ASK MPA
11/4/2025
And now for everybody’s favorite Q & A session with your friend, our friend, my friend, nobody’s friend, MPA!!!!! This week’s question comes from our friend Seamus Liam O’Flaherty from… Italy. What do you have for us today Seamus???
“Hey MPA!!! You are my favorite member of TMM!!! Do you want to know why? It’s obvious. You’ve never had an STD!!! With that said, since alcohol is such a delicacy in my home country of…Italy, I would like to know what your five favorite beer brands are??? Oh, and my 2nd favorite Massachusetts State Police Officer is…Daren DeJong!!!!
Seamus,
Thank you for your question. Seeing as my mother’s side of the family is also from Italy, I am happy to answer this question for you, however, it should be noted, I am more of a bourbon drinker these days, but an ice cold beer, never hurt anyone, let’s get into it. Here they are in no particular order:
1. Haffenreffer Private Stock - The one thing that sticks with me about this beer is the bottle cap. The inside has those cool picture puzzles where you try to make a word or saying. Mine has "rush" + a hen + a dress + a sink = Russian Dressing. Hehehe ... how lame is that? Serving instructions suggest that I serve it "well cooled in a tall glass or on the rocks." It also states that it's the "Malt Liquor ... with the imported taste." Classy stuff. Cam in a 40 and 64 oz version, I drank both one night, a very bad night
2. Bud Light – Standard and staple and despite all the controversy over the last couple years it remains ultimately popular and you can drink all day/night long, though why would you want to, therein lies the existential question?
3. Guinness - What do you do to commemorate the most popular beer in the United States? You raise a glass of it, obviously. Market research firm YouGov surveyed over 1,400 Americans between April and June (Q2), to find out how aware they were of 75 different brands of beer, and to ask them how favorably they rated each one.
They’ve just published their results, and the most popular beer — which YouGov defines as “the percentage of people who have a positive opinion of a beer” — is Ireland’s own Guinness. The 264-year-old brew was known by 98% of those surveyed, and 58% of respondents had a positive attitude towards the beer. Both of those numbers have increased since Q2 of 2022, when it was known by 91% of respondents and had a “popularity” rating of 50%.
The top ten most popular beers — again, based on the respondents’ opinions of the brews — were Guinness, Corona, Heineken, Samuel Adams, Blue Moon, Budweiser, Modelo, Corona Extra, Stella Artois, and Coors.
4. Blue Moon - Originally called Bellyslide Belgian White, the beer was created by Keith Villa, a brewer at the Sandlot Brewery at Coors Field, Denver, Colorado (owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company), where it is still brewed as of 2024.[ Blue Moon is also brewed at the Molson Brewery in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which can be sold in the US depending on location and supply from other manufacturing facilities, as well as be exported to Europe. Blue Moon Brewing Co. is an entity of Tenth and Blake Beer Company, the craft and import division of Molson Coors .
The grain bill for Blue Moon includes malted barley, white wheat, orange peel, coriander and oats—and is usually served with a slice of orange, which its brewmasters claim accentuates the flavor of the brew.
I always feel better drinking alcohol and getting some Vitamin C while doing it.
5. Sam Adams - The Boston Beer Co. is the nation's biggest craft-beer operation by output and sales. Started in 1984 by Jim Koch and Rhonda Kallman, it grew from humble beginnings, with the pair lugging unmarked bottles of as-yet-unreleased beer around New England's biggest city trying to drum up retail and restaurant accounts, to a juggernaut that now includes sales in every state, D.C. and several foreign countries. For many, Boston Beer — aka Samuel Adams or Sam Adams, after its most prominent brand — is craft beer, or at least the gateway into that variegated genre of American brewing. With over 15 different varieties to choose from, it remains one of my favorites as each season seems to have a solid choices, two of my favorites being Cold Snap, and Porch Rocker.
Read More: https://www.foodrepublic.com/2015/06/01/here-are-the-10-sam-adams-beers-you-need-to-drink-first/
Seamus…Thank You again for your question and if you have any "action" this weekend, best of luck!!!!
PS…. Regarding former MSP Trooper Darren Dejong. Darren was a very quiet and decent guy. He had a tremendous work ethic, but he made the fatal mistake of transferring out of “C-Troop” where he had a stellar reputation and into the now defunct “Troop E” where greed ruled the day and money was the driving factor there, not police work. Darren’s son is currently a Trooper and enjoying a good and thus far scandal free career.
