Microbrewed Adventures - Charles Papazian [25]
On the mountain we each had our own priorities. Now that we were off the mountain, those priorities changed. We all headed straight for the San Juan Brewery. I think Ann chose the golden ale, as did Tom and Melanie. Sandy may have had the red. I was ready for my first beer of a long day. I was tired, dehydrated and very thirsty. It was a tall glass of India pale ale, alongside a tall glass of water. I alternated between the two and savored every wonderful nuance of what seemed to be the best beer I’d ever had in my life. A part of me savored my glass of water. But the rest of me—the conscious, living me—gleefully established my priorities. While most of the beer-drinking world might have preferred a light beer at this moment, I chose to drink deliberately.
Drink deliberately!
Only the day before had I come across a trendy advertisement for footwear. It encouraged, “Live Deliberately.” Never mind the product they were selling; I thought, “Yeah, live deliberately. I like that.”
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TELLURIDE INDIA PALE ALE
Loaded with hops, but not overdone, this ale is characterized by malt balanced with the unique twist of a healthy handful of Belgian Special-B and toasted biscuit malt. Crisp and refreshing, it’s highly drinkable at any altitude. The recipe can be found in About the Recipes.
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Perhaps it was the bubbles rising in my second India pale ale (alongside another glass of water) as I gazed hypnotically into my glass. “Drink Deliberately” floated to the surface of my mind like the creamy head on my nourishing ale.
We all have our priorities. I had chosen to come down off the mountain, not having reached the top, to try again another time. I don’t regret most of the choices I’ve made in my life. My priorities continue to evolve. I often think about how lucky we are in America to have so many choices, though most of us don’t exercise our opportunity to choose. Beer? Beer is one of those wonderful things in life. Does it dismay me that I’ve observed so many mindless choices across so many bars and dining tables? No, although I wonder why people bother to make a mindless choice of what beer to drink when there are so many wonderful options.
I suppose at any given moment it’s all about priorities. There are so many wonderful beers…if people would only take a moment to think about their priorities.
For now, I choose to live deliberately, and when it comes to beer I’ll take that moment to drink deliberately.
That day in Telluride in the mid-1990s, I was lucky. I could drink Archie’s India Pale Ale after a long day’s journey. But if I hadn’t been so fortunate and had found myself trapped on top of the mountain with my own ingredients and equipment, I’d have brewed a simple but most excellent batch of my own…
CHAPTER 4
The Bad Boys of Beer
WHILE THE MICROBREWS of today owe much to the pioneering work of the brewmasters of the early 1980s, they have contributed their own personality and twists to America’s growing lexicon of beer. There are now more than 1,300 microbrewies across the country, offering thousands of choices from Dogfish Head’s Raison d’ Etre to Rogue Ales’ Morimoto Imperial Pilsner and Stone Brewing’s Arrogant Bastard ale.
No longer simply content to brew world-class German-style kölsch, bock, Altbier, pilsener, Dunkel, and having perfected English-and Belgian-style stout, porter, India pale ale, gueuze-lambic, barley wine, mild, Tripel, Dubbels and Kriekbiers, today’s brewers continue the adventure beyond all boundaries. They are always on the frontier, with beers aged in sherry, bourbon, port and wine barrels, infusing hops at the point of serving, using indigenous and exotic sugar, spicing their beers with the perfect