Bull and Bear Ale
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Loading ...Authors Note: This post was written on January 18th. The date has been adjusted so that the post content aligns with the date the beer was actually consumed.
This post came very close to being about Stella Artois.
On January 9th, I was holding out all day, looking for a special beer. Lunch at the Museum of Modern Art’s Terrace 5 was a treat, with several nice looking brews on the menu — including Blue Point’s Toasted Lager. And later, we stuck to wine during an excellent French diner at La Grenouille.
Before I knew it, the time was 11pm and we were at a terrible bar with a half-dead piano player butchering Elton John. I ordered a Stella, the most avant-garde item on the menu, and all hell broke loose at the table.
I like Stella Artois, but it can be had nearly anyplace. My companions for the evening would not allow me to drink a Stella, despite my protests that time had run out. So when the Stella arrived, my wife grabbed it from me — and she, cheered by the rest of the table, chugged it.
My wife, by the way, hates beer.
That’s how, with the clock ticking and the piano player balefully intoning that he thinks it’s gonna be a long long time, we got out of that dive and rushed to the Waldorf-Astoria, where their Bull & Bear Restaurant and Bar is reputed to have a special “Bull & Bear Ale” on tap.
The bar is beautiful, classic. It’s like walking into an old man’s smoking room, and kind of smells like it too. Wood panels, mahogany bar, and class. I would have enjoyed it more, but they were closing down and I had only a few minutes to get my beer and save the challenge.
According to the bartender, the Bull & Bear Ale is “like Sam Adams”.
I asked, “But you don’t brew it here, I’m assuming?”
“No.”
“Where is it brewed? Who brews it? Is it a private label from Sam Adams?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “but it’s like Sam Adams.”
I drank it quickly, with only about 10 minutes left until midnight. The beer tasted more like a Bass than a Sam. That’s about all I remember about the beer, other than the sheer relief that followed having found a beer and finishing it in time.
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