A tipple for any time

Phil Cook - friend, former co-worker and owner of one of the best-kept beards I have seen - managed to impart many nuggets of wisdom, both spoken and demonstrated, when I worked with him at Wellington bar The Malthouse, such as:

- Don't take crap from people just because they wear suits. They're insecure, have more money than brains and, when they ask for the most expensive beer, tell them it is $660. It's just more fun that way.
- Beer nerds are usually identifiable by being bearded, working in IT, or both.
- Conventional grammar is over-rated.

But the one thing that sticks the most is his love of "occasion beer". The guy loves to do things only a real beer nerd would do, like source Canadian beer on Canada Day, be stubborn to (almost) the point of silliness in arranging American beer taps for the 4th of July, or simply buying beers to share with people just because they like them.

I think most people have some sort of understanding of this. People go to fancy restaurants when they have a special occasion. People buy stuff they don't need with their first paycheck from a new job. I'm sure plenty of people crack open a nice bottle of wine to celebrate birthdays/New Year/graduations/etc. We all know how to occasion, but we all occasion in different ways.

I, however, have taken the Phil Cook method to occasioning. If you haven't figured it out yet, I like beer. So, what better thing to occasion with?

I've had a fair few occasion beers in my time.....

I'm also a bit of a collector of things. These (he says from his keyboard, pointing at the picture on the screen), are some of the bottles of beer which I've had as occasion beers over the last few years. Keeping them is a bit of a mixture of things - some of it to remember occasions, others because they just look cool.

One of them I had with my Dad after a driving lesson during our traditional debriefs, another was the first beer I had at Hashigo Zake. One of them is a beer I celebrated/commiserated/occasioned my last day as a hospitality worker with. There's even a beer I split with Phil for no real reason at all (you can read about that exact bottle of beer here).

The coolest one up there - in my opinion - is the now-empty bottle of Hallertau Beastwars IPA. I keep it for a few reasons: that stupidly awesome artwork on the label, it's a limited edition beer, and because it is probably the one beer I looked forward to the most before it was launched.

You gotta admit, it's a great beard. Photo: The Rock

For those that don't know, Beastwars are a band. They're from Wellington, their frontman has a great beard and they play metal. They also happen to love craft brews. In this clip, I'm pretty sure their drummer is set to swig away on some Epic Flying Nun straight from the bottle. That's what you call a classy bogan.

Anywho, the story goes that Hallertau brewer Steve Ploughman thought up the recipe for an IPA while listening to Beastwars. Discussions no doubt occurred and the rest, as they too often say, is history.

When I caught wind of this, I was very excited. You know, the kind that gives you a joy-induced near-manic grin on your face. I love music - if anything, it was my first obsession - and I'm a big fan of beer. So, I hassled both Hallertau and Beastwars via Twitter to ensure I knew when and where the drop would land in Wellington first.

One lovely day, I was told it was in stock at Glengarry Thorndon. Cue frantic dash across Wellington and more frantic search of bottle store. What would have been much easier would be to ask the person behind the counter about the situation. Turned out it wasn't in for a while, but he took my number and txt me when it showed up a week later. That cued another frantic dash across the city to get said beer and get it home.

Call me a douche, fanboy or old-fashioned geek, but as soon as I got home I cracked out a glass and bottle opener, cranked the speakers on the sound system to max and chucked on Beastwars' album. And I sat there, drank it and let the sludgy metal wash over me and the rest of the nearby residents of Mt Cook, Wellington.

As for the beer - well, it tasted exactly like the album. It was big, in your face, and particularly angry while still being approachable.

I've got that bottle because it reminds me of a time when I was excited, exhilarated and just plain happy. Which is what occasion beer is all about really. It shouldn't be the only thing to make you happy and shouldn't be the only thing to give you joy (not that there's anything wrong with that), but occasion beer should be part of an occasion which makes you happy.

And that, to me, can only ever be a good thing.