#13 Apricot Ale

A burst of fresh apricot aroma and flavor greet you in this copper colored ale.  Sweet bread and a touch of Cascade hops round out this pleasant brew.

Malts: Pale, Pilsen, Munich, Crystal, Carafa II, Honey, White Wheat

Hops: Glacier, Tettnang, Cascade

Yeast: English Ale

O.G. 11.5 plato        F.G. 1.6 plato

Superstitions are one of the few categories that have been around as long as brewing beer.  Apricots – ripe, succulent, juicy, innocent apricots – would not immediately leap to mind when conjuring up a list of enduring superstitions in the realm of black cats, the number 13, and walking under ladders.  Yet US Marines, Paratroops, Infantry Soldiers, and Armored Vehicle Crewmen, particularly AMTRAC (Amphibious Tractor) personnel, believed that halved apricots were bad luck to eat during combat operations.  Specifically, around a tank.

This superstition stems from Sherman tank breakdowns purportedly happening in the presence of cans of apricots. During WWII a ship carrying apricots for the service men sank and all aboard drowned.   Apricots were blamed for the tragedy. Today, the fear of apricots is so strong that American amphibious crews in Kuwait have dubbed them the “A-word” or “Forbidden Fruit.”  One of the possible reasons for the tank version of this phobia could be that since the pits are loaded with cyanide, the fear was that when a tank fired the ensuing repercussions might cause the inhabitants to swallow the pit.  True, halved apricots were generally pit-free, but superstitions are notoriously higher in fiction than logic.

Other superstitions to meditate on as you maneuver through the precarious labyrinth of your day:

• If you dream of a lizard, it means that you have a secret enemy.  So if a lizard appears in your dream, watch your back, there is no way of telling who your enemy actually is.
• If a bird defecates on you, it is a sign good luck will soon come your way.  At least something good comes out of something so disgusting.
• It is bad luck to say the word “pig” while fishing at sea.
• If you use the same pencil to take a test that you used for studying, the pencil will remember the answers.
• To rid yourself of a sty, stand at a crossroads and recite, “Sty, sty leave my eye. Take the next one coming by.”
• Do not drink Apricot Ale and operate a tank. (we made that one up!)