Better Drinking

We spent most of the day up at Lake Lanier, celebrating my oldest children's birthdays, both belated, Ashley's 16th and Seth's 13th. The weather was rather dreary until about 3pm, but in the company of some friends, it was nonetheless a pleasant event. And not a drop of alcohol was consumed.

Normally this kind of event brings out a bottle, as I consider the drinking of beer to be consistent with celebration, fellowship, and rejoicing. But occasionally there is none to be had. This is a good thing...which may be strange to say on a blog devoted to better drinking. Yet abstinence from a good thing is sometimes a good thing because it reminds us that good, in the eternally beneficial way, is not found in the temporal. Abstaining for the sake of joy; now there's a concept worth pondering. Of course, that means finding balance since enjoyment of anything is not found in unbridled consumption nor in total self-denial. It means knowing when "to", and when "not to". Today was "not to" and it was a fine day.

And it doesn't count that amongst the party favors we gave away, I gave beer to the men. The Sam Smiths were received with joy, but slight disappointment as they were not chilled.

I conclude with the "almost" since I did in fact have one of my brown ales (which is maturing more into a brown porter) with my dinner of sliced seasoned pork and swiss on toasted sourdough. What does that mean? Nothing. It was a good dinner and good near-conclusion to the day. A night cap of my new dunkelweizen will make it complete.