March 21, 2009: Bohemia

After the age of 21, birthdays just plain suck. Sure, we try to make ourselves feel better by throwing parties in our own honor and getting shit-faced on our birthdays, but those are purely coping mechanisms we've devised to avoid reality. The reality of birthdays is that they're just another reminder of how old you're really getting. No one likes being reminded of their own mortality, and even at the ripe young age of 25 I dread every birthday to come for pretty much the rest of my life. Yesterday was my older brother Andrew's 28th birthday. It seems like only yesterday that we were pulling all of the mattresses from my parents house into the front yard and jumping off of the roof. If you would have told me five years ago that my brother would be a married man with two children by the age of 28 I would have called you certifiably insane, but here we are today. Every time a birthday comes around, all I want to do is find a way to grab hold of time and keep it from going on, but it never works. The best we can do is live in the moment and enjoy the small things in life. That, and get completely hammered.

Tonight my friend James has thrown my brother a birthday party, and I'm drinking a cerveza called Bohemia. If you're a fan of 365brews.com, you're probably well aware of my aversion to most cervezas. I've always stayed away from Mexican beers because they're typically much too weak for my taste, and Bohemia was no exception. Although I will say that Bohemia is probably on the top end of the cerveza food chain, it's still really far below my standards for a beer. I guess I just really don't like the combination of thin beer and high carbonation that has become a kind of signature for most cervezas. Unlike other Cervezas though, Bohemia actually had a pretty interesting mixture of flavors that I found pretty pleasant. Specifically, the taste of sweet malt and noble hops made this beer pretty drinkable. I'm no dummy, I can understand what people find attractive about cervezas but I just happen to have a different taste (one some would call more sophisticated and refined... jk) in beer. For you cerveza fans out there, I would strongly urge you all to pass up the Coronas or Pacificos next time you hit up the taquieria, and go for a Bohemia instead; you won't be disappointed.

Salud!
Ian

http://www.femsa.com/en/business/cerveza/brands.htm