SuperBock!

A few weeks ago I slept alone in the gymnasium of a portugese elementary school. It was kind of wierd, but I simply inquired at the local pharmacy and the lady there hooked it up with the key. It was saturday night and the place was emptier than the cooler after a good river kick-it. Because the water in this small town was slightly off-color (meaning it had colors in it) and because normally I boycott bottled water, I purchased a liter of SuperBock to help wash down the sandwitches I made for dinner.

Now, SuperBock (Sabor Autentico) is just about anything but super. It is slightly too bitter to really be enjoyable in a light beer, but it is slightly too heavy to really be refreshing. The flavor is crisp, but in the way that leaves your tongue feeling like a piece of aluminum foil. Of course, none of this matters if you are slamming them down in a beach bar with a boatload of Australians, dancing and fighting with your friend over the company of a woman without a sexy British accent. On the other hand, when you're hanging out by yourself in a place where children usually play, its just kind of creepy. However, the low price and high alcohol content (the only redeeming qualities of SuperBock) provide just enough of a buzz to bring a brother out to the playground on a warm winter night to do some swinging and look at the stars.

It was strange to be so isolated, out there 22kms North of Porto, but to be so comfortable with it at the same time. It's not everyday you wake up in a country where you don't speak the language and cruise through it so easily and smoothly, watching the countryside slide by as the sun moves across the sky. And then, when night falls, and the stars come out and the moon is starting to peak up, its good to have nothing to do except sit out and watch, nursing a brew and pouring out a splash or two for the beermigos back home.

Rating: Throwback/meaning of life, the same, strange dual-rating of a Pabst 40, which is perfect party-fodder but also perfect for a good, in the park man-chat.