7 years ago...Nickel Brook Brewing & Polk : First Contact

 7 years ago, this very day, I visited Nickel Brook Brewing for the first time

7 years ago today, I drank Headstock for the very first time and had absolutely no idea the changes that were in store for me in the ensuing years as I fell in love with beer...all over again. 

It's a silly little thing, a Facebook memory triggering a flood of feelings and emotions over what seemed like, at the time, another random status update in a life that was filled with turmoil and stress kept inside and hidden from everyone I loved. I wasn't in a good place mentally back then, but the beginnings of something special and new were being planted and the end result, all these years later, is a better person, beer drinker and friend. 

Had to share some of those old school NB labels, the trippy Headstock, a Green Apple Pilsner I have vague recollections of and of course the earliest Naughty Neighbour and Bolshevik Bastard bottles. 

I remember struggling with how "hoppy" IPAs and Pale Ales were, likening them to pine trees, before I quit smoking and discovered the citrus pith and resinous pine inside that malty deliciousness that is Headstock. It's been a hell of a ride, by no means is it over yet, but damned if it didn't make me smile to see these memories and remember those early days when every beer was an adventure and the road ahead was filled with things I couldn't even fathom....

I ponder what I'll look back on in 7 more years, but I don't think I'll ever capture the sheer joy and excitement of the beginning, but I still love me some damn Headstock any day.

I'm sure glad I took the drive that day, I'm even happier I'm out here on the patio now, fresh NB beer in hand.

Polk