Perambulating and Pints
Beer, as a senior member of the drinks family, is often to compared to other drinks, wine especially, and on many levels: alcohol content, taste, the respective social status are some.
These change over time, e.g., wine has gotten stronger due to increased cultivation in warm climates, viz southern Europe, California, etc. Beer too has a higher alcohol range today due to craft influence, even approaching the lower range for wine.
One area not much considered for comparatives is drinks after physical exertion. This can be manual or other labour in the older sense, or exercising for pleasure or fitness.
A good example is a cycle ride of decent length, or hike or walk. I suppose a gym workout qualifies although its professed health aims seem less compatible with a drink than the others, at least in the public estimation.
The special enjoyment beer, especially, provides after sustained physical effort is something understood or intuited more than actually discussed. It is worth examining, as a facet of the beer experience. The conjunction of these two also is part of beer and brewing history. Consider that the beer industry sometimes developed around industrial centres where people worked in strenuous occupations.
Many beer commentators have reported enjoying a beer after a long walk or cycle ride. Some beer writers regularly use a bicycle ride or ramble as a backdrop to their journalism. It adds interest and colour but telegraphs too the extra zest a drink or two can provide in that setting.
I always found this with beer, personally, most of all after a long walk. There is a unique type of satisfaction it provides, if not too strong.
(Image source: Wikipedia).
The body I think is more “ready” for it, more easily able to absorb it, and a greater delectation follows. Somehow the senses are sharper, more alive when the drink goes down, which heightens its charms – if you choose the beer wisely that is. For one you don’t much like, the sensory impression can go the other way!
Beer due to its piquancy and bulk has the advantage over wine here. I am sure many who enjoy exercise can get similar enjoyment from a glass of wine, maybe with water alongside. But somehow the two types of tippling seem different, for this purpose.
I wonder if “walking the dog”, the old British male excuse for a stroll to a nearby pub, was one expression of this special enjoyment. Of course, it depended how long the walk was – a block doesn’t count! (Setting aside those with limitations of some sort).
This quality of beer was called, in a former time, “restorative”. The term today sounds antique, at the latest Edwardian, perhaps the era of the bicycles shown in the above image.
Anyway, for many of us, prolonged perambulation is a pre-requisite to beer’s best enjoyment.
Part II continues this look.
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