An Ode To Beer

Beer.

The very mention of it makes you roll your tongue. Thirst suddenly hits you.

Beer was the first alcoholic drink that I ever had. The thrill of breaking the "good boy's code" who don't drink was first broken when we had a swig from a glassful of beer.

We were in school then, and in our innocence, even a single glass of beer was equivalent to more than just a drink... it was an expression of freedom; of breaking the rules... of setting off and taking our very first steps towards manhood (something we'd seen our dads do) and that was... to have an drink. "That's how you know you're now a grown up... you can drink !!"

Ever since then, you've had the most amazing of memories associated with that magical drink. Of course, some other friends have joined mid-way; there's the rum & coke, there's the ill-fated "too many vodkas in one night", there's the whisky which you hated the taste of initially...

But there's always been beer... and thank goodness for that!!

Of your most special memories (since you turned 18, that is), quite a few are those when you held a tinted bottle of beer in your hand. There was that late Friday evening when you wished to greet the beginning of a weekend with a couple of pints at the local watering hole with your closest buddies, there was the fine silent night when you wished to drown the pain of being separated from your loved one with a bottle of the finest brewed and then there was the night when you celebrated with ordering for a bottle of beer for each of your friends.

There's also nationality involved here. On my recent trip to Goa, it was an Australian I met up with who loved his cricket and his "Foster's" (completely different matter that he was showering more heaps of praise on Bishen Singh Bedi than Shane Warne before we were through). And that is how we made friends...out of our love for beer. He loved his Foster's and I just would NOT give up praising my beloved Kingfisher.

You might love all the different types of liquor my friend, but if what you're looking for is a good ol' friend from your college times... someone like the first love you ever had... it's a bottle of beer that you're looking for.