Two From Youngs, London, England

I do not appear to have provided much by the way of information about Young’s. Just Dirty Dick’s and their Double Chocolate Stout – and even that last one was just the barest note. How sad.

Young’s are a local brewer in London that has done very well in the export market. Not that long ago that were somewhat hard to find even in England. David Line in his early and important homebrewing guide from 1978 called Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy – a novel idea 27 years ago – says this about the Special Bitter:

Youngs has existed since 1831 but beer has been brewed on the site of its Ram brewery 1533. Even as recently as the late 1990s, the brewery’s history speaks of adding a bottling line to satisfy supermarket demand. This is still no macro-brewer despite its age and reach.

Special London Ale: This beer pours a quickly dissipating tan head over slightly russeted orange ale. There is a strong mineral rich aroma as soon as you open the top. Very distinct with orange apricot marmalade fruit, a tiny touch of black malt toastiness, a distinct yeast strain that is more dry cracker than biscuit and very twiggy hops with a sweet floral background. Very complex and pleasing. You know, I think that Mendocino’s Eye of the Hawk Select Ale is something of a respectful imitation. All BAers but few respect.

Oatmeal Stout: this is a fantastically good stout with a rare roast malt nuttiness. It pours a mocha cream head over black garnet stout. The yeast is rich chalky cream over which sits a halo of mint hop, Northern Brewer I would think. The black malt toastiness is subdued, balanced with a figgy note. Rich but not sweet. Perfectly balanced…and perfect. Almost sherry, a glass took me an hour and a half to sip. The 1% of BAers who say nay speak of a nitro-can version. This was not.

I promise to do better covering this brewery’s ales. I really do.

Draw Your Own GUI

GUI = Graphical User Interface. Now you can draw your own. I find this widget called the Fly very interesting – and I don’t find many new widgets actually of any use at all:

The Fly also comes with something called Fly Open Paper: a sheaf of blank pages that permit a much more free-form range of creative activities. You indicate which program you want by writing its initials in a circle. For example, in Notepad mode (draw an N in a circle), you can write up to three block-letter words at a time; the pen then reads back what you’ve written. In Scheduler (circled S), you can write “Tuesday 3:45 P.M. student council”; at the specified time, the pen will turn itself on and speak the appointment’s name. Then there’s the Calculator (circled C), which is for nerds what “Pinocchio” is to wooden puppets. As you draw a set of calculator buttons, they come to life, speaking their own names when tapped and announcing the mathematical results (“one hundred sixty-nine, square root, equals thirteen”).

Not only does the computer state it but it stores it and then makes it downloadable. The neat thing is that a whack of people could work off the a single computer in a setting where there is not a lot of cash to buy a PC per person. I wonder if it comes in United Nations green? Click for a bigger view.

Update: there is a harrowing little paragraph at the end of the New York Times article lined above:

when it comes to children’s technology, a sort of post-educational age has dawned. Last year, Americans bought only one-third as much educational software as they did in 2000. Once highflying children’s software companies have dwindled or disappeared. The magazine once called Children’s Software Review is now named Children’s Technology Review, and over half of its coverage now is dedicated to entertainment titles (for Game Boy, PlayStation and the like) that have no educational component.

1 + 0 = 2

I linked to this yesterday over at the sideblog (that’s what that is called by the way) but the list of people making fun of the concept of Web 2.0 is one of the best anti-tech-hype things I have read for a long time. Any you might add? My favorite is

Web 2.0 is made of … Segway spare parts

By the way, speaking of the counter culture, have you seen that iPod add where everyone is walking around in the street in their own exclusionary poddy bubbles but singing the same Christmas carol. Oddly, none of them seem to get hit by cars and, laughingly, they all carry the tune. Has no one broken the news to these people that people singing with headphones in their ears sound like scalded but urgently amorous cats?

Ontario: Pilsner, Steam Whistle Brewing, Metro Toronto

Every once in a while I have a lager and then I remember that I don’t like lagers much. You may have noticed this in the reviews set out here. But I have been meaning to try Steam Whistle for sometime to make sure I am not missing something good and local.

Good thing as this is my kind of lager. It pours a medium straw and fades to a white rim. While the body is quite watery – without being thin – there are lots of grainy malt as in a quality pale ale but it is a notch sweeter and rounder. That roundness is accentuated by a creamy lager malt strain with a concession to the style in the metallic hops that cut the cloy. But the hop additions come from a measured hand and there is a freshness to them that compliments the sweet malt rather than fights it. This is the one beer the brewery brews and it is quite worthy.

It would be interesting to see what these folks could do with a pale ale. Oddly – the BAers are brutal with over one third saying no way.

News From Gary

It was pot-a-cide apparently. Gary sent me an email with the sad story from the potter’s perspective.

I got a call from the Wolfeboro, NH League gallery. A drunken teenager, his 2 friends, and his father’s NEW 32,000 pickup truck drove through the front of the gallery! And guess whose work was prominently featured in the nice big window at the front of the store??????????? Yes, Gary’s! My whole stock, worth hundreds, except four tough little mugs, and items from one other person’s stock, pulverized. Just us 2, out of the many artists there (isn’t it nice to be a featured artist in the window?) The little cretin was caught and charged with a variety of offenses, the store hopes to reopen this weekend. As for me, I will receive payment for the ruined work….nice way to sell a few pieces, yes? And the front page article with photos, good advertising for the store.

Crimes against art in New Hampshire. Who knew?

Better Before

I need more information. When the yogurt says “best before” is there a second time period which could be called “better before” followed by “it’s up to you” and maybe then “roll the dice until” and finally a “you got to be kidding me” deadline? And can yogurt really go bad?