Sunday, August 31, 2008. I gazed up at the star filled sky. It was a beautiful evening, the kind that makes one question why they all can’t be that way. Four of us sat on the back deck, the last die-hard, remnants of a fun Labor Day Weekend get together. It was dark and the food was all but gone. Our good friends Frank and Marsha, my brother Geoff, and I chatted peacefully as the grill cooled and we discussed what to do with the last four shriveled up brats.

Leslie appeared with five Amstel Brights in her hands, the last survivors of the case we smuggled through customs when we returned from Bonaire last January. It was time to purge the inventory. When we return home from our next Bonaire trip in three weeks, we plan to have a fresh case of the contraband we savor so dearly.

Geoff, being the witty daredevil that he is, came up with an interesting idea.

"Let’s have a taste test," he said. "We have the Brights. And we have Corona and some Bud Lite Lime."

Frank and I exchanged looks and gave each other a shrug.

"Let’s do it." We were all pretty confident on what the results would be. All of us liked Brights and considered it the best beer in the world. Or at least, in our warped little perception of it.

Mind you, this was a very unscientific taste test. Each person had a glass, and we each took turns closing our eyes and, in a random order, sampling the three elixirs. We excluded Marsha’s answers because she is not a beer drinker. She only did it for the "fun" and admitted that she would only be guessing. We didn’t want her answers to skew what we figured to be a unanimous result.

And they didn’t.

One by one, we each sampled the beers. And one by one, each of us were amazed at our answers and the overall result.

It was easy to determine the Bud Lite Lime – almost a gimme. It was obvious that this had immediately become a two beer contest between the Brights and the Coronas.

And I hate to say that none of us could tell the difference between the Bright and the Corona. That’s right; each of us answered wrong between those two. To the four of us, they tasted pretty much the exact same. And,as much as it hurts to say, maybe the Corona was a bit better.

How could this be? Brights were our favorite beer! There’s no way that we could confuse their taste with any other beer...

We decided that another taste test was in order, but we didn’t have any Brights... at least not until we return from Bonaire.

So the decision was made to have another party when we return from Bonaire. We planned to do the taste test earlier in the evening, before our palates become compromised by burgers, brats, and domestic beer.

Oh, and Marsha’s answers? She got them all correct – nailed every one of them. But remember... she was only guessing ;-)

Only three more days!

Prepare to Dive On Friends

And Dave - at your next unscientific taste test grab some Landshark Lager and give that a go too. Then see where you end up.

Have fun in your few remaining days on "US terra firma" or whatever.

Throw in a Polygamy Porter - Why have just one?????

Try a Spotted Cow Ale (New Glarus Brewing Company), too. I totally agree with YoMO about the Landshark, though - Yummmm

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ... Spotted Cow.

That's pretty funny Dave. We have tried that in the past as well. I like both of them, as they are both beers. Beer is good. Beer is food. Beer is life.

BEER! IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER!