Beer in a glass

Drinking beer in a glass is better than from a bottle or a plastic cup. It just is. And it needs to be good beer, not cheap, foul-tasting, mass-produced beer. A good microbrew will do. Drinking beer from a glass makes sense on several levels. It is appealing aesthetically. When you see the foam, the bubbles, and the color (based on the variety of brew) it just looks good and it's pleasing to the eyes. And good beer--like good wine--has distinct aromas. Hoppy beers have different floral or woodsy smells. Malty beers have their unique aromas. Dark beers have smokey, burnt odors depending on how much or how long the malts have been toasted, roasted or smoked. Add to these complexities with other ingredients (like fruit) and you have a virtual olfactory smorgasbord that is near orgasmic (okay, maybe not orgasmic but it is damn good smelling! I think my nipples got erect once when I was smelling a good IPA!). So when you drink beer out of a glass, these are the things that can be experienced and noticed.

The other reason why beer should be drunk from a glass is because it is just the right thing to do; it is a good thing to do. Life is too short to miss out on drinking beer any other way. It is a time when a person can be mindful of what they are doing--drinking beer--but it is not just drinking beer. To borrow from a soliloquy in the film "Sideways," drinking beer can take mindfulness to a new level: When enjoying a good IPA, what kind of hops were used? Hops from Oregon, Washington state, or Germany? What kind of floral fragrances are detected? Rose? Daffodil (a famous flower in the Pacific Northwest)? And who was the brewer? What was she thinking when she was crafting this beer? What circumstances in her life brought her to craft this particular brew? Why was this kind of hops chosen? Who tilled, cultivated, tended and harvested the hops? How much were their wages? And then you finally get to sample a glass of this good IPA, and you see a frothy, thick foam head develop at the top of the glass, and you see the bubbles pulsating from the bottom up. You raise your glass and take a huge inhalation and whiff of all the complexities of this good brew. But the most important thing to ponder when sipping a good IPA: Notice how oh so damn good it tastes?

Perhaps this experience is not for everyone, but it is for me. I like to drink beer from a glass--a good beer, and a good glass--when I am pondering life with friends. I like to do this when theology is the topic at hand and deep, difficult issues and questions are raised to and about God. And I like to drink beer from a glass with friends and family over a good meal that has been created with as much forethought and creativity as the beer that I am sharing. Life is too short not to ponder these things. And good beer is too good to be wasted in mass production, silly ad campaigns or fancy packing. Just drink beer and appreciate life, and good company, and think often of all the things about good beer. It mirrors life, because it is itself life. End of story.