A powder day lesson in parenting

Great Pumpkin Ale
Pagosa Brewing Company
Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Being a parent is by far one of the coolest things...until you are on vacation in Colorado and it is snowing by the bucket outside and you are the one who has to stay home because your kid is too young to hit the slopes with you. 

<sigh>

For a very brief minute, undoubtedly right as everyone else is heading out the door for the day, you imagine yourself flying down the mountain (with much better skills than you actually possess) with said small kid stuffed in a backpack with a million blankets and hats wrapped around her.  She is so warm and cozy and even wearing the extra pair of ski goggles you happened to bring along.  But then you laugh at yourself because you remember that your life is not a cartoon and that things like that only work in cartoons because in real life -- it would actually be very, very stupid.

So while everyone else is out enjoying the 12+ inches of fresh powder on the slopes, you make the executive decision to pack up the youngster into the trusty all-wheel drive family truckster and head for the nearest brewery.

By the way -- for those of you who live in areas of the world that require your kids to wear coats -- how the hell do you deal with the coat + carseat combo on a daily basis?!?  OMG -- what a pain!



You and your munchkin, who happens to look a lot like Ralphie's little brother Randy in her snowsuit, arrive at the brewery 5 minutes after the brewery opens (it's magical how these things work out) and select the warmest table in the corner farthest away from the door.  It has a window so you can continue to watch the buckets of snow fall outside.

The super friendly waitress appears and delivers some crayons and a coloring book.  AWESOME.  You order up a beer, a milk and a few grilled cheese sandwiches.  While you wait, you color a few pictures in a coloring book that is 99% full provided by the brewery using the remnants of a bucket of the super-cheap brand of crayons from approximately 10 years ago.  You gaze out the window and know that the snow is amazing on the mountain.  You turn back around and tend to your munchkin who looks at you and says "love you mommy" and then you realize you don't care what the snow is like on the mountain because you're on the best lunch date ever.

So you pick up a growler of Powder Day IPA to take home to share with the rest of the group who has been making fresh tracks and sailing through knee-deep powder all day when they get home.  You aren't jealous anymore because you get to hang out with a very special little person ... the little person you created. 


Score : 3.5 out of 5 pint glasses on the unofficial Suburban Suds pint glass rating system. I'm a pumpkin beer snob though so I'm not sure that this is a fair or accurate assessment and rating of this beer.