The Way We Drink Vs The Way We Think

Firstly, apologies.

1) Sorry I have not been posting much on here over the past month, and discussing any new beers I could have been trying.

2) Sorry, but this post will not be discussing any new beers I could have been trying either.

To be honest I haven't been trying any new beers (apart from the really bad Mornington Peninsula Kolsh I had at the Royston last Sunday...therefore not worth discussing), and even worse, have not really been drinking at all. In the aussie summer where party season ensues, where we have just had New Years, and then Australia Day during the past week, I have not been enjoying it with and through beer much.

Now, the dreaded 'f' word, feeling. I realise I am a very lucky person, and one thing I feel lucky about when it comes to drinking is that when I am not feeling well within myself, instead of turning more towards drink, I actually turn away from it. I have probably brought up the 16th century philosopher Michel de Montaigne who discusses a little about how and why we drink. I don't drink beer so alcohol can deaden how I feel (there are much better sources of alcohol if you are looking for that), I prefer to have my feelings heightened and tastebuds stimulated through beer. This is where my interest in the versatility of beer and my own personal taste come from. When I am not feeling well, I also find my tastebuds are not so receptive, so why drink good beer?! It makes sense to me, but obviously this does not seem to be the case for many in this society, with alcoholism being a major problem in our world and it being tied to psychological problems and mental illness. Seeing a nation that still has VB and XXXX as the biggest selling beers, and even finding my own taste within craft brewing not represented well in some recent craft beer polls for Australia has annoyed me a bit.

Still, that is just beer. For a pretty docile kind of guy, I am finding myself getting easily annoyed with things in general, and probably annoying my friends and anyone around me in the process. Still, I guess one other good thing I feel lucky about is the way I deal with times like these. Unlike some that may get too caught up in their own world, I feel that drive to still be useful outside myself, and in the past couple of weeks been giving my time and blood to charity, things I like to do regularly anyway, but just become more poignant for me in times like these.

For me though, I feel the need for rest, to take the new tent I have from my birthday, find a quiet State Park near Melbourne, set it up, and just lie there for a week. At the moment I don't feel I have the time/energy to be doing what I really want, finding a job in the beer world. But, again returning to fortune, I am lucky that I still am feeling excited about beer. In a couple of weeks I will be hitting Purvis for a beer tasting of some immense beers, I have also set an overseas beer challenge trying to get access to a Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout, and Stass and I are looking to take a new step in our home brewing.

So like Michel de Montaigne said, we should always have the desire for a drink in our heads, I still have things I am looking forward to with beer, and am hoping in a couple of weeks things will change to give me the rest and energy to get on with the year I want for myself.

If you have read this and now feel disappointed, I did warn you and apologise in advance. And to my friends I have annoyed or felt I have not been engaging with them very well, I want to apologise for that too. Yeah, so normally I have a different outlet for this sort of writing, but thought for those 2 people that have been wondering why I haven't been updating this blog much, I should explain myself. Also, I may find out how many of my friends actually read this crap.

Maybe like you, I look forward to getting back to my usual drinking and describing ways.

Cheers,

Beefy