Beer Tour!!!
A little after midnight last night, the skies opened with biblical vigor for the second time in just a few hours. But at the Fifth Reunion, at least, a little downpour wasn’t going to stop anyone from having fun. The dance floor under the tent became a suddenly attractive destination, and hundreds of '06ers and young alumni spent the rest of the night drunkenly writhing to what I can only presume was classic DJ Bob.
The Fifth is, of course, the late night destination at Reunions, the place where the young (and young at heart) keep partying long after some of the older folks have gone to bed. The atmosphere is 100 percent eating club tap room: unpleasantly overcrowded on the dance floor, long lines for beer and only cheap suds flowing from the taps. Not to mention young men and women getting to, umm, know each other better.
In other words, the Fifth is a great final destination. But just like you would never head to the ‘Street’ at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, neither is it a good choice to end up at the Fifth so early. There are 13 other Reunions to explore, after all — and almost all of them serve more than just Bud Light.
We at the ‘Prince’ are all about serving our readers, of course, so we decided it would be thoughtful to provide a run down of the scenes at each of the other tents (read: BEER TOUR!!!). It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.
My tour actually began around 4:00 p.m., when my next door neighbor and I realized that the beer was already flowing just outside our windows in the Dod courtyard at the 40th. So we moseyed on out to the tent and enjoyed a few Heinekens and enjoyed the quality oldies playing over the loudspeaker. A friend on the crew told me that the 40th had gone on tap at 10:45 a.m. that morning — and will be back on tap by noon on Friday. I won’t be offended, in other words, if you stop reading this right now and go grab yourself a cold one.
(Unrelated digression: I’m sitting in my room in Dod writing this at noon, and the University marching band suddenly appeared outside my window and began playing “Eye of the Tiger” [the Rocky theme song]. Ahh, Reunions.)
Anyway, after a long intermission for dinner and Biblical Deluge No. 1, I resumed the Beer Tour at the 15th in Little courtyard. My four trusty sidekicks and I were pleasantly surprised to find Sam Adams Summer Ale on tap, which proved to be my favorite beer of the night. There was also what appeared to be a margarita machine on the premises, though it was unclear whether they were alcoholic or not. Some sort of acoustic rock group was playing, I think, but everyone seemed far more interested in the Sam.
We next headed to the South end of campus, to Scully for the 50th. This might have been the cruelest stop of the night: we were quite excited when we saw the fully stocked top-shelf bar, only to learn that the mixed drinks were only for class members. Slightly bitter, we settled for a round of Michelob Lite. With a jazz piano providing ambience, we grabbed a table and wondered what we’d be like in 50 years.
Once the wave of nostalgia passed, we moved next door to Butler for the 30th, where Molson and Miller Lite were on tap (as well a popcorn machine). The Class of 1976’s theme is, predictably, the Spirit of ’76 — which means that our beers were served by a fine young man in a tri-corner hat. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always thought beer tastes better when served to you by a dude in a tri-corner hat. Anyway, the 30th was also home to our favorite musical entertainment of the night, an Irish bluegrass band (seriously — the repertoire included U2’s “Walk On” followed by something involving fiddle). One of us — we’ll call him “P” — was so taken by the music that he was moved to dance a nifty little jig … in the middle of the completely abandoned dance floor.
Next up was Wilson for the 25th, which featured Yuengling — both Lager and Black & Tan. The ’81ers appeared to be dancing some variation of the twist … so we downed our beers and moved on.
Over at the 35th in the Cuyler/1903 courtyards, Heineken and Amstel Lite were both flowing. Rather than having live music, the ’71ers were listening to an acapella CD piped in over the loudspeakers. Once again, we quickly downed our beers and moved on.
We stopped by the 40th in Dod again, since my four friends hadn’t been there yet, and this time I tried something called Rally Cap Ale. My notes are pretty much illegible at this point (can’t imagine why), but I’m pretty sure I didn’t like it.
With midnight fast approaching, we decided to leave the 10th, 20th and 45th (not to mention the Old Guard) for Saturday night and head to our final destination, the 5th. By this point I’d stopped taking notes, but I’m pretty sure it was good-ole Beast on tap. And here’s the best thing about Reunions: by that point, I didn’t even mind.
-- David Baumgarten ’06, Managing editor emeritus & self-annointed senior beer critic
The Fifth is, of course, the late night destination at Reunions, the place where the young (and young at heart) keep partying long after some of the older folks have gone to bed. The atmosphere is 100 percent eating club tap room: unpleasantly overcrowded on the dance floor, long lines for beer and only cheap suds flowing from the taps. Not to mention young men and women getting to, umm, know each other better.
In other words, the Fifth is a great final destination. But just like you would never head to the ‘Street’ at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, neither is it a good choice to end up at the Fifth so early. There are 13 other Reunions to explore, after all — and almost all of them serve more than just Bud Light.
We at the ‘Prince’ are all about serving our readers, of course, so we decided it would be thoughtful to provide a run down of the scenes at each of the other tents (read: BEER TOUR!!!). It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.
My tour actually began around 4:00 p.m., when my next door neighbor and I realized that the beer was already flowing just outside our windows in the Dod courtyard at the 40th. So we moseyed on out to the tent and enjoyed a few Heinekens and enjoyed the quality oldies playing over the loudspeaker. A friend on the crew told me that the 40th had gone on tap at 10:45 a.m. that morning — and will be back on tap by noon on Friday. I won’t be offended, in other words, if you stop reading this right now and go grab yourself a cold one.
(Unrelated digression: I’m sitting in my room in Dod writing this at noon, and the University marching band suddenly appeared outside my window and began playing “Eye of the Tiger” [the Rocky theme song]. Ahh, Reunions.)
Anyway, after a long intermission for dinner and Biblical Deluge No. 1, I resumed the Beer Tour at the 15th in Little courtyard. My four trusty sidekicks and I were pleasantly surprised to find Sam Adams Summer Ale on tap, which proved to be my favorite beer of the night. There was also what appeared to be a margarita machine on the premises, though it was unclear whether they were alcoholic or not. Some sort of acoustic rock group was playing, I think, but everyone seemed far more interested in the Sam.
We next headed to the South end of campus, to Scully for the 50th. This might have been the cruelest stop of the night: we were quite excited when we saw the fully stocked top-shelf bar, only to learn that the mixed drinks were only for class members. Slightly bitter, we settled for a round of Michelob Lite. With a jazz piano providing ambience, we grabbed a table and wondered what we’d be like in 50 years.
Once the wave of nostalgia passed, we moved next door to Butler for the 30th, where Molson and Miller Lite were on tap (as well a popcorn machine). The Class of 1976’s theme is, predictably, the Spirit of ’76 — which means that our beers were served by a fine young man in a tri-corner hat. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always thought beer tastes better when served to you by a dude in a tri-corner hat. Anyway, the 30th was also home to our favorite musical entertainment of the night, an Irish bluegrass band (seriously — the repertoire included U2’s “Walk On” followed by something involving fiddle). One of us — we’ll call him “P” — was so taken by the music that he was moved to dance a nifty little jig … in the middle of the completely abandoned dance floor.
Next up was Wilson for the 25th, which featured Yuengling — both Lager and Black & Tan. The ’81ers appeared to be dancing some variation of the twist … so we downed our beers and moved on.
Over at the 35th in the Cuyler/1903 courtyards, Heineken and Amstel Lite were both flowing. Rather than having live music, the ’71ers were listening to an acapella CD piped in over the loudspeakers. Once again, we quickly downed our beers and moved on.
We stopped by the 40th in Dod again, since my four friends hadn’t been there yet, and this time I tried something called Rally Cap Ale. My notes are pretty much illegible at this point (can’t imagine why), but I’m pretty sure I didn’t like it.
With midnight fast approaching, we decided to leave the 10th, 20th and 45th (not to mention the Old Guard) for Saturday night and head to our final destination, the 5th. By this point I’d stopped taking notes, but I’m pretty sure it was good-ole Beast on tap. And here’s the best thing about Reunions: by that point, I didn’t even mind.
-- David Baumgarten ’06, Managing editor emeritus & self-annointed senior beer critic
posted by theprince at 12:29 PM
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