My Birthday Eve at the Norwich Inn

Last night on my birthday eve, Maroun took me to the Norwich Inn, where he’d reserved a dinner at 7:00.

Since it was 0 degrees and snowing, he gallantly dropped me off so I could take a seat at the table while he parked the car. What I didn’t know, and what he hadn’t realized when he made the reservation, was that “dinner” was a five-course, beer-paired menu — and that we would not be having a quiet meal on our own, but would be part of a much larger crowd of “beer weekend” participants who were staying at the inn. Tonight's beer banquet was the grand finale.

I was a little startled when I checked in, and the host took me to the cellar to seat me at table four with Dave and Dorrie, from Albany, New Jork; Joe, the inn’s owner, and Jeremy, the inn’s brewmeister. About 25 other diners filled the room, as well.

Since I had expected a quiet dinner for just the two of us, and since I’d planned on a birthday glass of Riesling instead of five half pints of beer, I had to readjust my mood and my palette.

But it was fun. I enjoyed the menu, which included beer-made bread, a hunter’s charcouterie plate, roast quail, and a chocolate stout cake that was almost as good as the one I made in Miami last month J

Our dinner conversation ranged from inn-keeping to the brewmaster’s schedule, to Dave and Dorrie’s 35^th anniversary.

Then Maroun asked everyone about the New Hampshire primary. I grimaced.

“See, my wife tells me I shouldn’t talk about politics in public,” he said. Everyone laughed. The brewmaster, the other couple, and I began a conversation about hops while Maroun and Joe discussed Romney, Gingrich, and Bachman — that’s what it sounded like, anyway. I was trying not to listen — although Maroun did turn to me at one point to whisper, “Joe, here, is enjoying our discussion. He seems to think I’m really fascinating!”

“Most people do, honey,” I said.

I washed down my sentiment with a little house reserve brew.