Happy Festivus

You have to love the Town Hall Brewery. Consistently has a beer in the top 10 nationwide. Top staff. Decent menu.

Here, in Minnesota, they even made use of their large deck last night. We did a bit of wassailing even before going in. While we admire the effort, we’ve concluded hot spiced scotch ale is not the highest use of fine ale. More important was the great camaraderie and a warm fire. We even had to move the party, and the fire, due to complaints from the neighbors. A very unusual Minnesota evening by so many metrics.

Inside, the beer release. Festivus, for the rest of us. Another good effort: hoppy, full-bodied and a kick-ass ABV. They had their Festivus pole up where one could whinge about their release beers costing $2.00 now instead of $1.00. But in all, no real disappointments here. We left before the feats of strength started.

The Festivus celebration includes three major components:

1. "The Festivus Pole"

During Festivus, an unadorned metal pole is displayed, in opposition to the commercialization of decorated Christmas trees.

2. The Airing of Grievances

At the Festivus pole, the celebrant tells their friends and family (in this case its favorite brewery) all of the instances where they disappointed the celebrant.

3. The Feats of Strength

The head of the family member tests his or her strength against one participant of the Family head's choosing. Festivus is not considered over until the head of the family has been pinned. A participant is allowed to decline to attempt to pin the head of the family only if they have something better to do instead.