By Land and by Sea

Far be it from me to look down upon drinking at the neighborhood pub. It is, for me, what attending church is to others – an uplifting experience, a communion, a chance to revitalize the soul. It is steeped in tradition and ceremony.

Oh, and it's a lot of fun, too.

But, again like church, it can fall into too much of a routine. Sometimes you have to shake things up a bit. Maybe move out of the pews and into a big-tent revival. Or rather, get off the bar stool and move around some.

No, I don't mean go to the parking lot for a smoke. I mean really move around, like I did on a couple of recent occasions – by land and by sea.

My drinking adventures came courtesy of a couple of local entrepreneurs: Bats & Beers and PubCrawler of Austin. The former did everything for me: a cruise, floating me around Lady Bird Lake while I quaffed local microbrewery beers and ate good food. The latter required a bit of work pedaling a bicycle – of sorts – but it was worth the effort.

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Lee Nichols blogs about beer at www.i-love-beer.blogspot.com.