---

Finding balance is a delicate art that few will ever achieve. I myself struggle with finding balance. I am either too much to one side or too much to the other. (Or too little to either side.)

Being employed (even if only on contract) in academia is always a strange world where balance is severely skewed. For one, you will have periods where you are really bored and without any real work - you anticipate the storm that is on its way. Then, all of a sudden, you are so swamped with work that you literally feel like an exam paper.

Recently, I have been marking for almost two weeks without stop. I wake up, grab some coffee, mark, grab lunch, mark, grab dinner, mark (with my fiance on the other side of the FaceTime call). I go to sleep, only to wake up and do the same thing. Sometimes I get some time to go for a run, or to something other than marking. But I could not even sit down to breathe, and then there was no time for writing in any sense of the work.

Now, as I am writing this, I have some space to breathe in. Hence this #Beersaturday Beer review!

So, without further ado, let me get straight into this beer post.

---

Harper Brewing Co. Pale Ale

---

Pale Ale | 5% ABV | 35 IBUs

---

---

Well, what a big and bold and beautiful beer to begin with. I paired with the with most delicious Margherita pizza I have ever had. Shout out to the littlest pizza shop, which I will write about in due time!

Either way, this Pale Ale had a beautiful fruity nose lots and a of hops; strong granadilla and no real malt that comes through. There was nothing toasted or malty on the nose.

The taste was not that full bodied but good for 5% ABV beer, nice and bitter with 35 IBUs. You can taste that bitterness but not too much, no real malt on the taste. It was way too bitter for any malt to come through.

It tastes way more bitter than the 35 IBUs though; but sadly the taste quickly fades.

That said, it is such a good beer with pizza, stuff of one's dreams.

---

---

Harper Brewing Co. IPA

---

IPA | 6% ABV | 60 IBUs

---

---

At first, I was not planning on opening this beer with the Pale Ale, but as things go, I had a thirst that I needed to quench. So, I opened this beer as well!

It had that classic IPA smell to it, hops overload - extremely bitter with some beautiful brute force that hits in your face.

It was really bitter on the nose but it was also fruity.

The first taste was really a bitterness overload, the 60 IBUs are hitting hard for this beer.

With only 6 abv it was a bit more full bodied than pale ale.

They called this the california IPA, so it was a more west coast US style IPA.

Either way, it was a heavy hitting beer; very hoppy.

---

---

Postscriptum, or Beer with a Purpose and Some Pizza

These beers are purportedly brewed for purpose, social change, and for a good cause. On the bottle necks, they tell us that all profit goes to local communities in an effort to drive social change. This is commendable, because South Africa really has its problems... Not to start that discussion now.

---

---

---

We also had some of the best pizza I have had in my life. It is sourdough, with only the finest toppings. It was a wonder, a hit out of the park, something beyond this world. In due time, if I survive this stint of marking, I will post about this little shop that sells pizza straight from heaven.

For now, happy drinking and keep well!

All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit the drunk subjective opinions of a strange philosopher. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.