[BigOlChiefsfan]

I've had buckets of beer in Hermann back when they first started their Oktoberfest, but I don't remember Grandpa drinking anything but Stag or Falstaff from the can (opened w/a churchkey).

One thing my grandparents liked, that I like too is sassafrass tea. We had to go dig up sassafrass saplings 'as the sap started to run' which is late winter. They used to tout it as a health tonic, it's the 'root' that flavors root beer. But they've found one ingredient (saffrole?) that can cause cancer so it's no longer touted as a healthy drink. You can buy 'Pappy's' brand of sassafrass extract - which has had the saffrole removed - and use a little of that with boiling water instead of simmering your freshly dug roots for half an hour or so. Dang, now I want a cuppa this stuff. Might have to go drink a root beer instead.

Liver and onions was a lot more popular when I was a kid in the country, we ate it probably twice a month. Doctors used to encourage people to eat calves liver as a way to get minerals and iron (in those days you couldn't buy vitamin pills at Walmart, you had to 'eat weird stuff' if you were low on this mineral or missing that vitamin). My Mom would soak calves liver in milk (or buttermilk) for a few hours before she fried it, took a lot of the blood and 'bad taste' out of it IMHO. I won't eat liver and onions just anywhere, but I like it if it's done 'like mama used to make'.