I've not written a blog post in a long time, and never one specifically about beer, but since Boak and Bailey are hosting The Session this month, I thought I'd give it a quick go on the day in question.
My plan was to sit down and write it on the day (28th February) after I finished work, got home and had a look in the beer cupboard and fridge at to what was available.
But then life happened, a friend of my wife's died and we decamped back to my parents in rural county Derry for a few days (for most people who won't be aware, we currently live in Edinburgh, but are quite transient).
As I'm writing this, just after 4pm, my mum has just come back in from the shops with some groceries, and beer for my dad's beer fridge. A 15-pack of Carling and a 10 pack of Carlsberg (is it a co-incidence that my eldest brother is called Karl?). My dad simply mostly enjoys beers at ~4.0% - anything weaker than 3.5% is almost not worth it, and anything more than 4.5% is "strong stuff".
I open his fridge to load it up like the dutiful son I am. Also a little in the hope that there is something I left in there since Christmas (that dad would not have drunk). I see a hit of a yellow label on the top shelf on it's side with the bottom facing me. I pull it out in slight hope, but it's a can of Magners, and I don't do cider (and The Session topic is on beer).
A quick glance at the door, and I spot a blue can behind a couple of tins of Pimms, almost certainly Punk IPA. I lift it out, and confirm it's from the Aberdeen behemoth. A leftover, I suspect, of my sister's thoughtful Christmas stockings that she made up for everyone, where the adult beer drinkers got a can of Punk or Wingman. And I think the Pimm's probably had the same treatment, but for those who were not such big beer fans.
There isn't an easy option to head out and pick up some other beers. I know the shops are just a 5-10 minute drive away, but I can't justify doing that only for something to drink. My need is not that great! I could have asked mum to pick up something "different" for me when she was in town earlier, but that's not as easy as it sounds. It's hard to explain why, but I will do to anyone over a pint.
I don't boycott Brewdog, but I tend to avoid them (for many good reasons), but I'll probably have this beer around 7:45 tonight before my cousin picks me up to head into the local pub for a pub quiz, where the beer options will be limited to the NI usual, with nothing local or special. I'll probably end up with a couple of pints of Guiness and/or Smithwicks.
I was about to publish this as was, but as I was inserting the pictures of dad's beer fridge, I remembered I had a stash of beers out in dad's shed, underneath a cement mixer.
We packed up our house that we lived in for 6 years here in Northern Ireland back in 2023, and this was the remainder of my stash that had accumulated over those years that we couldn't take with us when we moved to England (except for Depot No 90, which my wife used as beer for slug traps - 25p a can!).
But I'll not be dipping into any of these tonight I suspect, as I usually reserve them for getting together with friends or if I'm doing a homebrew session with my cousin. They will have to wait another day; Punk it is.
