A Farewell Story

[Beer-lord]

2 of my dearest friends are moving to Santa Barbara, CA on 2/2/14. This is a husband/wife duo that my twin and I meet with every Wednesday night, at their place, for a delish homecooked meal, some homebrew and other craft beers and our weekly jam session. We've also spent many weekends together as well as holidays, football games, yada, yada. They say they'll be back in 2 years but, I'm doubtful.....the beer in Cali has more choices. They will truly be missed and they've been very good for my brewing. In fact, it was this same friend who got a Mr. Beer kit from his sister years ago and made a souped up Junkyard Dog that I was blown away by. And THAT is THE REASON I started brewing again after many, many years of thinking about it.
This is the same couple my brother and I spent almost every Saturday and many Sundays with from October 2012 thru May 2013 redoing their home so that they could lease it out while they are gone. So many good times.

Anyway, Nick worked at Tulane University until today, his last day. 3 days ago, my brother and I got an email from Nick's workmate telling us they were putting together a video of all his other workmates saying goodbye, recalling over 20 years of memories and asked if we wanted to be a part. We don't work there but said we'd be honored. So, they said, "we'll come to you and you can do whatever you want."
We decided to meet them at our favorite pub where we filmed a few short minutes. Starting out by telling him we bought the pub, then telling him how much fun we've had the last number of years and how much we'll miss him. It wasn't a sad part as we joked a bit (I asked him which twin he liked best) but today was the day he saw the film. I'm sure the other workers wondered who we were but we tried to be humorous.

And, I got to try a beer I'd love to have named myself....Citra Ass Down by Against the Grain Brewery & Smokehouse in Kentucky. I thought it would be hoppier but I very much enjoyed it and wished it was here all the time. The pub gets lots of '1 off's' and who knows when they'll get it again.

So, I raise a toast to Nick and Noelle for a safe trip and a successful future. We plan on visiting them in mid June if possible and I'll bore everyone about the wonderful beers if this should take place. I will have to slow down my brewing as I'll be losing 2 serious beer drinkers and can't possibly drink it all (though I could ship everyone some if the fusel rumors disappear).

[FedoraDave]

A toast to friendship.

[philm00x]

To great friends and future success!

[Gymrat]

You are a rich man to have friends like that.

[Brewbirds]

A great tribute to two great friends by a great guy.

Hope you get to go see them in Cali often.

[truckndad]

Friendships like that are truly a treasure. Here's to you and to their safe travels

[Inkleg]

I'm raising my glass to toast y'alls friendship. Ones like that are hard to come by.
To Nick and Noelle

[Kealia]

I'll raise a drink in their honor you tonight as well, Paul.

[BlackDuck]

I too will drink to you and your friends. And always remember....a true friendship will never be broken by distance.

[berryman]

I'll also drink a toast to your friends, sounds like they are truly great friends and I hope for the best on their new endeavor. You can look on the bright side and I don't know if you have ever been to Santa Barbara, but that is a beautiful place to visit, I spent a few days there a couple years ago. Not exactly my type of lifestyle but no less Pretty and different.

[teutonic terror]

Sounds like a great friendship!
A glass of Crown hoisted for them and yourself!
May y'all soon be together again!

[Banjo-guy]

It sounds like a great friendship. Hopefully you can keep it going despite the distance.

[SomeGuyBrewing]

Sucks when close friends move away. I've had quite a few move away last year, I just think of it as an opportunity to visit new places.
On the plus side, I was just in Santa Barbara over the weekend for a quick day trip, at least 7 breweries I can think of in the area, some are really good.

[Beer-lord]

They're actually going to be in a very small town of only a few hundred people with a winery a block away and breweries all around. So yeah, that part I'm looking forward to. Then there's the sharing of my beer to them and them sending me beers I can't get here.

[BradyFumbled]

They're actually going to be in a very small town of only a few hundred people with a winery a block away and breweries all around. So yeah, that part I'm looking forward to. Then there's the sharing of my beer to them and them sending me beers I can't get here.

Beautiful area, I'm about an hour south and while the rest of the country is frozen, I've been running around in shorts and flip flops for the past month.

Friends leaving always sucks, but in this age of cell phones and internet, the world is sure a smaller place