Hey, PatK! Pack your bags!

[KBCraig]

I found the place for vacation. 

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=John+Clayton%3a+From+Wales+to+NH%2c+with+love&articleId=47c66d29-b282-4c3a-acef-22c4acd8e3cc

John Clayton: From Wales to NH, with love

By JOHN CLAYTON
Union Leader Staff

I KNEW I WAS going to love Wales the first day I set foot in the capital city of Cardiff.

After taking the train in from my extremely modest digs in the village of Penarth, I stepped from the train in Cardiff Central Station, bound for the elegant shopping district on Queen Street.

As I did, I was greeted by the most wonderful aroma. It was an unmistakable blend of hops and malt and yeast that, to my finely trained nose, could only emanate from a place devoted to the brewing of beer.

I stopped and inhaled.

The joy on my face must have been apparent because a short, wizened old Welshman in a weathered tweed jacket watched me sniffing the air and he uttered but a single word.

"Brains," he said.

I figured he'd pegged me for an overeducated Yank who was there for some post-graduate work in journalism at University College-Cardiff, but in fact, he was telling me what I was smelling.

See, "Brains" is the national beer of Wales.

They make it right there in the capital using Goldings and Fuggles hops that are unique to Wales and I bring it up only because, in my heart of hearts, I'm hoping that Ian Reynolds was able to stash a few tins in his luggage for me before he left his home in the Rhondda Valley a few days ago.

[Pat K]