有一种缘分叫“重庆女婿”

◇ 文 |本刊记者 胡 婷 图 | 游 宇

鹅岭印制二厂内有个酒吧，叫“笨精酿啤酒”，店名“笨”取自老板名字Ben的谐音。店里主打精酿啤酒，啤酒都是由Ben自己酿制。

五月的一个下午，我们在店里见到了胖胖的Ben，中等身材，戴着一顶红色的鸭舌帽，笑起来眼睛眯成一条缝。他一边忙着给顾客点单，一边在吧台接酒。

把事业与家庭扎根在重庆的Ben，一脸的踏实和幸福。

Inside E’ling Printing Plant No.2 there is a bar called“Stupid Craft Beer”, whose first character is taken from the Chinese homonym of the owner’s name Ben. Its leading drink is the craft beer brewed by Ben himself.

One afternoon in May, we met Ben in his bar. A man of medium build, he was wearing a red cap and laughing wholeheartedly when he was busy in taking orders from and delivering drinks to customers.

Ben took his career and family roots in Chongqing,showing on his face contentment and happiness.

为一碗老麻抄手学习中文 Learning Chinese for “Laoma Wonton”

Ben说着一口流利的重庆话，让人惊叹不已。

原来，他也算“老重庆”了，早在1994年，Ben就作为交换生来到西南师范大学（现西南大学）。1997年，Ben再次回到重庆，在四川外国语大学做外教。

Ben说，刚来重庆做交换生时，还不会讲汉语，更说不了重庆话。直到1997年再次回到重庆，Ben才因为一碗老麻抄手开始慢慢学习中文。

“我和一位同事在川外一家餐馆吃饭，同事给我点了碗老麻抄手，太好吃了。”Ben为了第二天能独自到餐馆点上一碗老麻抄手，就开始跟朋友学习中文。“我要一两老麻抄手。”这是Ben学会的第一句中文。

连续在这家店里吃了5天的老麻抄手后，Ben成功地点了一份蛋炒饭。从那以后，Ben能说的中文越来越多，吃饭点菜也不在话下了。

2001年，B en去了西雅图，一边工作，一边念MBA。2012年，在西雅图大学念完MBA后，Ben第三次来到重庆，成了一家投资公司的国际战略部经理。

在西雅图读书期间，Ben喜欢喝当地的精酿啤酒。来到重庆后，却发现并没有精酿啤酒。于是，他便到成都找那位化学专业的美国朋友Brian，学习酿精酿啤酒。

It is simply astonishing to see Ben speaking fluent Chongqing dialect.

It turns out that the story between him and Chongqing goes way back. As early as 1994, Ben came to the Southwest Normal University (now Southwest University) as an exchange student. In 1997, Ben returned to Chongqing and worked as a foreign teacher at Sichuan International Studies University (SISU).

Ben said that when he first came here as an exchange student, he could not speak Chinese at all, let alone the Chongqing dialect. When he returned here again in 1997, he gradually started to learn Chinese for the “Hot and Spicy Minced Meat Wonton”.

“I was dinning with a colleague in a restaurant outside SISU and he ordered for me the ‘Laoma Wonton’. It was incredible.” In order to order it on his own the next day, he started to learn Chinese from his friends. "I want the ‘Laoma Wonton’" –this was the first Chinese sentence Ben mastered.

After five days in a row having the same thing in the same place, Ben managed to order the “Fried Rice with Eggs”. Since then, Ben has been able to grasp more and more Chinese, and ordering food became a piece of cake.

In 2001, Ben went to study for an MBA at Seattle University while working. In 2012, after completing it, Ben came to Chongqing for the third time and worked as the manager of the international strategy department of an investment company.

While studying in Seattle, Ben enjoys drinking local craft beer. And when he came to Chongqing,he discovered that there was no craft beer here. So he went to Chengdu to learn about brewing it from Brian, an American friend who majored in chemistry.

“在重庆，我有一个家” “A Home in Chongqing”

酒吧的一面墙上，贴满了Ben在重庆拍的老照片。第三次来到重庆时，Ben发现眼前的重庆让他有些不认识了。“我发现这里什么都变了，就只有人和火锅没变。”Ben说起重庆的变化震惊不已。

Ben还发现曾经的重庆“棒棒”，现在也慢慢消失了。“《山城棒棒军》里出现的老重庆街景我都熟悉，比如老华新街车站，电视里客串的两个老外还是我朋友。”说到“棒棒”，Ben居然跟我们聊起了那部曾经火遍山城的电视剧《山城棒棒军》。

“重庆以前好多梯坎，爬坡上坎不经意间就锻炼了身体。”Ben回忆起上世纪90年代，因为朋友们都住在七八楼，去他们家都要爬楼梯，仅1997年他就瘦了20斤。

“本以为这次回来也会瘦，结果反而胖了。现在大家都是住在很高的电梯房里，到二厂上班，直接打出租车，如果我愿意，我可以让车直接开到店门口，运动的时间自然少了。” Ben说得很实在。

伴随着愈来愈越发达和便捷的交通，Ben也发现重庆的楼房越修越高，“我老家明尼苏达州最高也只有二十层，这里的房子动不动就是三四十层。”

怎么解读Ben跟重庆的缘分？这是个问题——第二次到重庆，Ben学会了重庆话；第三次来，Ben在重庆遇到了爱情，并在这里安了家。

2012年，Ben回到重庆那一年，妻子李灿当时在观音桥一家银行做柜员。Ben去办业务，对她一见钟情，便开始找各种各样的理由搭讪。“地址不记得了，帮我指一下路。”“密码忘了怎么办？”“如果我要晚上取款，银行关门了，应该怎么办？”

自然而然地，在Ben的追求下，他和重庆姑娘李灿走到了一起。2014年9月，Ben成了家，儿子现在都已经两岁了。

“饭里炒蔬菜肉，加上黑胡椒和进口的一些香料。基本上都是烩饭类。”妻子李灿在一旁吐槽Ben的厨艺，“慢慢地，他的重庆菜开始做得有模有样，辣子鸡丁、回锅肉、宫保鸡丁，都是他的拿手菜。当然，也有失手的时候，就在上个月，炒个炝炒藤菜，干海椒放多了，把全家人都呛到屋外面去站了十多分钟。”

On one wall of the bar are old photos taken by Ben in Chongqing. When he came here for the third time, he noticed that somehow Chongqing is different. "Everything here but people and hotpot has changed.” Ben was taken aback by the changes.

He also noticed that the Chongqing "Bang Bang"(porters that carry people’s luggage mainly with bamboo sticks and ropes) he used to see frequently are disappearing. “I’m familiar with all the old Chongqing streets that appear in the teleplay Porters in the Mountain City, such as the Laohua New Street Station. And the two foreigners in it are my friends.”It’s just amazing to see Ben talking about that hit in Chongqing.

“There used to be a lot of stairs everywhere,and climbing them is unintended exercise.” As Ben recalls the 1990s, he has to climb many stairs every time he visits his friends who live on the 7th or 8th floors. And the result from that is, in 1997 alone, he lost 10 kilograms.

“I figured that maybe this time I would lose weight too, but truth is, it went the other way. Now everyone lives in high buildings with elevators, and when I go to work, I would take a taxi. And I can tell the driver to stop right in front of my bar if I want to. So, naturally, there is less time for exercise.”Obviously, that is true.

With the more and more developed and convenient transportation, Ben also found that the buildings in Chongqing are getting higher. “In my hometown, Minnesota, the buildings have only 20 floors at the highest, but here it’s thirty to forty floors at least.”

How to understand Ben’s connection to Chongqing? That is a question. On his second visit,he learned the Chongqing dialect; on the third, he fell in love and got settled.

In 2012, Ben returned to Chongqing. His wife, Li Can, was a teller at a bank in Guanyinqiao back then.When Ben went there to get something done, he fell in love with her at first sight and started looking for many reasons just to talk to her. "I don’t remember my address. Would you help me?" "What should I do? I forgot my password." "If I want to withdraw money at night and the bank is closed, what should I do then?"

Bit by bit, with his sincere heart, he finally won her love. In September 2014, they got married and now they have a two-year-old son.

"Fried rice with vegetables and meat, some black pepper and imported spices – That’s mostly what he does." Ben’s wife, Li Can, is commenting on his cooking. "Gradually, he makes better Chongqing cuisine, such as Spicy Diced Chicken,Double Cooked Pork Slices, and Kung Pao Chicken etc. Certainly, there were days he didn’t do so well.Last month, he tried to make the Quick Fried Water Spinach, but he put too much dried chili in it, so the whole family had to leave the house and stood outside for more than ten minutes."

酿出重庆味的“花椒啤酒” The “Sichuan Pepper Craft Beer” with Chongqing Flavor

店铺面积不大，75平方米的样子，工业风的装修。吧台正前方，有18个酒柱，排成一排，Ben一按开关，啤酒就从酒柱流出。

“这都都是我酿的精酿啤酒。”Ben一脸自豪，他酿酒的地方就在吧台正对面的一个角落。角落里，Ben收拾出了一个地方，放置着酿酒的装置：两个不锈钢桶，依次是热水桶、糖化桶。

早上十点，Ben就开始酿酒了。麦芽磨碎后，放在热水桶中煮沸，煮沸后的麦芽汁进入了糖化桶。等麦芽汁在冷却器冷却后，才进入发酵桶，两个星期后，啤酒就算酿成了。

说起来简单，在重庆开始酿啤酒时，Ben直言重庆的天气让他很苦恼，尤其是夏天，他花费了大量时间在各种降温方式上。与我们交谈之时，Ben不时会走到热水桶前，看看温度表上水的煮沸温度。Ben告诉我们，精酿啤酒在发酵的过程中，需要恒定的温度。

入乡随俗，Ben在酿制精酿啤酒过程中，加入了重庆特产青花椒，酿制了一款花椒啤酒。花椒啤酒销量还不错，也成了“笨精酿啤酒”的招牌啤酒。

The bar is decorated in an industrial style with a space around 75 square meters. Right in front of the bar table, there are 18 beer columns lined up in a row. Ben presses the switch and the beer flows out of the column.

"Here, I made all the craft beer by myself,"Ben said so with absolute pride. The place where he brews beer is in a corner, just across the bar. He tidied up a place where the brewing devices were placed: two stainless steel barrels, hot -water tubs and mashing tubs.

At ten in the morning, Ben starts to make beer.After the malt is ground, it would be boiled in a hot tub and then the boiled wort goes into the mashing tub. Wait for the wort to cool down before putting it into the fermentation vat, and two weeks later, we have the beer.

However, it’s easier said than done. The hot weather in Chongqing used to bother Ben so much,especially in summer, because he has to spend a lot of time on finding cooling ways. While we are talking, Ben would walk to the hot tub from time to time to check the boiling temperature of the water on the thermometer. Ben told us that the craft beer needs a constant stable temperature during the fermentation process.

To partake in local traditions, Ben added the Chongqing specialty – the Green Sichuan pepper in the brewing process, and it turned into a special Sichuan pepper craft beer. It sells very well and has become a signature brew of “Ben Craft Beer”.