Portraits of dead soldiers left in yard #1: BridgePort India Pale Ale

Years ago, while driving through Missouri, I got a call, but not on my cell phone. It was Nature. So I pulled over. That's when I first pondered the nature of beer litter. The ditch was full of empties, a bad sign considering it was the middle of nowhere and that meant the drivers discarding them were clearly driving under the influence. But then I noticed that, without exception, all the dead soldiers with macro brewed lagers, often of the budget variety such as Busch Light and Keystone Ice. I even wrote about it in my book, which you can find on pages 83-84. I'd mused, "Does that mean that domestic beer drinkers are more prone to littering and craft beer drinkers understand that trash belongs in trashcans, or better yet, recycling bins?"

Ever since moving into a house on a corner across from a Fred Meyer, a Kroger-owned one that stocks and sells more craft beer than any supermarket in the nation or so I've been told, I've changed my tune. Beer bottles and cans of every style and price point appear by our fence, in our yard, piled on the stairs, or sometimes stashed in a tree out front. Such is the inspiration behind this new series: Portraits of beers left in yard.

We begin with the noble BridgePort India Pale Ale, the trailblazer for Oregon's most popular style of beer, and craft brewing in general. Whoever littered it high within this tree proves he or she but more than likely he knows from full-flavored beers rich with hops. He could maintain his wits by drinking this sessionable 5.5% beer, but perhaps this was the last in his 6-pack and didn't have enough sense not to plant it in my front yard.