Pages

Friday, August 6, 2010

How to Enjoy a Beer

How to Enjoy a Beer

Submitted by Bill

While we were in Bora Bora, we spent an evening with the Irish couple Furgus and Kay aboard their yacht Pylades. One of the many topics of the evening's conversations dealt with drinking in Irish Pubs. This led to Furgus' explanation of how to properly enjoy a Guiness, which I will try to summarize here.

First, the beer must be properly poured. This means clean taps, proper temperature, etc, etc.

The beer cannot be consumed immediately, but must be contemplated for some time.

The weather outside must be cold and miserable with the sound of driven rain on the windows.

It should be warm and comfortable inside with a fire burning in the fireplace and a faint smell of wood smoke in the air.

A television in the room will cause the beer to go flat immediately. Not allowed!

Music is a touchy subject and can easily ruin the experience. Ideally, you would hear the sound of a fiddle tuning up in the corner.

I can only hope that someday I may be able to enjoy a Guiness in this manner. In the meantime, I have to settle for Hinano, which is the local Tahitian beer and bears no resemblance to a Guiness. But it seems appropriate that there be a set of rules for drinking such a beer, so my rules follow.

First, the beer must be very cold. Ideally, there should be a few ice crystals in the can.

The beer needs to be consumed soon after it comes out of the cooler before it gets too warm.

The weather outside should be warm and sunny with a steady trade wind blowing. The boat should be gently rocking on the anchor in the deeper blue water inside the lagoon, with shallower sandy patches around the boat.

You should be comfortably resting under a sun shade or a palm tree on the beach.

A television anywhere around will cause the beer to go flat immediately. Not allowed.

Music is again a touchy subject and can easily ruin the experience. Ideally there should be the sound of ukuleles, guitars and drums nearby, but Jimmy Buffet will do in a pinch.

Fortunately, I am able to enjoy the Hinano experience fairly often. Enough for now. It's time to go do my daily boat project so I can have a beer . . . . . .

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

No comments:

Post a Comment