Celebrate National Beer Day: It's What You Make It

Today is National Beer Day and, like all "Day" Days, it is both a transparent marketing ploy, and an outstanding excuse. Tacos for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Point at "October 4" on the calendar with the hand not currently shoving one in your mouth. Crave adrenaline, passive exercise, and possible vertigo? August 16th is National Roller Coaster Day, for all who observe. The point is, no one's revoking your wedding invite for not sending a National Donut Day card, but your coworker karma will get a boost if you take the opportunity to bring a box to work.

Today, let's all be a little more Beer.

The weather is currently gorgeous in Connecticut, spring making soft promises of summer, and it's an excellent opportunity to stop by the makeshift patio at any of the local craft breweries and restaurants which have been struggling, hustling, CLEANING, and working so hard to keep the lights on over the past year. They would love to see you, promise, and all that work spread over fewer folks to do it had sparked all kinds of innovation in beer recipes. Maybe it's late notice for a trip, but you can always pick up a six pack from a Connecticut brewery you haven't tried before at the package store on your way home. Call it intelligence gathering for the weekends to come.

Did you guzzle so many hazies in 2020 that you can honestly tell the difference between orange, mango, tangerine, and passion fruit accents in that double-southern-hemisphere-dry-hopped IPA? Probably not! But still, now's as good a time as any to see what's up with all the craft helles being made these days.

Bottles of barleywine been sitting so long in your basement they're the only cohesive element of the box they're stored in? That's just dereliction of duty, soldier. Pop that dusty cap, and remind yourself that 13%ABV still counts as "just having one." How long has it been since you've just had a Guinness, or a Harpoon IPA, or a Sierra Nevada? Let your eye linger on the shelves you now pass out of habit. Rediscover lost love.

Beer pairings make an excellent justification for having a few swigs on a weekday. Want some recommendations?

Try:

- a bitter, malty west coast IPA with sharp cheddar cheese

- a traditional stout with chocolate cupcakes, or tart, fruited berlinerweisse with cheesecake

- Too much sugar for you? Stout and oysters have been making sweet music together for centuries.

- I've found a crisp pilsner or three pairs best with anything that can be placed over open flame. Drag some frozen patties out of the freezer, snag a pinwheel of merguez at the butcher, wrap a brick in foil and keep telling people "just needs a few more minutes," it really doesn't matter what. We're entering prime Grilling Weather, let tears of transcendent joy be your seasoning.

Is National Beer Day an artificial, commercial holiday, invented by lobbyists and politicians looking to score cheap points? Yep! But that's hardly the question. The real thing to ask yourself, head tilted back, sunset just visible over your glass-rimmed horizon is: when you're holding a permission slip, does it matter who signed it?

See you out there.