The Epitome of Class

That's how I'm defining the latest outing with Sparrow and CapsLock. See, when you're a twenty something, most people get these pretensions of class, and stop doing things like drinking at a playground. I, on the other hand, highly endorse all forms of ridiculosity.

Especially those that start at 11:45pm and end with the three of you drinking wine from a bottle, smoking cigars, and scaring off teenagers. Basically I get a call informing me that drinking adventures are happening. I ambush the car, giving Sparrow a heart attack, and we're off. After grabbing a 6-pack of Sierra Nevada Summerfest, a bottle of some red wine, and a cigar, we're off.

Sparrow and I have a long history of staking out the various little parks/playgrounds in suburbia and spending the early mornings there drinking beer and doing everything from talking deep philosophy to fan-casting our friends in Harry Potter. Also, swinging on the swings. This is a fantastic old tradition of ours, and so we were enjoying this once again, along with CapsLock.

Why do I call him CapsLock? Well, see, everything he does IS IN CAPITAL LETTERS. He doesn't cook breakfast, he COOKS BREAKFAST AHHHHHH! He doesn't do push-ups, he DOES PUSH-UPS GRAAAARRRRRGGHHHHH! He doesn't head-but tables, he HEAD-BUTS THE FUCKING TABLE TO DEATH. He's a lot of fun to say the least.

Now, when we arrived at our old spot, it was already full of teenagers. And while CapsLock and I debated a hostile takeover, we realized there was an identical spot just a little ways away. So a short drive and a walk down a sketchy path through the dark woods (which wasn't actually that bad), we arrived at the other playground. We'd heard voices, but they'd disappeared as we'd gotten close so we figured they'd run off. Except, as I explored the area with my flashlight, I had the sneaking suspicion that several large forms weren't actually part of the equipment.

Starting a conversation with "Hi? We're not cops guys. It's ok" is pretty awkward, but apparently pretty effective, because it quickly defused a weird situation, and let us get back to what was important: the beer.

In between debates about personal philosophy, finishing the cigar, and swigging red wine from the bottle, I was thankful to have on hand my Summerfest. As those who've read this before know, this is one of my favorite beers. It's a great example of a beer that doesn't try to hard, but manages to be tasty and flavorful without being super aggressive. From start to finish Summerfest is a pretty mild beer, but that makes it perfect for a hot summer day (or spring evening as may be the case). It's got a lot of sweet malts with a nice hoppy undercurrent, and the sensation of a cool drink of water without lacking in the flavor department. The malts are grassy and the hops add a nice clean bitterness to the finish.

All in all, one of my favorite session beers for the summer, this was a great beer for a great night. Oh, and someone tell CapsLock that holding a position based on an unknowable factor is ultimately not very useful, even if it is interesting :-P

May your days be hot and your beers refreshing! Cheers!