My son brought me an unexpected gift. It was wild but more on that in a bit.

When our children were little tykes, we did a lot of reading to them and it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. They liked to hear the stories being read to them, and we liked to read them the stories.

One of my favorite books to read to them was Maurice Sendak’s book “Where The Wild Things Are.” It’s a story about a young boy who’s a bit naughty and gets sent to his bedroom as punishment. He dreams of traveling to an imaginary island inhabited with creatures called Wild Things and the story is about him becoming the King of the Wild Things. While on the island, he learns to understand that although things may look and act differently than himself, we all experience the same emotions.

While reading the story to my kids, I would assume a different voice for each creature and create musical sounds for the dancing parts. We got into it and, as stated, it’s still one of my favorite children’s books. Now, I get to read it to my grandson — funny how we never forget the Wild Things in our lives because sometimes, they are gifts to us.

Wild things — some are good and some are bad. For instance, I love wild rice.

One of our holiday traditions is have a wild rice casserole during the season. It has to be a sausage wild rice casserole and if not, those same kids to whom I used to read “Where The Wild Things Are,” will let us know of our deficiency. Wild rice has such a marvelous nutty flavor — it’s special.

Which now brings me to other things that are wild.

In the brewing world, one doesn’t want certain wild things. A wild yeast known as Brettanomyces is not something a brewer typically wants around when making a batch of beer. This yeast will impart a very sour taste and ruin a hoped for nice lager or pilsner.

However, the brewing world of today is carefully making wonderful beers made with wild yeasts. The operative word is carefully because when making a sour beer, everything is isolated, cleaned and sanitized so the yeast doesn’t spread to other batches of brew.

Yet, when properly handled, the wild yeast produces an abrupt tasting beer with a sourness that will immediately gain your attention. Brau Brothers’ Kettle Sour is a good example. When I visit their tap room, I’ll occasionally order the Kettle Sour. I know what’s coming. I prepare my nose and my tongue but the fresh sour aroma and taste always surprises me. I encourage you to try this beer. If you’ve never tried a sour beer, I challenge you to keep a straight face when tasting one! Then, I again challenge you to not take another sip. It’s that good!

And then there are the times when something goes wild and mutates to something good. For the past few years, there has been a mutation of the Frontenac grape on the market called Frontenac Blanc. At some point, a vintner noticed some of the grapes in his Frontenac vineyard had mutated to produce a white (rather than a red) wine with a nice medium body and pleasing pear tastes. Parley Lakes Winery near Waconia has a wonderful Frontenac Blanc and just goes to prove, that good things can come from something gone wild.

I also get a kick when reading the labels of various beverages.

Wild Turkey Bourbon is made in Kentucky and is a perfect tasting bourbon If the straight bourbon doesn’t satisfy you, there are at least 15 other types of Wild Turkey whiskeys to sample. In this case, let your wild side walk with the Turkey!

Not to be outdone, Wild Horse Wines (Central Coast, California) source their grapes from around the area and make a number of wines from Pinot Noirs to Chardonnays. I would highly recommend their Chardonnay because, first of all, it’s reasonable priced and secondly, with its pleasing citrusy flavors, it’s a joy to drink.

Alright, alright enough. What about that gift I recently received from my son??

He knows I intensely enjoy tasting different styles of beverages and he recently placed a bottle of Wild Rice Porter in my hands. Of course, I was very reserved upon receiving it and bowed to him in thankfulness. Yea, right! I literally jumped for joy!

The bottle he handed me was a limited release brew from Inbound BrewCo which is located in the North Loop of Minneapolis. Just so you know, my bottle was number 464 of the 765 bottles produced and the dark brown bottle was topped by a white wax cap. It was opened within 10 minutes of receiving it. Not that I was excited, of course…

A porter should be dark, heavy and almost a dessert beer — one you sip slowly and appreciatively. This beer’s aroma was just what it should be — dark and enticing with just enough toffee/coffee scent to lure you onward. Its taste allowed the wild rice nutty flavor to fill my mouth and then it was time for another sip. An amazing porter — I loved every sip of this wild gift.

It’s good to have a bit of the wild in your life — whether it’s in a fictional child’s book, a tasty holiday dish, from a mutated grape or a wonderful wild rice beer. I can’t say enough good things about that Wild Rice Porter but bring it on!

Next week, let’s talk…

As always, eat and drink in moderation but laugh with reckless abandon!

Cheers!