Of the forty or so beer blogs I read on a regular basis, there are a few whose authors consistently offer up opinions and insights that are very much in line with my own thoughts and opinions. Good golly, but these are guys I’d love to have a beer with. Very often, as well, their offerings are so well-written and complete that there is nothing more that I can add. I’m left with, basically, the option of posting “here, read this” and giving a link.

One such author is Jay Brooks. Recently, he offered a commentary as to why he doesn’t go out on holidays, especially those that seem to have become “drinking” holidays. New Years, Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick’s Day, et.al.

Since I essentially drink most days and as a paid professional, I refer to these holidays simply as “amateur drinking days” because it seems like people just go nuts and drink as much as humanly possible.

I’ve been lamenting the loss of the meanings of holidays for a long time. As a person of mostly Irish descent, the transformation of a quiet feast day into an egregious, over-commercialized, trivialized booze-fest is especially distressing. I swear, if my co-worker had asked me one more time if I was going to have green beer I was going to reach across the table and smack him. (Of course, I am, by definition, an “amateur drinker” since no one pays me to wax poetic about beer. I just do it because I love it. I’m pretty sure Jay didn’t have me in mind, though.)

Jay’s commentary was inspired, at least in part, by an op-ed piece by Michael O’Hare in The Times Leader of Pittsburgh. In it, the author’s friend Seamus offers that he doesn’t go out on St. Patrick’s Day because he’s no “pop-culture Irishman”. He goes on to explain that the Irish reputation for drink is unfounded. The Irish (and the Brits, and the Scots) spent a lot of time in pubs, sure, but they were socializing, not acting like they were at a fraternity kegger.

Jay concludes:

Exactly. Beer should be savored with good friends and good conversation. I couldn’t agree more.

I couldn’t agree more, either. We have an “Atmosphere” category here at Hop Talk precisely for discussion of where to enjoy a beer, why someone would want to, and especially who to enjoy it with. It’s also the inspiration for our motto: While life is not all about beer, beer is all about life. Do you remember those Old Milwaukee commercials? A bunch of guys sitting around a campfire or some similar situation, and one of them says: “It doesn’t get any better than this.” Okay, I’m not a fan of the product they were pitching, but by golly the rest of the message was absolutely right.