It's a Christmas BEER-acle!

I'm a little late getting this out. What else is new?

Right before Christmas, I was at one of my local distributors to stock up on some IPA for the evening and the next day.  My Old Man is a firm Heine drinker and I didn't want to waste the good stuff on my heathen cousins so I was aiming to grab a Sam Adams holiday mixed 12 and some IPA or IIPA for myself.

While roaming the aisles, I noticed, sitting all pretty and lonely on a shelf, a bottle of the highly sought-after Bourbon County Coffee Stout!  Beer geeks have been knocking each other over to get this bottle.  I already got one but promised it away in a trade and wanted another to drink myself.  I figured my chances were pretty slim but here was one, staring me right in the face!  I grabbed it and tucked it under my arm.

Christmas miracle? Yes!  But this ain't the whole thing!

While I kept shopping, a young lady (who superficially resembled a younger Elisabeth Shue) was apparently doing some Christmas shopping for the beer geek in her life.

I couldn't help but overhear her speaking with one of the workers and decided to offer my assistance.

Consulting her cell phone, she said she was looking for something from Goose Island.  I gripped my sole bottle tighter. She continued and said something about "lightning bolt... bolt something."  Ah!

"You mean Founders 'Bolt Cutter'."  I informed.  The worker told her they were out and had been for some time.  I told her Bellport Dave had some but you had to bring in a toy as a donation in order to buy one.  She seemed happy with this but wanted to buy some other goodies in case she couldn't make it out to Dave's.  I was happy to recommend Brooklyn Black Ops which, though I have a couple, I myself would welcome as a gift.  And then the bomb dropped.

She was looking for Bourbon County Coffee as well.

I thought about the bottle in my hand.  I thought about the sheer luck of stumbling across this.  But then I thought about this girl shopping for what I assumed was her boyfriend or husband.  Sure, if the guy was a beer geek too, he probably already had a bottle of the Coffee and was just looking to beef up his inventory, as I was.  But what if he was new to the scene? What if beer was the only special thing he was looking for?

I offered her my bottle.

She hesitated but politely declined.  Maybe she felt that she was already getting him a bunch of stuff. Maybe she saw how much I wanted the bottle myself and felt bad about taking me up on the offer since I did see the bottle first.  But then, another miracle happened!

John checked the front counter and, on display under the growler pouring station was another bottle of Coffee!

The girl got what she wanted, I got what I wanted and got to experience the joy of giving (or attempting to give) during the Christmas season!

The moral of this event, for me, is to always keep hope (you never know when you'll stumble across that special bottle you're looking for) and to give when you can.  Karma can be a bitch but it can pay you back handsomely as well!

Cheers!