On Friday, April 13 2007 Flower Shirt Friday hit a milestone; 30 people. The group which started last April with only 5 members has now grown 500% thanks in large part to the efforts of another Harmon regular, Matt Daaaang.

Matt not only stepped up to the plate and brought several new folks to the group but also made it easier for newbies thanks to his now infamous bag-o-shirts. “The bag-o-shirts is full of flower shirts”, said Brian, one of the FSF founding members. When asked why he decided to buy all those shirts Matt said “Whooooooah!, look at my glasses!”.

Due to the enormous growth the group has undergone, founding member Kurt has decided to write bylaws.  Basically they will lay out the ground rules for new membership.  The dues will include buying the four remaining founding members (Mailman, Kurt, Brian and Scott) a beer.

With the overwhelming success of FSF and the summer months upon us, the founders are now looking into starting a new group, Flower Shirtless Boating.  More info on this to follow.

The idea is simple.  When going to the Harmon on Friday nights, you wear a flower shirt.

Tom, manager of the Harmon was not able to promise a premium for wearing flower shirts, stating “Let’s see how it goes first.”  However according to sources he has pledged that if successful we will see our favorite Harmon Girls in grass skirts.  Unfortunately the rumor of coconut bra’s was a cruel hoax.

The first attempt at Flower Shirt Friday met with complete failure last Friday.  “I sat here all night waiting and no one showed up” said Kurt.  “It was like every date on went on in high school.”  This may be due in part to the fact that no email reminder was sent but this is as yet unconfirmed.  It’s still uncertain when the first official Flower Shirt Friday will be but experts are hopeful it will be this Friday.

As the days become cooler, it is time to put away the light lagers and ales and ponder stronger beers.

With an alcohol content of 5.7 percent, Late Harvest Autumn Ale won’t knock your socks off, but it is a nice segue before the winter months make strong ales such as barleywine more tempting.

Late Harvest is an amber-colored ale that features a portion of specialty grains such as crystal, German smoked Munich, caramel and roasted malts and Northern Brewer and Saaz hops. They make a good combination. The slight sweetness from the crystal and caramel malts blends well with the slightest hint of smokiness from the Munich grains, and the roasted flavor is also slight, but noticeable.

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The first e-mail arrived at 7:16 a.m. Sunday. They kept coming at the rate of one every 10 minutes for the next 12 hours. What got y’all stirred up? McMenamin’s and the Tacoma Elks building.I advocated in Sunday’s business column that the new buyers of the vacant Elks building, Williams & Dame Development of Portland, partner with the Portland McMenamin brothers on a restoration of the Tacoma landmark.

The McMenamins’ empire of 54 brewpubs, inns, theaters and restaurants – many of them in historic, renovated locations – seemed to me a perfect match for Tacoma generally and the Elks building specifically.

Then I asked you, if you agreed with me, to send an e-mail of support to Williams & Dame and the McMenamin brothers.

“My e-mail box is overwhelmed with positive responses to your story,” Matt Brown, Williams & Dame’s assigned project manager for the Tacoma Elks, said late Monday morning.By Tuesday morning, Brian McMenamin e-mailed and called about “a sea of e-mails, and it’s overwhelmingly positive. You should thank your readers.”

And, by the way, McMenamin wants y’all to know he and his brother, Mike, will “hook up with” Williams and Dame Development to discuss whether a partnership on the Elks building will work.

“You never know,” he said.

So, thank you for lending your voices to the cause of the Elks restoration, the desire to see Tacoma evolve or, as Rockne Eli of Puyallup put it, to quench a thirst for McMenamin’s Hammerhead copper-colored ale.

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Mmm. A black peppery overtone, yet velvety smooth. Just as I remember it.

Now, where was I?

Oh, yes. The beginning.
I want to tell you a true tale with an ending not yet written. And to get into the storytelling spirit, I came here – 52 miles south of Tacoma – to The Olympic Club for a Communication Breakdown Burger, private-label red wine and Hogshead Whiskey Break Pudding. Why?

Three and a half years ago, when The News Tribune hired me for this column-writing gig, I set three primary goals:

• Be constructively insightful.

• If I can’t be constructively insightful, be entertaining.

• Persuade the McMenamin brothers of Portland to bring one of their signature brewpub, theater, music venue, hotel establishments to Tacoma.

I’ll start working on those first two soon. But the third has never gotten this close to coming true.

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Though the origins of the Ancient Order of Froth Blowers are lost to history, the habit of mankind to take a little tipple now-and-again is well documented. From the ancient Egyptian concoction that only just passed for fermented brew, down the ages to today and a true perfection of a nice single malt, much of humanities enterprise has been intertwined with fermentation and distillation. Of course, there has always been the temptation to imbibe too heartily or too often. If one chooses to walk the tightrope, one must take the chance of falling. But greatness lies in attempting the deed, knowing too well the danger, trusting to oneself, and finding in success that one’s character is better for the trouble. So let us all take the advice of Saint Paul and use a little wine for our infirmities. For we may find that we are better men for it, and history a little richer for us living it.