Month: June 2007

Chat For The Last Friday Closer To 2006 Than 2008

Yes, your life is flying by. The end of June is the end of the first half of the year, the year you still think of in the back of your mind as new. Time to get another hobby or make a greater change.

  • Update: freaky:

    Authorities said Thursday they are trying to determine who altered the entry on the collaborative reference site 14 hours before authorities discovered the bodies of the couple and their son. Benoit’s Wikipedia entry was altered early Monday to say the wrestler had missed a match two days earlier because of his wife’s death. A Wikipedia official, Cary Bass, said the entry was made by someone using an Internet protocol address registered in Stamford, Conn., where World Wrestling Entertainment is based.

  • I received a copy of a 1975 game called Pub Games of England and what a treat. Who know that skittles was created as an illustration of mass conversion of pagan Germans to the faith? Who knew that darts was likely created as a response to legal bans on all games but archery for military (and not moral) purposes – it’s just a small archery game with the target being a cask of beer? And who knew lawn billiards (or pell mell) was the game of the future?
  • Speaking of early games, please lend your support to Project Protoball.
  • Interesting to note the passing of the NPR show Radio Open Source. NCPR observed the passing of another attempt at substantive convergence in this way:

    So it is with very real regret that I report the end, for now at least, of his innovative and lively evening program Open Source. The producers were unable to put together secure funding to continue national distribution, and made the difficult decision to suspend production this week. Chris has been a great exploiter of both the countertrend —and unabashed intellectual in the age of dumbing down–and of the coming trend–building a radio program upon the swiftly shifting sands of a community of bloggers.

    The other posts this week were a bit telling – the lack of a MSM partner and the “old school” actual revenue stream as well as an odd choice for a celebration of the sort of substantive social community (SSC…as opposed to vacuous linking or LSC) that has never been triggered but has been much promised and, like the emperor’s clothes, observed. Maybe they’ll do a Lessig and declare they are going to reinvent cooking or home repair DYI.

  • In not unrelated news, the CBC has been shocked to discover that when you ask people to express what they believe in they will express what they believe in.
  • I don’t even like the NBA but am happy to see that Demetris Nichols is a Knick.
  • This is a good court ruling by the US Supreme Court in the Panetti case: do not execute crazy people. But it does make you wonder about the death penalty in terms of the idea of purpose – other than general deterrence – which is sort of captured in the description “a defendant who is to be executed be able to recognize the relationship between his crime and his sentence.” But if I am dead…I can’t recognize that relationship. But nuttier is the objection by Clarence Thomas who called the ruling “a half-baked holding that leaves the details of the insanity standard for the district court to work out.” Well, seeing as there concern that the door is open to false claims of incompetency, shouldn’t the lower trial courts assess each case? Or is there a suggestion in the dissent that mental illness isn’t real? Interesting to note that Anthony M. Kennedy has decided to become Mr. Swing Vote instead of Mr. Fourth Conservative Near The Back.

That’s it for now. I have to go Xmas shopping.

Sour Beer Studies: Duchesse De Bourgogne, Verhaeghe, BE

Why did I pick another Flemish Red so early on in these Sour Beer Studies? I think I am still wary of those dry lambics in the stash and Stonch has spoken so highly of the style that I thought what the heck.

First thing to note is that is this a beer that was kept on the wood as well so could be a cross over post to the About Oaked Beer series, too…so I will. Then, interesting to note that Michael Jackson claims the Verhaege family (no latter “h” in my 2000 edition of his Great Beer Guide) has been brewing in Vichte since the 1500s and that this beer is brewed in oak vessels dating from the 1880s. The brewery’s website is in Flemish but I once worked in Holland and like to pretend I can hack my way though. Well, I can’t really (though I know Smaak: zoet-zurig, fruitig means “Taste: sweet-sour, fruity”) but there are plenty of photos on their history page including those big oak vessels. 4% of BAers do not like it but they really do not like the style which makes it difficult even if it is honest.

The beer pours deep chestnut with a quickly resolving tan head. On the pop of the 750 ml cork top there was a whiff of candy floss that dissipated leaving the aroma of sweet cherry candy and balsamic vinegar. A soft and still sourish ale in the mouth but by far the most approachable I can remember trying. Plenty of fruit and sweetness like a Polish cherry wine but under layers of soft water and a hardwood veneer of a more dignified sort than your average rec room panelling. Somewhat like sweet Cinzano, too, with herbal notes of rosemary and thyme. Far less sour than the Panil Barriquée that I tried a few weeks ago. A slight dryness right at the end in the middle of the tongue. I want to braise fennel root and lamb chops in it.

Funny to find myself thinking it but this beer could do with a wee boost of sourness. Maybe I am getting the hang of this stuff after all.

Is Clemens A Bust?

Watching the Yankees die a thousand deaths this year has all the delicious splendor of that day and year and decade when the Montreal Canadians watched Patrick Roy let in nine goals, tell the owner, GM and coach behind the bench that he was never playing for the loser club again and get traded to Colorado where he went on to confirm himself as the greatest goalie of all time. Of Roger’s outing last night against the lowly Orioles, the NYT’s story this morning begins:

It feels like falling off a cliff, Joe Torre said Wednesday night after another loss, and the metaphor is appropriate. The Yankees had reached a high point before this trip, but suddenly they are plunging to depths never experienced in Torre’s 12 years as manager.

Nice to see that it was eastern Ontarian Erik Bedard for Baltimore who shut down the opposition. Clemens, on the other hand, is now 1-3 with a 5.42 E.R.A. in his four starts.

Why do I care? Is it always good to relish the failures of the great? Wouldn’t the world be a better place of Clemens wages originally estimated at around a million bucks a win (now estimated at five) had gone to a worthy cause…like minor league player development? Is there any hope for my prayers to be answered and the final AL East standings ending up Boston, Baltimore, Tampa, Toronto, New York?

Book Review: Pub Games Of England by Timothy Finn

pubgamesThis finally came from Amazon.co.uk after ordering it not long after mid-February, right around when I decided to create The Pub Game Project. The roaring silence that followed was lesson enough that this book was very much needed in the library.

And what a treat it is. Now I can trick the children and push the weaker willed of the family, inducing them into playing Knur and Spell, Aunt Sally, Daddlums, Lawn Billiards and Dwyle Flunking. Rules, diagrams, hints to play and photos of the games in action. First published in 1975. Excellent.

Extremism

Of all the “-isms”, extremism is the best. Mainly because it means nothing but also because in the 1990’s…or was it due, like so much, to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure that extreme became a positive. Anyway, Nixon was against it and had the CIA rooting it out in Canada in the 1970s right about when they were working with the mafia on stuff. Apparently the mafia is not extreme.

Ottawa was one of at least 10 foreign cities targeted by the CIA in a clandestine operation in which the agency tried to ferret out those who were fostering U.S. “extremism” in the early 1970s. The program, codenamed MHCHAOS, was described by the U.S. spy agency in documents it released yesterday, chronicling misdeeds ranging from assassination plots and domestic and foreign spying to surveillance of journalists.

I thought it was “Mu-chachos” when I first read it in my uncoffee-ed state which would only make it more excellent although the “chaos” thing is all master of disasters, so maybe it is a pretty good code word.

I wish I had the job of writing the code words for stuff. I would have saved a special place for “Operation Excellent”.

About Oaked Beer: Musette, Allagash, Portland, Maine

Along with the Sour Beer Studies, there are other classes of beers that set themselves apart in some way other than reflecting traditional styles. Brewers are reintroducing techniques like beer on the wood to explore the limits of what beer can be and we’ll look at them in this series. Dave Line in his 1974 text The Big Book of Brewing wrote about using wooden casks from a home brewing perspective at a time when he saw it as a dying art:

It is a great thrill to draw your own beer from the wood. The management of this beer is an art and it may take years to develop all the skills. I am by no means an expert, but I take comfort in the fact that I am learning the art of one of our most treasured crafts, and that perhaps my efforts will prolong the traditions of our heritage.

Musette by Allagash is another nod to that tradition, this particular one aged on bourbon barrels for three months and then bottled in May 2006 – 32 years after Line feared for the loss of the heritage. At 10% it certainly reflects Line’s preference that beers attempted to be aged on wood be high gravity. At opening, there was a breath of autumn apple from the bottle that stayed with the ale after the pour, providing maybe a hint of calvados mixed with the raisin-malty aroma. It pours a thick clingy white foam head over deep orange amber ale. In the mouth plenty of roundness of raisin, date and apple with a Belgian musty yeast all cut by a hardwood vanilla dryness from the oak with a bit of tea astringency in the finish. Described by the brewer as aimed at the Belgian made Scotch ales like this silly one reviewed last January, the effect is somewhere between dubbel and barleywine. Very nice but not cheap at $15.59 USD for 750 ml.

Snooty Facebook

Seeing as I never did anything with MySpace (or Twitter, or Orkut, or Friendster….) I wonder if the fact that Facebook works for me and my undergrad pals says something about us:

The research suggests those using Facebook come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college. By contrast, MySpace users tend to get a job after finishing high school rather than continue their education.

What to make of that? I don’t know why there is so much buy-in from the people I know but it is as accessible as email in many ways keeping the participation threshold down. The lack of skins or visual personalization works in its favour as well. But the communal scrapbook thing is what I think works very well. Obsessing over who is that person in a photo from 23 years ago and tagging the separate people within them creates a pattern of continuity that expresses your own time line as well as branches out to do the same for people you know. So the illusion of a community gets some backing up compared to the post and reply of blogs or the thoughts of the day. It is a different thing to claim, having an actual mutual past – as opposed to a supposed present interest.

Bob Asks A Good Question About Dutch Beer

We all know the story of India Pale Ale but Bob asks in the comments whether the Dutch ever did a similar thing:

Bob Schneider [11:37 PM June 25, 2007]
bob.blustar@gmail.com
http://brewersonthelake.com
I realise that this is a review of a book but I was wondering if you could satisfy my curiosity. When I was brewing professionally in Holland, MI, I was trying to come up with a beer name and tagline that connected with the Dutch East India Trading Company (correct name?) similar to India Pale Ale shipped to British troops stationed in India. I did some research but ended up making an IPA with our house German ale yeast. When I put the beer on tap at the brew pub, the owners renamed it anyway. It was still one of the best IPAs I have made.

So my question is; Did the Dutch traders ship beer as a commodity in trade for Asian goods? If yes, what years, what style? Were hops used in any manner then?

Thanks
Bob

Good enough to be brought up to the surface for a little bit more of a think….or a thunk if I can’t come up with anything. I will check through Unger’s texts but if anyone else has any ideas, please share.

Snooty Facebook

Seeing as I never did anything with MySpace (or Twitter, or Orkut, or Friendster….) I wonder if the fact that Facebook works for me and my undergrad pals says something about us:

The research suggests those using Facebook come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college. By contrast, MySpace users tend to get a job after finishing high school rather than continue their education.

What to make of that? I don’t know why there is so much buy-in from the people I know but it is as accessible as email in many ways keeping the participation threshold down. The lack of skins or visual personalization works in its favour as well. But the communal scrapbook thing is what I think works very well. Obsessing over who is that person in a photo from 23 years ago and tagging the separate people within them creates a pattern of continuity that expresses your own time line as well as branches out to do the same for people you know. So the illusion of a community gets some backing up compared to the post and reply of blogs or the thoughts of the day. It is a different thing to claim, having an actual mutual past – as opposed to a supposed present interest.