In high school, I remember saying something like this: “Non-alcoholic beer makes about as much sense as geometry.”
I think my geometry teacher can confirm I knew nothing about math, and I also knew nada about beer. Anything in a bottle was high class, and I considered Keystone Light and Rolling Rock to be elite labels in those days. In hindsight, I suppose in that era I did not know much about anything.
Fast forward from the halls of Maclay School in the 1990s to post-pandemic. I consumed enough beer for a lifetime in 2020. Thick, heavy beers, like Big Nose from Swamp Head Brewery in Gainesville and LaLa Land from Proof here in Tallahassee. We put in an outdoor TV, and it was often beer-o’clock at Dowling Sports Bar Patio and Pub.
By 2021, I think I had tasted every IPA on earth. It was a hoppy awesome ride. Some of the finds were delicious, some awful and everything in between. Those ABV (alcohol) percentages also were all over the place, from double digits to less than 4%, like Terrapin Station’s Recreation Ale, which is still one of my faves. Perhaps 12% beer is overkill?
As 2021 dawned, I thinketh it would be a good time for a fresh perspective.
