a short interlude

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
                                 -Benjamin Franklin

Certainly many people have expressed similar sentiments about drink in general and beer in particular over the many centuries of human existence.  In some cases, one would assume it is purely for the intoxicating affects of the alcohol, but other beverages have been stronger than beer historically, at least in the US.  That makes me conclude there is something in the beer itself - its flavors, its aesthetic, its environment - that attracts people to it with some devotion.

"Beer's intellectual.  What a shame so many idiots drink it."
                                 -Ray Bradbury, The October Country

I came to beer late.  I was already in my last year of college when I began to appreciate it, studying in Vienna.  In the bars I frequented with friends and fellow students, the go-to drinks were beer and wine, not the sweetened mixed drinks I had relied on in previous years.  I never warmed up to wine, but beer started to reveal itself to me.  There was a brew pub/restaurant right across the street from my dorm, with a small variety of beers on tap for the curious, and a specialty every month.  We probably tried all that were available over the course of an academic year.  Since then, when having "grown-up" drinks I've preferred beer.

“In an age when mass pleasures like television are becoming more feeble and homogeneous, the very act of discrimination becomes a form of protest. At a time when mass marketing of food produces a product so disgusting that it has to be wrapped in distracting gimmicks to be sold, the mere fact of paying attention to what you eat and drink and telling the truth about taste is a revolutionary act.”

                                 -Lynn Hoffman

Some years ago I moved to Madrid, supposing I would find something interesting to do in my life.  I have met interesting people, some I wish were around more and some I'm always happy to see the back end of, and have absorbed perspectives I would never have been in contact with if I'd stayed in the US. But when I came, there really wasn't any beer culture.  Spain has been more of a wine country, and those who know what they're talking about insist there is some fine production, but as I mentioned above, wine was just never my thing.

Then things changed.

"Across the troubled maelstrom of time, people always need a beer."
                                  -Ellen Kushner, The Fall of Kings

There were a couple of bars with a wide selection of beers, both in bottles and on tap, but they were mostly "industrial".  Good for something that wasn't the icy, yellow Spanish beer, but nothing you couldn't find pretty much anywhere.  But a couple of years ago, enough heads came together in their interest in microbrewing.  Suddenly, there were local beers all over.  Interviewed on TV.  In the papers.  Their beers sold at produce markets and supermarkets.  More bars popped up with a focus on international and exotic beers, and specialty beer stores!  A couple of years ago, you went to the biggest supermarket around, hoping to be lucky, and now five different stores offer beer in any style you could ask for.  They are still small and few, but they've appeared in the middle of a depressed economy to offer optimism to the public and hopefully some profit to their owners.  Also in the past couple of years, celebrations of local beer have been organized, allowing fans to get together and enjoy their favorites and also providing a convenient place for others to be introduced to the joy that is beer in all its guises.


"Good people drink good beer."
                                 -Hunter S. Thompson


I don't pretend to be an expert, I take this more as a hobby.  I would like to be a good person, so I try to find good beer.  I share my impressions because that's what a good person would do: help others find something good.