Claeys: Beer more expensive than gasoline?
By Jesse Claeys Journal staff writer | Posted: Friday, May 16, 2008
There are two topics not to be discussed in a bar: religion and politics.
That old adage is being ignored at Miles Inn.
"You can talk about anything you want to in here," proclaimed Miles Inn owner Julie Lias. "I don't care."
Currently two topics are making excellent bar fodder at the home of the Charlie Boy (a culinary loose meat masterpiece) and frosted schooner (a 20-ounce glass of beer).
First, the price of a gallon of gasoline.
"Naturally, people talk about. It affects everybody. When gas prices go up like they are, you have to cut back somewhere. It's weird, though. People still find money for beer, in bad times or good times," Lias said.
The Morningside pub has recently taken a bit of a stance on the price of gas. Hanging on the wall in a corner next to the pool table is a 3-by-5 foot sign reading: "BEER NOW CHEAPER THAN GAS" and "Drink ... Don't Drive."
"I think it's great. We should send it to President Bush and ask him to put it up in the White House," said Nyla Miller, a customer who drove in from Jackson, Neb., to have lunch with her husband.
The sign caught my attention, but after having a laugh I wondered if gas was actually more expensive than beer. Time for some math.
The cheapest beer at Miles Inn is a $2.50 20-ounce tap draw of Coors products. Miles Inn is charging 12.5 cents per ounce of beer. There are 128 fluid ounces in a gallon. That means the bar is in effect charging $16 per gallon of beer, a bit more than the average price of a gallon of gas.
I explained this to the patrons of the bar one afternoon.
"Yeah, you're right, but beer is more fun," Miller said after finishing a Charlie Boy.
"Plus, drinking a gallon of gas will hurt ya," Miller's husband, Neill, chimed in.
The sign has been up for a week and Lias said it's an attention getter and conversation starter. She said it's so popular with patrons that she's surprised someone hasn't tried to steal it.
Lias is happy to talk with customers about the rising cost of gas. As for the looming July 1 smoking ban, that's when she gets heated.
"I'd talk to you about it, but you'd have to bleep everything out," Lias said. "It would just be bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep."
Instead, she lets the bar's pull-tab lottery machine do the talking.
In protest of the smoking ban, the employees of Miles Inn have begun decorating the bar's pull-tab lottery machine with empty packs of cigarettes. So far 111 of them have been taped to the orange dispenser. Lias explained that the state of Iowa receives 95 percent of the machine's profits and she's going to soon send it back to the powers that be, hoping it ends up in the office of Gov. Chet Culver.
"We're sending it back to the state to let them know the cigarette ban is bull ... you know.
"What else can we do? The state makes more money off that machine than we do. Why give them more money?"
Some of the packs are even decorated with colorful messages for the governor.
So go to Miles and take note of the decorations. Literally, at least two of them are a sign of the times.
That old adage is being ignored at Miles Inn.
"You can talk about anything you want to in here," proclaimed Miles Inn owner Julie Lias. "I don't care."
Currently two topics are making excellent bar fodder at the home of the Charlie Boy (a culinary loose meat masterpiece) and frosted schooner (a 20-ounce glass of beer).
First, the price of a gallon of gasoline.
"Naturally, people talk about. It affects everybody. When gas prices go up like they are, you have to cut back somewhere. It's weird, though. People still find money for beer, in bad times or good times," Lias said.
The Morningside pub has recently taken a bit of a stance on the price of gas. Hanging on the wall in a corner next to the pool table is a 3-by-5 foot sign reading: "BEER NOW CHEAPER THAN GAS" and "Drink ... Don't Drive."
"I think it's great. We should send it to President Bush and ask him to put it up in the White House," said Nyla Miller, a customer who drove in from Jackson, Neb., to have lunch with her husband.
The sign caught my attention, but after having a laugh I wondered if gas was actually more expensive than beer. Time for some math.
The cheapest beer at Miles Inn is a $2.50 20-ounce tap draw of Coors products. Miles Inn is charging 12.5 cents per ounce of beer. There are 128 fluid ounces in a gallon. That means the bar is in effect charging $16 per gallon of beer, a bit more than the average price of a gallon of gas.
I explained this to the patrons of the bar one afternoon.
"Yeah, you're right, but beer is more fun," Miller said after finishing a Charlie Boy.
"Plus, drinking a gallon of gas will hurt ya," Miller's husband, Neill, chimed in.
The sign has been up for a week and Lias said it's an attention getter and conversation starter. She said it's so popular with patrons that she's surprised someone hasn't tried to steal it.
Lias is happy to talk with customers about the rising cost of gas. As for the looming July 1 smoking ban, that's when she gets heated.
"I'd talk to you about it, but you'd have to bleep everything out," Lias said. "It would just be bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep."
Instead, she lets the bar's pull-tab lottery machine do the talking.
In protest of the smoking ban, the employees of Miles Inn have begun decorating the bar's pull-tab lottery machine with empty packs of cigarettes. So far 111 of them have been taped to the orange dispenser. Lias explained that the state of Iowa receives 95 percent of the machine's profits and she's going to soon send it back to the powers that be, hoping it ends up in the office of Gov. Chet Culver.
"We're sending it back to the state to let them know the cigarette ban is bull ... you know.
"What else can we do? The state makes more money off that machine than we do. Why give them more money?"
Some of the packs are even decorated with colorful messages for the governor.
So go to Miles and take note of the decorations. Literally, at least two of them are a sign of the times.
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non-smoker wrote on May 16, 2008 10:19 PM:
Nick wrote on May 16, 2008 3:08 PM: