Merry Christmas in July! I'll start this post by saying that today's beer isn't the beer I'd intended to do up for Xmas in July '24. When I found myself at a nearby bottleshop in February looking for a beer among their straggling holiday ales, hoping to find the one today, I inadvertently snagged something that'd I'd reviewed before. Honestly, considering I've been doing this whole blog thing for nearly a decade, I'm surprised incidents like that don't happen more frequently.

I didn't realize my mistake until last weekend. In July. Do you know how many of last year's holiday beers are still kicking around on store shelves this deep into the summer? I headed out to another nearby bottleshop with little hopes of finding anything worth drinking for today.

Despite my forlorn outlook, luck was on my side! They had a cart full of four-packs of Toppling Goliath's Holidotz clearanced out for $8/pop. Having had and liking one or two of the brewery's beers before, I saw this as a sign and grabbed a pack. Let's see how this special holiday lager's drinking!

Oops. Sorry. I promise I didn't mean to take all of June off from the blog. But now I'm back to it. It's summer, it's been hot, and I've had to cut my grass more times than I'd like to admit (even if I had to put a pause lawncare during that terrible heatwave we had a few weeks ago). Time for a beer.

Speaking of cutting the grass and beer, I've been on the hunt for my next favorite lawnmower. Today's can comes courtesy of my coworker, who gave it to me after deciding it wasn't for her. It's Jolly Pumpkin's (boy, I haven't had them in a good while) Blanca. Let's see how she's drinking.

Michelle and I recently returned from a trip down to the Gulf Coast. We spent time strolling along the shore, looking for shells, wading into the ocean, eating some delicious seafood, and sipping tiki drinks on the beach after dark. It was a great getaway, but I still have some beachiness left in me.

Cue today's beer. This was gifted to me by my dad around Easter. It's been in my fridge since, waiting for the right time. Well, that day's today. That beer's Stormcloud's the Nightswimmer.

Ah, Pabst. Or, depending on when you first encountered it, PBR. Well, I guess it's always been PBR but, when I was in my undergrad, the music and art kids who drank it prominently called it Pabst.

Pabst Blue Ribbon is a staple. I think I've seen it in every bar I've ever been in. Every gas station I've ever visited has has it. It's (anecdotally) as ingrained in American beer and brewing culture as AB InBev, and Miller, and Molson Coors, yet (again, anecdotally) thought of as being on a lower tier. And I've never really gotten that (well, okay, maybe it's deservedly lower than many of Miller and Molson Coors' beers, but it's definitely at least on-par with any Budweiser product).

Today, I'll drink a can and give you my thoughts.