Welcome to “Recorded Conversations,” an occasional feature where all the Addison Recorder editors contribute their thoughts about a question, idea, or prompt. Everyone will chime in, and then we see where the conversation wanders. For today’s conversation, J. Michael Bestul looks forward to a few drinks over the Labor Day weekend, and wonders aloud what might be drinking.
Prompt: You’re at a bar, restaurant, or pub that you’ve never been to before. The place has a pretty good drinks list, and on it, you notice ____________. And because this is one thing you always have to try when you’re at a new place, you order it.
Question: What is ____________, and why is it the libation you order?
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To be honest, I don’t know what that libation is until I see it. Which is strange, I realize, but I don’t have a set cocktail or drink that I must try at each new establishment. Being a lover of beers I have not tried, my instinct is to order whatever is coming out of the tap I find most interesting. Now, there are certain restrictions placed upon this, and of course I have a list of them.
1. It must not be a beer I am overly familiar with. If I am in a bar where the most interesting tap is Goose Island 312’s signature telephone, that does not mean that 312 is getting the call (heh). If I am in a new bar it behooves me to try something new, so ordering a beer that I have picked up from the grocery mart downstairs a dozen times will not do it.
Addendum to 1: Seasonal varieties of brands I am familiar with count as new. If the Oktoberfest lagers or Winter Nut Brown ales are just hitting the streets that is new enough to be acceptable. Even if I have tried it before. If it’s been 9 months since I had Harvest Ale then I have no qualms about ordering a pint of it.
2. It must not be a Pale Ale. I am more than happy to be proven wrong about this at some point, but pale ales are not my thing. The overwhelmingly hoppy flavor does a number on my palate, so I always wind up disappointed with Pale Ales unless it’s part of an exquisite pairing. Put an IPA next to a half-rack of ribs, and we’re probably in business. But then, how often am I ordering ribs in a bar I’ve never been to? Not much. Hence, pale ales get a pass.
3. The less I know about the brewery, the more intrigued I am. This may come off as hopelessly hipster, but I like discovering something that I can recommend to my friends. Finding a beer that you can share with your mates is one of the best examples of this, and that’s pretty hard to do if I am drinking a Heineken. Nothing against the well-known craft breweries (to say nothing of the mega-breweries like Bud or Coors), but taking a gamble on stuff like Big Sky Cowboy Coffee Porter is more rewarding than sticking with a tried and true Leinenkugel.
This list, or at least the idea of it, is what I use when I’m in a new establishment, and it’s paid off nicelyfor me. I’m not married to this procedure, and often it will get ignored completely if there’s a special, but it’s a system that works.
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Read the responses from the other editors (-J., Andrew, and Travis) as they are published throughout today.
Alex Bean
A life-long Midwesterner, currently living and working in Chicago. Primarily writes here about television and film (which is what he accrued crushing debt to study in school), but will write about books, sports, video games, or whatever else strikes his fancy. He's the one who thinks baseball is really boring.
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