Lynn, Massachusetts · August to September 1986

Forty bars,
eleven nights,
two engineers.

In the summer of 1986 two engineers at General Electric in Lynn set out to drink in every bar in the city and write down what they found. They typed it up, bound it, and it was lost for thirty years until a photocopy surfaced in a desk drawer.

So, why'd we bother? Why'd we do it? Who cares? We each have our own reasons:

“Because it's beer.” — Grant.
“I can't remember.” — Jim.

One thing we both want to know is why anyone would read it.

Afterword, 15 December 1986

This is the answer, forty years late.