Noon at The Pandemic

Morning isn’t the best time to be a drunk. You’re hours from your first pint of the day and still feeling the effects of last evenings late night poor decisions. Work looms large and the clock stops for no hangover, you make yourself as presentable as possible and meander out into the world to do what you have to so later you can do what you want. Some days it’s just a couple of pints, but others, the deep and steady decline of your own precipitous grasp on reality is evident. You seek not just a release from the troubles of a world gone mad, but the liquid redemption from a life perhaps lived a little below expectations, yours and theirs. The steady buzz that builds is felt with each pour, each bottle or can opened, each shot poured. There is no rush, you know the path and it’s well worn grooves to where you want to go. The only difference is how deep into that forest are you headed tonight and will you come out the other side intact once again. Repeat. The true seeker of darkness doesn’t want for the world to end, no that would be far to simple and easy. They search at the bottom of every bottle for the answer to who they are and why are they here. A litany of playback rolls in their mind until the saturation point is reached and the clouded happiness begins. A sort of fog washes in and the world seems far away, safely at a distance, you can now relax and let go. Smile and wave at the mirror, your in for the long haul. So where is that line between drunk and enthusiast? Who says what is what and how many is too many? Is it a case of you know it when you see it or is more the matter of public consensus, 4 is fine but 5 is over the line. Where does addiction take over and what was once a few beers to relax becomes many beers to survive? How do you know when it is all just over… The thing about beer now is that it has stopped being about pounding a 24 of macro lager to just get hammered and more about the quality and flavour that you find while you get hammered. We’ve just replaced a dozen 5% lagers with four or five 7% IPAs and told ourselves we are appreciating the subtle nuances and notes when in reality, the ABV plays as much a role now as it ever has. Not everyone leans hard into their own heads when it comes to their relationship with beer, but as someone who has consumed and written about “craft beer” every day for more than 5 years straight, I see so many rolling along with me, maybe a little slower, but headed my way. I used to talk about the journey or how “craft beer” changed my approach to drinking and in a way it totally has, I don’t think I could handle 24 tall boys of my favourite IPA the way I used to crush a 24 of Pabst back in the day. The sheer volume of my intake into my early 40s was a spectacle and while that amount isn’t something I can fathom anymore, 6 to 8 big beers gets the same job done in a context of exploring style and appreciating the “craft”. I lived that particular narrative for a while and it is a noble idea indeed, but let’s not forget that a drunkard is a wino with a place to drink. Not everyone is a drunk of course, given the circumstances of the world right now though, who could blame us for a little indulgence when we return to the cocoon of our homes safely each day. Take the edge off is not always about getting knee deep into a bottle of whiskey or 10 pints, it is usually about finding that happy little buzz where the day becomes muted and the worries fade into tomorrow. It isn’t about ignoring your problems, but rather putting them aside for a little while because you just need a break. I see you out there, maybe you have a better handle on it than I do or maybe you think you do and your revelation will come to you as it did to me much later into your days. Does sharing pictures and writing a little blurb, tasting note or whatever sort of communication make consumption any more acceptable or is it all part of the same conversation, slightly slurred and bleary eyed while we wander down the road to oblivion? Pandemically speaking, we are just approaching noon of this thing, day drinking anyone?