Grocery stores
My wife being pregnant (or as I like to say, “A Pregnant”) has unfortunately cut off her favorite beverage: Wine. A close second is beer. Especially with a nice tonkatsu meal. Luckily, my sister-in-law visited us and recommended we try O’Douls instead.
Sidenote about O’Douls:
I haven’t had an O’Douls since I was a high school freshman on a family camping trip with my friend Keith who, in our quest to do something a little rebellious, suggested we go buy beer. Rebellious for me at that stage was to slide a Sports-Illustrated Swimsuit issue off the supermarket checkout magazine-rack under a box of Golden Grahams so no way was I going to attempt to buy beer.
Keith saw the terror in my eyes so he suggested instead that we just buy “near beer”. I can’t remember all the details, but either he bought it while I stood outside pretending I was someone else’s friend, or I looked at my feet while the clerk pulled my bottle from beneath a box of Golden Grahams.
Either way, afterward, we found a trail to walk where we could clink our cold ones and drink to our successful adventure. Now that the shock of rebellion was in the past, I was ready to not-get-shitfaced on this not-alcoholic-brew-ski. I was even starting to get excited by calling it “The Forbidden Beer”. We still laugh about that today.
My last memory of that moment was pouring out my share of the booty since I couldn’t actually stomach the taste.
Anyway, back to the present. Of course, I’m not A Pregnant, but I still like to suffer along with she-who-is, so I tried it. I am surprised that O’Douls is actually an acceptable substitute…
…for unrebellious high-schoolers.
Anyway, we’ve been buying a lot of it for Marn so she can enjoy one with a meal. In the grocery stores of California, the offerings were meager at best, crowded out by fine Zinfandels, Pinot Grigios, and Champagne-in-a-can. Gratefully, some restaurants carried it, but for the most part, we had to make special trips.
Here, grocery stores can’t sell alcohol. Here’s a picture of the entire spirits section:
Lots of mixed-drinks-promises and the pregnant-load of Forbidden Beer.
So, we are really happy that Massachusetts is a great state for pregnant ladies and disappointed alcoholics.
Until next time… dog in a cart!
