Schoolteacher

Beer store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

 So i am looking at Beer Advocate Friday afternoon and the cask guy posts about a new brewery from MA called Wandering Star and they will have one of the first casks of the Summer Ale and it is a benefit for  Schoolteacher being held in a bar called The Diamond. When i opened the post i saw my friends name, who is Schoolteacher from BA. At that point i realized that i need to investigate this event. I beermailed an old beer friend and he stated that he was the organizer and Schoolteacher is wont be there because he is in LA and he will talk to me when i get there.

Since Schoolteacher was not going to be there i kind of did not want to go but i figured that i would run into a few old beer friends that i don't see anymore and check out a part of Brooklyn that i have never been before. I then made plans with some people from work to meet up in later that evening since i only planned to be at The Diamond for only a little bit.

When i got off the train i realized that i was out here on a bar crawl with Lisa and a couple of friends a few years back. I stopped at Brouwerij Lane which is a beer store/growler fill station but sice the owner is an importer of some German beers, he is allowed to sell beer by the glass from the growler beers. They have a pretty amazing selection and at $3 a 8oz glass, you can try a whole buch plus they serve the beers i very cool german cylindrical glasses. I had the Bear Republic Mach 10. I walked to The Diamond met a couple of people i haven't seen in a while, ordered the Wandering Star, then walked in Schoolteacher.

I know Schoolteacher from the very old days of The Blind Tiger Ale House when it was on 10th St. and Hudson St. back in the early days of craft beer. We would run into each other at the Wednesday beer events at the Tiger and on the occasion that i ventured into Brooklyn for a beer event. He is one of the few very genuine people that i have met, we always didn't talk beer, we talked about other stuff also, if you can believe that. I haven't seen him i about 5 years because he is very sick, this was a kind of going away party, he is off to the east because western medicine is not working. He plans on traveling and eventually settle down in a country with socialized health care, never to come home again. As soon as we started talking, he asked about my oldest so by name and about college because the last time we talked my so was in HS. Shit, sometimes i can't remember my kids names and i live with them. For me, it was a very emotional night, and if you know me, i don't get emotional. It was very sad for me to know that a friend can't find help here and has to leave the country to find some and knowing that you will never see a person again. I knew i had to leave and meet my other friends from work but i really did not want to leave. I probably said goodbye like 4 times before i walked out of the bar. It was a very sad moment for me.

Wall adornment in The Diamond's bathroom

I had the Wandering Star and a Kelso Satisfaction which is a 3.2% beer which was very good.

Onto Barcade where i met some work friends, the place was crowded, had the Sierra Nevada Celebration and a McNeil's Old Ringworm before i left to go home. The place was crowded on this Friday night and i realized how old i am. I was definitely the oldest dude in the place. Caught the 11:06 train at 11:02 and made it home.