Police have a cow, and I know it sounds cheesy, but they milk their chances when a rival tavern skims off some Spotted Cow.
— Bartender Whitney at Pudge’s got a lot of face time on Fox 9 News when a TV crew came over and asked opinions about a sting operation targeting a Maple Grove tavern. It seems they had “spotted” the owners illegally buying and transporting the New Glarus Spotted Cow beer brand over the river — multiple times — and allegedly serving it in their own place, which is a violation of trade practices, as well as Border Battle decorum. Then feds actually order a brew in the Twin Cities tavern as evidence. Whitney said she thought that doing such a sting was a bit too much drama. Which apparently still rings true, as Spotted Cow is still listed as a special on their beer board.
So, dramatically, what was shown on TV was all Whitney, despite the guys at the bar who were queried too, and they speculated that the male TV crew was smitten by her short shirt.
One of the reporters who interviewed her said he wrote for scores of other publications as well, maximizing her exposure. My mom in Milwaukee even called me to say she had seen such a report in the Journal-Sentinel. Ouch! I am a tipster for that paper, and I could have collected a paycheck in regard to this, but the editor I deal with was out for days on end. With that tip, I could have paid it forward and given Whitney a better tip.
Despite all the publicity, Spotted Cow is also still on tap at places like Emma’s Bar in River Falls. A sign promoted a special that incorporates that brew and another Wisconsin staple, pretzel and I’m assuming cheese sauce, (maybe that’ll be the next Cheesehead item to be essentially kidnapped and brought across the border). Whatever happened to Minnesota nice?
Speaking of tips, the sign at the Agave Kitchen gave this one: Pac Man over Mayweather, and it provided the hashtag “freetip.” That message runs counter to the possible idea you could link to it that you don’t get tipped very well when working at Agave. I’m sure that is not the case. And you don’t even have to “fight” it.
On fight night itself, there weren’t that many people checking in on the round-by-round updates on sports news channels. By contrast, there were many more people in the sports bars watching the Wild’s Swan Song on Thursday.
— Just goes to show that you can’t believe everything you hear, especially if the speaker has had a few beers. The main word that was going around the bars was that Adrian Peterson being traded was a done deal, but now after his reinstatement, his agent says the star running back should get a new long-term contract. One fixture at a local bar, who asked not to be named, said a close relative has enough of a sports background to smoosh at parties with some pretty bigtime Twin Cities power brokers, and they told him after getting loose lipped because of, again, a few drinks, that sending AP to Dallas was a done deal, and the only reason it hadn’t been officially announced prior to the NFL draft was because of holding back for strategic reasons. (The same guy turned out to be right about the end of the Minnesota career of a certain basketball player named Love). Similarly, a patron at Green Mill said a few months ago that his father knows the Peterson family, and that going to Dallas was a sure thing. The apparent lack of truth to these rumours no doubt is a big relief to a friend of mine who knows AP socially and wouldn’t want to see him go.
— A sign at Woody’s in Bayport says that “Old Style is now on draft.” Would that be the NFL Draft, much ballyhooed on sports bar TV, or a reference to what’s on tap? By the way, all I saw of the draft while at this Vikings establishment was Minnesota’s first pick (and it wasn’t a running back).