Okay, let’s just get this on the record. It’s funny, I can no longer find anything about it on the Internet anywhere. Does this mean that we are the only ones left participating in the tradition? I can’t imagine that. Let me know if you can find anything about it. Maybe there are local groups who could join forces or something. I don’t know. Anyway, I just want to put this on the record for anyone who is interested in getting into this tradition.

Do you like music? Do you like beer? Do you like friends? Do you like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Do you like websites? Well if you answered no to any of those questions, you’re probably not reading this website, because you wouldn’t like it. If you have not read the book I mentioned, you should go ahead and put that on your To Be Read list. Seriously. If you like my site, you would probably enjoy it. You would probably enjoy it anyway. But then, once you’ve read it, you’ll have a better appreciation of who Douglas Adams was.

So with all that said, here’s our tradition, since I can’t find any evidence of it anymore. We call it Six Pints Night. It happens every year on May 11, the date of Douglas Adams’s death. It’s completely separate from Towel Day, which is the 25th. In the book Ford drags Arthur to the pub pretty early one Thursday morning and orders six pints of beer, with the intention of drinking them all before they hitch a ride on a spaceship. Arthur barely touches his first one. But Ford does his part to down as much of his as he can.

So every year, we turn on some Dire Straits (which was Mr. Adams’s favorite band), and we setup three pints for everyone who wants to participate. Anyone who just wants to hang out is welcome to hang out and drink and enjoy the festivities. But those who have read the book set up three pints, clink their glasses in Doug’s honor, and start drinking. You don’t have to slam them. You can sip them. You just have to have three full pints in front of each participant to start. That’s it! I usually read a passage from the book, namely the one where Ford orders the pints. “Six pints of bitter. And quickly, please – the world’s about to end.” But that’s really all there is to it. Once each person finishes his or her three pints, you just enjoy however much more you want to drink. The ritual is over at that point.

This year I did something special though. Since I homebrew now, I brewed a special beer for the occasion. And I gave it a lot of love and time to grow. Seriously, it sat in secondary for two months, aging and mellowing. I have now kegged it and gotten a chance to try it. It is so absolutely perfect that I can’t even describe it. Well, I guess I can. It’s an English Bitter. Duh. That’s what they drank in the pub that Thursday morning in the book. I brewed this beer on February 19th. I racked it on March 3. And then I kegged it last Wednesday. This is going to be so fun to drink. I call it Ford’s, appropriately.

So just in case anyone was still practicing this tradition and looking for somewhere to hang out on May 11 this year, or for anyone who’s interested in starting, get on board! My group has been doing this since 2002, the year after he died. We’d love to have you. Don’t panic!