On Saturday, I enjoyed a meal out in Olney with a friend and former professional colleague who, like me, is going through a difficult divorce. Over a meal of spicy eggplant with garlic sauce and a couple of Tsing Tao's, we joked and complained about, well, what you'd expect a couple of divorcing dads to joke and complain about. We decided that two Tsing Tao's was not enough, so we went to a private beer and wine store in Olney that also sold gourmet cheese. So we were on notice, I suppose.

In the past incarnation of this blog, I blogged about Lindeman's Lambic Ale, a fine imported ale from Belgium. The retail price for that item in Baltimore County is, as noted in 2005, about $8.50/750 ml bottle. I have bought it for a dollar more and for a dollar less, never more than that in either direction.

I was astonished to see this fine product offered for retail sale for $19.99 in a store in an ordinary strip mall. Mind you, the store did sell gourmet deli and cheese products, so this was not some bargain bin. But I guess the equivalent would be finding out that a Happy Meal cost $14.95, or a Toyota Corolla 2-door was selling for $41,000. I was blown away.

We went to the county-owned store a block away and bought some strange English-pub style ale, replete with aerators in the cans to promote better flavor, for 6 bucks. I understand that the County as a public semi-monopoly doesn't have to obey full market discipline unless it feels like it, but somehow this quasi-socialist distribution system for booze seemed less bizarre than the free-market one down the street. I am not advocating socialism here, just enjoying a strange data point.