I arrived at Toyohashi station on Friday night to find the fiance waiting for me. I was in a mood. I had just survived a rough week and a bit of a cold, and for sure I was ready for the "city" life of Toyohashi. On the hour and a half train ride into the big city, I had listened to Robert Earl Keen's new CD, The Rose Hotel and The Devil Makes Three, so to say I was in the mood to drink a beer would have been an understatement.
I made by way to the closest store with the girlfriend and asked her what she wanted to buy.
"Do they have any stouts?"
Ahh.....I love this woman. But I had to laugh at the irony. A year ago this girl would not have touched a "black" beer. She grew up drinking Super Dry and Kirin and the thought of drinking anything with more taste was out of this world. However, after she had her eyes opened to the vast world of beers out there, she can't go back.
I told her (like the 100 times before) that we can't find good beer just anywhere here, and if she wanted a stout the best thing that we could do in Toyohashi would be to get some Black Ebisu out of the bottle at a local shop I know. For that night, it worked.
My fiance's story is the same as countless others here in Japan and back home in America. It was the same for me a few years ago. Once a person tastes what REAL GOOD beer tastes like, it's hard to go back. I equate it to a kid who eats a burger at McDonald's.
When you were a little kid, there was nothing better than a Happy Meal. Hell, it did make you happy. But, once you got older you realized that there was a whole world out there outside of the Happy Meal box. Remember the first time you had a real smoked cheddar and bacon burger? Or what about a 100% Grade A quality burger covered in melted blue cheese? Could you ever go back to that crappy Happy Meal and be happy about it????
So it goes with brews. Sure I can drink the Super Dry or the Ichiban Shibori. But if you ever see me sipping those brews, just know that what I would rather be drinking is a nicely hopped IPA, or an Angry Boy.
Or if I'm with my fiance...A stout.
5 comments:
I'm with you all the way! Not on the fiance/wife drinking good beer part (my wife can't drink at all, unfortunately), but on the "you'll catch me drinking a regular beer but I'm really truly in my mind drinking an IPA" part.
Enjoy your journey, DH!
Chris, your situation may be better. Michi is starting to cost me a lot of money!!!!
Yeah, my wife has always been a cheap date. But I beet Michi doesn't have 30+ bowling balls in the closet! Those babies add up!
And that's yet another reason why I drink . . . to excess . . . regularly.
Chris, there's a joke in there about 30 bowling balls in a closet...I just can't think of it right now!
It's when the 30 balls come out of the closest that all hell breaks loose!
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