It’s the end of an era. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the surface of the moon passed away today at 82. I was 10 that July when the historic moon walk took place. Like most kids my age, I was deeply obsessed with the NASA space program, had many models and books, and even drank Tang. Neil Armstrong was a real hero to me as a kid and I have no less admiration for him as an adult. I’ll raise a toast tonight to Neil Armstrong, and the entire group of Apollo astronauts, along with the thousands of engineers, scientists and technicians that achieved what so many thought was impossible, that — in John F. Kennedy’s words — “of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

The only question is what is the appropriate beer to toast Armstrong, and the Moon? I still have two bottles of Apollo beer from the 1990s but I’m certainly not going to open any of those. I also have a cool blue 3L bottle of Apollo Lager, which was empty since it was given to me, so that obviously won’t work.

To bad we can’t drink a Moonshot tonight. Maybe a beer brewed with Apollo hops? Sixpoint’s summer seasonal is called Apollo, and Laurelwood has a Space Stout, but I can’t either of those. There’s Blue Moon, of course though I think I’d prefer the more local Moonlight or even Half Moon Bay. What beer will you choose?