Tuesday, June 26, 2007

My kind of place

I have heard several people who have never visited 12th Planet say, "It's not my kind of place." That's sort of how I felt, but as a highly trained professional journalist, I try not to let my biases influence my perceptions, so I have steadfastly withheld judgment.

Last night I actually went into 12th Planet for the first time, thanks to an invitation from Connoisseur Media, which was celebrating its first anniversary in Billings. It was fairly impressive: colorful lights, multi-media screens, a three-level layout with bar and stage. A bit classy for the likes of me, but there's no reason why I shouldn't step up in class in my old age.

So I wandered over to the bar to cash in one of my free drink tickets for a beer. By my count, the bar had 18 beer spigots. Fifteen of them were for Bud or Bud Light. One was for Miller Lite, one for Coors Light and one lonely tap for Blue Moon.

I thought, "This is not my kind of place."

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the warning. I found another bar, soon to be closed in Billings, that didn't have anything decent in beer in bottles. What is the world coming to? However, Blue Moon is pretty drinkable, but Coors and Bud?

Anonymous said...

I've always thought it verged on fraud calling swill like Bud Lite a beer. How much can a product be diluted and still retain the label? I look at those "lite" beers as the homeopathic approach to brewing. Personally, I don't trust a beer I can see through.

Ed Kemmick said...

Blue Moon is a step above Bud, but you see it a lot of places these days because it is by far the cheapest micro brew going.

But David, even if they had Dublin-quality Guinness on tap, I'm sorry, I still couldn't see that joint being your kind of place.

David said...

But Ed, I'm getting cooler every day. Or at least more indifferent to coolness, which is almost the same thing.

Ed Kemmick said...

Dude, you're from Texas! You're too cool for phony swank.

David said...

I'm so uncool that I'm never quite sure whether it's OK to say "cool."

Anonymous said...

Sorry about the anonymous in the no. 1 position. Can't seem to get my name to come through. I agree with Vince but I do rather like Blue Moon, even if it is cheaper than others. But Guiness, Moose Drool, Pig's Ass Porter, Dragon's Breath and a few other dark brown beers are what I prefer. And David, you and Ed are both cool. And you should stay that way for at least the next two months. Summer's here.

Anonymous said...

No Shiner Bock on tap? or in a bottle? We can now get Shiner at grocery chains in Georgia--which makes our move from Texas back to Georgia a little easier.

Anonymous said...

I understand that someone sent a bottle of Bud light to the state ag lab and got back a report: "Your horse has diabetes."

Anonymous said...

There's no Shiner on tap in Billings that I know of, but we can buy Shiner and Shiner Bock at several Billings stores.

David said...

Ed, Remember this?

Back in Gazoo days, before Shiner Bock was available up here, Greg McCracken made a trip to Texas and brought me back a six-pack. I still had two left in the refrigerator when you and I were on my front porch one night, and I offered to give you half of all the Shiner Bock in town.

That would be a heck of an offer now. Actually, it was a pretty good offer even then, considering how much I like Shiner. I drank it in the pre-Bock days back in college and have sworn by it ever since.