So This Is the End

Today was my last day working with the brewer at 5 Seasons and it was largely unremarkable. I spent most of the day washing kegs, which isn't too bad of a job but doesn't deserve a thorough description. Today did end with me leaving my mark on the brewing operation. Not only did I help inspire Thursday's cask ale, that Lapsang Souchong reference ended up being turned into another cask beer for Sunday. Crawford headed out to Teavana today to pick up some of the smoked Chinese black tea to blend with his smoked molasses porter. The tea is revolting to me as a tea, but I've always thought it'd make a good addition to a porter since smoke works well with that style.
I think the results will be interesting. While the leaves were steeping, the brew room just radiated a smoky aroma. It was just one pitcher of tea in a room with 20-foot ceilings but a waitress forgot what she was going to say when she opened the door and was struck by the aroma. Unfortunately I'll be hundreds of miles away when it gets tapped on Sunday. Crawford picked up extra of the tea because he knew David Larkworthy, the chef, would want to get his hands on it as soon as he smelled it. He was right. David had this glimmer in his eye as he rattled off ideas for how to work the leaves into special dishes.

That was another cool aspect of working at 5 Seasons this week. I got a little peak into the world of restaurants a bit. It's odd hearing the chef and brewer talk shop, the kitchen crew working in the hours the front end is empty, and watching the daily specials evolve.

After I'd finished up with the kegs and gotten some of the house-made rootbeer for K, I headed back to my in-laws' house to change, pick up K and E and meet some friends for dinner. If you want to know which ones, they were all of the blogs on my blogroll above Hank, plus commenter extraordanaire Julie and her hubby. I won't bother going into detail. If you're reading this blog and care what happened you were probably there.

On the way to the restaurant, however, my mom called me to tell me that one of my fellow teachers, who was my tenth-grade literature teacher and one of my favorites, had died earlier in the day. It wasn't exactly a great way to end the vacation or to preface our dinner with friends. She was a wonderful lady and it will be weird not seeing her at school this year. I'm honestly a little surprised I was able to act normally tonight. I tend not to handle these things so well.

Tomorrow we drive home. Tonight I was feeling really down as we left Matt and Julie's place. I'm sure part of it was the news of the death and another part is that I always feel down when I leave visits with close friends, especially now that they're so far away. Maybe a little bit came from the knowledge that by this time tomorrow I'll be asleep in my own bed for the first time in three weeks. For the next several months I'll largely be at home doing the mundane things and wishing I could just pick a direction at random and keep driving until I ran out of road.