If you click on that link you will see a photo of Arugula Lady, purveyor of The World's Greatest Arugula and other green-like things that feed me. Standing next to her is Izuki. I don't know who Isuki is, she's the person who helps Arugula Lady and, ipso facto, moi.
Mid summer, Izuki and I discovered we both like things with alcohol in it, and we swapped a few items. Then she started telling me about a beer she very much liked that she used to be able to get from Whole Foods, Iwate Kura Oyster Stout via Sekinoichi Shuzo Co. LTD in Japan. The Brewery suffered the 2011 tsunami and there was no longer any of this beer available in the US. Or so everyone thought!
Izuki doesn't have a computer, so she wrote down the info and I found the Brewery's website. The beer is the third one down, and a copy-paste into Google Tranlate describes it. "Iwate Kura Beer has revived the beer that is brewed for a long time in UK. Oyster shell is well fermented, only gives depth to black beer. It is thick, but the aftertaste and refreshing beer is the best."
Izuki said she had tried an English oyster stout, but it wasn't as good. My Japanese copy&pasting skills weren't good enough to figure out if the beer was available in this country. I handed the baton back to her, and after a trip to the library, she handed it back to me. It is distributed by Mutual Trading Co. Inc . I emailed them and they said if I came to get it they would sell me a case.I think I was supposed to simply call them and find out where in LA I could go buy a bottle or two, but why get a bottle or two when you're only going to want more, eventually?
The truth is, the very mushy heart of it is, sometimes on earth rare opportunities arise to do the right thing by someone. Sure, you can do something for someone every day, but rarely is that thing something really fricking awesome. When those opportunities show up, I declare: take them and never look back. Izuki and Sonny come to the Glendale Farmer's market more weeks than not, for many years, and take very good care of me. A very rare Thank You presents itself: DO IT!
PS. That really-mushy-heart-of-it thing? Not MY troglodyte heart, but you know what I mean.
Minor hitch: I don't have a car, and this was not a bike/bus moment. But I did notice Mutual Trading Co was in the Arts District. Fortunate! I called the niece who has a car and likes Stumptown Coffee. Field trip!
First stop, Mutual Trading. We perused the showroom of beautiful knives and fake sushi, waited awhile more in the distribution center across the street, and then:
Look what I got! It's so exciting! I'm still waiting for Izuki and her husband to come get it. I pulled a few bottles for myself because I know there will be some insistence on this one, it's going to be like an hour before they just take it and leave already! Like those ridiculous battles for the check at dinner. UGH! Let someone do something nice for you once in a while, everyone will live to tell the tale.
I haven't tried one yet, but my niece reported back that it's really good.
What pleasure, this giving thing. I learned it from being a troglodyte.