#fullmoonfeast

The other night I sat down to brainstorm possible domain names for this blog. The first name that came to mind was "beer moments" because, for me, it succinctly captures the (albeit dramatic and hence humorous) essence of one person’s joyous revelation or expression of affection and gratitude for a particularly special beer experience.  That domain name was already in use, prompting me to be a little more thoughtful and creative.

My next idea was "visiting beer" because that's what I do! As part of my day-to-day life and travels, I visit places and their breweries and craft beer bars; I visit and share beer moments with people I know and people I don't yet know. I sometimes say I need to visit with a beer for a while before deciding how I feel about it (as with an off-category dry hopped saison I tried recently). Plus, "going visiting" has such a nice old fashioned, nostalgic ring to it, doesn't it? For me, it brings to mind what families do over the holidays (or I should say, ‘what families used to do’ when we lived within driving distance of one another). 

I considered avoiding the smelly old "b" word altogether. “Beer” carries some baggage, thanks to the industrialized flavourless adjunct versions most people know/accept/chug/reject today.* As such, I came up with a few alternate names, such as “thirst for connection” as inspired by a soulful and important book I received from a dear friend (“Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection” by Jessica Prentice: www.wisefoodways.com/moons/). After all, the craft beer community is all about connection: a community of people coming together on barstools, sharing a welcoming camaraderie in support and celebration of craft beer. As the same friend pointed out, however, “thirst for connection” sounds a little like a (desperate?) dating website!  

The final contender was “barstools and porch swings,” reflecting my latent desire to settle into a house surrounded by mature trees in a quiet little neighbourhood where I share good beer with good people on my good ‘ole porch swing! Ahhhh... good times on a porch swing! Sadly, the balcony of my condo rental in Los Angeles County would not accommodate such an installation so...

In the spirit of living fully and happily in the present, I’m decidedly “visiting beer”!