Remembering George

Naturally, at the memorial, a picture of George had a glass of
his beloved Coors Light and a shot of Goldschlager liqueur,
that sparkly-ass shot he used to down with his beer. Of course,
I couldn't let that stand, sliding my Muskoka Mad Tom IPA
into the tribute held at Rib Eye Jack's Ale House on June 8.

All I know is that I better get this one right or Tiffers will crush me like a bug.

And who might Tiffers be? Well, she would be Tiffany, one of the servers at Rib Eye Jack's Ale House in Burlington. She is also their social media maven so whenever something I write is liked or retweeted, well, that's Tiffer's handiwork. And could she crush me like a bug? Well, she's about my height but incredibly buff and toned. If I met her at a party and had to guess what her profession was, I would likely guess she was a Cross-Fit trainer or Yoga instructor. So yeah, I'd be Dead Man Walking, no doubt.

So while I could go on at length about Tiffers, perhaps mentioning that in a past life, the striking redhead (well, this week anyway - the hair colour, I mean - she will still be striking next week) was head of communications for a nation-wide hotel chain or that like me, she graduated from a Journalism program, this is not about Tiffers.

No, this is about a Rib Eye Jack's regular named George. (Tiffers, who's this crazy manic ball of energy who routinely wins the Waitress Fit-Bit Challenges and may just be a force of Nature, will continue to pop up throughout this.)

George's children, Adam and Jessica, pose beside
a collage of pictures of their father. Looking at it,
I saw many sides of George that I'd never seen
before. George with hair. George without a beard.
George with both legs. And High School George.

Though George was a regular at Rib Eye Jack's, he always referred to Drafted Sports Bar in Oakville as his "home bar" because his home is, in fact, there. If that's the case, from personal observation, George spent a lot of time away from home because I was just as likely to see him at Rib Eye Jack's as not. In fact, George was well-off enough financially to have a permanent and modified room on the first floor of the Comfort Inn around the corner on the South Service Road in Burlington. And it was modified for a reason. Due to a serious infection years back, George only had one leg. So the hotel basically re-did a room to accommodate his physical needs. It was also the hotel staff who found George collapsed on the floor in his room late-May after he suffered a stroke. Tiffers was a near-daily visitor while George convalesced in the hospital but shortly afterwards, he suffered a second stroke and on June 2, George Amisimowicz closed his eyes for the final time and was no longer with us.

While all the staff at Rib Eye Jacks, as well as Drafted, were incredibly sad at the loss, Tiffers... well, she was gutted. The pair were tight. Because Tiffers is a little older than the other girls there (but still in her 30s), she could banter with George in a far more, well, let's say, risque manner. And George loved it. So as Mr Miyagi might say, it's time to "wax on" eloquently about the man himself.

At the memorial she organized at Rib Eye Jacks on
June 8, Tiffers colours with the son of a friend of
George's. As the mother of two young sons, Tiffers
knows what dealing with restless children is like...

I don't claim to know George well. He was more of a smoking buddy when I was there. I remember one day while we were outside ingesting carcinogens, I suggested that he would have been a great pirate. Why, he asked? "Because you swear constantly, scowl even more and dude, you only have one leg!" He stared me down for a second and then started chuckling. "I like that. Pirate George," he grinned. "Actually, the crew would have called you Peg-Leg George," I corrected him. That earned a full-blown throaty guffaw.

He used to drink this bizarre combination of Coors Light with a shot a Goldschlager, a hot cinnamon liqueur from Denmark with actual little bits of gold flakes swirling around. Watching him drink this nasty-ass stuff one night, I noted bluntly, "Geezuz, you must crap glitter every morning." Oddly, he thought the pirate thing was funnier. What can I say? Comedy is subjective.

George was, at times, a gruff, even grouchy guy but still remained a lovable dude. If you're a Millennial, think Ron Swanson. If you're older, think Lou Grant. But in a wheelchair. He had a prosthetic leg but told me he usually just attached it to pad around the hotel at night. He preferred the chair.

Play it again, George. Just one last time.
Play it for us. Play it for you. Just play it.

But ask any waitress at either Rib Eye Jacks or Drafted and you'll hear something else. To them, George was a total doll. Everyone of them was "Sweetie" to George. He was generous. He was kind. He was an outside father figure, always encouraging them all to be whatever they wanted to be. The dude was totally a soft touch around the ladies.

So when his daughter Jessica organized a memorial for him on June 8 at Rib Eye Jacks (with some help from Tiffers), suffice it to say, it was well attended. His many friends, family and of course, the staff from both Rib Eye Jacks and Drafted, descended on my little Burlington watering hole. Quite a crowd and believe me, lots of stories. Jessica was telling our group that the first time her daughter saw George with his amputated leg was the same day she learned about Terry Fox in school. To those outside Canada reading this, Fox was a one-legged guy who at 21, tried running from one end of Canada to the other on his Marathon of Hope in 1980 to raise money for cancer awareness. This kid ran a full marathon (26 miles, 42 kilometres) every day. He didn't make it, stopping 5,373 kilometres (3,340 miles) into the journey when his cancer resurfaced in his lungs. Eventually, he succumbed to the disease but raised millions for his efforts and all across Canada, there are hundreds of fund-raising Terry Fox Runs every year since. But the point is on that exact day, Jessica says her daughter didn't look at him like he was just Grandpa any more. He was now something more. He became a bigger man... just like Terry Fox.

Ahhh, yes, this great Garnett Gerry
caricature of temperance leader Carrie
Nation is, I'm sure, a testament to her
fun-loving and easy-going personality.
The Temperance folks were all about fun

But one last story before it's Beer O'Clock here. You always remember the last conversation you have with someone before they pass so here's mine. Advance warning: get your Kleenex ready because tears are coming. I came in one night and George, already there, looked at my scraggly-ass hockey hair and barked with a smile, "You planning on getting that haircut anytime soon?" I smirked back, "Why? You need some for the top of your head? Getting cold at night?" I'll give you all a moment to collect yourselves emotionally, due to the extremely touching nature of our exchange.

But in the days following his death, if I saw Tiffers paused at the taps in front of me, I would simply ask, "You okay?" Every time, she answered, "Yeah, I'm good..." before her voice trailed off a little and she quietly added, "No... no, I'm not." At some point in the future, I'll ask the same question and maybe just get the first half of her answer. Some wounds run a little deeper and need far more healing time. That day will eventually come for Tiffers, just as it does for us all.

Since we're already in the Rib Eye Jack's Zone, so to speak, it's time to look at some of the goodies that Steve, the general manager, had slid in my direction recently in a little segment I like to call "Steve's Stash." This week, we're looking at a couple of hop-bombs and some sour power. And in Ontario, when we're talking about hops, as often as not, it's our good friends at Etobicoke's Great Lakes Brewing.

Holy crap, Big Rig Brewery has, in fact,
stepped up pretty big with this unfiltered
IPA. Rejoice, Ottawa citizens! Your local
craft brewer has your hop needs in hand.

GLB recently re-released My Bitter Wife IPA as part of their ongoing Tank Ten series and this time, in 473-ml (16 ounce) cans. The first time I had this, several years back, it was only released in 650-ml (22 ounce) bombers. And again, as I look back, I marvel at the many outstanding IPAs that have magically emerged from this tank - Lake Effects, My Bitter Wife, Karma Citra, Hopshop Maniacal, Thrust, an IPA and of course, my favourite, Octopus Wants To Fight. Coworker Jay-Dawg and I were talking about this very thing last week. How does one brewery make so many great IPAs that are all completely different in taste? (Jay has had them all except Maniacal which came out shortly before his Hops Journey began.) And the Bitter Wife is precisely as I remember it - huge grapefruit and tropical fruit on the nose, sly orange and pine on the tongue... if you need me, I'll be in Hop Heaven. Using Simcoe, Columbus and Centennial hops as the throat-punchers, this 7%, 88 IBU (international bitterness units) orange coloured pour is my new favourite this month... and will be replaced by my next new favourite when GLB brings out its next Tank Ten bad boy. These guys are the Stone Brewing of Canada. Believe me, that's my highest praise.

The Jelly King is Jay's absolute favourite beer
now as my co-worker has decided sours trump
IPAs. I will likely never think that but I am
having a lot of fun exploring the sour style...

So far, I have been a little hit and miss with Big Rig Brewery out of Ottawa. I was so-so on their Release the Hounds Black IPA but quite enjoyed their Bock Me Gently. So how did they do with their Alpha Bomb Unfiltered IPA? Well, now, ain't this a step up. They started the boil with Chinook and Columbus hops and then finished it off with Mosiac with two separate dry-hop sessions in the fermenter at the end. What does all this brewer mumbo-jumbo mean? In this case, a damn tasty little IPA at 6.6% and 87 IBUs. Grapefruit on the nose, tropical fruit juiciness on the tongue. Nice job, Big Rig! Keep 'em coming!

Next on deck are two sour beers, both from Bellwoods Brewery in Toronto and to be frank, I have discovered if Bellwoods can't do a style right, then no one can. They are one of Ontario's most innovative crafters. I have huge bro-love for their Witchshark Imperial IPA.  Okay, from the start, these are two very different sour beers. The Jelly King is Jay-Dawg's new favourite beer which is kinda funny as he was a self-declared "IPA Snob" all of a month ago. "Yup," he told me with a grin, "I'm a Sour Snob now." Hey, every beer has its audience.

And speaking of Rib Eye Jack's Ale House in Burlington,
Bill Bullen was the happy winner of the Amsterdam
Brewery "Cruiser Cycle" in a recent contest throughout
the GTA. For every Cruiser Session IPA you had on tap,
you'd get a ballot in the box. While the draw was random,
I'd suggest Bill may have had a few ballots brewing in
there. And for my money, that Cruiser Cycle is a nice
step away from those PT Cruisers made by Chrysler...

I quite liked the Jelly King. As citrus as hell (mostly lemon) on the nose and tongue, this 5.6% dry-hopped pucker bomb is a very distinct flavour. But I actually preferred the far more complex Motley Cru, which is fermented with Gewurztraminer grape must, which is, in essence, the pulp of the grape including the seeds and skin. That gave this a huge white wine flavour in the foreground which caught me a little off-guard because I am not a wine lover at all. But much to my surprise, I loved what it added to the flavour. As tart as hell, this has nice apple bits on the nose and some distinct woodiness on the tongue, which comes as no shock since the 8% much-in-demand beer was barrel-aged for two long years. The Motley Cru also has the distinction of being my Beer Writing Buddy Drunk Polkaroo's 1,000th beer on Untappd. He also raved about it. (For the record, his first Untappd beer was Old Milwaukee while his 500th was Muskoka's Twice As Mad Tom Double IPA. Whoa... that's quite a step up from #1 to #500.)

Okay, next up is all goodies that were gifted to me - two Innocente offerings from Steve's Stash, a couple of Sleeping Giant (Thunder Bay) brews from coworker Sassy Cassy, as well as a Block 3 Imperial IPA out of St Jacobs. And the big new about All or Nothing Brewhouse out of Oshawa buying up Trafalgar Ale and Meads in Oakville. What the hell happened there? I'll find out and let you know. As for me, I did 10 sit-ups this morning so dammit, I think I've earned that Handicapped parking spot at work! But guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Until next time, I remain...