The early evening hours Monday were pretty intense, if you can believe it—how intense can things get from a barstool? It was intense. Reason why is because my best friend, future roommate, and the catalyst to much of my stupidity Butch was in town for a job interview (where else but at Budget Liquors—the store above which I live). After he’d been successfully hired I decided I needed to do some blog research. This meant a walk over to Lunkers.

I started with a “Smutty Nose” Summer Weizen Ale. This golden ale poured the same color as a Budweiser would but it was not as transparent. It smells just a tad heavier than a Budweiser, too, so this had me thinking it was going to be an easy beer to handle. I was surprised by the amount of “earth” I tasted in it.

Y’all know by know that I classify imports sometimes as being “earthy” or “green.” This was earth without the green—like what wet dirt might taste like. Some folks like that kind of thing, which is fine. They’ve got a more refined pallet than I, for they always drink fine beers. I drink Busch Light.

Next on my list was a “Double Trouble.” It’s the only beer I’ve had in my career with a decidedly grapefruit theme. Now lets harken back to the first time we had grapefruit juice.

I remember my first time, in a diner in Monticello, Indiana. We were going to Indiana Beach later in the day. My day was practically ruined by how bad grapefruit juice tastes. So you can imagine this beer, it was like bitter, sugarfree, alcoholic grapefruit juice. That’s alright though, because all beers are meant to be tasted. Folks who like a fruit-ish beer would like “Double Trouble.”

I normally do two drinks at a time and then leave, but Butch and I got to talking with folks at the bar and we decided to keep at it (which is something I normally refrain from because I’m poor—AND I was buying Butch’s drinks, too…).

Butch told me about a concoction called “Black and Blue”—take a Blue Moon and pour a Guinness into it. The “oil-and-water” type mixture needs stirring so that the Guinness can settle; be careful not to stir too fast or the stuff’ll foam over. Anyway, Blue Moon’s got a hotdog-like aftertaste. Add that to Guinness, which to some extent is like a walnut. Together = a walnutty hotdog, which isn’t really that unpleasant.

After that, I got back to serious imports with a Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale. This chocolate-smelling, white-headed dark beer has the hue of dark tea. Anything that dark I’m not so much on fire about, but Butch, who had one too, kept talking it up and eventually convinced me that it was a good beer (we need to understand that this man’s alcoholic fortitude is alarmingly sturdy; there are those around here who revere me for being able to handle anything, which I can, but whatever I can handle, Butch handles gracefully).

Butch then orders us both a Three Wise Men, a stomach churning combination of Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, and Jose Cuervo. In his wise insanity, he tells me his policy on ‘3WM’: “I normally drink it in small sips, to savor what I’m drinking.

Too many people drink liquor fast.” I figured quickly for effect was the idea with booze, but I respected his opinion and did as he did—it really wasn’t that bad. In my opinion, the three spirits involved in the 3WM are potent enough on their own, but together they almost cancel each other out. The only taste, other than firey alcohol, that dominates the concoction is Jim Beam. Luckily, Jim is one of my favorites.

But then Butch went over the deep end and poured the last swallow of his 3WM into half of his Tsingtao, a Chinese beer I’ve reviewed before. By the time he was down to his last inch and a half of beer, he had me sip it. It was intense, but again, this guy is crazy and he wondered aloud why he’d never done this before.

All in all, we left Lunkers around 7 P.M., both of us suitably drunk. In our last conversation before leaving, Butch began a story that many of us in this time of life should be able to relate to: “Ya know what’s shoking?” the 21-but-seems-like-45-year-old-the-way-he-can-drink man said. “I got called an alcoholic the other day…no, that’s not the shocking part…”

When Butch moves in with us here at “Budget Estates” as we call it, I think I’m gonna need to find another job. One night a week on-air at GLT is no way to support a drinking habit.