To every season

Consistency isn't my strong suit. (Armour, that's my strongest suit.) My point of view depends on where I'm sitting. (If that's not stating the bleeding obvious. Have patience. It will get better.)

Stonch posted yesterday again about session beer. He spoke a good deal of sense. I agreed with him, so what he wrote must have been pretty shit-hot. But that's the me sitting here in Amsterdam, where session beer with taste is as rare as England semi-final victories. "Oh for something weaker than this 7% Trappist!" I say. (I've stopped wishing for England to win a semi. Never going to happen again in my lifetime, is it?)

Sometimes (quite often, in fact, this year: 6 or 7 times in London and a couple in Newark) I get back to Britain. When you have three or four hours to kill, nothing's better than a few pints of Mild and a copy of The Guardian. You can slake your thirst and still understand the articles. For hours on end. Or an evening with mates, where you barely notice the passing of each round. That giddy carousel of social bonding.

But there are other times. More hurried. A snatched hour just before closing time. (Did I tell you of my recurring dream? Fifteen minutes before the pubs shut and I'm trying to get a drink. All the pubs are either selling crap beer, or the crowd around the bar is six deep, or my money has suddenly turned into old newspaper, or I've forgotten how to talk, or become blind and can't find the entrance. Standard stuff, really. Odd thing is, even though I haven't lived in Britain for decades, I stopped having the dream after they changed the licensing laws.) A cold December evening. Just before your mother's funeral. When your hyperactive son has jumped on your grillocks. There are times when you need something with more kick. "Oh for something stronger than this 4.2% Bitter!"

People have moods. The year has its seasons. Every hour has its own distinctive shade. One beer can never match them all. Nor should it. I want beers for every season, beers for every mood, beers for every shade. Is that too much to ask?