From Bad Beer to Exceptional Pints : Rise Up

 I've been drinking beer for the better part of 3 decades and thinking more critically about what's in my glass for the last 10 or so, examining the context as much as the contents as it were, occasionally traipsing into philosophy while still operating as the low-key drunk that I am. I have scored thousands of pints in video and the written word, some in as short as a few sentences and others as long as is way past what any sane person would consider necessary for a beer, always with an eye to style and truth in advertising when it comes to what I encounter. I've led with my heart, held grudges and soft spots in my soul at the same time and tried to always seek the good in every beer I encounter...even when that isn't possible... 

  What all this preamble is getting to is that after all this time, as I seek more balance and even more value for the things I have in my day-to-day life, I wonder why some of the beers we see hit the market even bother existing? Why do some breweries set such high standards and benchmarks for themselves, never deviating or sending out inferior products and why do so many others just let anything ride as long as they think it will sell? There are more options than ever out there when it comes to beer and I understand not everyone can attain the very highest level of what can be described as art writ liquid, but the sheer number of low level uninspired offerings is disheartening from not only the standpoint of someone who loves to explore new things, but from the perspective of people who are new to this all and will walk away wondering why they should spend more for something that isn't noticeably different or better than what the big corporate brewers are offering. Releasing a sub-par beer and not investing in quality ingredients or time to develop recipes that exceed expectations doesn't sit well with me and I think the flatlining of growth, while not exclusively because of this, certainly isn't being helped by it. Legacy brewers who have let reputation drift them into irrelevance and ineptitude has left me pondering what level of beer we are willing to tolerate because we are "supporting" local or provincial business. Incompetence and ignorance shouldn't be something to applaud, your dollars give way to encouraging the things you praise, and we should be far more demanding of quality in this day of rising costs and diminishing returns. 

  Having said all this, there are bright and shining lights in this segment. There are people who care a whole lot about not only the highest quality, but also in delivering something that is what they say it is and to style every time. It matters and if we tolerate it any less, we will get the beer we deserve in the end. SO, let's talk about some categories I'd like to see the beer we are being offered put into and just how we should treat them going forward... 

1. Bad Beer 

  This is a simple category, although thankfully not the largest part of what we can find when we hit the liquor store or taproom. Without getting into the whole "macro beer is basically water" nonsense, I do have some respect for the consistent, if unimaginative product those multinationals offer, I am referring to what should be a premium product, priced as such, that is littered with flaws, off flavours and doesn't do what the label or brewer says it will. Whenever I find one of these offenders, I do my best to let folks know because it isn't right or sane to let such things fly. I don't care if it's a local business, bad beer hurts the whole industry because it cheapens the values we hold for our community and the decent standards of what we consume. Labelling a low abv pale ale an IPA to try and sell more? Knowingly releasing a beer that doesn't taste like you say it does? Sending an underwhelming, diacetyl ridden lager out before it is ready for market because you don't really care? All things I have seen, talked about and often been threatened with retaliation for. Bad beer hurts the cause, I'd rather take one for the good of all, review and spread truth and save you some money by keeping you informed. Don't encourage garbage marketing and shitty beer, call out that nonsense and lift up better things. 

2. Meh Beer 

  This is beer that isn't bad, it is meh and that may be just slightly worse in some ways. It's uninspired, lazy and seeks to somehow catch onto the trends of the day, without actually doing the work or inputting the quality ingredients or time needed to deliver such things. It is often found with a visually attractive label and all the right words on the can and then when you pour it in your glass, the thing you see, smell and taste is so underwhelming, you sigh, wonder what else you have as you quickly get past this and never seek it, nor think about it ever again.  A bad beer is something you'll remember, a Meh beer is something you'll forget as soon as the last drop is gone, never to return. 

3. Mid Beer 

  This is actually not a terrible beer, despite being something of a disappointment. It's someone's favourite thing, something neither a Bad Beer or Meh Beer will ever be and its most exciting characteristic is that it isn't special. It exists, it can be enjoyable, but ultimately it doesn't really move the needle when it comes to excitement and joy. It is the Wonder Bread of beer, it could be any style or ABV, but it is a minivan that just gets you from A to Buzzed without much else to discuss. 

4. Good Beer 

  This is one of my favourite categories, because there is a decent amount of this out there. We have a lot of breweries that deliver consistently Good Beer at different price points and styles and while this is not the most exciting kind of beer, it is the most common and includes most people's go to favourites and fridge fillers. It's the beer you buy most consistently and frequently. It's beer that lives in your mind when someone says "Wanna grab a beer?", it is what you picture when I ask you to imagine a pint. It's nothing special, but it certainly is worth having around. 

5. Great Beer 

  Here we start to leave the stratosphere and get into some of the seasonal releases, special beers and perhaps, big ABV offerings. But it also includes a lager that delivers pure joy, a saison that transports you somewhere special, or maybe a Mild that becomes so much a part of the day, you don't realize you've poured another and another. Great beer transcends itself sometimes, it doesn't have to be talked about outside of acknowledging what it is and eagerly awaiting its return. It can inspire misty eyes and wistful dreams, and it can be as simple as your everyday beer, if that is what you have chosen to seek out. Not perfect, but so close, you almost don't care. 

6. Exceptional Beer 

  There was a time when I thought all "craft" beer fell into this category. Some folks still do... 

  But after all this time and finding myself utterly left speechless by truly Exceptional Beer on some occasions, I know now that this category is not so easily attainable and certainly is where only the very best we can seek out will live. I am talking about Pliny, 2016 Kentucky Bastard and that first sip of Apocalypse Later. I am talking about beer that goes deeper than you understand and often leaves you with the sense that something special happened and you cannot quite grasp it. It exists outside time and space; it occupies a part of your mind that often casts a shadow you cannot quite catch a glimpse of. It is a moment you carry forward, knowing it may never come again, truly inspirational and often aspirational. It may be as simple as the perfect pilsner on a warm summer day, a soft and gentle wind bringing the laughter of a nearby park to your ears as you tip back that first wonderful sip and feel the cascade of everything good in life trickle down into you very being. It isn't just whales or bucket list beers, it is the very essence of life, the experiences we have, the people we love and the life we wish to have. Exceptional Beer is there, it just takes an exceptional brewery to deliver it to the world. Unafraid and bold, true to everything we hold dear about this thing we do, it makes me wonder why we demand any less, accept any less...this is the beer you see when your dreams become reality. 

I wish you all only the finest of pints as this summer approaches.

Polk

April 21st, 2024

Enough

 I find myself in a weird position in life, a thing that gets magnified at work everyday when I talk to folks who are hustling to get by and hope to get ahead as the future rolls on. Seeking promotions, more money, more everything and while I understand it, hell it was me not so long ago, I find my hustle, my need for more has dissipated into the ether of my years and now all I seek is contentment, routine and just what I have. 

Enough.

I don't know how it came to be. We struggled for decades just to keep our heads above water, not always succeeding, but always striving for more and better...until now. I find myself at the crossroads of somewhat middle age, okay, two thirds age, but what I am after now more than anything is not trying to get more, to look at what other people have and wonder why I don't. I find myself looking in the mirror and occasionally smiling with a chuckle that I'm still standing and honestly it's fucking bizarre to be happy after years of Darkness. I won't lie, I still struggle with that feeling of losing hope, wondering about why I chased everyone away amd if I can ever find friends like that again, but for the most part and with a little help, I am okay.

The hustle of my younger years has left, I am more interested in the quality of my time, not how many hours I worked last week trying to squeeze one more dollar into my pocket. I seek no promotions, I don't want more responsibility and while I would not say no to a raise, I figure it will come when it comes and as long as I have enough, I'll make due until it isn't and then the conversation will be how to make what I have be enough for what I need. I sought to be something I thought I should be for so long, more money by working harder, longer and more than anyone else didn't get me a damn thing short of burnout and lost time doing what makes me happy. I do what I need to do at work for what they pay me to do, nothing more, nothing less. The exchange has finally become clear...only took me 35+ years...

Now I seek the minimum that I must do so that the time I have left on this planet can be spent seeking a sliver of the happiness I thought all that working could bring me. The time I lost giving to work will never come back and while it did indeed get me a chance to be here, at what cost did it come? 

I've got enough, now to figure out how to make that the thing that makes me happy so that whatever time I have left I can have fewer days under the clouds of my own demise and more sunshine giving me hope.

Polk

March 21st, 2024

On 51

   Looking back on another year around the sun and while my 50th year was a shifting sand dune on which I climbed, stumbled down and rose again, I find myself at much the same spot as last year, albeit with a little more chill in my life. 

  To be honest, not much has changed in the last year, I continued to be somewhat of a recluse outside of working, only stepping out a handful of times for dinner with Kat and only twice to have a quick beer with someone other than her. My circle has shrunk pretty small, I spend more time with Oreo, Marbles and Simcoe than any human and while I may have periods of deep introspection on what caused this loneliness, I can only quote Jimmy Buffett, "But I know, it's my own damn fault...". I watched it happen in real time and hardly recognize myself some days, who is that man in the mirror every morning, practicing his smile and covering his growing fear that it is all coming down to whether he can truly change or continue this slow and steady decline into his winter years. 51 ain't old, but I feel every year, the last decade weighs heavier than my waistline and I struggle with the notion that it was all for nothing, the past is best left undisturbed, lest it drag me down with it.

  I had high hopes for last year, even with the changing of jobs, a summer with a decent stretch of time off and a new job that is lower stress, I still find myself at the same place, with the same thoughts and the same problems. It's a simple fix, but I am either too lazy or too afraid to get moving again. There will come a time when my body decides for me that it has had enough of my inaction and that is the scariest part of what I think about as the lights dim and sleep approaches. I do not want to go gentle into that good night, I want to rage against the dying light, but I also seek solitude and routine, rest and normalcy. 

  I am not an adventurer anymore, nor a glad hander, party guy who has a thousand acquaintances and no lasting friendships. I have seen the top of the mountain, done almost everything I wanted to do when it comes to beer and life. yet I ponder what I could seek that would bring me joy and wonder again. What is it that I want and what am I willing to do to get there? I find myself writing notes to myself at all hours of the day, tucking them into my lunch bag at work for future reference when I am home, jotting down random thoughts that could be the next great idea. I have a dozen half written posts on the go and twice as many little niblets of knowledge that are just outside of my eye line, perhaps I shall find them all one day and inside them the answer I seek. 

  I was once inspired to write about anything that came into my head, sometimes about beer and then my life. I find so much malaise seeps in to my days, but not enough to trigger a full blown descent into depression, just enough to sap whatever inspiration I have found. I push on but also push away from a community I do not fit in anymore, drinking alone and staying home don't sell as well as being out and about. I miss it sometimes, but am I willing to push back against my own routine that I have wrapped around myself as a shield against the world? I don't know, but I will keep hoping that I can find that thing, that divine light I once grasped briefly and let slip away.

Polk

March 18th, 2024

I Drink Alone

   Is that a weird way to open a blog post? 

  Admitting that I drink alone?

  Well, it is the truth and I wanted to write about my life more this year, even if it seems a little uncomfortable or difficult. My greatest success and growth has come from laying it all out for the world to see and releasing whatever is inside me that tries to bring me down into the darkness again, silence is my own worst enemy.

  I think what I mean to say, without trying to downplay my lack of a social life outside my going to work or online, is that I enjoy my own company when I want to relax. After almost 4 decades in working retail, food service and general public facing jobs, I do feel worn down just a tad, the last 4 years have proven even more difficult with the rise of the selfish class, a special breed of hell mongers all their own. It has bled into almost every part of my day, the inward facing, sole spotlight seekers, to whom everyone must revolve for their existence to mean anything to them. It is exhausting sometimes and while there are some bright spots, I have not really engaged with anyone (with a few rare diamonds shining brightly) who I wanted to carry out friendships beyond the superficial stage in quite some time. Now that isn't to say I haven't met some wonderful people, but none with whom I could consider a daily friend, someone I could hang out with on a whim, without planning everything in advance and hoping something doesn't come up in between. All my best relationships seem to be online, quietly waiting for engagement when I have the mental capacity to do so...not so intrusive, yet lacking in spontaneity and time to forge close bonds that last longer than a text. 

  I did at one time, have a large circle of close pals, hangers on and assorted characters who would flit in and out, depending on the time of year, party theme or drinking indulgence. We hosted get togethers almost weekly, sometimes a raucous house full of poker players, karaoke singers and drunkards, other times just a couple close friends for dinner and games, maybe heading out on the town for a night out of nonsense and liquid fun. It was a glorious time, we were all relatively young, with little in the way of outside responsibilities and life seemed a grand stage for us to strut about, happily glowing in drunken revelry. Time marches on though, and as I tumbled down the rabbit whole of career interuptus, losing what I thought was my life, I began separating from everyone I knew, pushing them away because I could not understand how anyone would want to hang out with such a loser. Self pity turned into dark and deep depression, it took years to climb out of that particular hole, clawing my way up through thoughts of not wanting to be alive anymore to falling into a morass of self medicating to keep the demons at bay. When I finally came up from the depths, life had moved on and I was exactly where I thought I deserved to be.

  The last few years have been decent, I've grown a little better as a person, albeit one who still isn't certain of himself from time to time. I do not know if I can ever recapture who I was or at least, the part that I think I was, the happy go lucky kind of person I hope to project to the world when I leave the house. I turned down opportunities to go to beer fests, judge a beer competition, hang out with the few people who still reach out every once in awhile. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I don't know I know how to anymore. My ability to spend time alone has become a shield in defense of nothing, a tilting at windmills that only exist in my mind. But what used to be a heavy indulgence in clouded thinking and over indulgence has changed into a more quiet pursuit of peace and opportunity to try to understand who I really am underneath the layers I've painted on this life I tried to walk away from so many times. I am trying to appreciate my own time so that I can give it to others with the joy I used to. I cannot recreate the past, nor should I want to, that guy doesn't exist anymore...but I do.

  Finding myself hanging out with the Boys, I was happy, I do miss the camaraderie of The Lodge, the not so subtle jabs we would toss at each other when we discussed sports and played poker. It could get deep too, some nights we would delve below the surface, not too far, but enough that we felt loved and bonded, maybe not family, but something deeper. I salute those folks, true gems they were.

  Good times, hazy memories and an entirely different person...

  I drink alone. But I do not wallow in solitude, I have found myself slowly rising again, perhaps the road ahead is long and will not be easy, but it does not seem so insurmountable as it once did. I raise my glass to the days gone by, to the ones ahead and to the simple life I seek. Perhaps I shall find it, and you, one day.

Polk

February 26th, 2024