There is a store here in Murfreesboro when I go to get my Venezuelan coffee to brew and other treats that my wife became addicted while we lived down there.  To my surprise, today I found the brand of malta (non-alcoholic malt beverage brewed from barley, hops and other things) that I loved since I was a tiny tot.

After chugging half the can of the almost frozen delight, I realized that this company had closed down during the mid Presidency of Hugo Chavez alongside many other private enterprises. Naturally my curiosity was piqued as to where the old elixir was being produced and I was a bit (a lot) surprised):

Poland? And for a Miami company? At first, I was upset, this is a brand that was not only truly a part of Venezuela but represented my home city.  Many hot tropical days through my life were chilled with a cold bottle or can of Malta Caracas and many discussions were help among friends who swore by it versus the uncouth who liked the competitor Maltin Polar. And it was indeed a sad day when I found out that the company had shut down, unable to deal with the communist idiocies of Asshole Hugo and his band of thieving Communists.

And then, the idea that the former communist country who gave the USSR so much agita is producing my beverage of love for a company in Miami, struck me as a beautiful irony and had to chuckle.

Sometime life balances itself.