Little Black Book

Above is a picture of Paul in the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, in front of a wall of hops vines. This is one of two pictures on that trip that I didn't have to twist his arm to pose for (the other also involved beer). A couple of months ago, Paul actually bought his own hops to plant in our yard, in the hopes of eventually brewing his own beer, and I'm glad to say they are coming along nicely.

This is all a preface to explain the beer-friendly environment in which our son is growing up. We don't drink beer constantly or in large quantities, but we definitely appreciate good beer. Paul grew up with a beer brewing dad, and so he has always known the difference between good beer and Miller Lite. I have a feeling Max will be the same...

Recently, Max fished a book off of our bookshelf and asked Daddy to read it to him. It was from our honeymoon in Estes Park three years ago, and it is entitled The Little Black Book of Beer. It's got all kinds of information about what goes into making beer, where different types of beer originated, and just about anything else you'd ever want to know about that wonderful drink.
Of course, Daddy obliged, and now Max has a new favorite book.

He has been going around the house singing "Little black book of beer! Little black book of beer!" for the past week or so, but as if that wasn't enough, Paul decided it was time for him to learn his first drinking song. Now instead of "I've been working on the Railroad" I've been listening to my sweet little boy sing "In Heaven there is no beer (NO BEER!) that's why we drink it here (RIGHT HERE!) and when we're gone from heeeere, our friends will be drinking all the beer."

Please don't tell the authorities.