Three days late and four dollars short ! ! !

Sweet Jesus, what on earth has come over me?

Today being the last month of my own birthmonth, I somehow have overlooked one of history's most essential birth dates: the 28th of March, which was . . .  ummmmmm . . . three days ago. For some reason, I was too busy to write anything more than a dumb joke, when I ought to have written this:

Johann Gottlieb Friedrich Pabst was born in the Kingdom of Prussia on this date in 1836. In 1848. In Chicago, Frederick and his father worked as waiters and busboys. Because the boy had enjoyed his trans-Atlantic voyage to America, he decided to become a cabin-boy on a Lake Michigan steamer. By the time he was 21, Pabst had earned his pilot's license, and was captain of one of these vessels. In this capacity, he met a German named Phillip Best, who was the owner of a small but brewery founded in Milwaukee. Pabst married Best's daughter, Maria, on March 25, 1862. (Write down that date, too!)

For the next year and a half, Pabst plied the waters of Lake Michigan as a ship's captain, until a December accident in 1863 led to a change in career. While trying to bring his craft into Milwaukee harbor, Pabst's ship ran aground. A short while later, Pabst purchased half of Best's brewing company. In that case, perhaps his ship had come in.

Happy belated birthday, Fred. How can I ever make it up?

Oh, I know. Beertender, a round of PBR for the house!