This months Session is hosted by Derrick Peterman at Ramblings of a Beer Runner who asks us to "write about a special place in your life, and a beer or brewery that connects you to that place."

The most memorable place for me when I think of beers I've consumed is not some fancy place, or far distant place but my home town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
I remember going into the Riverside Hotel's men's room at the ripe old age of seventeen when the law said you had to be twenty one. Carm the owner would occasionally yell out that the law was on it's way and anyone under age had better get out. I never moved. I knew a bluff when I saw one even back then.
For a small town it sure had it's share of hotels. There were no bars in those days. There was the Anchorage, the Prince of Wales,(which still exists), the American, the Oban Inn, (which also still exists) and of course the Legion. I dared not enter there. Too law abiding for my tastes.
The town had it's own Police Force and they knew just about everyone by name. On one memorable hot summer day I and a couple of friends had spent the evening swilling crappy draft at the Riverside and I was driving. I was angle parked up against a frost fence and every time I tried to back up I bumped the fence. I couldn't find reverse on my floor shift I guess. After my third try I heard laughter and then a tap on my shoulder through the open window. It was Officer Ritchie. He said "John hand me the keys", and then said for the three of us to get in the cruiser. He drove us all home and when we got to my house he handed me the keys and said "I don't want to see that car moved until morning". Ah the good old days.
Now when I go back there I cringe. It's as plastic as Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls. The only redeeming thing about the place now is that you can get some very nice ales and beers there, if you can stand all the crowds.
All and all it is a pretty place but I sure wouldn't want to live there now.