Soob

The best thing out of San Diego since really great weather. Be damned if the micro-brews won't soon rule the universe. Or at least the beer universe. Or beeriverse, perhaps.

Of course such brewing excellence isn't available to all American citizens, at least legally. Indeed, should you reside in Alabama and take a pull from a frosty mug of suds with an alcohol content higher than 6%, you could face $1000 in fines and up to a year in jail. Such a bizarre law (you can buy hard alcohol in Alabama) does have some rather vocal proponents:

"I'm a total abstainer. I'm 78 years old, and I never tasted an alcoholic beverage. I just don't think there's any good quality about an alcoholic beverage," says Ireland.

The former Baptist minister is honorary chaplain of the Alabama Legislature and is lobbying to defeat the bill to "free the hops."

"My major concern is that this would be an inducement to teenagers, underage drinkers, to get their hands on it," says Ireland. "You know, technically speaking, one beer — that much alcohol — could conceivably get an average teenager drunk."

Hold on while I dust off my memories and gaze back through the haze... When I wanted booze as a minor I had "bang for my buck" in mind. Take the cost of a single pint of the above mentioned micro and toss in a few bucks (plus a fiver for the college guy who buys it for you) and you've got a twelve pack of Natty Light or Keystone. The good ministers logic is flawed. Meanwhile, millions of Alabaman's continue to be victimized by fizzy, yellow water with bubbles and virtually no taste. Cruel.