Sunday, June 8, 2008

San Miguel Beer, Taiwan Beer and Heineken(Warning: Not Recommended for Non-Drinking Women!)

My love affair with beer started when I was in grade 5. You'd never guess I'd try it at an age when I was quite geeky, lanky and yes, when I had weird hair to go with my nerdy eyeglasses.(It would turn out that I would still be so even 3 years later) My first bottle of San Miguel was a stolen one. It was Christmas Eve and my family threw a party at our house in SJ. Several of our relatives and cousins from my pop's side came, and in all his preoccupation entertaining my uncles and aunts, my pop missed the sight of me taking a few swigs of the bitter ale.

That was a defining moment for me. But it was not until maybe 3 years after that I had another bottle again. I love beer but I guess for a number of years I must loved something else. Books are the most politically-correct example of those other things. And then college came. I wasn't much of a drinker but I drank socially- by that I mean about 2 or 3 bottles of San Miguel Super Dry on any given Saturday night or on any given occasion. About the only other times that I drank more than that were summer evenings at the beach in front of a bonfire, or the last 3 or 4 nights leading up to graduation day. All San Miguel up to this point, and never got drunk. And then I left the country.

My first taste of foreign beer came accidentally. I was in Taipei and there were 3 brands of beer available for me to guzzle on: San Miguel Beer, which in 1993 costs about 165 pesos per bottle in Taipei bars; Taiwan Beer, which was much cheaper but couldn't really measure up to SMB. Whereas SMB was my Filipina love(who I wouldn't trade for any Taiwanese), Taiwan Beer was my part-time girl(who I spent nights with only when I felt like it). I was probably not being fair to Taiwan Beer at that point in my life. You see, I had a hard time getting over being someplace else when all I ever wanted was to be back in Manila. (This is somewhat debatable now.)
And then there's Heineken from the Netherlands, which set me back an equivalent of about 80 pesos per can every Saturday evening that I bought it from Wellcome.

Heineken came in a tall(I think it was 500mL) and green aluminum can with 5% alcohol so with higher entry level pay than in Manila(even until today), I was too single, too lonely and too glad to even think of scrimping on that amount. It kept me from sinking into deep sulk as I spent cold Saturday evenings in our shared Tienmou flat sitting on a rattan chair resting on top of a tatami mat while the cool mountain air blew on my face near the sliding screen door leading out into the terrace.(Take a deep breath here) Two cans of those Heinekens were enough to knock me to sleep by 10pm every Saturday night for 14 agonizingly-counted months. And then like a thief in the night, my Dutch love affair ended in July '94, when I finally returned. Just like that, my Dutch lover and I ended our fling; and we would not be reunited until December 2006 in Subic Bay.

I had come back for my multiple-personality Pinay first love, San Miguel Beer; and I had continued this long love affair with her for these many years. First I loved her when she was Pale, but I loved her especially when she was dry, Super Dry. I didn't like it when she Non-Alcoholic, but enjoyed her company thoroughly when she was blue, sweet and called herself Blue Ice. Blue Ice was a staple until someone decided she wasn't worth the time and the money. I also dabbled a little of my time with her when she wore red, but as Red Horse she had been a real pain whenever she kicked. The last time I had anything to do with Red was when I had driven home not remembering how I got there, with a huge dent that ran from the front fender all the way to the door on the left side of my car. And of course, there was also my unforgettable morena beauty, an identity she took whenever she prefers to be called Cerveza Negra.
These days, I am reduced to flirting with my Pinay whenever she was in a Light mood, but more often when she came on really Strong. But this is only the beginning, for last December 2006, I have found a bevy of foamy foreign beauties in Subic. No I do not consider myself a beer connoisseur, nor does my current state of health allow me to do anything more than indulge in a bottle or two. But from this point on, I will review each of them as they should be reviewed - from an average man-on-the-street type of beer drinker, one who remembers both profound and petty stories with his beer. I shall also attempt to remember every brand of beer I drank and try to rank them in my all-time order of preference.
More on beers in future entries. Until next time, please drink responsibly but for pete's sake finish your f---ing beer!