"You tasted it. Isn’t that enough? Of what do you ever get more than a taste? That’s all we’re given in life, that’s all we’re given of life. A taste. There is no more." The Dying Animal, Philip Roth

On the last day of my trip around NW Italy with John & Sheelagh in September, we had lunch in Lecco. After a week of my parents insisting that I translate and communicate in Italian for them, knowing fully aware that I can speak as much Italian as they can and most, if not all of the Italians we interacted with spoke perfectly comprehensible levels of English, my dad asked me one last time to help with the bill. Luckily enough for me though, sitting on the counter by the register were bottles of Ferran Adria's new beer. Luckily enough for me, my dad was standing right next to me paying the bill. 

The famous chef of Spain's El Bulli and Barcelona's Estrella Damm collaborated to create Estrella Damm Inedit. I had heard about it but had never seen it for sale so I guarded the 12euro bottle until it was the right time to enjoy it. It has been sitting in the fridge since September as I had promised to share it with beer-loving Jules. Perfectly chilled, he poured it into wine glasses, obliviously obliging to the instructions. It could easily have been an subconscious act as the bottle itself looks like a wine bottle: sleek, black glass with a long neck topped with a beer bottle cap. Typical for artisinal beers. 

It wasn't bitter at all, but danced to melodic fruity tones. The amber colour matched the orange notes just as the frothy foam matched Ferran Adria's legendary technique. Easily drinkable, it made me long for hot summer nights, rather than the hint of winter that fall was harvesting upon us.