If you have ever been to a German Restaurant you might have heard that song. The music was written by Ralph Maria Siegel, with lyrics by Ernst Neubach in 1956.
For those of you uninitiated in this tune, the lyrics state:
In heaven there is no beer.
That’s why we drink it here (Right Here!)
and when we’re gone from here,
our friends will be drinking all our beer!
While attending the Kansas City Art Institute, working hard to get our BFA degrees, we took the words to this song very seriously. On occasion we would imbibe a beer or two, and sometimes more just to keep the creative juices flowing. As much as I enjoy beer, it does not seem to coexist well with my delicate intestinal tract. Beginning Freshman year at KCAI a solid bowel became merely a memory in the past.
As I matured, my need for copious quantities of beer decreased as my desire to have a discernible turd increased. If I drank, it was to enjoy the taste and the craft of the drinks. Favorites include, Dark Rhum, Tawny, or Vintage Port, and really, really dark beers. As I see them, dark beers are beers you can chew. Thick viscosity, complex flavors and a nice finish. I don’t care about how many times the beer can hop. Nor am I interested in where the ingredients hail from. The drinking/tasting experience is what I enjoy.
El Diablo gave She Who Must Be Obeyed and I tickets to a food and beer pairing cooking class, at Cooks of Crocus Hill in Edina. All of the recipes included different styles of beer in the ingredients. The various beers were from Fulton Brewery. I can’t remember the chef women’s name who ran the Cook’s class, but no one, especially the ladies present will ever forget the charming “Biceps Ben” in his tailored T shirt, from Fulton Brewery. He would acquaint us with a beer’s unique attributes and fill our glasses with the same. We would then be required to drink it with the featured food. It was torture. At the very end of the class, the beer cupcakes with the beer frosting were served with, you guessed it, beer. Dessert was my only disappointment of the entire evening. This arose not from beer with dessert. Really, that was great. For me the problem was the pairing of a lightish beer. “Biceps Ben” had a flimsy reason for this choice, but my palate would have preferred a rich, dark, yummy, chewy beer with my cupcake. I had hoped for just a thimble full of Fulton’s Worthy Adversary (Russian Imperial Stout) with my dessert. Most of the ladies, and I think one guy, hoped that “Biceps Ben” would be theirs.
After my introduction to Fulton’s Worthy Adversary some months back, it has become my go to beer. (No pun intended, Your results may vary.) This beer is a wonderful mouthful. Fulton’s web site states that the Worthy Adversary will not freeze even if you accidentally leave it outside in a Minnesota winter. ( Who would be so careless? ) That must mean 9.5% alcohol is a lot. My sources also tell me that In the movie, The Big Lebowski, there was talk about a Worthy Adversary in black pajamas. The Fulton folks figured this moniker suited their Russian Imperial Stout to a T.
Regardless, I am anxious for the fine folks at Fulton to brew more. The problem is we will have to wait until December to get any. Tragically it is a seasonal beer, only available December thru February. Right now I am in the process of looking for a walk-in refrigerator so that I am able to safely store all of the cases of Fulton’s Worthy Adversary I intend to purchase on December1st.
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