My lovely wife and I were out the other evening doing some very early Christmas shopping and we stopped for dinner at the local Chili’s restaurant in Clifton Park, New York. Since Chili’s does this weird 2-fer special where you get 2 beers for the price of one, but you have to get them at the same time, we like to put in one order for a beer we both like and then split the order.
We asked the waiter for a list of beers on tap and he mentioned all the typical ones, plus Davidson’s, which I happen to know is a local brewpub in Glens Falls, New York. When we asked which Davidson’s they had, he responded, “just the normal one”.
OK, so he doesn’t know, or understand, and it wasn’t worth making it complicated so we settled for a Sam Adams. I noticed, however, that the couple at the table across the aisle had some really nice looking darker ales. I felt low class, so I had to speak up and bother the folks in the middle of their dinner to ask them what they were drinking. They did order the Davidson’s and told us it was the brown ale. Ah ha! My wife loves brown ales and I love trying new beers so we eagerly ordered the second round as the Davidson’s Brown Ale.
And, we were so glad we did! It was great! Truly one of the best brown ales I’ve ever had and they are not typically a favorite of mine. (I like the Brooklyn Brown a lot, too.) Now, I think I’ve sampled everything Davidson’s produces at one point in my life; the stout and IPA were memorable, but it has been a long time since I’ve been up there. (I think it was 1998.) From looking at their list, I’ve fallen way behind.
Well, when the couple across the way finished their meal, they came over to our table and we thanked them for the info on the brown ale and we told them how much we liked it. The fellow then thanked us for ordering it. He then said there was plenty more where it came from. Then he finally introduced himself as Rick Davidson.
Well, we just thought that was too cool. We had a short conversation about the pub and his beers and beer in general. It’s too bad I didn’t have my Hop-Talk business cards on me; I didn’t even mention that I was a beer blogger. I think he got a kick out of watching anonymously some regular people very much enjoying his beer. I know I would have.
Cheers, to you Rick, and your lovely wife, and we promise to head up there sometime soon.
