Newport = Dirty Bingo?!?

Newport is the home of Rogue Ales and a cute little bay community. I had high expectations considering Rogue because they are one of most innovative breweries in the NW. The Rogue tour was normal, their facility is small, relatively, but they have a community that is unparalleled. You can sign up to be a Rogue Nation Member, which is free, and then you receive benefits of discounts on beer and merchandise. Yearly, they petition the UN for statehood; they are rejected yearly. They are not only a Brewery, but a Distillery. I was interested in the distillery because Spirits have an almost mythical quality to me. They are like the mysterious older sister of beer. Many Spirits are made out of grain, especially barley, like beer. I couldn't wrap my head around how a beer like product is turned into straight alcohol.
So, I was excited for the tour - only to be disappointed. The head distiller walked out of the small adjacent room with the still and sat down behind the bar. I was expecting a long discussion on distilling, similar to the beer tours, but he just poured shots of the different spirits. I asked about the four o'clock tour, and he waved his hand toward the still and said, "that's the still." Upon further discussion of home-brewing vs. moon-shining, I decided not to be a moon-shiner. Alcohol burns without a visible flame so your batch could be on fire, burning the house down, and you wouldn't know until something else was torching - like the carpet, or the walls.
I had to really work to get this guy to talk, but as he took a smoke break and I left he spoke his mind. I asked him about the best way into the industry and he said that I should try to win some home brewing awards. This was a good idea that I had heard of other brewers doing, but I hadn't considered for myself because of cost. He said that I should try to home brew 'to style' instead of trying new creations to show that I understand how the different styles are made. Good advice from an otherwise jerky guy.

Later, I went to Rogue's Public House for dinner and a beer. I sat down at the bar next to a couple of guys and we began talking. They both were travelers. One was up from SoCal, the other from North Carolina. In a strange twist of fate, a local came by, patted us on the shoulders, and said, "Bingo in the back room in 10."
I was intrigued. Bingo? like old people? like gambling? ooh! I was wrong. It was the raunchiest, lewdest, dirtiest bunch of locals who were passing out free boards to win prizes. The caller had to have been a stand up comedian at one time in his life. If you won, you had to come up and tell a joke - some of you may have gotten texts from me asking for one. After three or four winners, there was a challenge between the group for a prize - drinking from a frisbee without hands, Wii bowling, straw swallowing, etc. The other classic part of the night was the calls. For a large number of the balls, the caller would say some irreverent or funny anecdote to remind the players what the ball number was. "Thank God it's ... B9." ; "Our favorite ball on the board... O69." ; "They are finally legal... I21." etc.
And some were made up during the night. Tom was one of the other travelers and somehow the caller found out that he was 43 years old, so when N43 was called he would say,  "The Tom-Tom... N43."  Once, when it was called, Tom was no where to be found. The caller guessed that he was out in his mobile home having a snack or going to bed. We all ran out there - a 'Tom-Tom break' - and shook his mobile home to almost tipping over. Tom eventually made it to the door, took the joke well, and came back inside to finish the night.
I can't recall all of the hilarious events of that night, but I can say that it was worth playing Bingo with a bunch of strangers.