Cronktoberfest
Here I am, entering the final fall semester of a lengthy collegiate career. While many people chip away at their degree over four or five years I ended up going full time from 2001 to 2003. I then took what I like to call my "hiatus from higher learning." I endured a lost summer with my friend Dano, from which our livers will never fully recover. I worked at the local record store and even managed to find my way into the head office for a time. All the while I was living as a college student without the burden of classes. I went back to college in the Spring of 2007 to find that all of my classmates had graduated. None of the usual suspects could be found in my Political Science classes and I found the freshman class was no longer of my peer group. I look back over the span of the last decade and realize I misused the time I took off. I made a lot of mistakes, some of which are irreversible.
There is one thing I still embrace however. In 2005 my roommates and I threw a little party at the old 59 Oakdale residence known as Cronktoberfest. (Self serving name, I know) In recollection, I have no idea how we fit so many people into that apartment. The menu was generous though. We served domestic kegs (Natural Light), the disappearing rum trick, beer that I brewed with Josh, of Portlandtaps fame, and kamikazes served from a Brita water pitcher spigot. You know, really classy stuff. The party came to a quick end after my manager tumbled lifelessly down the stairs after drinking several home brews. Ambulances can be a real buzz kill, so are police.
The Cronktoberfest tradition has been carried on every year since 2005. The scale has been drastically reduced from the first year but many of my college friends still attend. I still make the beer and the disappearing rum trick which I like to think my friends look forward to. There is still fun to be had after all. So here I sit, planning the fifth annual Cronktoberfest, my last as a student. This is the first marker of a year in which I say good bye to this college lifestyle I have clung to for so long. Few things have the endurance to last a lifetime. I was only able to stretch college out for a decade. Maybe i will be able to carry the Cronktoberfest celebration throughout my lifetime. I hope so.
Cronk Says: For the uninitiated, the disappearing rum trick requires a large pot, two gallons of cider, a handle of Captain Morgan's, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and a stove burner on low heat. Remember to heat the cider first. Do not let it come to a boil. You want the cider to be hot but if it is steaming after you add the rum you will burn off the alcohol. Use the entire handle of Morgan's. Do not be afraid.....it disappears. Enjoy!
