Day two of Justin and my fabulous Holland vacation was amazing. It was about my perfect day in the world. We slept in, watched some TV at the hotel, headed over to meet everybody and relaxed some more. So, you know, it was my kind of morning. I forgot to caffeinate and spent most of the morning staring at people like a manikin. I remembered to laugh at things that were funny about an hour in. Before that I wouldn't be surprised if Justin's extended family and friends had all taken turns making silly faces at me without getting a reaction.
We then proceeded to spend the better part of the afternoon at the beach on the shores of Lake Michigan. For the benefit of Kubbers everywhere I will tell you right now - 90 degree, sunny beach weather and Sand-Kubb do not mix. We tried to play, but the mix of feet-burning agony, feeling anti-social and missing the first couple tosses (what? I'm rusty.) made us decide to pack it in.
I had forgotten how good it feels to have the sun on my face. I've never been one much for laying out and tanning so, generally speaking, the sun hits my face as I'm walking from one building to another. The practical consequence of this is that I'm so pale I'd be see through if not for all these pesky organs. The other practical consequence is that I roast like a marshmallow if I'm out in the sun for too long. Thankfully there was sunscreen being passed around. Once we'd been sunscreened up, Justin and I took the opportunity to walk along the beach and feel the breeze.
None of that has anything to do with trying beers at a microbrewery. See, I felt it necessary to provide some contextual understanding of how awesome Justin's family was before I got into the beer stories. See, the capper of the weekend (since this is a tradition for them) is that they take over a gigantic table at the New Holland Brewing Company for a night. Justin had never been able to get there before - they usually do it on Friday night - so he was insanely giddy about it. Like. Seriously giddy. Infectiously giddy. We ran a serious chance of disappointment because of how much this place got played up, is, I think what I'm getting at here.
It turns out, I wasn't disappointed at all. We ate in the upstairs section at a table than spanned the length of the floor. In front of me was a smaller dining room than downstairs and behind me was the distilling apparatus that made the New Holland Brewing Co. famous. Their menu was eccentric in the best possible way - each item having its own little touch from the restaurant. And the beer selection was epic. Not so much in quantity of choices, but the range of flavors they offered was deeply impressive. So, naturally, I went with a mixed drink. And that's what happened. The end.
Wait a minute...
I did order my mixed drink and it was delicious, but thanks to Justin, I got to do something that's been on the list since day one also. He ordered a beer sampler and got an awesome variety of choices. He picked five and he was kind enough to let me pick one and subject him to it. I found one with hints of pomegranate. It had to happen. And for the purposes of science (specifially, fun-ology), I took a little nip of each one. And then ordered another Pineapple Upside-down Cake. Best. Drink. Name. Ever.
About the time dinner arrived, I was rocking a little buzz. Mostly because I'm not a beer drinker, so I had no concept of what my beer limit was. It was at that moment that I realized that Justin's family was the exact right crowd to have that experience with. I spent the rest of the evening trading stories with his brother and mom and just enjoying where we were and what we were doing. A little before 9pm, Justin and a bunch of other people disappeared. I thought I heard something about a candy store, but again, I was rocking a buzz.
And there was pizza.
When they returned, looking triumphant and carrying paper bags, I realized that whole candy story thing hadn't been imagined.
Now. I have a question for the crowd. Even seen a four-year-old on sugar? The answer is no. Because they move so fast you can't actually see them until they come back down.
Four-year-old on sugar: move illusive than Bigfoot.
The whole evening was superfab. But what, you may be wondering, about the beers? Well simmer the heck down, I'll get to that.
Turns out, beer has more than one flavor. I generally categorized beer on a scale from bearable to gross (with each beer having varying levels of grossness serving as the sole flavor within the beer). While I'm still not a huge fan of beer, tending to prefer my Pineapple Upside-down Cake, I did find that there were a couple I actually liked. I was also able to tell, for the first time, the difference in flavor between different beers. The pomegranate one I ninja'd onto Justin's beer list turned out to be one of the best. There were two stronger ales (I think they were ales - might've been an ale and a lager) that had an epic kick to them. There was one that I assumed I would like, being that it was described as having sweet undertones. It was too sweet.
I know, too sweet. Who'd have thunk it? What a great night.
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