Las Vegas Guilty Pleasures

When I posted about the Bud in a Bag yesterday, I had no idea that I was making one of those “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” types of confessions.


There was quite a bit of commentary on my disclosure, some of it simply sarcastic, as in this case:

“Classy!!” wrote Chris, and later Mary.

Then there is the discussion from my friend Brian, who is my mentor on the use of the Glen Bacon Scale (GBS), which I used to rate the Bud in a Bag experience – and I was pretty generous, giving a rating of 8 off a 10-scale system.

Brian said, “I don't know where to begin to tell you how wrong it is to rate stupid B*dweiser an 8 on the GBS!!! It's not even a real Beer! It's made with rice, #fercryinoutloud! That's Sake in my book, not Beer!!! You have lost your GBS privileges! Glen Bacon's lawyers will be contacting you in the morning!!!”

I am still waiting for the attorneys to call, but in the meantime, we had a couple of follow-up conversations on the topic. I mentioned how I was impressed by the presentation and how the beer accompanied the Hash House’s “farm food with at twist” cuisine. Then we went into some discussion about the subjective nature of the GBS, ending up with thoughts of how a Cuban judge might have rated the experience in a way that was dissonant with the rest of a given panel.

To which Brian responded, “Fine! Give 4.9 points for presentation and zero for that swill that pretends to be Beer! Even if the Beer had been a Guinness® wrapped in a silk kimono, the 8.0 GBS is very hard to give out willy-nilly. I really doubt a Cuban Judge would be stupid enough to order a B*dweiser.”

Okay, so here we are the morning after, and in light of the clarifying lesson I am ready to reconsider my GBS for the Bud in a Bag. I’m giving it a 6.5. That’s 4.9 for presentation, .5 for size (22 oz.), .5 for icy cold temperature (we’re out here in a desert, for kriminees sake), and .6 for price ($4.95 – that’s like 1988 prices!).

But you know, the comment that hurt the most came from neighbor Dan, the homebrewer who also grows his own organic hops, as reported in my posts with the Beaver Run Brewery label.

Dan said, “I can't believe you'd admit to that one!”

He also offered some further clarifications and a sort of consolation. “Just bottled 58 pints of FlatTail IPA this past week. Used 8 ounces of homegrown Cascade for the finish. Better hurry back to the pines for a tasting. It should be acceptable to serve the week of October 24th.”

So I’ve got that going for me. In the meantime, since my departure isn’t until 7pm this evening, I think I am going to mosey on over to the Strip and have lunch at the Hash House again. All this talk about Bud in a Bag is making me thirsty.