beer:30

Given the time of year I thought it a very apt time to discuss my affection for malty, adult beverages. It all started in the place we're celebrating Monday. I had never drank a drop until Ireland and even then not until after the first 5 months. I broke my arm on a ski trip and with no sport to occupy my time my irish friend was able to convince me to go to the uni-bar for a drink. It's a very nice thing learning to drink in Ireland. They've been doing it since they were at most 15 and by the time I got there drinking was a lot like now when drinking with friends. No competition. Just out, a beer an hour, good conversation, good times. The bitterness of the beer over there put me off at first. I couldn't even finish a half-pint of Guinness! At the end of my year there I forced (yes, pretty sad) myself to put down a whole pint.

Back in the states suddenly it was an entirely different world. As I'm sure I've told most of my friends, U.S. Guinness is way, way different than real Guinness. On my 21st, back in the states, I had a pint and it went down surprisingly smooth. From then on a great new world was opened to me. Amber's, brown's and porter's, oh my. I was of course pampered by all the fantastic brew pubs of the northwest. I was really into the flavor and after a few the uniqueness wore off and it was time to be done. I was really self-conscious about drinking too much because my pop had issues with alcholism. He was never mean, or loud, or any of the stereotypes associated with alcoholics, but I remember going to AA meetings as a kid, knew the problem was hereditary, and was a little freaked out. To his credit I totally attribute my seemingly inability to get a hangover to heredity. I'm not saying I never got drunk, but I was conscious of how much I had and the effects it had on me. With my paranoia, I found I couldn't drink at home. Even if people were over, just couldn't do it. I never could figure it out, in the end Nebraksa ridded me of this ailment.

In Nebraska there wasn't a great selection, but the brew pub they had put out some quality brews. I haven't found a vanilla porter yet that tops theirs. In Nebraska I was introduced to The Traveller, not that I've ever done it, but I've never felt unsafe with the folks who did. It was always something light and they'd not had more than a beer before we went. Since they could drink like fish I wasn't worried. Course this brings about the topic of driving drunk. I won't lie and say I've never done it. According to Eight, who wasn't there, I did it last night. For me drunk is way different than buzzing and the level of each is definitely a function of consumption over time. I'm sure (I hope) everybody's got their little checklist of things to make a smart decision (course if you're using the checklist at all you're probably already wrong). I have no trouble with handing over my keys, have taken the bus home, and one dumb night walked 6 miles in sub-20 degree weather. I don't think there's any good logic for driving after drinking, but it's a risk I'm willing to take now and again. In the end we can only try to be better.

What to drink. Personally, my general rule is that I won't drink anything I can see through (Goes for the hard stuff as well). In the Northwest there was no reason to drink light beer. In Nebraska the debate could get a little heated. Most prevalent was the Hobstar and his affinity for the Champagne of Beers. His arguments: better taste (to each his own), more bang for the buck (definitively true), and you could drink it year round (dark stuff just isn't as tasty when it 95 degrees and 90% humidity). Being the good sport I am I willingly tried some classics; the Champagne, PBR, probably a Busch, a Coors, and God forbid a Bud. For the verdict I'll rely on a story (which most've probably heard) posted at the recently gone Rattlesnake brewery in Kennewick, WA, "At a brewers convention a waiter went around the table asking what each brewer would like to drink. The guy from Coors asks for a Coors, when asked, the guy from Miller asks for a Miller, blah, blah, blah. When asked what he'd like the Rattlesnake brewer says, " water, since that what everyone else is having"." The light stuff just doesn't do it for me. to the credit of light beer brewers, they're supposed to be much harder to make and harder to make consistently palatable. With that said I commonly will drink Corona and this winter found that Foster's is very nice after a day on the ice. Generally thouigh, I like my beer malty, heavy bodied, and clean finishing. I'm not a huge fan of hops, but there's a few out there that'll do you right.

Okay, I'm bored, probably you too, if you got this far. Ultimate league starts tomorrow. Yeah!

For St. Paddies, drink tons and be safe. Find Green Beer. If not, make your own. Warn your boss: Tuesday will be a late start at work