Oyster Night With Lagunitas

From left, Ron, Gordon, Monini and Nigel drink Lagunitas beer.

One of the great things about most craft beer lovers is they just really like to have fun. We host many events every month at Jimmy’s No. 43, and the overwhelming majority are really laid back. We invite brewers to join us, to mix and mingle with both first-timers and regulars. There’s no price for admission (you pay as you go), and it’s a chance to make new friends, even if only for a night.

On Thursdays, we have our oyster and featured beer night. Eddie “Oyster” is in the back shucking, and several taps (along with bottles) are dedicated to a specific brewery. This past Thursday we featured Lagunitas (don’t pronounce it like a Hoosier: it’s Lah-guh-NEE-tus), brought to us by brewer Ron Lindenbusch and NYC-area rep Mark Sljukic.

Being from northern California, Ron remembers the first really good beer he tried being Anchor Steam. “I thought it was the nastiest beer I’d ever tasted,” he admits. “Until I was three-quarters the way through.”

When they were introducing themselves, Ron and Mark handed out business cards. Instead of having traditional titles, Ron’s card read “Beer Weasel.” Mark is “Livin’ the Dream.” (Apparently Mark’s card speaks true: When asked how he ended up working for Lagunitas, he said, “There’s no other brewery I’d rather work for; they found me.”)

We found a game group of friends (all drinking Lagunitas) and asked them for their business card titles a la Ron and Mark. Gordon (IU student, visiting NYC) said his title would be “Beer Enthusiast.” Beautiful Monini (with a bit of encouragement) agreed to “Bollywood B-Star.” NYU student Nigel, wearing the apropos T-shirt, declared himself as “Asian Football Star.”

As for Ron, well, he summed up the mood of the room when he mentioned that beer drinkers aren’t taste snobs. “We at Lagunitas make beer we love to drink. We drink a lot of it, but we can’t drink it all!”