Two of the Gueuze

 

gueuzeHappy was the lad, then, who came across these two examples of the Belgian style gueuze, which has been described as follows:

Gueuze – a word derived from gueux, or begger – is a blend of lambics of different ages, bottled with a champaign-type cork to undergo a second fermentation. It ages well.

“Beers of the World” by G. Delos (pub: CLB, 1994) at page 82

Miachael Jackson in the first edition of his World Guide to Beer describes lambics as follows:

These spontaneously fermenting beers are produced by traditional methods in only a very limited area…called Payottenland, and its atmosphere is held to contain micro-organisms which promote the fermentation of beer without the assistance of the brewer. (at p.117)

So they are rightly called “wild beers”. I have never had a gueuze before though I have had a fair number of the fruit lambics like the little raspberry number I reviewed a couple of weeks ago as well as the cherry version called kriek… including one instance with the brew 19 years ago leading one Parisian barkeep to suggest that we Nova Scotians and the lads from Gascony ought to take out discussions out into the street. But I digress.

So a little pitter-patter of excitement welled up when I saw there on the LCBO shelf not one but two examples of gueuze. Apparently not as much excitement as the guy ahead of me who I was told bought 30 or 40 – which, pushing 4 bucks per 375 ml, was a sure sign of dedication. I was familiar with the line Mort Subite by Brouwerij De Keersmaeker to the west of Brussels so I popped it first. It smelled like a late harvest Riesling or Gewurztraminer white wine as I poured. Fresh, light and only 4.5%. It is brightly acidic but not tannic. I expected more of a sparkling beer but it still effervescent. It is like fruit juce without all aspects of the fruitiness – or perhaps sort of a cross between apple juice and orange juice but not in any forefront manner. Despite this fruity zing, the water is quite soft leaving a very moreish mouthfeel. There is a light bit of the oak cask in the finish, some green antiqued hops as well as the barley, wheat and corn. It is incredibily tasty stuff and quite unlike an ale or a lager. Beyond lovery. Beer advocates have trouble with this one but I think you have to consider that Belgians do challenge. Recently, commenting on someone who gave obvious offence taking the defence that they were merely being “ironic” – despite the implication of cynicism that word connotes – I suggested that such a use of irony was not unlike the defence of a brewer of a bad batch claiming “it’s not off…it’s Belgian!” You have to expect the new and strange from the Belgians and when you do it is wonderful.

So on to the St. Louis by Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck N.V. – the maker of Kasteel quadruple reviewed here last year. It is slightly cloudy and a little bit of an orange tint to the light butterscotch hue. In the mouth it is also fresh but bigger, perhaps sweeter with a drier oaker finish. I could not do better than to repeat the words of Naerhu, a contributor at the beer advocate’s reviews on this beer from Osaka Japan:

White fluffy head on any amazing amber body. Light aroma of red fruit, maybe rasberries. Very lightly sour and pretty sweet. I can hardly imagine this to be a gueuze as sweet and friendly as this is. Where as gueuze normally tastes like how a unclean barnyard smells, this is bright and cheerful, zesty and clean. Very enjoyable.

That being the case, perhaps these two examples of gueuze do not exemplify the style at all. Any input on this point would be very useful for its own sake as well as comment on the LCBO itself. Have they picked only two easy beers rather than great examples or the ur-gueuze? Are they treating us like gueuze mooks or possible future connoisseurs? Neither had any sediment which does raise questions when it comes to Belgian brews.

Gueuze. We can add more examples as the days turn to months and the months to years.

First Post-Gomery Poll

The Ipsos-Reid firm has released the first polling since it has been revealed that the Federal Liberals are, well, not quite recalling what is “theirs” and and what is “ours” in terms of money. [Maybe they just listened to Raffi’s children’s song “It’s Mine But You Can Have Some” one too many times.] Anyway, the poll results are astonishing…almost explosive:

The survey found that if an election were held tomorrow, 34 per cent of decided voters would vote for the Liberals, down three percentage points since February 2005, when Ipsos-Reid conducted its last poll. Thirty per cent would vote for the Conservative Party and 15 per cent would vote for the NDP. In the June 28, 2004 election, Liberals received about 37 per cent of the popular vote, while Conservatives took about 30 per cent and the NDP about 16 per cent…The greatest shift regionally was seen in Alberta. There, the Conservative Party has seen a 14 percentage point shift in its popularity, to 57 per cent, while the Liberals have seen a 16-point drop, to just 13 per cent.

So the Tories finally hold a difference-settling policy convention while the media is on fire with the fact that the government is playing light with the books…and the Tories pick up exactly – not – one – voter. This is pathetic and they should be as embarrassed as Liberals by these figures. The funniest thing is that it does not matter if Alberta shifts from the Liberals as if every seat is one by 100% conservative vote they will still have only pretty much all the seats.

The rest of us really must have clear recollections of Mulroney.

Garbage Plate Law

Linda has the details over the treats of law suits over these two meals. Can you tell which is the authentic garbage plate and which is the tony phony?

Lew Bryson has a great description of the garbage plate in his seminal text New York Breweries at page 156:

Hot dogs are one of the “meat” possibilities for a classic Rochester “garbage plate (or “rubbish plate,” to use the upstate cant). The garbage plate is a late-night apres-bar favorite in Rocehster and originated at Nick Tahou Hots (320 West Main, 315-436-0184). The original Nick’s is no longer open late, but there’s another Nick’s that is, at 2260 Lyell Avenue (315-429-6388). To build a garbage plate, first take a paper plate. Layer home fries, macaroni sald, and a meat (chicken, burger, or hot dogs) on it and then cover everything with Greek sauce and chopped onions: you can add baked beans to it as well. Most people then slather the whole mess with about half a bottle of ketchup and plenty of hot sauce. You can see how it got its name.

My only quibble with my guide to all things US north-eastern and snacky (and ale-ish) is that the idea of one meat appears to have be thrown out from the above photos.

Speaking of…Well…

I never knew that cheese was that difficult.

Just to be clear, when last across the border I bought this…for someone else…someone who has begged me (then threatened me ever so subtly) not to reveal his name. He later admitted on a recent trip he had bought four cans for his own needs. So it was left to us. Children tried it once. Then it sat for a couple of weeks and I thought I would try it. Sort of a lighter Cheese Wizz meets aerosol – more like cheese wazz all in all.

Note: It’s been kind of downhill since the green pants.

One More Day Closer to Deadwood


New Englanders in Iraq bowling candlepin

I am taking a week off this spring. There is a Boston wedding to attend which will be fun but that is at the end of the week. First, we are off to the Gulf of Maine coast in search of friends and family and a good amount of candlepin bowling. Ontario teases you with five pin as well as Freddie Flintson big ball ten pin but I grew up with candlepin – played only in Atlantic Canada and New England. Whatever I play, I score pins in my head one point at a time like candlepin – like I measure distance in feet rather than metric. It is fair and equitable every pin being meaningful. I do not, however, throw a ball like the Friday night Brookfield Elks softball pitchers of my 1980-ish teens at the Beazley Lanes near little T.O.’s Fletchers Restaurant and the old Crappy Tire. They might as well have been throwing fastball, ball bouncing once on the wood before hitting the pins well off the floor. Pins in the gutter and, half the time, into the next lane. You can’t do that with Freddy Flinston big ball. First time I played Freddieball with Jim from Newfie after passing the bar we hit strike after strike. Like shooting fish in a bucket. You also leave the pins where they fall, leaving you to deal with them through the second and third balls. No sweeping machine delay. You can hit the deadwood among half the others still standing and miss them all, guided by those down to the gutter. Cruel mistress the deadwood. Gotta learn to play the deadwood.

The game dates from the 1880s, when a shipment of narrow pins – later widened to two inches wide – gave a guy an idea. You can find an inordinately detailed history here…and another here. I recall hearing that Howie Meeker brought it to Newfoundland after he left the Maple Leafs and before he was Don Cherry before Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada. In 2003, CBC radio’s Inside Track ran an 11:30 minute piece on the sport. [Click the link and a .ram or RealAudio file will trigger.]

Funtime Lanes in Holyoke, near our Sunday night stop, has 20 candlepin lanes…maybe the most westerly in North America. Smokefree and bumper bowling for the weejins. Practice.

Boston Wins

It has taken a few creeky starts but Boston beat the Yankees last night. Apparently the great Mariano Riviera had an off night (again) against the Sox as is explained from this example of the wonder that is the baseball writing in The New York Times:

It was the first time Rivera walked three in one game since Aug. 23, 1997, his first season as a closer. But he said he was more discouraged by Tuesday’s blown save, when Jason Varitek homered off a pitch that missed its spot. That was a mistake, Rivera said. Yesterday, he suggested, he was beaten more by the circumstances. “The result wasn’t what I wanted, but I was happy with the pitches,” Rivera said. “I feel comfortable with the selection I made. It just didn’t happen.” For Rivera, though, it keeps happening against the Red Sox. He has blown six of his last nine save opportunities against Boston, starting with Mueller’s game-ending homer last July 24 and including the playoffs. Since the start of the 2001 season, 43 percent of Rivera’s blown saves in the regular season (12 of 28) have come against Boston.

Yea! That is a great stat. For all the money and all the skill, one key to the Yankees just gets a little off his game for the Sox. It is amazing that the two teams played each other 56 times over the last two seasons and have already added three more so far this year. Over all those games they are just about tied. You know, I think I could follow soccer fairly well if it was on the TV but I only had the standings. I do not know how I would follow baseball without the great reporting on it.

In other sporting news, the mighty Morton has been slowly ceeping up on Stranraer for the second promotion spot in Scottish Division Two fitba, now lying only 4 back with five games to go including one against them and the rest against weak teams…

Pos’n Team Games Goal Diff Points
1 Brechin
31
37
64
2 Stranraer
31
9
57
3 Morton
31
19
53
4 Stirling
31
0
45

Fingers are very much crossed and hopes are high for another big finish to the season.

Election Prediction

I think it is time to start the speculation. We need a May or June election like ze whole in ze head but the powers that barely be are doing their best to stumble towards that sad day for all. So sayeth The Star:

But if a Quebec judge today grants a major delay in the case, Gomery could lift the ban and reveal possible damning allegations against the Liberal party, both federally and in Quebec. Everyone concedes that the testimony will further erode Liberal support in Quebec, where the party holds only 21 seats. The Bloc Québécois, which holds 54 seats, is boasting that it could win as many as 70 seats in the next election because of the sponsorship scandal. But the real issue is in Ontario, and it is quite unclear whether Tory Leader Stephen Harper can turn the Brault testimony into a winner for his party. Thus, the Tories have been reluctant to suggest they might try to defeat the government. Spokespersons for all the parties concede that an election would be unpopular and that citizens could want to punish whichever party is blamed for not making the minority Parliament work. Frank Graves, president of the EKOS Research polling firm, says that’s his sense of the public’s election-appetite right now. Graves did a poll this winter that seemed to indicate the sponsorship controversy was a spent force; that the Liberals’ critics had got all the mileage they could from ethical issues. However, “now I’m not so sure,” Graves conceded yesterday.

So what would happen if there was an election. I think there will be a backlash on the sponsorship scandel as what comes out can never be as damning as the imaginations and rumours and the neophyte bloggy interest for all of those like the extra 3000 times people who showed up here an extra 5,000 times yesterday looking for the Gomery Commission answers – it will all turn into disgust with their realization that the entire medium and half their fears were a hoax. Thusly and therefore, here [Ed.: “too-tot-tooooooooot” go the horns!] is the next house of Commons IF the election is held before Canada Day:

  • Liberal 121 (down 10 in Quebec, up a few elsewhere)
  • Tories 95 (so sad, no one cared for the new puritanist)
  • NDP 31 (Ontario likes its social freedoms)
  • Bloc 61 (and they didn’t even have to get out of bed to get there)

Liberals plus NDP still miss a slim majority. Nothing is changed. Harper resigns after staying in bed for two weeks, the big sook.

Update:As Normie points out, the Toronto Sun reports, surprise surprise, that the PQ did the same thing. Does this change anything if true? Should the Tories show their cards on this too? Oh…I forgot. No one has wanted them in power for almost two decades.