Drinking Beer
I had never seriously drunk beer before I came to Syrup. I had it sometimes, but I never aware what I was drinking most of the time. Beer was not my first choice if I had other beverages to drink. One day, it was a hot and sweaty afternoon in 2006, when Omino, who always called himself Daddy O and is the cheer leader in the office, gave me my first bottle of beer at Syrup. It was a Corona, which has an easy to swallow taste and suitable for most drinkers with most foods. And now, beer is my favorite drink anytime anywhere.
My beer drinking habits were influenced by several colleagues, including Thomas Poeser, Mike Tucker, and Victor Zumbreno. I went to different bars and even breweries with them around New York City. We tasted various kinds of beers. And often times they shared their stories and knowledge about beer with me. I really learned a lot from them.
To my understanding, beer can be simply categorized into Lager and Ale. Beer from Germany and actually the most popular beer, like Heineken and Budweiser are Lagers. And the rest are considered Ale. The main difference between these two beers is the way they are brewed. Lager yeast ferments at cooler temperatures and most of its ferments stay at bottom of the brewery bottle. Ale yeast ferments at a warmer temperature and its ferments live at the top of the brewery bottle. Of course, this is a very rough way to categorize them. Beer has lots of variations.
My favorite beer is Guinness, a stout from Dublin in Ireland. Some people say it tastes like black coffee. People who love it are simply just addicted to it, but people who don’t like it would never drink the second cup, or they may not even finish the first. There is a special way, which will make a huge difference, to pouring Guinness beer. If you have been to several Irish bars, you can easily distinguish if the bartender can pour it properly or not. I can drink 3-4 cups of Guinness a night.
Another kind of beer I like is called Trappist beer. It was brewed by Trappist monks. In the middle ages, some monasteries started to brew beer and drink beer. When monks were not allowed to eat during some periods, they drank beer as a source of nutrition. There are only 7 Trappist breweries in the world now. Because they brew beer in more natural methods, the flavors vary from time to time. Most drinkers including me are fascinated by Trappist beer’s in consistency; because it’s made by human hand, every bottle has its own unique flavor. It’s hard to imagine how many different kinds of beer there are in the human society. For example I can find more than 100 beers in a super market near my apartment. I think I am lucky enough to have the chance to dive into the world of beer. There are so many possibilities and joys you can find by tasting beer. But it is also easy to gain weight from beer. I have to watch out and make sure I drink the best beer out there every time, because I cannot waste any space in my stomach.