Sunday, November 16, 2003

Biker Club Story - Good Sam Story - Exploding Root Beer Story and Recipe

We had a heck of a busy day at the cafe today. A group of several hundred bikers were on their way through town to a convention. I was on my own and the place was packed. It was really cool to see all those Harley's parked up and down the street. They had all parked diagonally and backed their bikes in a V formation. One of my regulars; Clyde came down the street riding his three wheel bicycle and parked it right beside the Harley's. He's in his 80's. He came in and had a ginger ale. I don't think he noticed anything different...probably just thought things were a little bit more busy than usual. I was a little worried because they were smoking pot in the back, but I wasn't in a position to try and instill some rules. I was glad they were peaceful and didn't fight or steal things. They probably all work at Microsoft or the likes anyway. That happened just not today.

Have you ever seen those signs on the back of RV's that say Good Sam's Club? You'll have to take my word for this but one time there was a convention of Good Sammer's near where I was living in Bozeman. One of the Good Sam's was running his generator late into the night and it was bothering another Good Sam in a neighboring RV. One thing led to another, an argument ensued and the one Good Sam shot the other one. I always wondered if that guy got kicked out of the Good Sam club.

I've had a great weekend. I hope you all have too. I'll leave you with a recipe of sorts. It's a fun thing to make next summer since it can be kind of messy. Jack's Exploding Root Beer

The first time I made root beer was when I was about 12 or 13. The instructions on the root beer flavor bottle said to put the root beer in a glass bottle and seal tightly. I had some gallon jugs from the local root beer stand which I thought would be perfect. I filled them up and left them on the top of the fridge. Sometime later in the middle of the night a large explosion wakened the house. The bottle(s) had exploded. It actually caused enough force to take paint off the refrigerator. The kitchen was covered with sticky root beer. My mom had to take the fridge to a body shop to have it repainted. Don't try to make root beer in gallon jugs. 12 oz beer bottles work just fine. Some may blow up but that's fine as long as they are in a box in a place that it's okay to spill some stuff you okay.

How to make Root Beer

Wait for a nice sunny day when you can work outside
Get some of your own or some neighbor kids to help you
Mix the root beer flavor, sugar, water and yeast according to the directions on the root beer flavor bottle
Siphon the root beer mix into sterilized recappable beer bottles
Cap the bottles
Put them in cardboard boxes in your basement or a cool place for a few weeks and you'll have some good root beer to drink when it's cold and rainy...and you'll know that it has some sun and kids laughter in it.

Savor it baby.