Widmer Brothers Drop Top Amber Ale

"Bill Becker" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

I used to go to all the tastings at the Brickskeller in D.C., were really fun things to go to. Went to tastings for Bell's, Stone/Pizza Port/Oggi's, and a whole bunch of other breweries. Went to a really impressive one once when Alan Sprints of Hair of the Dog came out and ran a tastings. Entertaining as hell, brought a bunch of really weird stuff along (including the first time out of the brewery for Dave, a 25% double- or triple-eisbocked Adam). Was really cool, and an incredible deal at $25 for 8 or 9 freakishly unusual and tasty beers.

A week after the HotD tasting, there's a Widmer tasting. I'm a bit leery (to put it mildly), but it's a chance to get out with a few friends, try a few beers, all that. When we sit down, I notice two large tables full of people in Michelob and Bud clothing, which doesn't shock me due to Widmer's distribution agreement. Then the tasting starts. 5 beers plus one cider, one of those beers being their crappy "hefe" you can get basically anywhere. Was basically a pitch for increased distribution rather than a beer tasting event.

And years later, I'm still bitter about it. Widmer can bite me.

I wasn't that impressed with Drop Top either. However, I think they made up for it with W '05 IPA.