We here at Thank Heaven for Beer found it most fitting to utilize the first (and most often least read) post to reflect on that day in which drops of beer graced our palette for the first time.For me, this monumental day took place 25 years ago at the ripe old age of 3 years old.

Distinctly, I recall my father and his cousin sitting at the kitchen table after having spent hours working on the dilapidated porch of the old house.  Sitting there on that hot summer day in the non-air conditioned house as beads of condensation coalesced into drops that made there way onto the faux wooden table, my father and his cousin convinced my mother to give me a sip.

As the liquid hit my tongue the unique flavor caught me by surprise.  My face must have contorted as my father and his cousin burst into laughter.  The beer of choice that day?  A cheap beer.  A blue collar, working man’s beer.  An American beer (no longer).  Budweiser.  While it would be twelve years before I sipped another Budweiser, the 130 year old recipe was indelibly burned into the  cortex of my brain.

Unlike most self-professed connoisseurs of our favorite fermented beverage, I have come to appreciate–dare I say, enjoy–the iconic lager.  To this day, the unique rice and malt barley flavor of Budweiser takes me back to simpler times: the youthful faces of my parents, the fun-loving personality of my father’s cousin, that quaint little kitchen, the absolute lack of responsibility…

Which brings me to the point of this blog:

We do not see beer merely as a consumable.  It is more than just a thirst quencher, a facilitator of inebriation, a fine beverage, or a fraternity staple.  It is an experience –a human experience–rooted in the histories of mankind.