"the Indiana Jones of beer" news and stories

I like to take pride in my knowledge of beer. I've made several batches of home brew with fellow blogger Jonathan M. Forester and I know tons about different styles of beer. But, perhaps, I shouldn't be so proud of my beer lore. I just learned of the passing of Alan D. Eames who had earned the monikers the "Beer King" and "the Indiana Jones of beer." I am slightly embarrassed to admit that reading his obit was the first time I heard of the gentleman.

Eames lived up to the Indiana Jones title with such exploits as traversing the Amazon in search of a legendary black brew and entering Egyptian tombs to read hieroglyphics about beer. He liked to refer to himself as a beer anthropologist. Once in South Africa, he sampled a rare dark beer said to be made by a village grandfather. When he asked to speak to the brewer his request drew guffaws. Seems the beer was made from grandfather; his cremated bones were added to the other ingredients.

Sometime in the very near future, I'll be picking up a copy of Eame's The Secret Life of Beer! and hoisting a few cold ones in honor of this great man.

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