good talk

Tony Galento who was one of the leading Heavyweight Contenders of the 1930's said that he got his strength from Beer. The affable Tavern Owner said "I think when I was a baby that my Mother instead of milk must have fed me Beer." Indeed when Galento fought Joe Louis he was able to knock the "Brown Bomber" down before eventually succumbing. In my day I've toured 5 Breweries as I've supported that Industry for decades; the now-defunct Pabst Brewery and the Miller Brewery in Milwaukee, the Olympia Brewery in Olympia, Washington, the Stroh's Brewery in St.Paul, and the Coors Brewery in Golden, a suburb of Denver. To be at these breweries was very exciting. At the end of the Tour 4 of them gave you a free beer, as the Tour Guide at the Olympia Brewery said at the time, "You can't always get a free beer!" Indeed not. At the Stroh's Brewery you were allowed a Half-Hour to drink all the beer you wanted and they even furnished Pretzels! I had a daydream where at the end of the Half-Hour some guy being pulled away from the table. I never have drunk to excess and I hardly drink at all anymore, I pop a couple every few nights. I remember the first beer that I ever bought was "Fort Pitt," and it cost 85 cents for a 6-pack. In Ohio you had to be "21" to buy 4.5% beer and I was "17," I just walked into a Supermarket and bought it, no questions asked. In my adult life I've gone for as long as 6 weeks without drinking alchohol, I could always take it or leave it. But it never ceases to amaze me all of the people I've noticed who have an addiction to alchohol, their numbers are staggering, no pun. Alchohol will give you the blahs, give you depression, but they guzzle it anyway. Alchoholics Anonymous was begun in Akron, Ohio in 1935 and in my part of town, west Akron and Akron St. Thomas Hospital was the first hospital in the Country to treat Alchoholism as a Disease and not just a Weakness of Character. There was a Ward set aside exclusively for the Treatment of Alchoholics which was run by a no-nonsense Nun. This is certainly something that Akronites can be proud of. My younger brother, Tom, was born at St. Thomas and I, who was "5" suggested that he be named Thomas for that reason. I'll bet half of the boys born at St. Thomas were named Thomas. I know a guy here in Las Vegas named Tom who's from the Akron area and I asked him if he was born at St. Thomas and he said----yes. In 1979 I was driving through Wine Country in California and I saw the sign as I passed one Winery inviting people to stop by for a tour, so I did. I remember the Tour Guide said that it was the 2nd largest Winery in the Country, and I think it was Italian-Swiss Colony. I was the only one on the Tour, and I found it to be very nice, I remember the Tour Guide said that he was about ready to retire. At the end of the tour you could have a complimentary glass of wine and there was about a hundred bottles to choose from. The Tour Guide said "...Try this..." and I drank the glass of wine. Then he said, "Try this" and "Try this...." Before I left I had drunk 5 glasses of wine, I rode in sober and drove away half-drunk, maybe that's why I'm not quite sure of which Winery I was at.