
Grandpa's Beer - neonate
https://popula.com/2019/04/11/grandpas-beer/
======
JasonFruit
It's a treasure to find someone who can have an elder act rudely toward them
and reflect, "I also felt like, hey, this is a great moment, sad and
interesting and funny. This is what old people do. You will do this one day,
and you will not know you are doing it." It's easier when, like the writer,
you are not around that person all the time, but it's an excellent viewpoint
that allows people to enjoy older people who are losing perspective, but still
have much to offer.

~~~
martinpw
Thanks for calling out the deeper aspect of the article rather than the
superficial beer-related aspect.

> You will do this one day, and you will not know you are doing it.

That is a profound statement.

I see older people behave in certain ways and think I will never be like that.
Then I realize that I will be, and that when I am like that I will not know
it. And therefore maybe I already am like that.

~~~
rkuykendall-com
> I see older people behave in certain ways and think I will never be like
> that. Then I realize that I will be, and that when I am like that I will not
> know it. And therefore maybe I already am like that.

The problem is that this isn't always true, and it's hard to know when, since
there's another thing that causes all old people to do something: They all
lived at the same time.

There are certain ways that older people relate to food that is based not
around being old, but having lived through the great depression. The same with
the baby boomers, etc. We can already see that people who grew up around 9/11
and the recession will be different in certain aspects.

Even hobbies, may have much less to do with being old, and more to do with
carrying over hobbies from an earlier age.

Think of it like 'old people names'. Those aren't old people names, they're
'teenager names' 65 years later.

------
jonquark
I'm English. A lot of beer here was traditionally served at cellar temperature
even though today, most beer is served cold. I've been known to complain about
the temperature of beer too.

This well-written tale should be a salutary lesson to me about getting too
fixed in my opinions :)

~~~
jstanley
> today, most beer is served cold

It depends what you're drinking & where you're drinking it. Almost all the
beer I order is served at room temperature.

~~~
chrisseaton
'Room temperature' is a funny thing - people say you should drink most red
wines at 'room temperature' but apparently people's ideas of room temperatures
has changed and increased by more than a couple of degrees over the last
century. A small and hot dinner party kitchen certainly isn't what is intended
by 'room temperature.'

Many sommeliers really recommending serving 'room temperature' red wines
closer to cellar temperature or have fridges that just reduce temperature by a
couple of degrees from the dining room in order to get what they want.

------
dep_b
In the US a bar served me Mort Subite at the same temperature as they served
lager. In a plastic cup. I think that really kills the brand over a longer
time.

~~~
alamortsubite
A travesty, for sure, but unlikely to tarnish that brewery's reputation given
the nationality of the perpetrators.

Another serious problem with ordering such beers on tap in the U.S. is that
the beer in the line is often flat and stale, having sat for perhaps days due
to its unpopularity here. Compounding this, I've found our bartenders are
sometimes unfamiliar with the beers, and may add insult to injury by denying
there's any problem.

If you're drinking in anything other than a true specialty bar in North
America, from my experience it's best to stick to bottled beer from one of our
excellent local alternatives, such as Ommegang or Unibroue.

------
benbristow
Don't understand how people can drink beer at room temperature.

I've been to the CAMRA beer festival in Paisley a few times with some friends
and we usually go to a pub afterwards as tradition.

That cold pint of Tennents is heavenly after dealing with all the lukewarm
ale.

~~~
eru
Heavier bodied and more complex beers do better with warmer temperatures. Eg a
lager is best drunk cold, a stout (or lambic) should be a bit warmer.

Whether that should go all the way to room temperature depends on how warm
your room is. (And how you like your beer.)

Eg [https://belgium.beertourism.com/belgian-beers/duchesse-de-
bo...](https://belgium.beertourism.com/belgian-beers/duchesse-de-bourgogne)
suggests you drink the Duchesse de Bourgogne at 8-12C. If you start at 8C and
let it warm up as you sip, you'll notice the taste change over time and the
flavours and aromas develop.

If you sip your lager slowly, you are just going to have an insipid drink.
Especially if you started with something as bland as Heineken.

~~~
tonyarkles
That’s really interesting about Duchesse! I’d noticed that qualitatively (when
we have some, it goes in the fridge). It definitely opens up over the 45
minutes while we watch a TV show

~~~
eru
My Duchesse never lasts that long: I like it too much. But I start drinking it
only when it's warmer.

I even managed to get it on tap on a few occasions.

~~~
tonyarkles
That's how I discovered it! A local place included it in a "different beer"
flight they were doing. I went back two weeks later and they were out, so I
had to figure out where to find it bottled around here.

~~~
eru
It's relatively easy to get in London and cheap.

But was impossible to get in Singapore for years. I now found a supplier that
has a few.

Of all places, Japan had good availability. But they seem to have a thing for
Belgian beers.

------
sodosopa
I like a good cool beer or stout, but get disgusted at cold beer. It's not
enjoyable, so it gives me time to talk with friends as the beer warms to a
proper temp.

~~~
ido
I like my Lagers & Pilsners cool but Americans (generally!) really do
sometimes take the cooling to extreme measures (such as keeping even the
glasses refrigerated). In Central Europe a least even the cool-served beers
aren’t served at quite the near freezing temperatures you’d sometimes get in
the US.

