Did Romeo Drink Beer?

The Great Carnac holds the sealed envelope to his head and ponders about what's inside. After a few second he flatly says, "Mount Juliet."

He tears open one end of the envelope, blows it open and extracts a slip of paper with a question typed neatly on it. He reads the question silently, smirks and then reads it aloud.

"What did Romeo do on his wedding night."

The audience erupts in laughter.

Does anyone else miss Johnny Carson like I do? Besides that, does anyone know why the little town in western Wilson County is called Mt. Juliet because there sure ain't no mountain anywhere near it and it's a long way from "fair Verona" where Romeo and Juliet did their dirty deeds?

I guess it really isn't important, but what is important to note is that Mt. Juliet (and Wilson County) now have a HUGE new beer store called the Mount Juliet Beer Company!! And I mean a real beer store dedicated only to real beer...ok, they do have domestics, but they are in the minority in terms of inventory and I guess a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do to scratch out a living among the uneducated masses, right?

The vast selection includes the option to do variety six-packs from their wares as well. And those selections come from most of what they offer, and not just old beers that have sat around for months and not sold -- like at another giant beer store I USED to frequent in Nashville.

I have been tardy in posting this entry since the Mount Juliet Beer Company opened, and in the meantime have made two different "shopping sprees" there. Here's a quick run-down of what I have gotten there so far.

My first variety six-pack included:

1. Dundee Pale Bock - very good German brew, light in color - made in Rochester, NY
2. Dundee Honey Brown Lager - not bad for a lager. The honey infusion certainly helps.
3. Sweaty Betty Blonde - a wheat beer with good flavor. Love the name. Another great product from one of my favorite craft brewers, Boulder Brewing in Colorado.
4. Hop Project from Yazoo here in Nashville. I have had this before and love its hoppiness so.
5. Harpoon Summer Beer - it was a kolsch that tasted like Budweiser to me. Not impressive even though this Boston-based brewery produces one of my favorite bottled IPAs.
6. Victory Sunrise Weissbeir - an extremely wheaty unfiltered beer that was a little overpowering to me in terms of wheat taste, but not an awful choice for a hot summer day. Victory's out of Pennsylvania near Philly and have just started entering the market here with a wide variety of interesting brews.

I also bought an individual 6 pack of Karma Ale from Avery Brewing in Colorado which was very enjoyable. Avery produces a great bottled IPA and this lighter ale was extremely smooth.

A couple of weeks later my next variety six-pack included:

1. Victory Prima Pils - a hoppy pilsner? very unique and definitely an A for effort. The taste was of decent hoppiness but the aroma was still pure pilsner.

2. BBC American Pale Ale - decent pale ale from our neighbors to the north in Louisville (Bluegrass Brewing). I may have had this. before.

3. BBC Amber Ale - nice, and a bit smoother than the pale ale

4. Dogfish Head - Festina Peche' - peach-flavored malt beverage...completely gross...terrible...had to pour it out. Enough said. These craft beer pioneers from Delaware ought to be ashamed of this product. Yuck.

5. New Belgium Skinny Dip - This craft brewery juggarnaut's new summer beer was pretty good especially ice cold.

6. Stone Pale Ale - perfect and smooth. The boys at Stone just keep on keeping on out their in northern San Diego. By far my favorite craft brewers who are putting their product in bottles.

Again, I also got an individual 6 pack of Pass Time Pale Ale from the great folks at Boulder Brewing. A great summer ale that I have enjoyed one of every evening over the past week.

The owner of the Mount Juliet Beer Company - who's name has slipped from me - also promised a future of kegged beer to be available to fill growlers with like the my favorite beer store down in Chattanooga. Oh, what a happy day that will be here in Wilson County! Definitely worth the climb up fair Juliet!