Please explain this to me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. And the beer that was available back then

for the most part was whatever came out of the large breweries. Coors was regional. And crap. Budweiser, Schlitz, Pabst. There would have been other local breweries, depending on where you lived. They'd all struggled very hard to survive Prohibition.

As an aside, in the late 1970s, the biggest breweries were in the process of taking over smaller ones, and it looked as if in a very few years there'd be at best three or four breweries in this country, all making crappy beer. Praise to the gods or whatever that people who cared a lot about beer started brewing small batches, started the entire craft beer thing, and we are the fortunate (and grateful) recipients of their dedication to real beer.

I love to drink. But if I'm at someone's house and they offer me a beer, and all they have is Coors or Bud light I'll politely decline. Why bother?

I am so grateful that people who care about beer have taken up brewing good stuff. I believe that every single one of our fifty wonderful states has a strong craft beer tradition, and that's truly wonderful. I know that certain states lay claim to having the best micro brews, and I'm not about to say which I think are best, but I'll say hooray! I benefit from that competition.