Thursday, January 24, 2013

The Whole Brewth and Nothing but the Brewth


Before we explain ourselves to the world wide web, we want you to do something: think back to the very first time you had a beer. Think of where you were, who you were with, why on God’s earth you were drinking a warm Coor’s Light in my friend’s dad’s garage. Step back into those tender shoes -Airwalks, PF Flyers?- and imagine what that exact moment meant to you at that age and in that place.

Are you there? Can you see it? OK, get the hell out of there quick. We want you now to go waaay back to the LAST beer you had. Again, picture the setting, think about how you might've paid for it yourself instead of your cool but creepy uncle Ted. Survey your surroundings and try to capture that meaning, the feeling that was your last beer, even if you haven't finished it yet.

One of the central questions that we are going to try to answer on this very blog involves what you have so obediently done for us. We want to examine the question- what happened in between those two beers? What changes our drinking habits? How did we decide one day that, ‘you know what, dang gummit? I think I’ll try that fancy lookin’ beer over there… and I’ll only have three instead of thirty!’ We will look at why people drink a certain way in, oh I don’t know, Ukraine as opposed to a slightly different place like…let’s see, Fort Collins, CO. Like most questions there is an easy answer, but we are going to look at all of the sweet, syrupy complexities that come along with the questions. Like how and why do we drink? What are some of the differences between various people, cultures, and laws concerning drinking and brewing and why do they occur? What is happening in our bars, pubs, restaurants, and communities concerning beer and alcohol?

2 Brewths and a Lie consists of two friends who have spent time drinking, making, and talking about beer and the discussions that go along with that. Our goal is to open our conversation to you, through beer and drinking topics from the news, so that we can all have discussions together about one of the most divisive issues in society. We hope that you enjoy our thoughts, rants, and any other type of communication we decide to slap onto 2 Brewths. This blog isn’t necessarily for beer or alcohol drinkers. It is intended to spark conversations about the social, cultural, and legal practice of drinking, no matter what your feelings are towards booze.

So please join us by responding to our first homework assignment. (OK, this assignment IS for beer drinkers, but we promise they won't all be.) Tell us in the comments about the first and the last beer that you drank and let us know what happened in between those two beers. How did you get from the first to the last? What is different about them? Who was around for the first one, and were they still around for that last one? Whether they are the same beer in the same place at roughly the same time of day, or they are completely different for different reasons, thank you for sharing your experiences with us already, because let's face it- you don't even know us yet.

Keep checking in, we have so much more to talk about.

3 comments:

  1. My first time was on the patio of my parents' house in Greenwood Lake, NY. It was summer and my Dad's cousin let me take a little sipple of his (I swear I'm not perverted) coors light (tap the rockies--that's what she said) silver bullet. I think I remember that summer day only because of that sip of beer. It was disgusting. In between that beer and my last, I have learned to fuel my hatred for coors light and to appreciate flavorful beers, dark beers, IPAs...
    Mmm, I'm getting nostalgic about living in NYC and being surrounded by so many beer options. I miss my brown shugga. Ukraine's beers sort of bring me back to that patio...although since then, I have changed my drinking habits and I'd like to think I'm more sophisticated (aside from lapses due to good friends, dance beats, power hours, and pong).



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  2. It all started with my "red neck" friends as Stephen would call us. For dinner we had beer meat and to drink I had a Mikes Hard Lemonade. Yes I know Mikes is technically a malt but I felt it was a good starter drink for me. The meal wasn't the best I've ever had but the drink was sweet, carbonated and manly enough for me. Since then a lot has changed. I haven't even had a Mikes in... five plus years? Since then I've flirted with a wide range of inebriating beverages. My favorite type of beer now would have to be hefeweizens. They're so smooth and pair well with a lot of meals, in my opinion. But that doesn't steer me away from my favorite beer which is the last one I had yesterday, Miller High Life. At first I started the High Life train for it's low price but after years of drinking it (and a lot of free stuff from High Life points) I simply like the taste of it. It also doesn't hurt that it comes in 18 packs of 16 oz. cans either. Sadly though all of them are gone tonight so I'll have to settle for some good ol' Wild Turkey Kentucky Bourbon mixed with some unsweetened tea.

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  3. Hmm, I had my first taste of beer back when my family was still living on Long Island. It was my dad's, probably a Heineken, and it was gross. As far my first real bottle of beer, I have no idea. Like Ross, I began with the gross shit (Smirnoff Ice), then shifted towards Bud Light. In Brooklyn me & Nick would stock up on PBR at Key Food. Then came Sam Adams, then Brooklyn, and from there we tried more and more. I do remember the day when my college roommate and I decided to splurge on Guinness, and we hated it! It was way too bitter. The last beer I drank last night was Nick's Stone Giant Oatmeal Raisin Stout. And not to "diss" Guinness, but wow, that had way more flavor! I love that I can now appreciate subtle flavors in beer, articulate my particular likes/dislikes about a brew, and appreciate the craftsmanship of a good beer!

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