The Perfect Pint

The Perfect Pint

My friend is a homebrewer and a beer enthusiast, when he drinks a beer he can tell you of the great many minor tastes that have so far mostly escaped my notice. He had been telling me to come over and help brew a batch of beer, but I had put it off for various reasons that is until last saturday. I went over to my friends house to get a lesson on brewing beer. Like many people my knowledge of the process of brewing beer was limited at best. I also made a mistake in my assumption that homebrewing was something similar to baking. You put together the ingredients and wait while it "bakes", but in this I was dead wrong. My friend took me on a journey through the process of making a batch of beer and when the ended my journey I found something I didn't expect. Every step of the process he walked me through like a master showing his apprentice what he would learn over his stay. With his instructions we began to craft a drink that at some point I hope to try. Mixing ingredients in one pot and transferring it into another pot for a brief stay over the fire made me think I was watching a modern day apothecary at work. Unlike an apothecary he was not making this to cure a cold or stop a headache, but to drink for the sheer pleasure of it. Finally showing me some of the different styles of beer he explained that homebrewing was not just about the brewing but about patience. The sour beers he showed me needed to be aged for years to achieve thier best flavor. As he had said, homebrewing was truly a mix of science and art and I was watching a master of it. After the lesson was all said and done we sat back to have a couple of beers while watching the world go by on his back porch. For a time as we sat there it was if the world around us had stopped, that nothing was happening outside what we saw. We talked for a while about his blog and the quest for the Perfect Pint. That's what he said was part of homebrewing, to work your entire life towards that goal of perfection and know you will never achieve it. Sitting there with him enjoying a few beers I came to a realization about the Perfect Pint. It's not just about how enjoyable the beer is or the complex mixture of flavors and aromas, it's about the people you enjoy it with. In my mind at least, that very afternoon we shared the perfect pint as we sat there. It was an experience that I shall treasure and never forget. Nor is it a memory that will ever slip from my mind, a Perfect Pint with a great friend.

Here's to great friends and the quest for the Perfect pint!