{"id":14,"date":"2015-09-27T22:30:53","date_gmt":"2015-09-27T22:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2015-09-27T22:30:53","modified_gmt":"2015-09-27T22:30:53","slug":"the-first-swallow-of-beer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/index.php\/pongeparent\/the-first-swallow-of-beer\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Swallow of Beer"},"content":{"rendered":"<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/IMG_0113.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-4 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/IMG_0113-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0113\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a><strong>The First Swallow of Beer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s the only one that really matters. After that they drag on &#8211; longer and more banal, less striking and more anodyne, providing nothing but a tepid bloating, a cloying richness. You may perhaps rediscover the final gulp, but only with the sobering knowledge that it\u2019s the last&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But that first swallow! Swallow? It starts way before the swallowing. On the lips a frothing gold, the freshness amplified by the foam, then slowly on the palate a wash of happiness, a hint of sifted bitterness. How it takes your over, that first gulp! You take it in straight away, with a sinful, intrinsic greed. And, before you know it, the whole drama has already been played out: the quantity, which is neither too much nor too little (and therefore makes for the ideal start); the well-being immediately highlighted by a sigh, a smack of the tongue, or an equivalent silence that\u2019s just as good; the way in which for a moment you\u2019re almost convinced that this pleasure could continue into infinity&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, you there\u2019s no fooling yourself. The best has passed. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You put down your glass on the little square coaster and slide it away slowly. You savor the color, a false honey, like chilled sunlight. Above all a ritual of wisdom and waiting, you want to understand the miracle, which has arrived and already flitted away. You re-read on the side of the glass with satisfaction the exact name of the beer which you have just ordered. But, no matter the rapport between content and container, nothing can make it full once again. You want to distill the secret of that pure gold, to lock it away in formulae. But, sitting at the little white sun-splashed table, the disillusioned alchemist can only save face, and drink more and more beer with less and less joy. It\u2019s a bitter state of happiness: you drink to forget the first mouthful.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td><strong> La premi\u00e8re gorg\u00e9e de bi\u00e8re<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>C&#8217;est la seule qui compte. Les autres, de plus en plus longues, de plus en plus anodines, ne donnent qu&#8217;un emp\u00e2tement ti\u00e9dasse, une abondance g\u00e2cheuse. La derni\u00e8re, peut-\u00eatre, retrouve avec la d\u00e9sillusion de finir un semblant de pouvoir&#8230; Mais la premi\u00e8re gorg\u00e9e! Gorg\u00e9e ? \u00c7a commence bien avant la gorge. Sur les l\u00e8vres d\u00e9j\u00e0 cet or mousseux, fra\u00eecheur amplifi\u00e9e par l&#8217;\u00e9cume, puis lentement sur le palais bonheur tamis\u00e9 d&#8217;amertume.<\/p>\n<p>Comme elle semble longue, la premi\u00e8re gorg\u00e9e! On la boit tout de suite, avec une avidit\u00e9 faussement instinctive. En fait, tout est \u00e9crit . la quantit\u00e9, ce ni trop ni trop peu qui fait l&#8217;amorce id\u00e9ale ; le bien-\u00eatre imm\u00e9diat ponctu\u00e9 par un soupir, un claquement de langue, ou un silence qui les vaut; la sensation trompeuse d&#8217;un plaisir qui s&#8217;ouvre \u00e0 l&#8217;infini&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>En m\u00eame temps, on sait d\u00e9j\u00e0. Tout le meilleur est pris. On repose son verre, et on l&#8217;\u00e9loigne m\u00eame un peu sur le petit carr\u00e9 buvardeux. On savoure la couleur, faux miel, soleil froid. Par tout un rituel de sagesse et d&#8217;attente, on voudrait ma\u00eetriser le miracle qui vient \u00e0 la fois de se produire et de s&#8217;\u00e9chapper. On lit avec satisfaction sur la paroi du verre le nom pr\u00e9cis de la bi\u00e8re que l&#8217;on avait command\u00e9e. Mais contenant et contenu peuvent s&#8217;interroger, se r\u00e9pondre en ab\u00eeme, rien ne se multipliera plus. On aimerait garder le secret de l&#8217;or pur, et l&#8217;enfermer dans des formules. Mais devant sa petite table blanche \u00e9clabouss\u00e9e de soleil, l&#8217;alchimiste d\u00e9\u00e7u ne sauve que les apparences, et boit de plus en plus de bi\u00e8re avec de moins en moins de joie. C&#8217;est un bonheur amer : on boit pour oublier la premi\u00e8re gorg\u00e9e.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The First Swallow of Beer It\u2019s the only one that really matters. After that they drag on &#8211; longer and more banal, less striking and more anodyne, providing nothing but a tepid bloating, a cloying richness. You may perhaps rediscover the final gulp, but only with the sobering knowledge that it\u2019s the last&#8230; But that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aubrieamstutz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}