Romancing the Stein

This weekend I was down in Portland visiting some people. As luck would have it, the 19th Annual Oregon Brewers Festival was also being held this weekend. On Saturday evening within several blocks in any direction of this waterfront extravaganza, there was a scattered assortment of departing patrons- some cheery, some angry, some intoxicated, some perfectly functional. At one point a rather tall, somewhat heavyset man was crossing the street with some friends and called out in an unhurried sing-song voice- to everyone and no one in particular- “I REALLY love beer!!” And you could tell that it was true.