Beer Drinking Notes… Beer Memories

I remember… well I remember most of it.

It was in the spring of 1972 and there was still enough snow in the shaded areas and under the trees to keep cases of beer ice cold. The Dog River was running high and so were the expectations of the class of 1973 of Norwich University, Northfield, VT. Junior week is one of the treasured traditions of the oldest private military college in the country. Part of that established tradition was inviting your main squeeze to the Regimental Ball, where class rings were distributed and beer was not. However, as you can see from the above picture beer was a serious part of the tradition.

My class voted for the pewter mug rather than a ceramic one. Why? It wouldn’t break if dropped and pre-chilled it also kept the beer a lot colder than a ceramic mug. Back then ice cold beer was important. After all, sipping beer is not a celebration, quaffing beer, swigging quantities of beer… That’s a celebration.

My special memory involved both of the objects pictured above… First let me set the scene.

It’s around one in the afternoon on the Saturday of Junior Week. I had the unfortunate privilege of being assigned Captain of the Guard on Friday afternoon. That meant I spent most of Friday and most of Saturday and my dress “A” uniform, with sash and saber. And so it was that we, the Sargent of the Guard, and our dates found ourselves sitting on the iron bridge that spanned the mighty Dog River that forms the western border of the campus. A good number of our classmates had settled a keg of Narragansett beer in the river water near the shore and were making a fairly good effort at emptying that keg. Against all regulations so were we. After enjoying three or four pewter mugs of beer my date decided she was going to jump into the Dog River. Her dive, her entry into the water, the short swim to the bank of the river, and her climb back onto the bridge was/is legendary. After a short drive back to the barracks, and a change of clothing, she was none the worse for wear. On the other hand, I was five minutes late for formation and without a lid. I had left it (the hat pictured above) back on the bridge over the Dog River. As a result I earned 10 demerits for being out of uniform and five demerits for “Late to Formation”.

After almost 40 years I can still remember what that Narragansett beer tasted like, how cold the dog River was, and each of the hours I spent marching up and down in front of the administration building walking off those demerits.