If we meet at the Great American Beer Festival this year, I hope I won’t scare you. If our encounter today is beyond Denver, I hope I’m not frightening you now.
At first, there appeared to be barely a murmur of protest. Then the odd moan of disbelief; dismayed questions, fragmented attempts to rationalize, detached voices, a sigh, a groan. This eerie hush seemed to last for days.
A small-town boy in the Big City, a Northerner in the South (of England), newly married, living in an apartment, thinking of buying a house, finding my way…
Funny how a chance encounter can change your life. One day, I had to visit someone in another neighborhood. I mis-timed the journey and arrived at their local subway station earlier than planned. I noticed a pub. Its sign indicated that it sold a decent beer, Young’s.
How do wars start? In some explosive countries, the trigger can be as simple as a disputed result of a soccer match. In Belgium, the argument is more likely to be over beer. A civil war seemed on the cards recently, when a leading daily newspaper misinterpreted my attempts to name the “Ten Best” Belgian beers.
With a bit of luck, you and I will be clinking glasses round about now. Usual time, same place? You remember it, of course? They have 1,200 beers, in 50 or 60 styles, from 300 breweries, under one roof?
If we miss each other in the crowd, I shall be sorry, but it is understandably popular. There will be about 25,000 people there.
I shall be even more regretful if we have already failed to connect; if our date for a beer is well past time, and the first weekend in October fading in the distance.
We’re so used to beer in our glass that it’s worth giving pause to consider how useful beer can be outside of the glass. Besides providing enjoyable nourishment, beer can be a useful tool around the house and garden. If you’ve ever been had to figure out what to do with leftover or undesirable beer, we have some solutions. Here they are: Read More…
