BEER (IN 5 EXHIBITS)

I.

1958 Advertisement; Provenance Unknown (Australian, I think.)

II.

Beer brewing bubbles 

III.

Fernand Leger, Still Life With Beer Mug, 1921, The Tate Gallery, London

IV. 

The Hymn to Ninkasi 

(aka Sumerian Ode To Beer, ca. 1900 BC)

Borne of the flowing water (...)

Tenderly cared for by the Ninhursag,

Borne of the flowing water (...)

Tenderly cared for by the Ninhursag,

 

Having founded your town by the sacred lake,

She finished its great walls for you,

Ninkasi, having founded your town by the sacred lake,

She finished its great walls for you

 

Your father is Enki, Lord Nidimmud,

Your mother is Ninti, the queen of the sacred lake,

Ninkasi, Your father is Enki, Lord Nidimmud,

Your mother is Ninti, the queen of the sacred lake.

 

You are the one who handles the dough,

[and] with a big shovel,

Mixing in a pit, the bappir with sweet aromatics,

Ninkasi, You are the one who handles

the dough, [and] with a big shovel,

Mixing in a pit, the bappir with [date]-honey.

 

You are the one who bakes the bappir

in the big oven,

Puts in order the piles of hulled grains,

Ninkasi, you are the one who bakes

the bappir in the big oven,

Puts in order the piles of hulled grains,

 

You are the one who waters the malt

set on the ground,

The noble dogs keep away even the potentates,

Ninkasi, you are the one who waters the malt

set on the ground,

The noble dogs keep away even the potentates.

 

You are the one who soaks the malt in a jar

The waves rise, the waves fall.

Ninkasi, you are the one who soaks

the malt in a jar

The waves rise, the waves fall.

 

You are the one who spreads the cooked

mash on large reed mats,

Coolness overcomes.

Ninkasi, you are the one who spreads

the cooked mash on large reed mats,

Coolness overcomes.

 

You are the one who holds with both hands

the great sweet wort,

Brewing [it] with honey and wine

(You the sweet wort to the vessel)

Ninkasi, (...)

(You the sweet wort to the vessel)

 

The filtering vat, which makes

a pleasant sound,

You place appropriately on [top of]

a large collector vat.

Ninkasi, the filtering vat,

which makes a pleasant sound,

You place appropriately on [top of]

a large collector vat.

 

When you pour out the filtered beer

of the collector vat,

It is [like] the onrush of

Tigris and Euphrates.

Ninkasi, you are the one who pours out the

filtered beer of the collector vat,

It is [like] the onrush of

Tigris and Euphrates.

 

 

Translation: Miguel Civil

 

 

 

V.  

 

Note:  They say that sometimes you discover things when you actually need them, as opposed to when you're expected to discover them. In my life, I can cite multiple instances where that has been the case. 

 

I didn't really discover The Smiths until I was in my 40s, long after the group had broken up.  When I did, they added immeasurably to my enjoyment and, to some degree, understanding of life, at a point where I was feeling "challenges" that listening to the band helped me to address.

 

And I didn't realize how much I liked beer until I was well past high school and college (where the beer flowed like. . . . beer) and deep into adulthood.    

 

I won't belabor this, but as the advertisement above says, it's really the "best allround drink," and one that is infinitely varied in style.

 

Like most people intrigued by the subject, I've tried beers from all over the world when they're made availalble to me, and taken great pleasure in drinking local brews when traveling.  When we were in China on our adoption trip, I tried the San Miguel beer that is brewed there and found that I prefered it to the native Phillipine version (which is also excellent).  I saw a member of our adoption group across the lobby of a Chinese government hotel drinking what appeared to be the tallest bottle of beer in the world and looking a lot more relaxed than I was, prompting the universal (I think), enduring (I hope), survival sentiment "I'll have what he's having."

 

Kalik, a light and refreshing beer you drink in the Bahamas, is really refined and exquisite and has a memorable logo that seems perfectly (and subtly) matched with the product and Bahama gestalt.  Singha from Thailand enlarges one's views and drinking Guinness at the Shelburne Hotel's Horseshoe Bar in Dublin, just a mile or so away from the brewery, passes you into bright, peaceful dimensions. 

 

I'll just leave it at that (feeling guilty about neglecting Edinburgh's Caledonian 80/-), except to offer for use by those traveling to Philadelphia that our local Yards and Victory breweries are exceptional.  So is Troeg Brothers in Harrisburg.  And for a larger, now verging on national brand, Stroudsburg's Yuengling beers are mostly excellent.

 

I've just commenced a one-beer-a-day diet discipline, which I think will actually be good for me mentally and physically and might lead to fewer middle-of-the-night posts. (Please note that this is intended to replace, rather than supplement, my current intake of spirits and wine.)   

 

I'll let you know -- during daytimes, I hope -- how this goes.  

 

Until then, "It is [like] the onrush of/Tigris and Euphrates."

 

 

Musical accompaniment:  

 

 

Johnny Cash -- Beer Drinking Songs