes in 16-ounce cans, which I’ll just put out there as the superior can size. Light and crushable, it makes an easy drinker to play whatever drinking game you and your buddies have going on. Also, coming in at 4.1% ABV means you can remember Kendrick Lamar’s special guest–it’s SZA–at the halftime show.
You know, the Monday after the Super Bowl is the day when most Americans call out of work. I am sure it has nothing to do with the copious amounts of salami, cheese, hot wings, and Cold Snacks that will be consumed.
San Francisco Beer Week usually happens the second week of February every year, but this year, it will start on February 21 and go until March 2. That way it doesn’t compete with the Super Bowl weekend and Valentine’s Day. When a city of that size and with that many breweries decides that they are going to throw a week-long party with a bunch of events, dinners and competitions, then all the big names show up. The likes of Russian River Brewing, Alvarado Street, Altamont, HenHouse, and many more are brewing special beers for a variety of events throughout the Bay Area.
With all those breweries making beers, we also get the collateral benefits in the valley. I am sure that some of you can look back at your calendars and realize that this is when places start posting about having an award-winning triple IPA or two every year. Pliny the Younger, Altamont’s Scarcity, hopefully, a Big Chicken sighting or something as excellent from someplace that the dedicated beer buyers have driven for hours to bring here.
Keep a close eye on your favorite local craft beer draught houses’ social media; they will announce things as fast as they can and are allowed to. Then go and drink some great beer. The more support these events get, the more rare things will be available. Also, a friendly reminder that these tend to be minimal events, so please be patient and aware that there are a lot of people who would like to get a pour of the same beer. So don’t take more than your fair share, and thank the people who helped you.
Oh yeah, that reminds me. Valentine’s Day is this month. So, this is another friendly reminder that not all the significant others in the world think that standing in line for a 10-ounce beer pour is a Valentine’s Day date. Your day would be better if you were describing things that were light and floral, and it was the flowers in your hand. You can go from an IPA that drinks like a Double to a Single real quick.
Alright, let’s go over February again really quickly. Drink light beer and watch commercials, buy someone you love flowers, drink big beers in small glasses, and then head to the Bay Area and have dinner with a brewer or something. Sounds like a big month.
Cheers.
