Just a friendly reminder.
With Christmas and New Years approaching fast, I thought I should give everyone a simple reminder. There are going to be a lot of opportunities to enjoy some good spirits with friends and family.
I love having a nice beer while hanging out with family waiting for the bird to cook. A glass of wine goes so well with dinner when it’s ready too. You also can’t forget about toasting in the New Year. Alcohol and this time of the year just seem to go together. Everyone seems to be offering you another beer or glass of wine or egg nog or peppermint schnops or Irish coffee or glass of scotch (I’m getting thirsty).
I want to remind you though that your relationship with Jesus is more important than your next drink. With the spirits flowing so easily this time of year it’s east to abuse it (especially if your drunk uncle is egging you on). Your sin can easily be compounded by the fact that you are around friends and family. Not only to do you sin by getting drunk, but you ruin your witness.
Therefore, remember to stop and think before you take Uncle Bubba up on that next round of drinks. It’s not a sin to enjoy a nice cold one, but it is a sin to get drunk…plus no one wants to see your Santa Claus underwear again this year.
CNN asks a great question: What Would Jesus Brew?
I couldn’t help but come out of retirement for this post. My wonderful wife who reads CNN.com daily pointed me to this article. CNN focused on beers that have a Christian twist to them. Now I haven’t tried any of these beers (but I here Damnation is really good), the article was really good.
My favorite insight that I got from the article was:
Before Louis Pasteur pinpointed yeast as the culprit in the 1850s, brewers didn’t know what caused fermentation, said Papazian, president of the Boulder, Colorado-based Brewers Association. So they invented one run-on word to describe the mysterious stuff at the bottom of the bottle: “Godisgood.”
“As you drain a glass of beer, look at the yeast at the bottom and be reminded that God is good, because that’s the way it feels,” Papazian said.
It’s amazing how deeply connected beer and Christianity use to be. It truly makes me sad to see hwo the church has condemned alcohol in America. We just don’t know what we’re missing, and that is the goodness of God.
Who Gets The Beer?
So you go to a party, BBQ, family gathering etc, and you bring beer, along with some other people doing the same. In my circle of friends we really like beer, I mean good beer…expensive beer. Quite often I find myself spending ten bucks on a killer oatmeal stout that BevMo scored a 94 and another twelve on something that looks really cool that I haven’t tried. It gets competitive. Everyone wants to be the guy that brings the best beer.
This set-up usually leaves a lot of leftovers.
So the question is: Who gets the beer?
Beer Tip of the Week – Episode 18
Click here to watch the video if you can’t see it.
***Spoiler Warning***
Watch the video first.
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Honestly, there is this weird tension in me right now. I’m sad that I’m saying goodbye to being the main contributor on this blog, but I feel a since of relief. As you can probably tell, I haven’t had the time to devote to this blog as I did when I first started it several months ago. Because of that, I’ve become overly guilty and stressed. I love beer, and I love the friends that I’ve made through this blog.
I’m also feeling a sense of excitement at the possibilities. As I said in the video, thebeerean.com is now open for anyone to contribute. You simple have to be a registered user. To start off with I’ll be checking posts before the go live…but as someone shows that they aren’t a spammer I’ll give them full rights to post their articles right away. I hope that thebeerean.com continues on after me to be a vibrant community where believers can share their views on God, Jesus, the Bible, and beer.
Don’t worry though. I’ll still be around in the comments and at my personal web site. I fully intend to be part of this community as it grows. And don’t forget, “We’ll always have Paris.” Wait no…umm….
Remember “whether you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God.”
Beer Tip of the Week – Episode 17
Click here to view this video if you are in a feed reader.
Did Jesus get buzzed?
I’m sitting at the MVD waiting for my number to be called bored out of my mind. So I thought I would pose the question that has been rattling in my mind the past few days. Did Jesus ever get a buzz?
I think we would all agree that Jesus drank. It’s hard to be accused as a drunkered if you never drink. It would be like accusing an starving Ethiopian of being a glutton. And we know Jesus never got drunk, because that would have been a sin. But what about that fuzzy area of preintoxication? Did Jesus ever get a buzz?
I had read a post from a fellow beer blogging brother (I’ll post a link when I find it again) that pointed out how he thought it was perfectly fine to get a buzz when drinking. He quoted a verse about wine making the heart merry or something like that. It was very interesting to me.
There is a clear point when you are drinking that you still have complete control of your functions, but the alcohol has brought an extra smile to your face. I don’t think it is odd that God created alcohol so it can bring joy. I think we are the ones that abuse it and take it the level that God never intended.
So did Jesus drink to the point that he got a buzz? Did he drink until he got that nice warm feeling inside? Did he drink to that point when it was a little easier to laugh at your friends dumb jokes? I know this might be blasphemous, but I have to know.
Update: The article that I read was from Puritan Pub. Go check it out. It has a great quote from Luther.
Worship God – Drink your beer with a smile.
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. – 1 Timothy 6:17
Paul drops this simple phrase at the end of this verse like a bomb on my feeble mind. Everything that God provides me with is for me to enjoy. I’m not suppose to trust in what God provides or to place my hopes on them but on God. But it is clear in this verse that God desires for us to enjoy His creation.
One of the earliest and first heresies that entered the church was the concept that everything physical is evil. They believed that Jesus couldn’t have been both man and God. He was either a spirit or just a man. Therefore a truely holy person would never enjoy anything of this earth. They would deny themselves and wouldn’t enjoy what God has clearly provided for us.
I see this still today. Whether said with words or actions, the mainstream Christian point of view is that it is wrong to enjoy creation. Someone is truely holy when they deny themselves of everything earthly and focus only on prayer and reading their Bible. But I would say that this is just a continuation of that early heresy.
I see scripture saying quite the opposite though. When God is done with creating, He says it’s very good. He tells His creation to eat of every tree (except on…but even it was considered good to the eye and edible). He rejoices in them taking pleasure in His creation.
One of the best ways that I see that I can glorify God with my beer drinking is by simply enjoying the beer that I’m drinking. I do so in a way that I don’t put any trust, hope, or faith in beer. But I enjoy my beer knowing that it came from my creator. I enjoy my beer knowing that God is the Brew Master.
What would Jesus Brew?
We all know the story. Jesus is a huge wedding party. People are eating and drinking and having a great time. But all the sudden the booze start running low. Jesus’ mom pleads with him to help out. Jesus being the man that he is takes over 100 gallons of water and turns it into the best wine these people ever tasted. The man know how to keep a party going.
So here is my senario for you. Say Jesus showed up a modern day fiesta and the kegs are starting to run low. What would Jesus brew? In your mind, what would be the best tasting beer that Jesus could work his miracle on? Would it be a nice summer ale? Would it be a dark lager? We know it wouldn’t have the word light on it, but what would the label say. So state your case for the Brew Master.
Beer Tip of the Week – Episode 16 – What do I do with bad beer?
Beer Tip of the Week – Episode 16 – What to do with bad beer? from Greg Qualls on Vimeo.
Beer 101 – Beer Glassware – Pilsner Glass
If you were only able to buy one kind of beer glass, I would recommend getting a pint glass. But next on my list would be a pilsner glass. In fact, I don’t even own a pint glass right now. I only own pilsner glasses (my wife has promised me she is going to remedy this very shortly 
).
In my opinion, pilsner glasses are the high class glasses of beer drinking. They’re the champagne glass of beer glasses (although there are some beers that are supposed to be drank in champagne glasses…but i don’t think I’ll ever get the chance to do that).
Pilsner glasses are tall slender glasses that have a straight taper from top to bottom (opposed to a wheat beer glass that has a curve in the tapper). A pilsner glass holds a little less than a pint glass with sized in the 250 ml and 330 ml.
Pilsner glasses are made to showcase the color, effervescence, and clarity of the pilsner, as well as to maintain a nice head. – Wikipedia
These glasses are designed to showcase pilsners of course, but they can handle so many other styles of beer including various types of lagers and my favorite…bocks. For a full list of beer styles that work with pilsner glasses check out beeradvocate.com.
So if you don’t own a pilner glass, I would recomend it be the next glass added to your collection.
