Anyway, I was thinking, I am never ever giving up Beer completely but I am really in my head about when I get to crack my next tin. So I got to thinking about some of the most memorable beers I have ever had to give me inspiration for the next one.
I'd like to hear about yours also.
Steve Albini died last week. In his words I'd like to preface this by saying "This isn't some kind of metaphor. Goddamn this is real!" But unlike Albin's Squirrel Song this is not a sad song. This one is about one of the best beers I ever had.
So the sun goes down over the desert. I am eating dinner with some Bedouins, watching old friends smoke Shisha. I am tempted to indulge but I know I'll puke. I am not sure what the hell we are eating. I avoid the meat accordingly. Everyone rode some pretty haggard camels to get to this camp and I walked... So I stuck to the rice and veggies. I think.
Anyway, now its dark it is time to begin our ascent up Mt Sinai or Jebel Musa. Our guide's name is Moses. Yep. Walking up the rocky path was pretty sketch in the dark and took a good couple of hours. We get to the top and some little ragamuffins try to sell us blankets, so we can sleep until sunrise. Lots of people relent. But not me. I don't ride camels and I don't do business with barefoot children. Oh how they tried to make me cave... after all they had all night... No one really slept.
I was so cold and tired (little barefoot children laughing at me shivering) and then the sun began to rise. Holy shite what a site... I had Husker Du rattling around my brain.. I was buzzing... But it was short lived as we soon realized that the higher the sun rose the more we were going to be exposed to the Egyptian heat...
So we scramble down the Jebel, dodging camels and high-heeled Russian women. Yep. It took way longer than it should have and now its getting hot. July in the Middle East Hot. Finally, at the bottom, around 8am, exhausted, no sleep, up and down a f*cking Jebel, we go for breakfast at St Catherine's Monastery, where Moses met Zipporah. I can't remember what was for breakfast unfortunately. But we were munching away, enjoying the adequate AC and low and behold I see they have beer.
In the fridge there was Stella. not the Belgian classic Stella Artois but an Egyptian version. I let everyone know and no one seems to give a shite except my brother. He was about to get married (7/7/07). Yep. Of course he wants an ice cold breakfast beer. And that was that, we cracked one.
So yeah, I might need an occasion like that to break my sobriety. Unsure. Help if you can.
