So my tast buds have changed

No, that's a literal statement. I genuinely think my taste buds have changed since moving to Prague. There is a good chance that I'm just maturing and being less picky about my food and beverage choices, but things have changed.

Here's the big one though: I'm drinking beer. I know right! It's craziness. I have never been a beer drinker. I like to think it stems from an unfortunate dinner experience many years ago, when I mistakenly took an overlarge swig of my mother's beer rather than the "weekend" soda-pop I was enjoying. Needless to say, the moment was tragic. From then on, I always thought beer tasted a bit like wet bread, which sounds really disgusting but is true. In college I began to enjoy socially imbibing vodka and the occasional class of wonderful white wine (gewurztraminer especially).

But some thing's different. The school I'm training at encourages a weekly pub night on Thursdays at a local pub. It's a great opportunity for the tutors to mix with the trainees, former trainees and of course the wonderful Czech students who are receiving the "benefits" of our English skills. The first night at the pub I thought I'd try a beer, I had one earlier in the week (a Budvar, for your curiosity, the original and true Budweiser recipe) and enjoyed it pretty well. So the first pub night I took a chance and let a friend of mine order me a few beers. I was testing the waters, trying to decide what was going to become my standard drink. I switched to some white table wine later in the night, which tasted like rusty tap water, so I decided to stay away.

But the following pub night, something changed. As if a switch was flicked in my brain, I became a beer drinker.

I lived in the capitol state of Beer and Cheese for nearly five years and drank less beer than I can count on one hand. I have grown up in a family of beer drinkers, it's been passed down from generation to generation. We, family of mine, and our ancestors are perpetual beer drinkers. They discuss it, attempt to find new and fascinating varieties. I have perpetually been one of the few and proud non-beer drinkers at family gatherings.

I can say, from my limited beer experiences, that Czech beer is decidedly quite different than American beer, even the "primo-Wisconsin" beers taste disgusting in comparison. It may easily have something to do with this different recipe. There's something about the taste, just . . . better.

It could also involve the fact that the average pint of beer at a pub costs 30-35 Czech koruna (crowns) which is roughly $1.75 give or take. And it's just a bit stronger than the 3.2 found in MN grocery stores.

I sincerely doubt that I will continue to be a beer drinker when I return to the States and the pitiful malted beverages it offers. But for here, now, I will always remember my first few weeks in Prague as the time I when I came to enjoy beer.

Na zdravi!