Here’s to Ukraine!

There are days when writing about beer seems insanely frivolous. Days I feel idiotic for reporting on the subject of an intoxicating beverage, a means of escape and relaxation. Waxing rhapsodic about something as juvenile as a good buzz.

Today, Ukraine is dividing and a former heavyweight boxing champion now shoulders the responsibility of a movement to change the course of his country’s history. And in the US thousands still remain jobless. And within this house, we struggle to pay our heating bill.

I am fully aware that terrible things are happening every day in the world, and I’m not sure why I chose today to be bothered. It is February and dark and the weight of the world hangs heavy like the snow clouds above us.

So why give a rat’s ass about beer? I’ve sat and thought on this a good minute. Firstly, like art, beer is that which makes us human. I mean, yeah, it tastes good, but any beer nerd who says it has nothing to do with getting drunk is just plain lying. We drink beer because we’re human and we drink beer to forget we’re human. We drink to celebrate a birth and mourn a loss. We brew beer with the same precision, focus, and love that an architect gives his building plans.

It is in our metaphorical blood. The creators of our country’s foundational government documents wrote them with a quill in one hand and a pint in the other. Beer survived a period of prohibition and craft beer is now stronger than ever. Beer rivals rock-and-roll as one of the US’s most important and influential exports — we have a style uniquely our own that is envied worldwide.

Beer could be fought for. It represents our ideal of freedom of expression in a way few other consumable products do, in that every brewer creates a family of beers that are united by his own personality, each one unique but undeniably related. Every brewer strives for his own variety of perfection, the American dream. The perfect blend of taste and escape.

When I get home from work tonight I will share a beer with my husband. We will come together over our shared triumphs and disappointments. We will rinse away the day’s residue with every swallow and feel again a little human. Beer is art, beer gives us voice, beer makes us feel a little free. I can do little to change the violent patterns in Ukraine, but I can hold a beer up to our shared sky and salute those who can.