[Conversation with a coworker, which at some point turned into me singing the praises of Stone's Enjoy By 4.20.2014]
Coworker: Well, I'll have to try it. Ha, you seem to know your beer N.
Me: Ha, well, I guess. Or at least I think I know what I like. I mean, I have a beer blog.
Coworker: You have a beer blog? No way.
Me: Well, it's nothing much. It's just me, well, kind of just trying to remember what I like. And stuff.
Coworker: Ha, what's it called?
Me: It's really nerdy...
Coworker: C'mon...
Me: ...Pursuing Hoppiness.
Coworker: [pause]
Me: I know. So nerdy. Yep, well, that's me.
Coworker: ...so, have you ever tried Pliny the Elder?
Have I tried Pliny the Elder. Oh boy. Beyond the subtle hilarity of this exchange (I know, I know I chose the name and I'm fully ok with how it is slash how nerdy I am, but it still makes me squirm a bit when I actually have to admit that yes, I have a beer blog, and yes, it's called Pursuing Hoppiness), just the mention of the prophetic Pliny makes me smile.
I remember that day (and I suppose night as well) so clearly. In the morning, I hopped on a plane with three suitcases and a backpack (obviously) and moved to San Francisco for a dream job. Nine days earlier I had accepted a position to work for my global health hero, and though it was going to be really hard to leave everything behind, I was excited for the opportunity. Good bye old apartment, so long Seattle rain. Hello holy apartment hunting, hi there Bay Area sun. After arriving at A and A's place next to Dolores Park (!!!!) and tossing my overly warm PNW February garb, I spent the day wandering around my new city in a kind of out-of-body-experience haze. Did I really just do that - pack up and leave? Did I make a mistake? Would I make friends? AHHHH!
But then - THEN. The Ks invited me for beers at Toronado to celebrate my arrival. Toronado's beer list is infamously long, and well, I was warned that I needed to be decisive about ordering (lest the beer czars become - oh no - curt with me). I asked for the hoppiest beer on tap, and 45 seconds later, I had a cold pint in front me and the bartend saying "Here's your Pliny." And that was that - welcome to SF, welcome to the wonderment that's Pliny the Elder.
Sadly (aka the understatement of the year), the month I moved back to Seattle was the same month that Russian River pulled distribution from Washington state. Amidst all of the nuttiness and worry about moving back, some people could interpret this incident as a bad omen - you started the adventure of SF on Pliny, the moment you move back to Seattle Pliny leaves you - but well, I guess it just makes the Pliny-SF connection little more special. Maybe a little nostalgic, maybe with a tinge of sadness, but mostly, Pliny - and San Francisco - makes me feel warmth, a sense of being carefree, and pretty damn lucky that I got to have it while I did.
Cheers,
N
Coworker: Well, I'll have to try it. Ha, you seem to know your beer N.
Me: Ha, well, I guess. Or at least I think I know what I like. I mean, I have a beer blog.
Coworker: You have a beer blog? No way.
Me: Well, it's nothing much. It's just me, well, kind of just trying to remember what I like. And stuff.
Coworker: Ha, what's it called?
Me: It's really nerdy...
Coworker: C'mon...
Me: ...Pursuing Hoppiness.
Coworker: [pause]
Me: I know. So nerdy. Yep, well, that's me.
Coworker: ...so, have you ever tried Pliny the Elder?
Have I tried Pliny the Elder. Oh boy. Beyond the subtle hilarity of this exchange (I know, I know I chose the name and I'm fully ok with how it is slash how nerdy I am, but it still makes me squirm a bit when I actually have to admit that yes, I have a beer blog, and yes, it's called Pursuing Hoppiness), just the mention of the prophetic Pliny makes me smile.
See, to me, Pliny the Elder is not only a phenomenal, phenomenal beer that is spectacularly hoppy yet balanced, but it also represents a snippet of my time in San Francisco. Granted, I didn't live there that long - not long at all. But the time I did have in SF (and then my frequent visiting for several months after I moved) - oh boy. The highs, the lows, the adventure - in many ways, kind of just bucking up and going for it. And you know how it all started? That's right - over a pint of Pliny.
I remember that day (and I suppose night as well) so clearly. In the morning, I hopped on a plane with three suitcases and a backpack (obviously) and moved to San Francisco for a dream job. Nine days earlier I had accepted a position to work for my global health hero, and though it was going to be really hard to leave everything behind, I was excited for the opportunity. Good bye old apartment, so long Seattle rain. Hello holy apartment hunting, hi there Bay Area sun. After arriving at A and A's place next to Dolores Park (!!!!) and tossing my overly warm PNW February garb, I spent the day wandering around my new city in a kind of out-of-body-experience haze. Did I really just do that - pack up and leave? Did I make a mistake? Would I make friends? AHHHH!
But then - THEN. The Ks invited me for beers at Toronado to celebrate my arrival. Toronado's beer list is infamously long, and well, I was warned that I needed to be decisive about ordering (lest the beer czars become - oh no - curt with me). I asked for the hoppiest beer on tap, and 45 seconds later, I had a cold pint in front me and the bartend saying "Here's your Pliny." And that was that - welcome to SF, welcome to the wonderment that's Pliny the Elder.
Sadly (aka the understatement of the year), the month I moved back to Seattle was the same month that Russian River pulled distribution from Washington state. Amidst all of the nuttiness and worry about moving back, some people could interpret this incident as a bad omen - you started the adventure of SF on Pliny, the moment you move back to Seattle Pliny leaves you - but well, I guess it just makes the Pliny-SF connection little more special. Maybe a little nostalgic, maybe with a tinge of sadness, but mostly, Pliny - and San Francisco - makes me feel warmth, a sense of being carefree, and pretty damn lucky that I got to have it while I did.
Cheers,
N
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