Thirst. You know how it is. You crave that very particular taste; you know what it is, what you want. And it’s not just a want, it’s a need. It’s a to-the-core feeling of a need being sated. Not many things can do that, can touch and lift in just that way. A pint please. It pours a pale gold, one pull on the hand pump, then another. Thirst. I can taste it now, can you? Another pull and it crowns over the top, elegant, light, beautiful. The exchange: I give you money, you give me that glass. It has that weight to it, the indescribably right feeling of a pint in hand, rising upwards, catching the sun, a hint of the fruity hops before the first mouthful. Thirst. And it’s always a mouthful to begin, maybe two. Long and slow, mouth-filling, cold, embracing all the senses. And relax. Nothing tastes quite as good as that first mouthful. That first pint. What do you fancy?Right now I’d take a cold Marble Pint or Thornbridge's Jaipur unless I could get something like draught Pliny the Elder from Russian River. I really am thirsty now, are you?
Right now i'm parched.
ReplyDeleteGood shout with the Marble Pint, i'll have a Dark Star Hophead if it is your round.
Oh and if you can't get Hophead, be a good lad and buy us a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale instead would you?
ReplyDeleteRight now it's oppressively humid and glum. I could use something bright, sour, summery--Girardin Kriek!
ReplyDelete"I really am thirsty now, are you?"
ReplyDeleteNope. I've been to the pub. Two pints of in form Lees Bitter. No core needs - in fact - no fancy words at all. Just a straightforward pint because I felt like one. Sorry to say I didn't feel wonder, or my senses being embraced. I just enjoyed a tea time pint like I have so many thousand times before.
Simples really.
ooohh - i'd personally go with marble pint everytime... unless I happened to see a W... F.......... at the bar. Who knows, there may be a cask or two on the 20th!!!
ReplyDeletePete, buy your own bloody beer ;)
ReplyDeleteImpy, yeah good shout!
Tandleman, you wouldn't be thristy because you've just had two pints! And this isn't about flowery language or swirling, sniffing and sipping - this is all about getting that first pint buzz (although not bittersweet apple juice as Strongbow would have us believe). To be honest, very few bitters give me that kind of refreshment. And if you don't feel the wonder then maybe you are taking it for granted?! Or maybe the beer just wasn't that good? Do you never feel moved to have a certain beer because you know just the kind of thirst it will slake? A pale a hoppy ale on a hot day? A full-bodied stout in winter? *That's* what this is about.
Garrett, damn you, if that's a clue then I can't work it out!! I will be there on the 20th, don't you worry!!
Oh for f.....
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to take a beer break this week, I'm bottling a beer, smellin git all over the kitchen (having a small taster, but that's for quality control) and then you go and write that? How am I supposed to resist going down to the cellar now?
Ya b@##@x! :D
Barry, you are smellin git?! What an unfortunate typo! LOL!
ReplyDelete"And if you don't feel the wonder then maybe you are taking it for granted?!"
ReplyDeleteMark - Maybe I do, but maybe just a tad, you are over egging the pudding?
And now I feel like making an oemlette!
ReplyDeleteHaha, Barry, well put!!
ReplyDeleteAnd Tandleman, yes, maybe I do, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of passion, eh?! :)
I just wish I could spell oemlette though. I mean Omelette. Damn.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, Mark - it's the essence of my being (and blog name). I'd say right now, it's homebrew. I did something recently I call HopHeadache IPA, which is really light-bodied and quaffable with mostly flavor/aroma hops and dry hopping. It's just that there are too few bottles of it kicking around. I could go for either that or this Best Bitter I just cooked up, but that still has a few weeks to go before it's ready.
ReplyDeleteNothing like the excitement (or dread) of cracking open a bottle of something you've just made. But right now it's 9:30am so I really shouldn't be thinking about beer.