Here is this month’s topic courtesy of Booze, Beats and Bites….
“Speaking of fun, going to the pub with a bunch of mates is great… you have a few beers and a laugh, generally a fun time and all.
I love going to the pub with mates but sometimes I go to a pub alone and I enjoy it.
Other people say I’m weird for this as there seems to be a stigma attached to being in the pub alone – alcoholism.
There are many reasons why I go to the pub alone.
Sometimes I just want to spend some quality time alone that isn’t at home.
Sometimes I’m walking home and fancy a pit-stop.
Sometimes my mates are all busy with their girlfriends/wives/children and I want a pint.
Sometimes I just fancy going to the pub and observing the bizarre people around me.
Sometimes I want to sit down and write blogs on my tableaux while having a pint.
Sometimes I just want to play angry birds while having a pint.
Sometimes I just want to prop myself at the bar and discuss beer with the bartender.
Sometimes I want to explore pubs that I’ve never been to before but my mates don’t want to.
Sometimes I’m just a miserable bastard and don’t want to socialise but want a nice pint.
The way I see it is that I love beer and pubs and I don’t see why I should only go to the pub when I’m with other people.
Am I weird for going to the pub alone?
How do you feel about going to the pub alone? Do you feel it’s necessary to be around friends to spend time in a pub?”
NO, NO a thousand times NO. It is NEVER weird to go alone for a pint. Just like it isn’t weird to see a movie by yourself or to have dinner by yourself or practically anything, solo.
Before our world became wired and we could check in at a place, check in to a specific beer and take a photo of the beer that looks vaguely sepia toned within seconds of walking in the door, you couldn’t always reach the people that you would like to have a beer with. Now because of phones, Twitter and Untappd (name your social media poison), it is almost expected that we stay in 24 hour contact with not only close friends but slight acquaintances and people we have never met.
But if we are always in constant contact how can we possibly get to know ourselves and slightly less importantly, how do we get to know the beer?
If I am out with friends, I may have drunk 3/4’s of my beer without really tasting it because I may be talking or listening or taking mental notes or laughing. All well and good. Beer isn’t always about maximizing flavor and aroma appreciation. But there are times, important to me, where I crack open a bottle and it’s just me, what’s in the glass and the sky above and I can really look at the beer, take a good whiff of the hops and take a good drink and linger.
We all need a fair share of all types of beer experiences. Too much of one without the other and we lose touch with all that is right about craft beer. It would be akin to always having one style or one breweries beer. Your life wouldn’t be as filled and you would probably begin to take it for granted or long for what’s on the other side. I am not overly fond of bars with multiple TV’s but occasionally I want to watch the NBA or Euro 2012 with an accompanying pint.
That is why I go to many different bars and breweries. That is why I stock my ‘fridge with a changing roster of bottles. That is why sometimes, I sit alone and drink my beer. The only common denominator is that in any scenario, I have a smile on my face.
So be a weird, miserable, Angry Bird playing, blog writing craft beer drinker. I raise my pint to you from a different location where I am doing the same.