Trifecta Dos - Sprecher Brewery

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At Lakefront Brewery you either get to take home a pint glass or you get a coupon for $3 off in the store. We have more Lakefront pint glasses than we know what to do with, so Jenny used her coupon to save a couple bucks on this inflatable monkey.

Sprecher Brewery is different from the other 2 because it really pays tribute to the the German roots that all breweries owe their livelihood too. I don't know when and where beer was invented, but I'd like to think that the Germans had something to do with it.

Joey Kanz was paying attention to the Sprecher tour guide. I wasn't. I was too busy paying attention to Joey Kanz. And I'd like to think that in the end we both came out with the same amount of relevant information that would satisfy our thirst for knowledge.

By this point we were nice and drunk. Lakefront Brewery has a way of doing that to you. So much to the point that Jenny and I thought that it would be a great idea to put my sombrero on a griffin's head. And to this day I do not regret it one single bit.

Every brewery tour is essentially the same because when you break it down to the bare essentials, beer is beer no matter where it is made. But there are subtle little changes during the brewing process that make one beer different that all of the other beers out there. And that is what makes these tours very interesting. Adding different ingredients or changing how long the beer ferments alters the taste, which is why so many different beer types exist. And going from a large corporate brewery like Miller to the small micros like Lakefront and Sprecher also makes you appreciate all the hard work and dedication that goes in to making these delicious suds that I consume nightly.

Joey Kanz was more alert and alive for the picture. Although he's grown up all over the country (Georgia, Ohio, New York and Wisconsin to name a few) he's one of us and can handle his excitement and his alcohol. And he looks damn good while doing it.

No, Fresno Chris isn't about to hurl on the factory floor. Despite being a little guy from California, he has learned to drink like a kid from the Midwest under my tutelage. I don't know what he is doing in this picture, but I do know he was having a fantastic birthday.

Technically the Lakefront Funky Monkey shouldn't have even been here because of 2 reason - he didn't pay the $3 entry fee and he was from a rival brewery. And then that bastard had the audacity to take a sip of my beer! You never can predict monkey behavior...

It took a lot of effort and some timely moves, but we all were able to get together for a group picture. And another Trifecta was completed as we got a "family" picture at all 3 of the breweries that we visited on that fine Saturday. Oh what a Saturday it was...