Trust the Midas Touch

Holidays always bring together families. Whether it's traditional family frames, or extended with great friends, it's the excuse we need to gather everyone close to us. We were no different this Fourth of July. Dennis and I decided to have our first ever family holiday party, as Alex is the focus for most of the members (he's the first grandbaby on my side.) My family, like most is comprised of people with a wide variety of tastes. Despite that, food is easy. Break out the grill and make corn on the cob, hamburgers, kielbasa, and all the little bits and pieces you would expect. We ended up a bit heavy on the dips this year due to a clerical error, but I'm a dip freak, so I was in heaven. Everything on the food front was hunky-dory.

But then there's the beer issue. *Sigh* As you know, I'm a freak about the micros, but I have decided to cease and desist in picking on the folks who would rather have a "fizzy yellow beer" (IS for wussies, but I digress.) I will NOT, however, stop trying to convert people. Ever! So we bought the perfunctory Miller Lite. Hey: even I drink the stuff at ball games and after mowing the lawn. It's kind of hard to process a Ten Fidy after 102 degree weather. Other than the Miller Lite, we had to pick a mix of Dogfish Head beers. We had to go with the Festina Peche, cuz chicks love fruit beers. Alright, so its a bit of a stretch for some, but its just so darned yummy! For my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Mike who are micro fanatics but haven't experienced the breadth of beers that Dennis and I have, we brought home a DfH/3 Floyds Pop Skull, a fresh off the line My Antonia, and an equally fresh Theobroma. These were mostly consumed Saturday night during the impromptu drink fest that broke out in our gazebo. We saved the Festina though.

Then there was the Midas. I love Midas Touch, it's a hardcore gateway beer. I used to convert a lot of ladies to micros with the Seadog Blueberry Wheat when I worked for Shipyard, but it was a soft sell. Most would try it, love it, but never get brave enough to venture on. Midas, however tends to be the beer you really like, but you're not sure why. My Dad started it. He's the most adventurous of the non-micro people, and he requests it when we go to the restaurant, or when he knows Dennis is bringing home beer. Then my step-mom got hooked, and some of my friends. The great thing about the Midas is that it's not an "easy" beer. You have to think about it. Maybe its the honey, or the saffron, but I think its the muscat grapes. If you haven't read the label and don't know that they're in there, you have thoughts of "there is something in here I've had before and I can't put my finger on it. It intrigues people. Once you've earned their trust on that one, you can guide them to other beers like Festina, S'ah Tea, and (dare I say it) 60 Minute. It's harder for women to cross that bitterness threshold, but if you ease them into it a little at a time, they start to acquire a taste for the citrusy herbacious goodness. But a journey of thousand micros starts with a single bottle.

So Midas is what brought everyone to the same opinion (yum!) and started a lot of fun conversations. And that was the best part.