Last night…I took visiting friend and researcher Carl Carlson-Drexler to Bayou Bistro after a long day looking at Civil War-related sites in Hempstead and Nevada Counties…
and I bought my first legal Magnolia beer! I said I would believe it when I saw it so…John Barley Corn Lives!
“Prohibition officially ends in Magnolia next week”…these words were met with thunderous applause by those present…the words were even more humorous as they were spoken by Ben Johnson, historian and author of John Barleycorn Must Die: The War Against Drink in Arkansas (The companion book to the Old State House Museum exhibit linked to at the right)…As Johnson himself said, the back of the book claims that “[n]obody knows more about drinking in Arkansas than Ben Johnson.”
BTW: Although it may have been maligned in the press of late, I would point out that The Bayou Bistro was named the business of the month by the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce in March 17, 2006…and it is some of the best food in town (regardless of the fact that it is now wet).
Marjorie Maxine Miller started my favorite Fayetteville, Arkansas, watering hole–Maxine’s Tap Room–way back in 1950. It is a place that Kris Kristofferson might describe as having “cigarette smoke to the ceiling” and “friendly shadows.”
Sadly, Maxine died Friday, May, 26, 2006. The last time I saw Maxine at the Tap Room must have been a few years back…she was in a wheelchair (not easy in a bar as narrow as Maxine’s) and, if I remember correctly, on oxygen…it must have been shortly after her stroke. She was famous for, among other things, the “last call” phrase that serves as the title of this post…
There will be a memorial toast at the Tap Room today.
The following quote is from the Northwest Arkansas Times article yesterday:
Her funeral is Thursday and a memorial toast will be held at the Tap Room, 107 N. Block Ave., after the graveside service. “I was actually going to buy a keg and just let people get a toast, but whenever I thought about it, I thought Maxine would just get ticked off at me for not charging people,” said her greatniece, Andrea Foren. She and other family members who helped Maxine at the bar over the year have been taking care of it since Maxine had a stroke about three years ago. The family intends to keep the bar open.
Take a look at pictures I’ve taken of the Tap Room (but not Maxine) at this address:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tjnjamie/maxines/index.html or at my Flicker Stream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcbrandon/sets/72057594094493775/
And finally, take a look at the Arkansas Blog for a brief blurb & A LOT of testimonials (& they used one of my pics!)….
Ted Swedenburg snapped this great pic at Maxine’s Taproom….a favorite Fayetteville hang out of mine. I, in fact, saw this schiltzmas tree the same week as Ted, but I’m not smart enough to document it….or maybe I was too drunk to document it…..I can’t honestly remember.
At any rate, check out pictures I really DID remember to take of Maxine’s Tap Room here.
I’ve always known that there is a deep connection between archaeologists and beer. My friend Greg Vogel has consistently informed his students that he has learned more about archaeology in bars (such as Fayetteville, Arkansas’ Maxinie’s Tap Room pictured below) “talking shop” with grizzled veterans of the discipline than he has ever learned in a formal classroom. This is true of my own experience as well. . . .
But now archaeologists can claim that we can make an important contribution to the world of beers (ok. . . maybe more quirky than important).
Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware has made a beer similar to a drink brewed in China about 9,000 years ago and they started with a formula from archaeologists who derived it from the residues of pottery jars found in the late Stone Age village of Jiahu in northern China.
Check out this article for more details:
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002633.php
http://www.discover.com/issues/nov-05/features/stone-age-beer/
Filed under archaeology, news
|
