World Tour . . Japanese Style

On the World Tour of Beer, participants drink beverages from all over the globe. I have talked about some of the fine brews we have had from the Czech Republic, from Trappist Monks in Belgium and from spots as exotic as Sri Lanka.

One of the countries that was not represented in this year's tour was Japan. When I was working at the Swage, we often hosted associates from Japan. Although there was a language barrier, we often found common ground in the fact that they love beer and we love beer.

I have to admit, the Japanese are not the only people in Asia who like to drink. Our friends in China and South Korea like to participate in their fair share of a good time. If you ever want to inquire, Hollow Leg and the Cruise Director have very incriminating photographs to back up my claims.

Partaking of some great Japanese beers like Ashi, Sapporo or Kirin can get you into a party mood and a little hung over. It made me wonder about the cultural experience of the Japanese. As we know, Americans like to drink. When we drink too much, most of us get hungover . . . with the exception of Hollow Leg.

I went exploring this topic on the Internet. I found a great blog entry about How the Japanese cure a hangover. Even better was the detailed explanation about the Japanese culture of the two-day and three-day drinking session.

I think they have the Americans beat here. There are actual words for two-day drunk and three-day drunk in their language. We just call it a lost weekend.

With a series of hangover remedies listed in the posting, the author rightly poses the question - what do YOU do to prevent a hangover?

My answer - have a Bailey's and coffee or just start praying for lunch hour to go sleep it off. Not that I EVER had to do that.

The Century

One of the definitions of a century is any group or collection of 100. Well, I have completed the Winking Lizard Century.

When I started this endeavor in late January with Anne Lyn, I thought it would be well into the autumn before this journey was completed. I tried to envision 2 beers every week for 50 weeks. If you look at it like that, how hard would it be to get through the 100 beers?

It was never hard getting through the beers. I was even lucky enough to sneak a Guinness in as final substitute.

What was hard was getting up the next morning. What was hard is getting a cab to drive you back to the Winking Lizard because you had too many Belgian beers the day before and Mr. Hollow Leg had to drive you home.

In hind site, I am thankful for the lift and that clearer heads prevailed. It probably is not the best idea to let someone who sets off the fire alarm and just shrugs about it drive home in rush hour.

I will have to say the Hollow Leg (HL) made a valiant effort to finish before me - even getting a six pack in mid-season to narrow the gap. In the end, I had prevailed. Although HL won't admit to it, I think he did the gentlemanly thing by letting me finish first. He finished the next day before our first annual corn hole tournament (a raving success).

So where does that leave us. It means that the first half of the four man relay team has crossed the line. We need to stand on the sidelines and cheer on our teammates. We need to be there to support their efforts.

Go Team Go! Let the games continue - or maybe - another round.

And then there were 2 . . .

Last week when I went to the Winking Lizard, I had only planned on having two beers. I had the minuscule total of 9 remaining beers to finish. Much to my surprise, I only had 8 beers left to drink - happy day!

It all seems like smooth sailing. Well, the rough winds starting blowing when Anne Lyn did not come and Quality Expert was pushing the limits to catch up to me.

Looking back on where the tacking when wrong. There were two bad maneuvers. 1) I hate to be beaten by anyone and 2) I really don't want to let the trash talking Quality Expert drag his apparently hollow leg across the finish line first.

So, I had five beers. I tried to intermix the strong Belgian and other high ABV beers with some water and a 4.5 ABV. I will say the beers I did have were mighty tasty. I was trying to save my favorites for the last day.

I sailed through the five and had another later with a farewell group from my company. Fortunately, I had a cheeseburger to keep me from heeling over before I hit the road.

In other news . . .
Unfortunately, Anne Lyn had to observe the rule were Boats on a Port Tack shall give way to boats on Starboard Tack. She made it to the turn first, but Quality Expert seems to have caught the downwind and got the spinnaker out.

As for the Cruise Director, he seems to be stranded on a sandbar. He made some attempts to heave ho at an alternate location this weekend, but he is still aiming for the turnaround.

Talking Big, Talking Trash - Delivering Results

There has been a lot of trash talking on the team lately. I think my recent spike to the 70/80s in count has made the male team members a little nervous. (I wanted to say male members there, but I thought it wouldn't be appropriate.)

They came in strong with declarations of "I am going to crush you" and other similar statements. They thought their previous beer drinking experience would be enough to get them through.

Dude, you are not LeBron James. Maybe you have skills, but this is the Big League. I might not be the fastest drinker. I might not have the biggest tolerance. However, I am hungry (well thirsty), and I am willing to work at it instead of resting on my laurels.

Granted, I have thrown some verbal barbs over the wall, but I have slowly and steadily backing up my smack talk with the numbers. It is nice to hit 3 pointers, but when you can't make the layups or foul shots, you're not wearing the t-shirt with 23! You're not even wearing the Winking Lizard fleece first.

To make it even more interesting, I am the only member to complete the Belgian Beer mini tour - kind of like the All Star game for the WLTOB.

I got a wonderful glass that I am going to use as a prize for our corn hole tournament. I know I don't have the skills to win the corn hole tournament, but I also remember, it is just a game.