Weisse squad, brought to you by SuperFlyGuy

Holiday time: best enjoyed on a break in some
far-off tropical land, I expect

After all the kerfuffle, excitement and general last-minute frenzied activity, the day has finally arrived for my annual foray into borderline alcoholism. And somewhat typically, I’m feeling ill.

You could have bet your shirt on it. An unexpectedly boozy weekend leading up to it was perhaps in retrospect not quite the preparation I needed and, duly weakened, my immune system has keeled over and I’ve succumbed to lurgy. Nothing serious, almost certainly not really worth the amount of moaning I’m putting in currently, but enough to dampen the enthusiasm nonetheless.

Not only that, I’d arranged to meet an old school friend after work for a couple of drinks, so I’m half cut as well as pretty much unable to taste anything. Throw in a mild bout of disappointment and a day spent fannying around with InDesign trying to keep a fussy client happy and all of a sudden the idea of drinking a beer and writing about it entertainingly is plummeting down the wish list.

An auspicious start as I’m sure you’ll agree.

Thankfully, fortune has smiled on me and the randomness of the calendar proffers a beer called I Need A Vacation by Siren, one of my favourite breweries. It’s a Berliner Weisse – a style I’ve grown particularly fond of in recent years – and is apparently flavoured with papaya, mango and lime, so there’s some vitamin C and three of my ‘five-a-day’ right there. How serendipitous.

What’s more, I didn’t let impending penury stop me doing this so I’m sure as Hell not going to allow a piddling malady to get in my way. And I owe today’s tipple to SuperFlyGuy (@super_flyguy), who as I type this is teaching the good fishing folk of London how to tie their own flies, so if nothing else, I really ought to get on with it, enjoy it and give the man his money’s worth.

And let’s face it, drinking 33cl of fantastically brewed beer is no real hardship, is it? No matter how jaded you’re feeling. Best get on with it, then. 

Beer: Siren I Need A Vacation

Strength: A sensible 4.5%

Smell: Kind of like an alcoholic Lemsip infused with cinnamon. This is a good thing.

Tasting notes: Kind of like an alcoholic Lemsip infused with cinnamon, which is not a particularly good thing. That said, it's cutting through the clag left on my tongue from this evening's post-work drinks and is having a positive effect on my sinuses. In fairness, I'm unlikely to be its most accurate judge and expect I'd like it a lot more on a summer day slightly more chilled than it currently is. It's going down a treat, mind, though I was expecting something slightly more sour at the death. But a good start and one I'm tempted to revisit once my health and the weather are better. 

Session factor: Pretty high given its relative lack of strength and ease of drinking. Polished off a glass in around 10 minutes. 

Arbitrary score: 7814

Sponsor: SuperFlyGuy