It was Saturday afternoon and I was in the back seat of a car full of Binny's people. We were heading up North to Racine, Wisconsin, to help pour beer in the annual "Great Lakes Brew Fest."

  Racine is a bit outside of Binny’s territory.  I point this out because it was everybody's day off, and we were actually volunteering our time and beer pouring prowess, and not representing Binny’s. One of the guys in our group used to work at the Lakefront Brewery up in Milwaukee and still has contacts in Wisconsin.

  Isn’t this the greatest industry?  How many people out there love their job so much that they’re willing to do it on their day off – and for free?

  I spent the afternoon behind the Dundee table, pouring Honey Brown and Oktoberfest. I was surprised at how good these beers are. If you’re reading the Binny’s Beer Blog, you’ve probably tried the Dundee Honey Brown at some point. Right? It’s a light, easy drinking brew with a bit more character than your standard American Lager, slightly sweetened with Honey. I’m already sweet enough, of course. It’s not brown, though. They should have called it Honey Gold. I was surprised at how much I liked the Dundee Oktoberfest – it’s quite a malty beer, with lots of baking spice notes like nutmeg and light cinnamon. One taster said it reminded her of a “pumpkin pie, only without the pumpkin.”

  The day consisted of a practically endless stream of tasters, all enjoying the weather and the beer and each other and having a great time. At an instant when I had just a few seconds of respite from the pouring, I looked down the table at our group. There was me, your faithful Binny’s web wine guy, and a wine consultant, and a cigar specialist, and a customer service manager, and human resources person. It dawned on me that none of us were actually in the beer department. But here we all were, volunteering to pour beer at a festival simply because we love beer. Like I said, isn’t this the greatest industry?

  But I couldn’t think about that for long. There were more thirsty tasters to serve. And eventually, after we finally ran out of samples, I grabbed my pint glass and hit up the other tables for some samples of my own.