Love Lager?

The Session: Love Lager

Being new to this sort of thing, I keep stumbling my way into new stuff... Today every blogger seems to be writing about Lager, for something called The Session. I don't know the why's or wherefore's but a spot of reflection to the moments in my life when for some odd reason I partook in a sip or two of lager sounds like fun. It is a very long time since I last thought about lager and it brought a smile to my face, even the really good ones don't get me out of 2nd gear, but reading a couple of other blogs has brought a smile to my face and some happy memories. It seems that all beer lovers have had their lager moments and i am probably no different.



When I was a youngster having my first beers, unlike most others, lager wasn't the 'go to' option, my Dad is preserved in a bottle of red wine and would rarely have a beer. There were always a few cans of Carling in the house, but even my untrained palate knew they were absolutely terrible. 'Me and my mates' all drank Cider (it was Somerset) or real beer whenever we were in the pub. It wasn't until I reached the ripe old age of 18 and headed off to Australia for my GAP year to the far flung town of Toowoomba that I had no choice but to drink lager. Now the only place to be seen in 1996 in Toowoomba was The Spotted Cow, a legendary pub, that is now coincidentally a mecca for great beer from all over the World, with its own European style Cafe bar... unbelievable. Back then it was very traditionally Australian and I loved it, I drank pot after pot of XXXX Heavy... for the unitiated a pot is about half a pint, but in Queensland your beer gets pretty warm, pretty quick. The choice at the pub was XXXX Heavy, light, or gold, VB and probably one or two others. Heavy was the strongest, and from Queensland so thats what I drank! (Tasting notes won't follow!)




I quickly decided that if I was going to enjoy my year in this funny town I better enter into things, drink the local brew and do what the locals did. So I thank the lager for an incredibly good time in Australia and some great friends (and also thank PH-S, CJ, AM, BS, ML, AC*, NK*, CM, AL'S, SH-S and many others).


My other 'lager time' was inevitably at university when I worked at an enormous pub on the edge of Birmingham Uni campus. Worked, lived, played and made more friends for life in there actually. In fact looking back it seems that lager has been at the forefront of making the mates that last a lifetime...

Maybe it's a better drink than I thought.

Happy Adventuring!