Greetings and Salutations my Friends,
This week is an exciting one as we travel to a destination that I have never seen with my own two eyes but have heard tales of greatness from many others like the Curd’s own Joe Powell or one of Welcome to Thursdays oldest members, Kempfo the Great. They’ve told me stories of nickel wings, cheap beers and memories.
One story that caught my interest was the “mug club” – the idea was simple: buy a mug for $10 and drink whatever you can put into it the rest of the night. Math problems started going off instantly in my head as I tried to figure out just how much Hamm’s I could drink from one mug in one night. This was all pointless because there is no way a deal like that exists anymore, right? To my surprise dear readers, the Brothers Mug club does still exist and it just happens to be on a Thursday. So, from one club to another, let’s make sure Thursday night is one for the books and join me as we visit Brothers Bar & Grill for some drinks, laughs, and one awesome mug club.
Just me giving my lecture on Hamm’s.
All this talk of Brothers brings me back to a tale I once heard during a zeppelin ride across the Baltic Sea. You see, I was heading to Roma, Sweden on the island of Gotland to give a brief lecture on the benefits of Hamm’s in modern life. The lecture was to take place at the Gotland Whisky Distillery. Accompanying me on this late-night zeppelin ride was an old cobbler from Gdańsk, Poland. As an act of kindness, I offered him one of my oh-so-delicious Hamm’s. He looked at the beer, smiled back at me – took the beer, cracked it open and just started talking. No stutter, no mis-step, it was almost as if he was meant to tell me this story.
It was the story of two brothers, Viktor and Viggo who were hiking in the Jarvsoklacken Naturreserv in Central Sweden. It was a very foggy morning and they were trying to get to the highest point of the park so they could see the amazing views. It was here where Viggo accidentally missed a rock and twisted his ankle. With the sudden shock of pain, he gave out a loud yell and fell to the ground. It was a quiet morning so the yell echoed for what seemed like miles.
Viktor knew he had to go find help, so he left his backpack with Viggo and began to head back, when out of the fog came the biggest Swedish bear you could ever imagine. Viktor slowly backed up towards Viggo. Knowing that they were in trouble, Viktor attempted to shout at the bear and make himself look bigger by raising his arms. This only made the bear more angry and with a loud roar, crept closer. Viktor put his arm around Viggo and was ready to say his goodbyes when Viggo held out one hand to the bear.
A ray of sunlight broke through the fog to illuminate a can of Hamm’s. The bear sniffed the can a bit, took it and then appeared to smile a bit. It grabbed both brothers and put them on its back. The bear walked both brothers all the way to the top of the peak. Still in pain, the bear then poured some of his Hamm’s on the ankle of Viggo and in some magical way the ankle was suddenly healed.
The two brothers and the bear sat down atop the peak and enjoyed the sunrise together. The old cobbler ended his story by finishing his beer and getting up to use the restroom. As he got up he put one hand on my shoulder and simply said “Thank You.” Soon after that I dosed off for the rest of the voyage. When we landed, I looked for the old man but the stewardess informed me that I was the only passenger on the flight that night. Confused and a little tired I got up to get off the zeppelin and the stewardess stopped me and informed me that I had forgotten my stuffed teddy bear which was placed in the seat where the old cobbler sat. I looked down at the stuffed bear and saw a familiar grin.
Cheers my friends!
Your Co-Founder and Friend,
Jeremy Blandin
*Keeping your glass filled and spirits high one Thursday at a time, this is Welcome to Thursdays: a local social group determined to make your Thursdays more fun. Each week, The Squeaky Curd features a Milwaukee County bar that we gather at on Thursday evening. Join us Thursday, August 2, 2018 at Brother’s Bar & Grill, 1213 N Water Street, at 7:30pm.*