All I Can Say is Ahhhhhhh....

I may have mentioned once or twice that I like to drink beer.

One of the beers I liked to drink was Wiedemann. I often proudly claimed I was a fourth generation Wiedemann drinker, and proudly raining a fifth.

And then they stopped brewing Wiedemann.

In the family the story is that my wife often told me that if I stopped drinking beer, the brewery would go bankrupt. In January of 2005 I decided it was time to stop drinking so much, and cut my consumption way back. In March of that year the Pittsburgh Brewing Co., the then current brewers of Wiedemann, filed for bankruptcy.

Wiedemann was the hometown beer. My Great- Grandparents settled in Newport, Kentucky in the 1870's, where Wiedemann was brewed. Great- Grandpa even drove a horse drawn delivery wagon for George himself in early part of last century, and quit when they took his horses away and tried to make him a truckdriver. But he still drank Wiedemann. As did his son and grandson, my Dad.

And my sons. My wife walked into the kitchen one day and caught my two oldest boys in front of the open refrigerator, with an open bottle of beer that they were sharing. They were 5 and 3 at the time.

Just the other day my son, who was three in the incident above, some 20- odd years ago, brought home a couple of bottles of Yuengling Beer. I have had a few bottles recently myself, as it is now sold just over the river in Ohio, and after the first taste he looked at me and said; 'Wow' tastes just like Wiedemann!'

Which it does; both beer share a very similar heritage.

Once Wiedemann disappeared from the shelves in 2005, I didn't have a beer. I had several I would drink, and many I would avoid, but didn't have one brand that was always in the fridge. At least until lately, when I have been finding Rolling Rock cheap in the 30 can pack. Coincidentally, Rolling Rock is also brewed by the Iron City Brewing Company, the successor out of Bankruptcy of Pittsburgh Brewing.

Well, the other day a friend of mind alerted me to the fact that Wiedemann is back! I can't wait to try a glass.

Another interesting story; the restaurant mentioned in the story is also an old family favorite, and the sign in the picture got me into trouble with a waitress there one day.

We were there for dinner in 2002 or so; after the Wiedemann brewery had closed in Newport, adn I asked for the Lasagna, as always, and a Wiedemann. 'Sir,' she says, 'we don't serve Wiedemann.'

So I retort, 'Your sign out front says you do!'

'Sir', says the waitress with a deadly look, 'that sign is 50 years old'.

I drank Ice Tea instead.

But next time I go to Pompillios, its the Lasagna and a cold draft Wiedemann.

If for no other reason, than for Dad.

Well, and I have missed Wiedemann.