There is a reason that I write for a drinking blog and not a romance advice blog. I am a drinker, and I am, I can admit, not exactly smooth with the ladies. Valentine’s Day for me used to be a minefield of choices, forks in the road which I would invariably choose the path full of potholes and muddied puddles. I struggled through this particular holiday in a very clumsy fashion for several years, even with my wife, the love of my life, a woman who is incredibly easygoing and good natured. Fortunately, my second daughter was born on Feb. 12, which my wife declared absolves me forever more of having to get her a Valentine’s Day gift.
Although there are several Saints named “Valentine” in the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church (two of the earliest were both said to have been martyred and buried on the Via Flaminia on Feb. 14th), the details of their lives and works are not well known today. What is known is that the affiliation of St. Valentine with romantic love occurred in the middle ages, hundreds of years after the death of the saints named Valentine. The tradition of having a “patron saint of romantic affection” would obviously (it would seem) not be something officially endorsed by the Catholic Church (since romantic affection is…concerning…to the church before marriage), it appears that the connotation of St. Valentine being a symbol for romantic love grew out of the fashionable sentiments that society held for “courtly love” in Chaucer’s time.
Indeed, one of the first associations of romance with St. Valentine’s Day comes from Chaucer himself in Parlement of Foules (1382); although it appears that Chaucer was referencing a more obscure saint named “Valentine” (St. Valentine of Genoa had a feast day in May, which makes more sense in the context of the reference), the feast of Valentine in February was more widely celebrated, and thus Chaucer’s readers were likely to assume that this was the “Valentine” to which he was referring. After Chaucer’s introduction of the date as a day for lovers, references to a romantic day in February become more and more common into the modern era.
Writers, of course, love the idea of Valentine’s Day. Shakespeare references the day in Hamlet, and John Donne featured the day in a poem commemorating the marriage of Elizabeth (daughter of King James I of England) and Frederick Palatine on Valentine’s Day 1590. The most famous of Valentine’s Day poems – or, rather, the most famous first half of Valetine’s Day poems – reads in its entirety:
The rose is red, the violet’s blue
The honey’s sweet, and so are you
Thou are my love and I am thine
I drew thee to my Valentine
The lot was cast and then I drew
And Fortune said it shou’d be you.
By the late 1700’s, there were books for young men being published suggesting sentimental verses to be used and edited to help them woo the girl of their dreams. It did not take long for a cottage industry evolved. The first paper Valentines in the United States, prewritten cards which could be signed and sent by mail, were developed in 1847. The greeting card industry was born.
Chocolates and flowers became traditional gifts, usually accompanied by a card. You would think, then, that this would be the easiest of all days for a poor stoop like myself, under the spell of an enchanting woman like my wife, to do the right thing. A box of Russell Stovers. A rose or two, and some poetry nipped from an obscure Victorian would make me a hero…But no, I always felt the need to go above and beyond. And I was almost always off the mark. I won’t go into the disasterous gifts that I bought and gave to my long suffering wife, but let’s just say that in hindsight, I was not a very good gift giver.
These days, although my wife does not expect any gifts on Valentine’s Day (she says that our lovely daughter will be all the gift she needs for the rest of her days), I think I have gotten to a place where I can do a better job of buying and giving her gifts. The key, I think, is listening. I used to try and imagine what she wanted, to put myself in her place, and come up with a home run of gifts. Something big and extravagant that matched my feelings for her. I now know, after many spectacular failures, that she just wants me to listen to her. She’ll tell me what she’d like.
Like me, my wife loves beer, and over the last year and a half we’ve had the opportunity to try some good ones. While we were sampling, I listened to what she liked and didn’t like, and I paid attention to the styles and flavors that she preferred. So this Valentine’s Day, I decided I would surprise her with, instead of boring candy and flowers that would just die anyway, a few “Event Beers” that she would enjoy having with me after the kids were asleep.
I knew my wife liked some of the Saisons that we had, particularly the Trade Winds from The Bruery (a beer spiced with Thai Basil) and she has also really been on a Chimay kick lately. So I chose beers that were Belgian and one that also had some added spice for our Valentine’s Day assortment.
Trappistes Rochefort 10
11.3% ABV
Please note the above website is for the monastery, and is in French. This beer is a high alcohol Belgian ale, but I swear I had no ulterior motives in serving this to my lovely lady. The beer poured a beautiful chocolate brown color. A thick tan head formed and stayed in the glass. The nose was a little on the boozy side, but there was so much else going on – fruits, spices, yeast…It smelled AWESOME. The flavors were fruity – apples and grapes almost a sweet raisininess. It had a bit of yeast in it, some chocolate notes, too. It finished with a good dose of the alcohol that the label told me was there. Like my Valentine, who shared this beer with me, it was high-end, complex, and a sheer joy to spend some time with.
5.0 out of 5.0
Wostyntje Torhouts Mustard Ale
7.0% ABV
Yes, this is a mustard ale. This particular beer is brewed by one guy, a Belgian by the name of Johan Brandt. The beer pours a nice orange color with a thick head (off white) that is typical of Belgian Ales. There is some citrus in the nose, but I definitely get the mustard in the back end of the smell, too. A little odd, but not off-putting. The flavor is apple-y and acidic, with some mustardy spice. It is not a bad beer, but I think it suffers from the comparison with the Rochefort above. It’s a good and interesting beer, and I am glad we got to try it, but the warm memories from the dark beauty from the Trappist monks above are still fresh in our minds and on our palates. It finished cleanly, and was smooth drinking, but it was lacking the velvet smoothness that the Rochefort brought to our table.
4.0 out of 5.0
Moinette Blonde
8.5% ABV
This Belgian is, as the name implies, lighter than the previous two. I bought the 750 ml bottle, because I had tried this one a couple of years ago, and remembered liking it very much. I figured that even if I mistepped on the previous two beers, here is one I knew my wife would like. This is a lighter beer, like the previous two it is bottle conditioned and unfiltered. Like the previous two, a fairly massive head forms on the pour. The beer is a bright, slightly copper yellow, and the head is bright white. The nose is big and yeasty, with some light fruit notes, but a smell that boldly says, “This is a beer.” The taste has some citrus, some honey and a dash of spiciness (coriander?). It finishes cleanly. This one, also very good, is what I would call “satisfying”. It was a lovely beer, and drinking it reminded me of reminiscing with old friends – which is what I was doing, looking back on our years together with my best friend, my valentine…My lovely wife.
4.5 out of 5
Evil Eddie C
Boston, Ma.
http://www.kermitsfinger.net/
Contact me at: Ed.Charbonnier@gmail.com
