Moved to Thirst

I'd apologise, but I can't be sure it wasn't a welcome break... It's been two weeks since the last post owing to the smallbeer family up and moving to a new house. The upheaval robbed me of work hours, so I've been too busy scrambling for school deadlines and simmering in bitter resentment at missing out on the Vancouver Craft Beer Week to post to the blog.

This is all a big shame, because the perfect combination of long hours of lifting and acute stress mean it has been a particularly productive week in terms of drinking beer. Physical labor has a special effect on my beer drinking habits. Not only does it generate genuine thirst — which is all too rare a sensation for today's pampered beer-drinker, but it also makes substandard-to-average beers taste completely beautiful.

Moving house is to beer what the miracle fruit is to vinegar, although I'm not willing to test that last proposition. It is second only to removing a concrete patio in July with a sledge-hammer with a loose head, and two small chisels, in its midas-like ability. I drank 15-20 bottles of Becks that day and each was as sweet as a dewy morning. There's a climbing frame on my mate's lawn where that patio used to be. I leaned against it recently with a Phoenix Gold in my hand. Another kind of lovely.

Race Rocks Amber ale, brewed by the local Lighthouse Brewing Company, is a once-championed brew of Victoria. Nowadays the consensus seems to be that it has gotten worse over the years, although I admit to finding it the better option served at the University of Victoria's "Felicitas" campus bar. It pours a dim red, just like Dr. Pepper, I always thought. Pretty fizzy, indistinct on the mouth, but leaves a decent aftertaste of herbal malts and a dash of cough syrup. After 14 hours of lugging boxes around while my knee swelled with fluid and I almost knocked over a lamp post with the U-Haul truck — it tasted as good as anything I've had to date.

I'll be back with less emotional musings later on. Right now I have to find my remote control....