My first sip of beer came with a moment of disbelief.
I couldn’t believe people LIKED it. In fact, for the brand I was drinking, I still can’t.
Until I turned 29 (for about 10 years) I didn’t understand why I didn’t like it. Everyone else did. They drank it from a can and it didn’t matter if it got a little warm. Me, I needed sub-artic cold and from a bottle or frosted mug. (I still like the frosted mug or bottle)
A few people have told me they never liked it. They just drank it, for various reasons. Some have quit and some keep trying.
Most of the people that drank the “bad stuff” drank a lot of it and got drunk. As I’ve said before, I’ve never liked drunk, either during or after.
So I don’t think it was peer pressure. But I wanted to be able to enjoy a beer.
One day, I tried a Newcastle Brown Ale. This opened a whole new world for me. I found (in time) that there were beers that I could drink (and enjoy) without a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips or a huge amount of pretzels after each sip.
So for about the past 12 or so years, I have enjoyed it. I quit drinking the beer you see advertised during the super bowl or on billboards. Doesn’t taste good to me. And now that I own a mini-van, trying to be cool isn’t really in the picture anymore.
I drink quality stuff. It’s fairly expensive, but I don’t drink it in large quantities. I just enjoy one or two with dinner or after a day well spent.
I like to go to the grocery store and just browse the hundreds of micro brews that are out there. I usually pick one and (unless something really special happens) never get it again. I’m drinking a Red Seal Ale right now. Has a red seal (the animal) on it. Pretty good. I probably won’t get it again. I’ll try something else next time.
A friend of mine and I made our own beer for a while. Very good. A lot of work. Possibly not cheaper than buying it in the store. We did it for fun.
But now that the microbrew craze is in full glory, I’ll let someone else worry about the quality of the malt and yeast. And I’ll just pick and choose and enjoy.
Cheers.
