This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another.

The weekend just past was profoundly memorable for me, even the part that found me engaging in a pastime known clouding one’s recollection. I was one of thousands in attendance at the 30th annual Great Taste of the Midwest, a beer fest of colossal proportions. Were I more adept at describing the cascade of sensations that wash across the tongue when particularly vibrant and delectable potables are sampled, I could probably write a mini-manifesto cataloging all the transformative tastes I encountered. Instead, I’ll merely acknowledge the best beer I drank at the festival: Mornin’ Delight from Iowa’s Toppling Goliath Brewing Company. It is a coffee stout, which is a favorite style of mine. While I have a few that I love dearly, I’ve never tasted one quite as wondrous as this. It was the first beer I drank, and it took hours — hours, I say! — before I didn’t reflexively compare every other darker beer I sampled to it, usually with disappointment and wistful memory shading my face. I clearly wasn’t alone in my rapture.

I’m reflexively skeptical of #whalez but I just had 2 oz of @TGBrews Mornin Delight and well I know nothing #GTMW pic.twitter.com/5gtvURP0Ph

— Chris Drosner (@WSJbeerbaron) August 13, 2016

Previous entries in this series can be found by clicking on the “Beers I Have Known” tag.