Imported Brews

Two favorite things of mine are superb fiction (and its defense, consumption and propagation) and good sophisticated beer (again: its defense, consumption and propagation). Take a few minutes out of your day to go read excellent posts on both subjects:

On Beer and Redemption
You see, I was about 23 years old, and up until that point in my life I had only been exposed to darkness, or should I say lightness. I guess in a metaphorical sense it was darkness, but in actual reality it was lightness. I am talking really light, like 4% ABV light. You know, Bud Light, Miller Light, Smirnoff fruity drinks. When I met with Dan that day, he told me that those beers were just a facade, a glimpse of what real beer could be like.

I had my doubts, but finally I gave in and tried a beer called Chimay Grand Reserve. It came in a big blue bottle with a cork and all. I wasn’t use to a glass bottle, I had become so accustomed to metal cans. It poured with the beauty of a thousand rivers with a beautiful dark brown color that seemed to engulf and destroy light.

And…

Fiction Can Change Your Life
One more reason why fiction can, and should, change your life. Left to itself, a life cordoned with unyielding logic will make your existence a tunnel, and, quite possibly, break your heart.

Fiction leads us away from the pasty illumination of florescent lighting and the artificial air that blasts from cooling vents. Fiction helps us to get outside, away from what is urgent and into what is vital. Fiction leads us to what escapes us, “the quality of the real universe, the divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic reality in which we all live” (Lewis).