I really like beer. Nay, I love it. I am a beer snob and I'll be the first to admit it. I love the ritual of it. Sitting down across from a friend and enjoying a beverage together. It takes time. It takes conversation. There is something old about it. I love trying new beers and new breweries. This town isn't short of them. Within walking distance to my house there are three breweries. It only makes sense that I would try to brew my own beer at home. This is on the list of goals for this year; to get a homebrew set up going.
I used to homebrew, back in one of my other lives. I had a boyfriend through the first half of my twenties who was a big homebrewer. In fact, he's the one who got me into gardening and baking and doing things for myself in the first place. Our relationship spanned four years and four states. Just before the end we were working on making our own stable recipes for beer.
It ended badly. I moved to Los Angeles not long after in a fit of independence. I came to about a year later and realized I was living in the middle of Hollywood and I really hated it. I came back to Portland, and in the four years since I've been back I haven't run into the ex once. That's a small miracle here. It's a small city and you are bound to run into just about everyone. This is a bit of a relief because I really don't know how that would go.
Last year, though, I got a nice little punch in the gut. I went out to a beer garden type pub after work one day and was perusing the menu of just over 80 beers on tap when I saw it. The ex made it legit. He had a beer or two on tap. Since then I have seen it on tap other places around town. It always makes me a little mad, especially when the coasters the waitstaff hand out are his brewery's coasters. I have a coaster collection going from pubs I have been to around the world. I'm torn if I should take one of his. It obviously has significance, but....really?
When I lived in L.A. I was talking with a friend and I said that all I wanted was a cabin in the woods. It seemed so far off and so unattainable at the time, sitting there on Hollywood Blvd. in the center of it all. I felt like without that other person who had been driving that dream for so many years I was lost and adrift at sea. My friend told me matter of fact - then do it yourself. It was a bit of an epiphany. I had never really considered doing it myself. That dream still feels far off most of the time, but looking back to that day in Southern California it seems like I can reach out now and touch it.
I think seeing that beer around town has lit a little fire under me to prove that I can still make beer on my own too. This next project makes sense given my self-reliant tendencies and love of beer. It is an obvious next step. When I make my first batch of beer though, it won't just be another project under my belt, but a little bit of a catharsis. I'm proving to myself I can do it on my own.
I used to homebrew, back in one of my other lives. I had a boyfriend through the first half of my twenties who was a big homebrewer. In fact, he's the one who got me into gardening and baking and doing things for myself in the first place. Our relationship spanned four years and four states. Just before the end we were working on making our own stable recipes for beer.
It ended badly. I moved to Los Angeles not long after in a fit of independence. I came to about a year later and realized I was living in the middle of Hollywood and I really hated it. I came back to Portland, and in the four years since I've been back I haven't run into the ex once. That's a small miracle here. It's a small city and you are bound to run into just about everyone. This is a bit of a relief because I really don't know how that would go.
Last year, though, I got a nice little punch in the gut. I went out to a beer garden type pub after work one day and was perusing the menu of just over 80 beers on tap when I saw it. The ex made it legit. He had a beer or two on tap. Since then I have seen it on tap other places around town. It always makes me a little mad, especially when the coasters the waitstaff hand out are his brewery's coasters. I have a coaster collection going from pubs I have been to around the world. I'm torn if I should take one of his. It obviously has significance, but....really?
When I lived in L.A. I was talking with a friend and I said that all I wanted was a cabin in the woods. It seemed so far off and so unattainable at the time, sitting there on Hollywood Blvd. in the center of it all. I felt like without that other person who had been driving that dream for so many years I was lost and adrift at sea. My friend told me matter of fact - then do it yourself. It was a bit of an epiphany. I had never really considered doing it myself. That dream still feels far off most of the time, but looking back to that day in Southern California it seems like I can reach out now and touch it.
I think seeing that beer around town has lit a little fire under me to prove that I can still make beer on my own too. This next project makes sense given my self-reliant tendencies and love of beer. It is an obvious next step. When I make my first batch of beer though, it won't just be another project under my belt, but a little bit of a catharsis. I'm proving to myself I can do it on my own.
I like this post. You can do anything you want to do! (Especially you can make beer. Then you can share it with your friends!)
ReplyDeleteGo, girl!
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