Never disappointed

I have always lived life and drunk beer by the following guideline;

“This is the second best I’ve ever had.”

As a Beer Bloke I am often asked to nominate my favourite beer or to rank the one I’m presently enjoying in my all time ‘best-of’ list. I always come back to my guideline. It’s the second best. The second best beer, the second best steak, the second best holiday, the second best sha ... well, you get the drift.

This mental application means that the best is always yet to come. There is always another. I don’t need negativity like Jack Nicholson’s character in ‘As Good As It Gets’ – no, this is NOT all there is. The best is always yet to come. It makes for an enjoyable time, every time. There are no such things as ‘bad’ beers, just ones you wouldn’t have again. Good beers and better beers. Just never the best. That could be the next one. Or the next one. Or the one after that.

Those who have followed my search for the lost treasure of the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale will understand that I don’t await the first sip of this beer with trepidation or fear that it won’t live up to my own hastily created hype. It CANNOT disappoint me. Well, unless it’s flat or stale. Or my ‘mates’, who’ve tormented me previously with this beer, have secretly removed it from the beer crisper, uncapped it, replaced the contents with cats piss – or worse, Carlton Cold – recapped it and then snuck it back into the fridge. That would probably disappoint me. But other than that happening, I win.

I will enjoy it because it has been such a saga for me to get it. The journey is just as important as the destination. Or, as my daughters’ Kinder teacher said, ‘It’s the process, not the product, that counts’. And because I have waited so long. And because I already know that it won’t be the best beer I’ll ever have. Because that one is always still to come.

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner