The Drain Pour Day

It was bound to happen.


I mean, after all these years, how hadn't it already been something I would encounter?


I drain poured a beer I didn't like.


  I know, not revolutionary or uncommon for a lot of folks, but I am a combination of cheap and drunk that has always meant finishing my beer no matter what. I've had my share of awful beer but always managed to finish them quickly and efficiently like the German ancestors on my mothers side would have. The idea that you don't have to completely drink a beer you don't like was so foreign to me that I had a hard time wrapping my head around it, but after more than 3500 different beers and a desire to not waste my calories or beer life, I'm done with the ones that just can't hack it.
  It started a few months ago when we started to get a little more picky with what we would buy at the LCBO or when we stopped at a Brewery. We used to buy one of everything at any brewery and every new beer that hit our local liquor stores. Styles I didn't enjoy or particularly care for were given the same credence as much desired ones and often languished on the shelf or were drunk late at night when good decisions had ceased to be a characteristic of my drinking.  A common sense look at our budget and a bulging fridge of beer neither of us was really interested in was the next logical step to letting go of the need to buy everything. Why buy a lager when it doesn't interest me? Do we need 2 of this sour ale when only I will try it and Mrs. Polk has no care for that style? It was time to focus on what we liked and leave behind a notion that we should be omnivores of craft beer.

This seems excessive

  It's been a slow process but we have been making great progress with both our buying and drinking habits. Choosing to keep it to only 1 or 2 a day for the most part and even when we chill out and have a few, keeping a weekly run of less than 14 beers was strangely doable to me despite my inclination to drink all the beers. But wasting one of those precious slots on beer that just wasn't giving me anything was becoming harder and harder. When you are just going to have 1 beer, it becomes hyper important that it be enjoyable, to style and on point.
  The lack of proper fridge management can play a role in this problem as I still have a little too much beer (I know, I know, 1st world problems and all) and no desire to drink a portion of it. Giving away to friends has been a fine way to clean it up a bit and when I finally caved last week and organized most of it, I discovered about a dozen beers that were clearly well past their prime and on the way to that great circle recycler in the basement laundry tub. A little choked up at the prospect but I bit the bullet and got rid of them. Not the first time this has happened and it bothered me more that I had screwed up than in actually getting rid of the beer.

Yes, it is a macro now but they had a huge infection problem. Proper drain pour.

  This was but a prelude to a little later that day when I opened a beer and just went "Meh.". It wasn't bad, it wasn't good, it was just there. Cloying and artificial, it was supposed to elicit dreams of dessert and instead made me wonder why I was wasting my time. It wasn't an awful beer, in fact some people would love it, but I couldn't do it anymore. I have had several friends tell me this moment would happen and I always scoffed, but here it was. I stared at the glass for a few minutes, contemplating just slamming it back and moving on like I usually do but something was stopping me. I knew I only had room for 2 beers in me that day and why should I waste any of my allotment on something that just didn't do it for me. The time had come and without fanfare or a big show on the damn internet, I poured a beer out for the only reason that should really matter, I didn't like it.
  It felt freeing. It felt a little weird and it felt like I had finally learned to start letting go of beers I don't need.  To pour a beer out should never be a public spectacle and if there is truly something off about your pint, i.e. oxidation, sourness etc., then do your brewer a favour and reach out privately to let them know. I understand that it gets way more attention if you take a run at a beer in public but I think that says more about your need for likes and comments than it does for your commitment to great beer. As a caveat I will say this, if you reach out and are ignored or rebuffed, feel free to go public and demand accountability. While I am all for helping to promote and grow this wonderful community, that has to be a 2 way street and as consumers we must let our voices be heard when something is being done poorly as well as celebrating the best beer has to offer.
  I'm not going to say it was easy but life is indeed too short for bad beer or anything that doesn't bring you happiness. In beer, as in all things, seek joy and the very best that you can find.


Cheers!


Polk