#TheSession63 – The Beer Moment

This months topic of The Session is hosted by our very own Pete Brown, beer writer, blogger and most of all full-time drinker. He asks us to “use the fourth“(of May) to deliberate and ponder The Beer Moment..

The beer moment for me, is a combination of circumstance. A fixed moment in time that links a memorable event, to a particular beer and makes that beer momentous. It doesn’t have to be a fantastically expensive or special beer, it could be a can of the cheapest supermarket swill or the finest rare import. On the same train of thought the event may be happy, exciting or beautiful, but on the flip side could quite easily invoke a painful, sorrowful or ugly memory, but help to soothe perhaps the memory of a beer shared with a lost friend or loved one.

Here’s some of mine:

Westveleteren 12 – The final moment and culmination of a years planning to get to the Abbay of St Sixtus of Westveleteren, (ok it’s an obvious choice but I’ll get it out of the way right now). A bank holiday and an afternoon of warm sunshine in the beautiful Belgian countryside. I could not have hidden that ridiculous Cheshire cat grin on my face if my jaws had been wired together. The waiting over, about to taste a legend for the fist time, happy times.

La Mort Subite – This one is more about the place than a moment, it was my first trip to Belgium and one of the very first cafe/bar we’d visited. Again it was a bright warm spring day, we wandered into one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking in. The then fiancé and I whiling away the afternoon hours sat on their terrace watching the world go by whilst slowly going through their range of delicious lambic beers, snacking on meats and cheese etc, bliss.

Southern Tier Creme Brulee – Beer all the way here in a moment of solitude. A trip to London almost over and an hour to spend exploring Craft Beer Co. Two halves of beer downed and all the time one beer catching my eye. The moment that beer and sumptous desert became one, fine dining in a glass..

Hardknott Vitesse Noir – The event, Twissup Newcastle 2011. An afternoon spent with lots of folk that I’d only ever really chatted to via social media (Twitter unsurprisingly ;)) the days events finally leading us to The Free Trade Inn, the Toons beery Mecca. Two very special beers awaited us among many more, Summer Wine Brewery‘s Cohort being the first (second and third, I had three) but also Hardknotts devine Vitesse Noir. We sat sipping this  wonderful brew from a small goblet as the sun went down, a little like enjoying a fine brandy, happy amongst old friends and new, taking in that stunning view down the Tyne.

http://thebeermonkey.blogspot.co.uk/

De Garre Tripel – Bruges and on a mission to find as many recommended bars in the city as we could in a couple of days, we stumbled down a side alley to a small doorway. Inside a piece of living history was revealed as we entered De Garre. We sat down at the gnarled old bar tables and ordered two glasses of their house tripel as we took in the sights and sounds around us. The barman appeared at our table with two goldfish bowls full of white foam and clocking our looks of concern came in close to us both and softly whispered, “wait…….it will come”.

I wonder how many more “beer moments” that event has inspired?

Big thanks to Pete for hosting, cheers all.