Cleansing the palate and quenching the thirst

"Dude, at 3:30 we're getting a beer from the Miller Lite truck."

"Totally."

After five hours and counting of standing up and pouring Italian wine to increasingly drunk guests of the 3rd Annual Richmond Italian Festival, my co-worker, Wendy, and I were, eh... bella senoras... how you say...

Over it.

So an hour later we hid our plastic, foamy cups behind our wine bottles and snuck sips between repeated lines. Like...

"No, ma'am, we don't have any Pinot Grigio at this table, but try the Verdicchio. It's a great alternative to Pinot drinkers because it's still crisp and acidic, but has a bit more complexity."

Or...

"Um... well, sir, it's hard to pick a favorite, but I am a huge fan of this Nero d'Avola. Mmmmm... what a great pizza wine!"

Finally, we were called out.

"Hey," bellowed a big guy with a handful of tickets, "if these wines are so good, how come ya'll are drinkin' beer? Heh, heh!"

Blink, blink.

We looked at each other for a brief second before I launched into...

"Well, sir, we've been sipping wine all day, and beer is a great palate cleanser. Nothing refreshes you after a long day and gets you ready for an evening of wine and food like a nice, cold beer. Si, Wendy?"

"Totally."

Sure, we were bullshitting to get him off of our backs, but the thing is, it's true. After a day in the wine industry of sipping, swirling and smelling, nothing is better than kicking back for a few minutes with a frosty beer. Sometimes it takes that mental break to go from "working with wine" mode, to "enjoying wine" mode.

And turns out it also quenches the thirst you have for a bit of rebellion when you are caught in an eight-hour public tasting scenario. Bella.