Folks' Booze

   I grew up in what seemed to be Beaver Cleaver's neighborhood. Lot's of kids, Mom at home, Dad working during the day. Divorce happened to other people. One thing that Ward and June Cleaver didn't have was booze. All our folks had their stash. Mine kept a bottle of Windsor under the sink. When he had a beer it was only in the summer- when I was young he favored Hamm's- as he got older he could be caught with a bottle of Cold Spring or Special Export. These were all lagers, but not really the same as a good German beer. We'd sneak a taste now and then but didn't drink much as these local beers were a bit heavy on the hops; the watering down of American beer didn't really take off until the end of the 60's.

   Kevin's Dad liked the onomatopoeic "Gluek's" which spoke its name clearly when you poured it from the bottle. Big Bill's Dad had a real liquor cabinet, which got Bill and some of his friends in trouble once - the legendary "Schoch's Booze" incident. Mrs. Lewis, however, had a different strategy for keeping his 6 kids out of trouble. She bought the worst beer- Fox DeLuxe- a brew so foul that he could keep the case right out in the open in the basement where we played, knowing full well that it would remain unmolested.