Old friends came over on Saturday for grilled meat and the pleasure of conversation. We’re all old enough so that no one spent time glancing at phones during our visit, and no one took any pictures either.

As I do about once a year, I bought beer for an occasion. I got one of those pick-your- own six smaller-brand beers for a certain price ($10). I picked them for geographic diversity and interesting labels. Here are four that we eventually drunk. We’re not a hard-drinking crew.
I had the Two Brothers and sampled the Shiner, which were both good; the other two were finished by guests. Two Brothers is made locally, as in Warrenville, Ill., a western suburb. Shiner, of course, is a Texas beer, the beer that made Shiner famous, made by the Spoetzl Brewery in that town, which is in Lavaca County, east of San Antonio.

Prickly Pear is a summer seasonal brew. The bottle says “the fruit of the prickly pear, a cactus native to our brewery’s landscape, blends wonderfully with Citra & U.S. Golding hops of a tart, citrusy flavor and floral aroma that’s unlike any other summer lager. It’s a crisp and refreshing alternative to drinking  from the hose.” No doubt.

Stone, which calls itself the “go to IPA,” is a product of the Stone Brewing Co. of San Diego County, so that’s a West Coast Brew. Its mascot (a registered trademark) looks more than a little diablo.

If you can have Demon Rum, I guess Devil Hops is possible.

Finally, there’s Snake Dog IPA, our East Coast Brew, by Flying Dog Brewery of Frederick, Md. The more I looked at the label, the more its bad acid trip art looked familiar.

It’s by Ralph Steadman, the British artist who illustrated Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, among many other things. The beer bottle art is signed by him and dated “98.”