LEFT BEHIND BY ITS SIX-PACK MATES

There's a store down the street from me that, despite changing its name to a wine emporium, is really a glorified liquor store.  One way to be sure is the beer. Oh, sure, there are lots of vendors to choose from when purchasing beer.  This place, though, has an entire wall dedicated to single cans and single bottles of craft beer.

Sometimes I like to try different, off-brand craft beers without making a commitment.  Dark beers, light beers, middle of the road beers ... it doesn't matter.  The Mighty Beer Wall lets me be me and, like a loving and effective parent to a curious child, allows me to experiment safely with beers outside of my comfort zone.

While standing at The Mighty Beer Wall today, I strike up a conversation with an older couple.  They're doing out loud what I am doing silently in my brain: oohing and aaaaahhhhhing over the variety of craft beer singles, and narrowing down some fine but unusual choices.

This is when we all see it.

Quietly taking a space amongst the craft beers on the lowest shelf, almost hiding from view, is a bottle of Michelob Ultra -- certainly not an unusual beer and definitely not a craft beer.  A crafty one, perhaps, but not craft.

We chuckle over it, then the couple picks out four cans of varying size and source.  I stand alone in front of The Mighty Beer Wall for an extra moment, wordlessly cheering on the Mich Ultra.  Shine on, little lite beer of mainstream origin.  Show those crazy off-brands how a brand name beer does it, even if your six-pack mates left you behind.

(To be fair, there are several other mainstream beers there, but we spotted the Michelob Ultra first, and it makes a much better story than Heineken.)