Goodbye...Polk love forever....

 

I drink beer because it makes my day a little better.

Sometimes it's just one...other times it's more...I'm a drinker, not an accountant, so numbers are often lost on me....but here we are.

Loss is tough, family means everything to me but I've been absent a lot in the last decade while I've just been trying to survive and come out breathing when I wake up the next morning...you know, regular stuff. I'm knee deep in reflecting on it all as we get ready to say goodbye to the Matriarch of half my family, 96 years seems like a blink of an eye and a long life at the same time when we find a huge hole where my Granny used to be, maybe I'll have a couple, three beers and wonder about what it all means. I know we tend to lean into the happy, the shiny new thing and all that jazz, but honestly, having a six pack of beer from Collective Arts Brewing Toronto in my fridge just because I can is not something I ever think about, it just is. I know the sadness of tomorrow, the goodbye to a very huge part of my life,  but tonight I'm gonna crack some pints, tell some stories and know that we are never really gone as long as someone remembers us...be good, be kind and be better because we only get one shot at this life and you want to leave a legacy of kindness and love  like my Granny has... 

She'll live on long after I'm gone because she was always ready to embrace and cherish the people who loved her so much. I used to think I had forever to get stuff done, but I feel that weight of years now and know I need to do the things I want to do in this moment because we have no promise of a sunrise tomorrow. 

Love from Polk, many thanks to everyone who messaged is over the last 24 hours, you made an old guy feel very loved....take care of yourselves,the folks you love and your community because we are all just trying to get by with a little beer, love and kindness ...Cheers!

Happy the Sads...

 

Happy the Sads.

Want to admit it or not, it's what the booze does...

The world is on fire, literally.

The pandemic marches on.

The arguments roll and roll and roll and fucking roll...

I'm out...for a bit...but not really...

Pour me a double, rocks, and be quick about it.

My heart is big, I love a lot, I want to see happiness expand and grow. 

I really do 

I want folks to feel safe and right and heard. I have looked deep into my heart and despite its inherent darkness, a spark of light exists. 

The next few weeks will be trying, they will be anxious and they will no doubt make us feel divided even more...I've been on that fence and seen the other side arm and prepare...but that shouldn't be us...aren't we better than that?

I'm here, drink in hand, a la Dean, saying let's talk, because shouting ain't getting us anywhere near love...but we gotta come together, otherwise we come apart...god damn it,  I just want to drink, laugh and be happy...and that's all I want for you too...

The choice is simple, we saddle up and ride this eternity together or we drift alone into oblivion tossing meaningless arrows at each other...what's it gonna be? I'm here and ready to be part of the next step....

Polk

6000 posts later...still here

 

We still out here...

6000.

That seems like a lot.

Is it though?

There is almost a decade of my life where there are no photos of me in existence. I was absent from the kind of life where people took your picture, save a mug shot...or an errant background capture at the family Christmas party where you showed up because you needed something to keep you going...life isn't always pretty, I've lived ugly for a lot of years...the scars are deep but they push up sometimes....that's why we have beer. Joke or not, a couple, three beers is an okay time to let the past go and the ache of what was lost goes away for a little while. I get maudlin sometimes, but I like where I have come to, where I've overcome and where I may go, I'm not done yet, but sweet jebus I like a few pints to take the edge off and I know that's not exactly the message in the echo chamber of beer instagram that's kosher or acceptable...but here I still am, intact, pouring another pint and telling y'all I love ya because I've seen the bottom, clawed my way back up and I'm here for anyone who needs a hand up or a shoulder to lean on. I don't know, I'm just a regular dude, maybe a little more into beer than someone should be but at my heart I'm a blue collar, simple man who just wants some love to find its place in the world and the emptiness to stop feeling so vast...thank you for all the indulgence you've given me, I'm trying to earn every moment you deem me worthy of having...

Polk

Set Adrift on the Memory Bliss....

 

A couple pints and I'm set adrift on a memory bliss...

In the mid 90s I was completely lost, emotionally and more, feeling the need to recoup and recalibrate my life. I returned home to my parent's place after a less than stellar couple of years and began hanging out at a local bar called Shuffles, a pub filled with the riff raff of East end Hammer life, myself included.

On occasion I would get to drink some beers and shots with a couple of my Uncles. To me, mid 20's broken hearted Polk, they were sage elders, bringing wisdom from the mountain top, along with whiskey shots and pitchers of beer. It wasn't many times, I drank alone or with whoever hung out the longest in the bar a lot of the time, but the image remains of getting to hang out with them and feel like I wasn't some dumbass kid who had completely fucked up his life at that point. I felt like I belonged and along with some other old drunks who'd taken me under their wings, I felt accepted. It was a weird time between loves and as life changed so did I, moving on and leaving behind that sacred temple of cabbage rolls, perogies and $5 pitchers of Canadian...but sometimes I reminisce about those days and smile a little at the time I had.

Then the other day I was thinking of those real good times and pondered just how old my late Uncle Tom and, (still with us, cheers!) Uncle Lloyd were back then and realised that not only weren't they old then, I'm damn near the age they WERE then now... when I though they were old guys drinking with me.

Seriously.

I'm the old guy who should be dispensing life wisdom at the local pub, listening to stories of love and loss and life and offering insights into a world the young folks are just dipping a toe in. I know it's a silly thing, but I feel a very real connection to them and all they taught me, whether they meant to or not, because it's lasted almost 3 decades and that means something to me. 

So when this is all done, or maybe before, I'll think I need to find a local spot to hang out, spend some time doing what I do best, drinkin', thinkin' and helping the next generation find their way forward.

To my Uncles, I say thank you....love you...

Polk

Inspired by Real Love

Be good.

Do good.

Drink good.

Gateway City Brewing dropped this tasty treat in collab with North Bay Pride and thanks to a good pal, I can enjoy it here in August still celebrating all the things we were supporting in June and should keep going all damn year. Real Love is a 5.2% Golden. lager that brings a solid biscuity toasted malt body balanced with a floral and grassy feel, a touch of rye spice on the finish, bitterness an object of affection as this one is terrific.

 Love is love and everyone deserves to be happy with who they are and who they love. Other people's religious beliefs should only apply to the narrow minded people who espouse them, the rest of us want to see a future where the bigotry, racism and homophobia of the world's religions disappear like they will as humanity sees truth and love over all. I'm a big believer in humans who see other humans ahead of doctrine and covenants with invisible deities...sky daddies need not apply. 

Reality comes strong as we move forward in this life,  being good to each other because it is the right thing to do, not to avoid punishment in the after life. I'm here to make the world better because I'm a human and I think everyone deserves a chance at happiness without compulsion. Believe what you will but leave everyone else alone to believe what they do to, your right to use a fictional book ends at your own life. Other folks aren't your problem but I will be if you try and impose your arcane beliefs on anyone. Be good and do good because it's the thing that makes this time on earth a little easier for everyone...just my two cents. Weird Tuesday flex but it's what the beer inspired so here we are...

Love from Polk.

Cheers! 4.5/5

Sunday Garage Beer Truth : Thinkin''bout Drinkin'

 

Outdoor day drinkin' on a rainy Sunday means hangin' out in the garage and listening to hurtin' country tunes while the pints flow nice and easy.

I know it's not kosher on social media to enjoy the drinking part of drinking beer, but after another 60 hour work week and another 50 hour one staring me in the face, a couple, three beers to take the edge off is a-okay by me. Let's stop pretending that beer isn't fuckin' beer and admit that part of the draw and shine is that it makes us feel a little bit less shitty about the things in life that try to bring us down. Should we indulge or over indulge all the time? Of course not, but let's stop with the nonsense that beer doesn't alter reality and we kinda like that...it's not popular but it's fuckin' true. Be nice to each other, but please be nice to yourself too, sometimes we are our own worst critics and we deserve a break from time to time. Enjoy your beer, enjoy however many you want to as long as you can live the rest of your life too...I know I do.

I like me enough that what other people think doesn't matter because I know I can pour another beer, raise my glass to the heavens and not give a shit...I also know I should maybe have a couple less a week, but I feel okay in my own skin and that's not for nothing. I don't know, it's such a tough thing, its way easier to talk about moderation and non alcoholic beers and all that stuff, but that's not me and I'm not gonna lie because that's just so easy to see through. 

Once again, this is just me rambling through my mind and things I think about. I don't want to glorify getting hammered, I rather enjoy that two or three beer buzz more than anything and hope you know, despite the folks who think otherwise, that I'm good with me and mine right now, but I'm always trying to be a little better every day. 

Beer me.

Polk

Friday night Rambling' Polk

 

Friday night by fire light... S'up Fuckers.

Things are okay, 

We keep on keepin' on and do the good things we gotta do to keep the world upright around us 

Masks? No problem.

Vaccines? Double up baby!

Listen, I know a lot of folks don't want to be political or rock the boat, but at the end of the day, this is just beer pictures and fancy words about it...life better be more than what we see on the internet or that's the saddest fuckin' thing I've ever seen.

Unless your making your buck off selling or serving beer, it's all just smoke and mirrors boo-boo. I love the folks I've met and come to know, even if it's just virtually, but we gotta be more than sharing other people's things and memes. Find a role in real life to okay, even if it's just giving some $$ to good people doing the real work. I know when to step aside, sign a damn check and let the wonderful people who actually make a difference do their thing. I don't know, I'm heading for the next half century of my life and I just want to see the world be a little more fair, a little more open and a little better than it's been...we can be part of that change, but it's gonna take a little heavy lifting and while I'm out of shape, I'll lend whatever heft I have, real, internet or imagined to making life better for anyone who needs a hand up to fight oppression or the systemic affects of the world that let this drop out, hobo Hefner live a life with almost no effort save working 80 hours a week...

Wait... that's not cool... fuck this shit...my least favourite part of this app is that 90% of folks don't bother reading any caption, save hashtags and I haven't used those in almost a year and a half because I'm equal parts train wreck, righteous deliverance man and indifferent drunk...beer me.

I mean, I ramble a lot because I spend way too much time alone and inside my head, so you do you and fuck anyone who tells ya different...even me, I'm a mess at the best of times. I love seeing the crazy love you have for beer, it's weird and crazy and makes no sense and it is who we are...

Polk

What you leave behind...

 

Sober-ish.

Near the orbit of moderation.

Getting that 2 beer buzz...on my third beer

S'up Fuckers.

Get to know yourself this summer, have a couple, three beers and listen to the music you love. Read the books you like, sit outside and do absolutely nothing but indulge yourself on leisure and self care.

The end game for all of us, rich or poor, is the same and no one will escape this mortal coil with anything more than the memories others hold of you. That's what lasts, that's what you leave behind. When your memory fades, that's when you cease to exist...make sure they remember you for the right reasons, leave behind love and a life you can say made a difference in the world, big or small. 

You live on in the lives and minds of those you've touched, that's your legacy and I hope it's a beauty one!

Polk

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

Good Monster Monday

 

On my best days, I'm a Good Monster.

On my not so good days...well, I have beer to help me along.

My go-to Collective Arts Brewing  pint, (apologies to OG Ransack, I still love you too boo-boo!),, Good Monster is an 8.0% New England DIPA brewed with Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic and Amarillo to deliver peach, orange and pineapple, grapefruit pith and pine, berry notes with a lingering touch of dank.

 It is one I always grab two or three of when I stop by CA for something new, I like having it here when the moment calls for happiness in a dark day. When I need to feel like the world is going to be okay, this pint let's me know I still touch ground and exist in the normal. It's a little silly maybe, but a couple tall boys to cap a swim make a bad day good.

 I felt that darkness on the edge of town today, so I put on some of my favourite tunes, dunked myself into the chilly Grotto pool for an hour or so and enjoyed this one(x2) with an eye to letting go the negative for the happy. Don't need to get sloppy, just happy and content, a two-ish beer buzz on a hazy July Monday....golden.

 Cheers! 4.3/5