I was sitting here thinking about what does alcohol go with. I think what I should have been asking myself is what does it not go with. Quite frankly I can't find anything in my mind that it does not go with. Let's take a small look at a few things or times that it goes with almost like biscuits and gravy. Yes, you can tell I am from the southern states in the US with that statement. :)
Lunch: You know we have been trained not to have that beer at lunch sine so many people decided they would just get drunk and go back to work. HOWEVER, when I was younger I worked for Mayflower moving company. For lunch we would go to a place called Soap N Suds. It was a place so close to the main office we could just walk there. You could do your laundry in the front, thus the soap. You could get beer and something to eat in the back, thus the suds. We would go there and get lunch and have a beer. I was not a big beer person back then and to this day prefer wine over beer. However, after working my ass off all morning moving things around in the warehouse that one beer was like the nectar if the gods. Yes, I was tempted every day to have more than one but I knew if I got drunk it would ruin this little trip that let me unwind from the hard labor of the morning. That ice cold beer was not just beer but something the actually refreshed me and made the first half of the day worth the pain and sweat I put into it. To this day when I am working hard and have a beer around mid day it makes me think of back then and the stress, sweat and pain just flow away. Amazing how one beer could do that when we have been trained to think it is a horrible thing to do to have a drink early like that.
Dinner: Please! We all love a excellent cut steak and a nice glass of wine or a cold beer. They go together like breathing and life. So I will not waste your time going further on this.
Social Events: I don't know about you but my favorite birthday was a couple years ago when we had quite a few people over and I had several bottles of wine and of course beer. That night I spent on the back porch with a hand full of the people who were there and my wife made sure my glass was never empty. It was cool enough that we needed jackets so my wine stayed cool and so did I. The conversation was great and the people even better. Yes, I drank in excess but it was not a frat party. You don't have frat parties when you are 41. You have a social event. And that is what it was. No I didn't drink so much that I regretted it the next day. I had just enough that everything will stay in my memory as the best birthday I have ever had.
New Births: Every child that has been born to me, and I have four with a fifth on the way, has been celebrated by myself with either a cold beer or a great glass of wine. Every one deserved that short time where I was able to enjoy something that took from months to years to create to appreciate what I had and what I had helped bring into this world. No it is not a great time to get hammered but it is a great time to have a few moments to enjoy what I have and think about what I will have. As a note on this one all my children are from the same woman, my life long companion and wife Leslie. Don't want you thinking that I am a total jerk. :)
I think a lot of reasons that we don't enjoy alcohol like our ancestors did is because of social dynamics. We have been taught that if you drink too early, too late, at this event or that event and even if we drink alone we are alcoholics. Or at least border line alcoholics. I think this is pure crap! You are an alcoholic when all you think about is where or when you are going to get your next drink. We have been taught that it is wrong to drink in front of your children and I really think this is total crap. When you drink responsibly in front of your children you let them learn what is responsible drinking. A beer after work does not mess up your children. Beating them does. Not being in their life does.
I think if you are working a garden you deserve a drink. I think if you have put up with the total crap that society brings and leaves on your door you deserve a drink to wash it off your door step. I think that society may have it wrong and that is a very sad thing. People are losing their past and sometimes it really can be found in the bottom of a bottle. As long as you are responsible about getting to the bottom of that bottle and you don't become one of the people who ruins it for the rest of us that actually see this as a sacred thing that should not be abused. Much. :)
Just my honest opinion.
Chuck
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