I stole my idea for this edition of The Session. Nicked it entirely. Beer Daily Haiku wrote about boilermakers and a synapse twinked and winked not that far from my brain stem. Over the decades, I recalled this obnoxious habit of high school weekend parties back around 1980. Quite a foul one. This is what I recollect: you took the beer someone stole from one guy's dad and poured really bad rot guy rye stolen from some other guy's dad and drank it. I recall some foul thing in a pint bottle with the brand "Little Brown Jug" was preferred by some guy's dad. Voila. My first beer cocktail and likely the only one that I had more than once - even still.

Except... I then recalled there was a finer version - called the "Depth Charge" - which required a bar shot glass to be placed at the bottom of the beer glass. The shot glass was either fulled with rye and dropped through the beer foundering as it went. Or was the full shot glass first placed into the bottom of the empty glass and the beer carefully poured around it so that the rye sat undisturbed. In any case, the thing was downed at once with the rye hitting your mouth after the cooler beer was already down your cake hole. The inversion of beer as chaser. Those familiar with matters naval will recognize the term "depth charge" relates to those bombs dropped into the ocean to blow up submarines. The Royal Navy used them to great effect to destroy the U-boat domination of the North Atlantic once they realized that the Nazi wolf pack needed to be treated like the hunter and not the hunted. Hence the name of the drink.

That's it. My beer cocktail story. And I have referenced underage drinking as well as the Nazis. Now I am wondering how I can work in a consideration of what is appropriate beer fan behaviour: the question of should I have a Depth Charge right now after almost 30 years. Or should I leave this behind as I do other childish things.¹ I raise this question now because of what I now understand is my duty, a duty that is recalled whenever I read things like this:

...this whole thing has drawn on too long. Can we get back to positive posts, supporting craft beer and our local breweries and put this in the past? ...this negative aspect of the BA forums is a downer, enough already.

I am verklempt. Imagine being unsupportive. How sad. I want to be better than that. Don't you? I want to be positively and blindly supportive. Huzzahs all around for that. I should do my duty. But should a supportive and line toe-ing-ly dutiful beer supporter make a depth charge or not? What beer would I use? Which spirit? I can't figure it out - but it's only 5:45 pm. The night is young. Maybe it'll come to me.

¹After all, when I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I fought as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things. There - underage drinking, the Nazis and scripture. This post is working out.