The gift that keeps on giving... for at least the next three months

My wife got me a cool gift for Fathers Day this year – a three-month gift membership to “The Beer of the Month Club,” aka, The Great American Beer Club.
As a member of this “unique mail-order club,” I get to “embark on an expedition to capture the rarest and freshest microbrewed beer.”
Each month, I’ll receive a 12-pack of four different types of handcrafted beer in 12-ounce bottles from small craft breweries around the country. Also included in each shipment is a monthly newsletter, “Beer Expeditions.”
I received my first shipment a few days ago. It arrived on my doorstep, neatly packaged with care in a large cardboard box. They arrived unrefrigerated, so I put the whole box in the frig for a day before sampling any of them.
The packaged contains three bottles of four different kinds of beer – two kinds from the Atlanta Brewery and two from the Cottrell Brewery. The Atlanta Brewery beers were Red Brick Blonde and Laughing Skull Amber Ale. The featured beers from the Cottrell Brewery were Mystic Bridge IPA and Old Yankee Ale.
I tried the Red Brick Blonde Ale first, and it was pretty good. It’s an American-style blonde ale, that is, it’s top fermented as all ales are. Golden in color, it’s “a perfect thirst quencher, malted grains dominate the flavor and the Cascade hopes lend zing to the finish.” This beer received a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2005.
The Atlanta Brewery is the oldest craft brewery in the state of Georgia, and Red Brick Ale was the first craft beer commercially brewed in the state. Their beer is now sold in seven Southern states.
I found it’s label to be particulary funny. Here’s what it says:
“Weep for your northern brethren: Long winters, suspect college football, and perhaps worst of all, no Red Brick Beer. Since 1993, we’ve been brewing fine craft beers for The South, and only The South. We’re proud to stand alongside grits, hound dogs amd mama as embodiments of the southern lifestyle. We’re proud to be beer from around here.”
Kind of makes you want to open up a brewery in T-town, doesn’t it?
“The Great American Beer Club” is one of many such clubs administered by Clubs of America. They have similar clubs dedicated to international wines, fresh flowers, hand-dipped chocolates, gourmet pizza, fresh fruit, premium cigars and gourmet coffee. For more information about Clubs of America, visit their Web site at www.GreatClubs.com.