“And there are few things in this life so revolting as sipped beer.  But let is go down your throat ‘as suds go down the drain,’ and you will quickly realize that this is a true friend, to be admitted to your most secret counsels.  Long draughts with an open throat are the secret.”  Maurice Healy

 

There was a time when I held fast to the notion–contrary to Mr. Healy here–that there was nothing more revolting than quaffed beer.  Good beer etiquette demanded that the beer geek dissect and scrutinize every far reaching detail of a brew, and this could only be accomplished in minute sips, swished around every flavor region of the tongue, whether I was drinking a pale ale or a barleywine.  In fact, I might have snobbily argued against Mr. Healy’s statement.

Things, and people, change, however.  Case in point:

Last week a tile fell off the wall of our bedroom shower…than, two, than three…  Behind the tile lurked black mold.  Ughh.  So my project for the coming weekend became taking care of that little problem.   The weekend came and pulled of the tile and rotten drywall behind.  Inside I discovered years of moisture had twisted and buckled the studs.  So those had to be replaced, along with the corroded plumbing.  After the walls were rebuilt and the plumbing fixed, I hung up hardy backer (heavy stuff) and then laid tile, floor to ceiling.

After two days of working hard, morning to night, I was beat…and thirsty.  So last night at 9:30 p.m., I pulled open the fridge and grabbed a Boulevard Pilsner.  I was so thirsty, I guzzled the thing in only two glass-to-mouth occasions.  It was perhaps one of the most satisfying beer moments I’d experienced in a while.  I found that it was not only refreshing, but tasted great…the flavor of the hops were somehow more up-front that when I had sipped this beer a few nights ago.  The flavor took me back in time to some of my earliest memories of beer.  Who knows…it could all be psychological.

Anyway, not all beers are good for guzzling, and the vast, vast, majority of upcoming times I’ll be sipping my brews.  BUT…I am not against guzzling.  It has it’s time and place within beer nerdery, perhaps more often than we care to admit.