Grown Up Lemonade

Lavender Lemonade Berliner Weisse - DC Brau, Washington, D.C.

Whenever I hear the word “lavender” (which is surprisingly more often than you’d think), it reminds me of yoga. The first time I took a yoga class during my junior year of high school, the instructor placed a small pillow filled with lavender over my eyes during the Savasana portion of the class. Savasana is by far my favorite part of yoga and if you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s the meditation period of the practice. It’s this charming mix of heaviness and elation; grounding and levitation; emptiness and fulfillment. The first time I ever experienced it I fell asleep, which I soon came to realize was, in fact, not the goal of meditating. I guess I was too good at clearing my mind. As I came to practice more through the rest of high school and into college, I found out that Savasana (and meditation in general) isn’t necessarily about clearing your mind but rather practicing releasing your thoughts as they come to you. This is of course the way I’ve personally come to understand it - it is not the end-all, be-all definition of the practice. 

The best analogy I have ever heard for it was to imagine your thoughts as a train passing by. You see each individual car, you take it in, and it goes by as the next one comes through. You can’t control what the train does, but you can control your reaction to it, and your impression of each individual car. Fun side note: this analogy was taught to me by none other than my incredible Yogi girlfriend, Lydia! Before this quarantine, I had been trying to go to her Saturday morning Vinyasa class, which was an awesome way to stay active, keep my joints mobile, and support her obvious passion for Yoga, health, and wellness. She is the best instructor I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, and I’ve taken plenty of yoga classes with a multitude of different instructors. Her sage advice was given to me after I told her I was starting to struggle more and more with Savasana. I found my mind was racing. I couldn't be physically comfortable in the pose and before I knew it, the class was over, and I felt like I had been wasting my time. There was almost this sense of guilt or failure associated with this. Why couldn’t I get this right? It took a little while to really understand the aforementioned analogy, but part of that has been realizing that it’s a practice, not a destination (live, laugh, love amirite???). I’m not trying to achieve detachment from the physical or anything like that, I’m simply trying to accept my thoughts for what they are and relax. This one goes out to you, Lyds! Thank you for all your guidance :)

Speaking of relaxing, let’s talk about beer! Specifically, let’s talk about this intriguing Lavender Lemonade Berliner Weisse. I feel like I’ve been coming across some truly eye-catching brews recently, and I couldn’t be happier. My beer palate is expanding, and my ability to step outside my comfort zone has been expanding in areas outside of beer too! What a wild ride this blog has taken me on. Anyways, let’s get to specifics.  First Sip: In order - lavender, lemon, lemonade, sour, hops, sweet, and then all of the above all at once...and good God was that order perfect. Though I tasted the lavender first, it was subtle. It was like I smelled it before the beer hit my lips almost like a lavender pillow gently resting on my eyes. That taste was morphed into the first and final impression. Each progressive flavor expanded on the previous without overshadowing. It was like “hey nice to meet you, but let you remind you of how cool my colleagues are because they are what really make up the successful and productive team that we are”. I also appreciate how the lemon flavor isn’t making me pucker. I understand this is a sour ale, but I feel like lemon is tricky to get right in ANY food related manner. It’s either way too potent or not nearly potent enough. Like I said, present without overshadowing. Something I am a tad disappointed by is the color. The instagram announcement made this look unrealistically purple, and I was kinda pumped to see that kind of color come out of a can. That being said, from a “what am I putting into my body” standpoint, it’s more comforting to know that it isn’t that cartoony. If you live in the MD/DC/VA area and like sour ales, hop on this quick because it’ll be gone before you know it! I certainly wish I had ordered more. 

Note to self: drink something NOT sour next time because you’re getting damn near obsessed. Let’s go back to something with a little higher gravity.