Tastes change. In my younger years I preferred sweeter brown ales, eschewed hoppier, bitter beverages, and seldom branched out. Nowadays, I lean heavily towards the bitter, and when the opportunity presents itself, feel compelled to sample the unknown. Thus when I spied Alaskan Brewing Company’s Alaskan Jalapeño Imperial IPA on tap, I had no choice but to order a pint. We may not normally place the words Alaska and jalapeño alongside each other, but if this Imperial IPA is any indication, perhaps we should. With an odor of hops and capsicum, it felt smooth on the tongue, a little malty, even earthy. Not complex at the outset, but subtle, defying definition and developing over time, in the way a good poem develops. My only complaint would be the lack of heat. But hey, I’m from Texas, and we do jalapeños. This is a beer of multiple cultures, a blend of distinct identities. I think of Joan Naviyuk Kane, and her first book, The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife, in which she writes in “Antistrophic”
Instead of out, I am in,
Trying at the old habit of imperfect definition
As well as the less familiar,
Between falling gold
Kane’s narrative, her mythology and landscape, are not mine, yet they invite me in and envelop my senses, allowing synthesis, acceptance, to occur.
But sometimes I crave the unadorned. The Lone Pint Brewery’s Yellowrose IPA, a single malt, single hop concoction, startled me. Surprisingly mellow in the mouth, it imparts grapefruit and perhaps pineapple with a hint of something I can’t readily identify. Strong yet delicate, infinitely interesting, Yellowrose is most definitely a celebration of simplicity and craft – a few ingredients combined to create magic. Which may also describe Christina Davis’s book An Ethic. Spare in nature, her work transcends the limits of language, the borders of the page. Her poems blossom anew with each reading, and the farther away I move from them, the more I long to return:
”All Those That Wander,” in its entirety:
After the ark survived the Flood,
it was taken apart
to be made into cages.
This is the nature of religion.
Of course my curiosity leads me down other paths, too. Infamous Brewing Company’s Sweep the Leg peanut butter stout pours with a small head, and tastes of rich malts and coffee, with a little cocoa and, of course, subtle peanut tones. An opaque, dark brown or black, with minimal carbonation, exuding stillness, it isn’t quite what I anticipated, with the peanut butter flavor a tad muted. But the mouthfeel is spot on, and the aftertaste lingers, leaving me requesting more of this unlikely combination, and reminding me of Charles Simic’s Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell, in which he imparts, through prose poems, the experience of viewing Cornell’s enigmatic art. Nothing is quite as you expect it should or could be, yet you go on, somehow understanding. He writes in “Secret Toy”:
In a secret room in a secret house his secret toy sits
listening to its own stillness.
Simic offers openings into Cornell’s art, explains the unexplainable without explanation. I stare into the pint of Sweep the Leg, and find my own stillness. I read Simic and find another. This is what I seek in poetry, what I want in good beer. I have found it.
“Which Poets, Which Beer (2)” last appeared here in July 2017. You will be relieved to hear that I am still conducting research in these matters.
I look forward to these, Bob. As always, your pairings resonate.
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I haven’t been drinking much beer lately, but hope to take it up again soon.
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looking forward to your “research” here. 🙂
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It’s a tough job… 😀
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but someone has to do it!
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Exactly, and I usually volunteer!
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As would I! 😉
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🙂
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Despite preferring cider to beer, I’ve been tempted by your lyrical descriptions. Beautifully done, I do like the improbable in my reading, so why shouldn’t I too develop a taste for these new flavour combinations? I wonder if such fusions are available here in the UK…
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I’d imagine that you could find such libations. They seem to pop up in the unlikeliest places.
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Thank goodness! (K)
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🙂
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what a fun post and the way you muse over the topic of beer and connect it to lit – nice
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Thanks, Yvette. They go well together!
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😊👍
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and check out this post when you can – I just saw it in the reader
https://tricksterchase.com/2018/09/10/emily-dickinsons-refrigerator/
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Thanks, Yvette. I just found your comment in my spam folder. I’m not sure why it was there, but thought you should know.
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thanks – and I think I was spammed a lot the last month or two – thanks for finding my comment and rescuing it RO
🙂
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So pleased I found it before deleting the entire batch!
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🙂
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As someone who is trying to get into the world of craft beer I can relate. Currently I’m still in the college, Coors and Bud Light phase of my beer palate development. Maybe one day I’ll be on your level. Ordering an Alaskan Jalapeño beer can be scary as it is thrilling haha
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Practice, Jacob. Practice! 🙂
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Beer and poetry pairing, that’s perfect
I’m a porter girl
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They are perfect! Any porter in a storm, I always say. 🙂🍺
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Thanks for another interesting post. May the research continue and lead to yet to be discovered brews. Have a great day. Happy beer hunting.
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Am going to New Mexico in a few weeks, where I hope to conduct some research!
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Great post. I’ve never liked sweeter drinks of any kind. Alaskan Jalapeño would suit me fine
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I almost tried a habanero beer, but noticed that the people who were drinking it were sweating…
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🙂
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I have never really had a taste for beer…until recently, when I discovered sour beer…particularly, Alchemist’s Dogpatch Current. I admit — the painted label, with the tree, and the very idea of a dogpatch swayed me enormously…but I was not disappointed! 🙂
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I’m a bitter kind of guy, so IPAs are my standard, but sours are interesting. I need to investigate them more often. 🙂
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Your beer reviews are poetic and the poem extracts tasted of beer. What could be better?
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Thank you, Dave. Poetry that tastes like beer. Hmm.
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GIVE THS MAN A BEER
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And don’t stop at just one!
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