A vernal cause for celebration

Like a panoramic vadic painting, this early evening cloud formation of 19 March seemed to promise change.

Reveling in the anticipation last evening, I drank a pint of draft Aecht Schenkerla Rauchbier Fastenbier.

Brewed by Brauerei Heller-Trum of Bavaria —and only for the Lenten season— Fastenbier is deep reddish brown, sweetly malty, and redolent of smoked bacon. The term Rauchbier is German for smoked beer: beers brewed with malted barley that has been cured with indirect smoke.

Truth in blogging: I had 2 pints.

At 7:44 this morning (US Eastern Daylight Savings Time), the sun lay directly above the equator, marking the Vernal Equinox, and the beginning of calendar (if not meteorological) Spring. The duration of daylight today will be approximately equal to that of darkness.

Spring has jumped up, and that is indeed cause for celebration ... and a beer.

2009 Vernal Equinox sunrise at Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Md.
Caveat lector: I sell Flying Dog beers as an employee of northern Virginia wholesaler Select Wines.