America, F**k Yeah. (Same for SLO)

I know I was one of the first customers at San Luis Obispo's new brewpub, Creekside Brewing, because I'd past through SLO on my drive from Santa Barbara to San Fran in December and saw a new brewery under construction, then, when heading from San Fran to L.A. in January, dined and drank there. Well, I might add. The highlight, beyond the fresh beer and the "plant-ripened jalapeno" poppers, was being given a tour by co-owner John Moule.

The blog I posted about that experience, according to my metrics, was one of the most trafficked.

So I got a kick out of seeing a post on Jay Brooks's blog about their anti-terrorism efforts, itself a response to Colin Rigley's story in the SLO New Times about thwarting those freedom-loving terrorists who train in Afghani camps for the sole purpose of tainting our beloved brews. Liberty Ale, indeed! The gist of the brew-ha-ha is that before Creekside was allowed to open, they had to install protective walls around their brew system, which exists in two parts--upstairs in the dining room and downstairs in the pub.

I, for one, am relieved they undertook these measures even if no bureaucratic governmental agency will cop to being the one that implemented these keep-safe measures levied against no other single breweries in the land of amber (waves of grain). Now, when I do my booksigning event there on April 14, I shall feel much safer.