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Archives for November 2007

Ennui? Oui!

By

pint
I know it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything new and a few people have written me to see what is the matter. It’s nice to know that I’m missed so I thought I’d update everyone. I’m just tired and took a little unscheduled time off to spend with the family and, hopefully, recharge my batteries. I traveled a bit in October and November and the last three Novembers I was working feverishly on novels as I participated in NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, where you challenge yourself to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days (and which I managed to be successful at each of the three years). I wasn’t able to do NaNoWriMo this year because I was in Germany for two weeks the first half of the month and I think I missed out on all the energy that enterprise produces. It’s hard to explain, and a bit counter-intuitive, but writing that constantly (at least 1,700 words per day) doesn’t really make me tired, but instead is more exhilarating because I’m creating something out of nothing. I guess that’s why I chose to be a writer, because even though it can be hard mental work it’s also very satisfying. It feels more like something I have to do rather than just something I can do. It’s been that way since I made up stories as a kid, when I wrote for the school newspaper and when I plotted out the endless books I never wrote. So that’s probably part of it.

The other part is I’m feeling more than a little ennui, which is common for me at this time of year. The holidays have been difficult for me for some time now. Most of my family — mother, father, grandparents, etc. — are all gone and have been for a lot of years. What family I have left is in Pennsylvania. My wife and her family are all out here and they’re great plus I now have the added joy of seeing the holidays through my kids’ eyes. I wouldn’t trade my life now for anything. But for some reason I always feel a touch of sadness at this time of year. Some years it’s better than others, but for this year it’s been tough. Also, over the last few months I’ve gotten a number of very unpleasant comments and e-mails from strangers (and organizations) who just don’t agree with my unfettered opinions. That’s to be expected, to be sure, but it is wearing me down. Many folks on the internet often don’t seem to realize that there’s another person involved and without the social cues of face-to-face communication seem to feel no compunction about treating their fellow human beings with appalling cruelty. It’s often so bad that even the most loathsome among us would never dream of treating even a stranger in a similar fashion if they were right in front of them. There’s a term for it, too: deindividuation, which essentially means “if we reduce our sense of our own identity we are less likely to stick to social norms.” That’s from an illuminating article in New Scientist and there’s some more good info in a Guardian opinion piece. There’s also another nice article at Salon by Gary Kamiya on manners online (for more about this, see Netiquette and RFC 1855). Of course, I’m often pretty obnoxious myself so perhaps I have it coming, who knows? Anyway, It’s gotten a little hard to take lately. I don’t mind disagreements — in fact I relish a good debate — but being called names and worse may not break my bones but it sure can drag down a mood and chill my enthusiasm for my fellow man.

Writing is, of course, a solitary endeavor so I find myself alone a lot of the time. I work from home, of course, so apart from my kids and the odd neighbor, I don’t really see, talk or interact with adult people all day long. My friends are all pretty spread out and rarely does anyone just stop by for the hell of it. Do that long enough and one does tend to go a little stir crazy. To everyone who wrote to inquire about my well-being, thanks, I appreciate it. It really helped to get me off the couch. So enough of my pathetic ramblings, tomorrow a new month begins and I’ll try my damndest to get back to pissing people off as best I can. Happy holidays.

neville
N is for Neville who died of ennui.
From Edward Gorey’s wonderful Gashlycrumb Tinies.

Turkey & Beer Day Tomorrow

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Unlike many people, I always have beer with my turkey dinner. Lately, it’s Anchor’s Christmas beer. I like a good spicy beer with the myriad flavors of turkey, cranberry, stuffing, mashed potatoes and so forth. Pike’s of Seattle used to also make an excellent spicy beer, Auld Lang Syne, which I also liked for Thanksgiving but they stopped making it quite some time ago. But there are almost as many pairings as there are people, and few can really be said to be wrong as long as they’re well-thought out and manage to contrast or compliment the meal.

A survey of the recent news regarding Thanksgiving reveals that a number of sources are finally recommending beer with the Thanksgiving meal. Ten years ago that would have been a veritable rarity but now that suggestion seems to be everywhere and it’s told with a seemingly welcome relief. Relief that people can stop trying to put a square peg in a round hole, trying in vain to force wine to work with a meal it has little business being involved in. The varied tastes in the average Thanksgiving meal yield so much more easily to beer — as in fact does most food, but that’s for another day — than wine that you just know something other than common sense has been driving the wine pairing suggestions for years.

First, the Associated Press (AP) had a story that many outlets picked up under various titles, such as “Craft beers join Turkey Day table,” “Have a beer with Thanksgiving dinner,” and the vaguely insulting “Thanksgiving dinner — and beer?” But the article itself it surprisingly well-done.

There’s also “A Thanksgiving Toast,” a nice editorial in the L.A. Times giving a historical perspective for drinking beer at the Thanksgiving meal. And the Boston Globe has a similar theme in “Ale, ale, the gang’s all here.” Then there’s this piece from Canada called “It’s not Thanksgiving without beer.”

Likewise, Eric Hjerstedt Sharp, writing in the Ironwood, Michigan Daily Globe about Thanksgiving myths, has the following to add:

—Not tee-totalers by any means, the major beverage aboard the Mayflower was beer, primarily because the alcohol kept the bacteria from spoiling the drinking water. However, they continued to brew and drink beer after they landed and settled.

Scripps News has an article entitled “Choosing the best beer for a holiday dinner.” And while I could take issue with some of the author’s ignorance, she also has some good suggestions for the novice, too, so in the holiday spirit I’ll let it pass.

Tim Cotter, writing for The Day in Connecticut, suggests two fine beers to try with your turkey, Ommegang Abbey Ale or Allagash Grand Cru, in his column entitled “Turkey Beers.”

At Epicurious, there’s article called “Thanks for the Brews, Beers for Thanksgiving day,” by Marty Nachel, author of Beer for Dummies.

And there’s also “The beer nut: Giving thanks for good beers” at the Daily News in rural Massachusetts.

This year, the Brewers Association launched its own campaign called “The Year Beer Goes With the Bird” whose aim to show the advantages of pairing beer with your Thanksgiving meal this year. Some of their suggestions:

Traditional Roast Turkey: The roasted and caramelized skin matches well with amber ale, a strong golden ale or an amber lager in the Vienna style.

Smoked Turkey: If your local brewery offers a smoked beer, that can serve as a compliment to smoked turkey as well. Look for a porter, Scotch ale or amber ale in the smoked style.

Cajun Turkey: Celebrated beer writer and New Mexico resident Stan Hieronymus suggests a malty IPA to go with his favorite Cajun turkey recipe. For a malty alternative that will stand up to the heat, try a dark bock or strong Scotch ale.

The recipes on the left are also on the Brewers Association website and are courtesy of my good friend, beer cook Lucy Saunders.

And here’s in an interesting piece of history in itself. It’s an article by Michael Jackson from the Washington Post from November of 1983 called Beer at the Thanksgiving table. And here’s a more recent one on the same subject by Michael’s friend, award-winning beer writer, Carol Smagalski, entitled “Elegant Beer for the Thanksgiving Table.”

And then, of course, there’s my friend Lisa Morrison’s award-winning piece, “This Thanksgiving, Beer Is For The Bird” in which challenges her readers to “Try Serving Well-Crafted Local Beer At The Table, Pilgrim.”

And in case you thought this was a new idea, here’s an ad from 1946 extolling the virtues of beer with turkey by the National Brewing Co. of Baltimore, Maryland.

Dogfish Downtown Brooklyn

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Downtown Bar & Grill, located in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York at 160 Court Street, will be hosting a pretty spectacular tasting of Dogfish Head beers on the 27th of November, including the debut releases for 2007 of World Wide Stout, Pangaea, and Golden Era, along with seven other Dogfish Head beers on draft. The festivities will begin at 6:00 p.m.
 

 

Busch Model Train Accesories

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After the official part of my recent German beer trip ended, I had a few days to myself before heading back across the pond. So one day, Peter Reid (who publishes Modern Brewery Age) and I took a Deutsche Bahn train to nearby Salzburg, Austria to visit the original Trumer Brauerei (more about that trip soon). On the train, I was idly paging through the train’s on-board magazine Mobil (sort of like an in-flight magazine) when I came across a multi-page ad for a toy store chain, Idee+Spiel. Based on the number of pages and locations listed, I imagine it’s something like the Toys R Us of Germany. On the page with toy trains, there were pictured accessories by a German company called, with no irony, Busch (or more properly Busch Gmbh and Co.). Two of the products shown were a Beer Garden and a Hopyard. I imagine neither of these HO-scale train accessories will ever see the light of day here in neo-prohibitionist America, but I love the idea that these scenes are so common that nobody in civilized Europe has a problem with them.

 

The Busch model HO-Biergarten.

The Busch model HO-Hopfen.

 

Visiting their website, I also discovered that Busch has a few more beer-related accessories for train layouts, and the hop field is featured on the cover of their catalog.
 

Busch’s 2007 catalog.
 

The other accessories included this barley field.
 

Notice the hops in the field across the road? If you look back the hopyard picture, you can now see the barley field there, too.
 

I love way the person on the bench is sitting. The catalog refers to him as a “happy ‘carouser.'”

 

Got A Sense of Humor?

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I’m not sure how old this is, because it’s not dated, but at least more than two years ago PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) created a spoof ad aimed at young adults based on the famous and highly successful “got milk?” PSA campaign that the California Milk Processor Board created in 1993.

It was called “Got Beer?” and was a “tongue-in-cheek advisory to college kids that milk is so bad, nutritionally speaking, that even beer is better for you!” Unsurprisingly, MADD showed how being a teetotaler robs one of the ability to laugh and enjoy life. They were reportedly “mad, despite the fact that [they] made it clear that [PETA] only used beer for comparison purposes because no one thinks of beer as a health food; as a substitute for cow’s milk, health experts recommend soy milk, juice, or even water.”

PETA has set up a companion website, Milk Sucks, which explains the controversy in great detail. Their point, of course — apparently lost on the neo-prohibitionist crowd — was that milk is not as good for you as conventional wisdom would have us believe and that even beer, which many people don’t think of as being a health drink, contains more nutritional value than milk. PETA concludes:

“The scientific evidence is conclusive: Beer in moderation is good for you, while even one glass of milk supports animal abuse and harms your health,” says PETA’s Director of Vegan Outreach Bruce Friedrich. “You can drink beer responsibly, but the same can’t be said of milk.”

And they have a fair amount of evidence to back up their claim, including the table below which compares the nutritional value of beer and milk. But even a suggestion that beer may be a healthy beverage must strike the average neo-prohibitionist as supporting or advocating its consumption. And we can’t have that. If beer is considered healthy — which it is, of course — then that might give people the idea that it’s okay to drink it. I certainly like envisioning the “Got Beer?” PSAs with celebrities sporting a foam mustache. Now that would be funny.

 

United States Department of Agriculture Nutritional Data for Milk and Beer

MILK (1 cup, 2% milk)BEER (1 cup)
Fat (g)

5

0

Fiber (g)

0

.5

Sodium (mg)

122

12

Cholesterol (mg)

20

0

Calories

122

97

Calories from fat (%)

37

0

 

 

The Beer Label Dog

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This is pretty cool. I stumbled upon this doing some random searching. You’ve probably seen those mosaic photo posters where tiny photos are used to create another photo along the lines of pointillist painting. The one below is an example from a software website for Mazaika, a program that facilitates making mosaic photographs. This photo of a dog is made using nothing but beer labels. Clicking on the thumbnail below will allow you to see a much larger version of the photos where you can better see the individual beer labels.

 

Quick Chilling Beer With Dry Ice

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The New Zealand Herald reported Tuesday that a Massey University student in Auckland has invented a novel device to quickly chill beer in a fraction of the time, potentially allowing people to leave the cooler at home. It’s one of thirty inventions being exhibited at the three-day Design Exposure 2007, which began Wednesday, at Massey University’s Auckland School of Design.

Twenty-two-year-old New Zealander Kent Hodgson came up with the idea for his device after being frustrated by warm beer at a backyard barbecue earlier this year. He calls it a “Huski,” and it’s described as using a “rapid cooling beverage process” involving dry ice.

“You have plastic cooling cells which are pressed down into the dock which houses the liquid carbon dioxide. The liquid CO2 expands and is pressurized into dry ice in the base of the cooling cells … in a moment.

“You then pop it into your drink and then proceed from there as you normally would.”

With a surface temperature of minus 78.5C, dry ice has a cooling capacity almost four times that of the same amount of regular ice.

“The cooling power is almost instant and is utilized for several minutes and it doesn’t dilute the drink like ice would,” said Mr. Hodgson.

One canister can chill a little more than a case of beer bottles for only about seven cents. But the initial cost of the device will likely be around $50, so you’ll probably have to do a lot of drinking to make it cost effective. Still, if it allows you to not have to lug a cooler around with you that could be a good thing.

The real question is whether or not the rapid cooling using dry ice will damage the beer in the process. Generally speaking, putting beer into the freezer to quick chill it will cause the beer to break down chemically causing chill haze, producing little floating particles in the beer and altering its taste (and not for the better). That’s why it’s never a good idea to put your beer in the freezer. Does dry ice do the same thing? It would logically seem that any method that chills the beer too quickly would similarly damage it, but I’m not a scientist so I can’t really say if using dry ice will cause the same problems. Until then, it’s an intriguing idea, at least.

Inventor Kent Hodgson shows off his “Huski” quick beer chilling device.

 

Chocolate’s Popularity Began With Beer

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A new article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a government journal, has determined that ancient Mesoamericans, as long ago as 3,100 years, were using cacao — the stuff chocolate is made from — in a beverage that bears a remarkable similarity to beer. Pottery vessels not unlike the one below recently discovered in Honduras have been found to have residues inside them from cacao plant. It is believed that the beer-like drink was a status symbol used during celebrations in the ancient society.

From a Reuters article:

One of the researchers, anthropologist John Henderson of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said cacao beverages were being concocted far earlier than previously believed — and it was a beer-like drink that started the chocolate craze.

“What we’re seeing in this early village is a very early stage in which serving cacao at fancy occasions is one of the strategies that upwardly mobile families are using to establish themselves, to accumulate social prestige,” Henderson said in a telephone interview.

I think this is part of the process by which you eventually get stratified societies,” Henderson said.

The cacao brew consumed at the village of perhaps 200 to 300 people may have evolved into the chocolate beverage known from later in Mesoamerican history not by design but as “an accidental byproduct of some brewing,” Henderson said.

The style of the 10 small, elegant serving vessels suggests the cacao brew was served at important ceremonies perhaps to celebrate weddings and births, the scientists said.

 

Craft Brewers Merge, Too

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The last time I took a trip, that one to Denver for GABF, Miller and Coors merged their domestic operations. Now I’m in Munich, Germany on my last day of a long beer trip and Widmer Brothers and Redhook announce, they too, will be merging. I have got to stop leaving the house otherwise who knows what might happen next.

Maybe it’s because the news reports I read were from Seattle newspapers, but I was surprised that Redhook is the buyer because Widmer has been the much stronger performer ever since Anheuser-Busch purchased minority stakes in both breweries in the late 1990s. Shortly thereafter, Redhook was called “Budhook” derisively by many craft beer aficionados and their reputation, as well as their business, did appear to suffer. Certainly Redhook was not as active in the community as they had been before. Widmer Brothers, on the other hand, seemed to maintain their reputation and sales continued to grow. But perhaps more importantly, the Widmers continued to be active in the brewing community and were out in the public, effectively managing to keep the perception intact that they are a quality-minded small craft brewery.

Redhook reportedly will buy stock in Widmer valued at about $50 million. The new company’s name, with no touch of irony, will be called the “Craft Brewers Alliance.” Both Widmer and Redhook will continue to brew beer as before at their respective breweries.

Their combined output will be approximately 600,000 barrels, enough to catapult them into the top ten, probably around eighth or ninth. The pair separately was number 11 and 12 last year. Kurt Widmer will become the chairman of the Craft Brewers Alliance, which also has a stake in Chicago’s Goose Island Brewing and a distribution agreement with Hawaii’s Kona Brewing. Paul Shipman, who helped found Redhook, will be given the title chairman emeritus, but effectively will be retiring from the day to day operations of the business.

 

Moylan’s Brewing Dinner at Noonan’s

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After the great success of Noonan’s last beer dinner featuring Arne Johnson’s beers from Marin Brewing, they’re hosting another one, this time featuring Denise Jone’s beers from Moylan’s Brewing from my hometown of Novato. It will be a four-course dinner and should be well worth the $79 price of admission. It will be held at the Noonan’s Bar & Grill in Larkspur (across from the ferry landing) on Thursday, November 15, 2007, beginning with a reception at 7:00 p.m. Call 415.342.1592 for more information and reservations.

 

The Menu:

 

Reception: 7:00 PM

Northern California Artisan Cheese Plate, including Vella Farms Daisy Cheddar, Laura Chenel Chevre, Point Reyes Blue and Joe Matos St. George

Beer: Moylan’s Brewery Celts Golden Ale and Moylan’s Brewery Dragoons Irish Stout

Dinner: 7:30 PM

First Course

Seared Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna with frisee, red onion, soy ginger viniagrette

Beer: Moylan’s Brewery White Christmas Witbier

Second Course:

Autumn Vegetable Soup with huajillo chile broth

Beer: Moylan’s Brewery Moylander Double IPA and Pomegranate Wheat Ale Granita

Third Course:

Roasted Niman Ranch Pork Roulade with pignoli & wild mushroom stuffing, red cabbage, potato pancake, sweet onion white wine reduction

Beer: Moylan’s Brewery “Moylanfest” Oktoberfest Marzen

Fourth Course:

Granny Smith Apple & Triple Cream Brie Turnover with port candied cranberries & fig chutney garnish

Beer: A trio of Moylan’s Brewery barrel aged beers: Old Blarney Barleywine, Ryan Sullivan’s Imperial Stout and Hopsickle Imperial Ale

Denise Jones behind the bar at Moylan’s.

 
11.15

Moylan’s Brewing Beer Dinner with Denise Jones

Noonan’s Bar and Grill, 2233 Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur, California
415.342.1592 [ event website ]