Ortega on Beer: What About Brewmance?

So the other night I was sharing pitchers in the Beer Garden at Bohemian Hall w/Nando Calrissian (Happy 40th Old Man!) when he throws this at me, “What about Brewmance?” He then goes on to explain that it’s a friendship or experience had w/beer, “kind of like bromance. Like have you ever had a beer that made you stop and go wow?” I take it to mean those beers that made you want to see what else was out there in the beer world. Also, it could mean beers that you constantly go back to or that you can drink anytime. Now who hasn’t had that kind of experience before?

Rumor has it that Jerry Garcia once had a brewmantic experience one night on stage while drinking a Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout. For myself, I remember being in college and just being tired of the yellow macro lagers that are forever ubiquitous on campus’ nationwide. Whenever we would go to the local distributor, we would always buy (besides the eight to twelve thirty packs of macro lager) whatever they would have on sale just for something different. Beers w/names like Rhino Chaser, Double Diamond, & American Beer (Beer that if you don’t drink, the terrorists win! - kidding)

My first real brewmantic experience occurred when I got a visit from my sister and brother-in-law who stopped by my off-campus apartment on their way home from a vacation in upstate New York. They brought me three large bottles from a little brewery in Cooperstown called Ommegang that they found on their travels. Needless to say, I was completely unprepared for what those bottles had inside. It was nothing I ever had before. It wasn’t until years and a career as a beer consigliore later that gave me (and subsequently my friends and customers) regular brewmantic experiences. I must say, I like it better this way.