Author: Alan

Better September

The injuries are over and the winning ways begin again. There is time but not much chance given the quality ahead of the Sox.

And I have to admit a moment of weakness. I bought a Mets hat. Not like a fitted one or anything. Did you know that the Mets colours are a mix of the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers? The Mets are losing a few, too, now. But when you are 15 games up who cares. I suspect it is the Detroit Red Wings glide to the playoffs we are witnessing.

You are aware that Julio Franco is now 48 years and 14 days old, right? I bought a car sticker, too. And one for the Sox as well. The guy at the counter gave me the “…and exactly how do you explain this?” look.

Stash Renewal… Expansion… Whatever…

 

stash2006I heard somewhere it was International Be Good To Yourself Day…so I was. I visited the fine folk atFinger Lake Beverages with Gary of Ithaca, sometimes posting author around these parts, and went on a small spree. The sort of spree you go on when you realize winter is coming and a quick zip south may be out of the question at a very inopportune moment. Belgians a plenty now in the stash: a couple of Goliath, the beer so nice I forgot to take notes last time, a couple of Fantome Saison, Kwak (with the complimentary glass that is available to those who hear the siren call ofInternational Be Good To Yourself Day) and a whack of others that I have no idea about. Plus some big US bombs including old pals Arrogant Bastard and Dragon Slayer, two highlights of the last months of 2004 and 2005 as well as newcomer Ithaca Double IPA with local New York hops and Smuttynose Farmhouse. Suffice it to say that when the provincial liquor mark-up portion of the custom’s office’s take is $13.82, it was a good haul.

stash2006a

You know – I can’t think of a nicer place to buy beer given the town, the company and the amazing 700+ beer selection. It made me think of starting a “Good Beer Blog Shield of Approval” program, with a wacked sort of plaque that I can mail places I like. I know it sounds sort of insane and slightly egotistical but I have to little to give to the shopkeepers, bartenders and brewers who give so much. Just my little plaque. Off to the hardware store…or maybe the flea market.

They Blog!

Who knew? Dynamic and an honest name, too: Plenty of Nothing. A stark, disconcerting absence of baseball related yappetry to date, though someone is reading Koppett.

Entirely Unrelated Update: This is today’s task.

Not Entirely Unrelated To The Entirely Unrelated Update Update: It is a 1957 Eagle NHL “Pro” Official Hockey game. But toy acquisition policy #357 says non-slot-hockey rod-hockey is to be decorative given the familiarity and expectations resulting from the 1960s slot-hockey rod-hockey break-through. Be prepared to admit your weakness if you follow this link.

Friday Chat, Bad Day Chat

I can hear them even now – whiff, whiff, whiff. The sound of my new back to school cords, junior high late 70s. Crisp now, they would weigh me down in that cold October rain waiting for the bus, absorbing like a new sponge technology. This is the first bad day in the calendar since February. Mellow fruitfulness? HAH!

  • Here’s a bit of what I lost when I was taken to school as a kid. My access to Uncle Bobby and his ilk. I always thought that Bibmo the Birthday clown was freakish and the Mars landing quality picture of him under that link does nothing to help his cause.
  • Remember when Scotland always won at soccer? And by the way, that blown catch at Fenway by Rios the Blue Jay last night was the funniest thing I have seen in months.
  • I now like the Foo Fighters even more because it what you want to listen to when you are down under down under:

    The men were stuck in a Tasmanian mine when it collapsed in May, and passed the time listening to the Foo Fighters on MP3 players handed to them. Grohl said he would meet the two when the band tour Australia in November. “I’m not just having one beer with those dudes – we’re going for it,” he told the country’s ABC radio. “This is going to be a big night.”

    I have always thought that the mining disaster survivior population would be a nautral fit for rock star adoration.

  • Big doings with our forces in Afganistan who are going to take a province, Panjwaii, back soon. It is an example of how the Taliban are not terrorists or really even insurgents if this quote is correct:

    One Afghan leader from the area said NATO is in for a tough fight that won’t end once troops move in. He said the alliance should attempt some form of reconciliation with local militants. Haji Agha Lalai, the chief Panjwaii district elder who was chased out of his village by Taliban, said the insurgents have infiltrated every aspect of life there. “They own shops, they own homes there, they will not retreat,” Mr. Lalai predicted. “There are many types of Taliban, but these are the warriors. They have been told to fight and they will fight.”

    Whatever they are, they are nasty pieces of work and as will be actually capturing a large area from them and holding it. This is the area where Canadian troops killed 72 Taliban soldiers a few weeks ago after they ambushed an ambush.

  • Interesting to note that King for a bit more Ralph admits the Alberta boom was in fact unexpected, unprepared for, caused by a shift in a natural resource and is causing economic problems like local inflation and the inability to get projects off the ground due to shortgages. Interesting given those who say it was through hard work and conservative economic principles even though the same hardwork and conservative economic principles applies and have applied to most of the rest of the country for the last decade and a half.
  • I have been spending an inordinate amount of time at the Cooperstown Ballcap Co. . Their research prowess is phenomenal. Check out the cap for “BANANA WORKERS, 1935”.

So there you are. Enjoy the last real day of summer. A prize to the first person who spots some one else at work and an extra prize if that person is actually conscious.

Quick Note: Shepherd Neame Goldings, England

We don’t get enough Shepherd Neame around here. Just Bishop’s Finger in the LCBO and I thought I had heard rumours that even its days might be numbered. And just like Spitfire was a seasonal release from the government store in 2004, so too this summer we had their Goldings Summer Hop Ale.

I have to re-adjust just my scale for English pale ale. Having much more access to the heavier hoppier US versions you have to gear back and think of these not as light ales but delicate ones. And delicate this one is indeed. Pure white pin-point foam and lace over amber ale. The aroma is floral and reserved. Not staid, though – more freesia than marigold. In the mouth there is a gush of fresh water, pale ale bread crust graininess, plenty of stone fruit – apple, pear, peach notes – and a nice lemony citric hop bite. A gentler pale but worthy.

The 17 BA reviewers are 12% unhappy. Restless. Some say too watery. Some say not enough hop. Even at 4.7%, I say this is a decent English best bitter and that is something you don’t get your hands on too much anymore in the international drive for big. I like.

 

Lake Placid Craft Brewing Sold

Hey, seems I am not the only Canada who loves upstate New York craft brewing. One of my favorites has been bought up:

Montreal’s ICBS Ltd. said Wednesday it is buying New York`s Lake Placid Craft Brewing Co. The 10-year-old Lake Placid Craft Brewing Co. has created a market demand for their Craft beers, such as UBU and Frostbite ales, ICBS said in a statement.

More here. Here are my reviews of their 46’er, Ubu and Frostbite. I think I also had a brown of theirs at Clark’s last October. Lake Placid Craft Brewing has some of the best branding of a strong beer line up that I know of and their pervasive placement in North Country grocery stores is likely the envy of many micros. You’ll want to hug (or perhaps lick) the screen when you see their flash intro page to their website. [Flash intro pages are usually a nightmare but this one works.]

Lake Placid joins a very southern NY brewer, Ramapo Valley Brewery just bought in June, in the ICBS Ltd portfolio. Last week ICBS bought a lab that works in the beer industry. Hmm…is someone somewhere sitting behind a desk, rubbing their hands and saying “bwa-ha-ha”?

Update: I added the excellent photo above from the excellent Maltblog maintained by Jim of Cazenovia, New York. The photo is from the trip Jim took to Lake Placid’s brewpub last fall and it is excellent.

“A Glass Of Handmade”

There are a few moments I can point to in my memory that represent elemental changes that helped frame my interest in beer. The first time I was allowed to dip a finger in a Labatt Blue; the Olands Ex I had at my pal’s house in high school; the visit I made to the Pitfield Beer Shop in 1986 from which I returned to Nova Scotia with beer making tools including two polypin cubes as well as Dave Line‘s Big Book of Brewing; and finding an article in an issue of The Atlantic in 1987 that gave me some hope that there was going to be a bigger world of beer out there, even with the first bottles of long-gone Hans Haus beers arriving in the liquor stores or our regular attendance at the first Granite Brewery at the old Ginger’s Tavern in Halifax (oddly excluded from the brewery’s own sense of history which starts in 1991 but referenced in this home brewers digest from 29 November 1989).

That article was “A Glass of Handmade” by William Least Heat Moon and I have finally located a copy on the internet which I have filed in the archives. It starts out with the following introduction:

The industrial brewers continue to prosper; but now they are facing a new challenge from local brewers across the country who are dedicated to turning out brews that have only one thing in common with industrial beer – wetness.

What I love about the article now is its place in time including some quirks – Redhook is considered a huge break-through, common terms need explaining as in “boutique, or micro-, brewery” and now famous names are played out like the obscure tiny operations they then were. It is a gem of an article with a great last line I have used for almost twenty years now. Here it is. Please add your reviews in the comments when you have had a good read through.