Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains

Gloria in excelsis Deo
Gloria in excelsis Deo



And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch of their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:8-11

Apparently...

... we're not emitting enough CO2 here in Houston, Texas. C'mon Texans! Let's make that carbon footprint a little bigger! BTW, you do know that this early snow in Houston has hit the elderly, minorities and poor the hardest, right? We're waiting for the relief funds from Al Gore to show up. Yup... the money oughta be along any time now...

It's the most...

... wonderful time of the year.

Iron City Brewing Equipment

As a youngster, I spent some time combing the dumps of Western Pennsylvania looking for beer cans. Those can hunts yielded some good results, not the least of which were Iron City cans, including some Steelers Superbowl commemorative versions. Good memories there.

Anyway, if you are in that neck of the woods (unlike me right now) you can bid on some brewing equipment from Iron City on October 23rd starting at 9:00 am CST. Wish I could be there, but I have a commitment that weekend. If you can be there and want some details though, click here and enjoy. Actually, you can proxy bid at the link, but you still have to get whatever you win back home; and somehow the thought of the shipping charges back to Houston scare me.

Revenge via Mediocrity

Outsource our tech support? We have ways of dealing with that. We'll send you our most mediocre beer!

Budweiser launched in north India

From correspondents in Delhi, India, 06:02 PM IST

The national capital and its neighbouring regions just got a fresh new beer to guzzle with the launch of Budweiser by the leading global brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev here Wednesday.

Heh!

The State of Things

Well, normally I try to confine my writing here to the subjects of music and beer, but I feel we're at a point now where I need to vent. This is my blog. I can do that here.

What I need to vent about is, as the title implies, the state of things; specifically the course we're on financially. It's not good. We live in a society where it's all about feeling good. Never mind what's good for us. Do any of you really think that President Obama was elected because he's what's best for America? I don't.

My dad brought to my attention last night an article by Ben Stein. It's a really fantastic article, and it puts forth a principle that should be common sense, but alas, is not. I encourage you to read the whole thing, but this section at the end is the best:

Learn Your Lessons Now -- Not Later

Cicero said something similar in his famous essay on old age, "De Senectute," from which my father often quoted. Almost everything you have in your older years is by reason of having it passed down to you by your younger self. Your habits of life and health, your home, your family, your savings. So said Cicero. (That's alliteration, friends.)

This is a powerful lesson for us all. If we want to have a decent life in our latter years, especially with Social Security and Medicare nearing collapse, we need to accumulate while we are young. We most of all need to accumulate habits of sensible living -- and especially not spending beyond our means.

If we as a nation (led by the feel-good-now-pay-later President Obama) don't heed that last bit of advice we are going to be screwed for a very very long time. I'm not convinced we're not already well on the way there.

Please don't take my pessimism here to be reserved for Democrats. They are the cause of a lot of heartache and misdirection in this country, but they aren't the only culprits.

We had 8 years of "compassionate conservatism" under President Bush, 6 years of which was both a Republican presidency and congress. Forgive me, dear reader, if I'm more than a bit underwhelmed by the modern Republican party's apparent complete lack of respect for a free market economy.

So where do we go from here? What do we do in the face of a mainstream media who highlighted Sarah Palin's lack of experience at every opportunity yet turned a completely blind eye to the fact that Barack Obama was a relatively little known Senator from Illinois with zero executive experience? At least Palin was a Governor. And she was running for VP, not POTUS. Apparently bashing her was more important than the truth. Objective reporting? What the hell is that!?!?

Do you know what I like about Sarah Palin above and beyond all else? She pisses people off. She pisses the right people off. The Republican establishment doesn't seem to like her any more than the predictably loony left. I like that.

The truth is, I don't know what we should do. I'd like to say that we form a lynch mob of responsible people to go to Washington DC, but I sense we're outnumbered. I sense we're a nation of people more concerned with what makes us feel good than what's good for us. I pray that I'm wrong about that but it doesn't look like I am. Feel free to leave your opinions in comments.

Happy 2009 Independence Day!

Hope you get to do what makes you happy today. Enjoy the freedom. I'll use some of mine to be in a neighborhood parade in a little bit and to post Elwood's Bender. God bless.



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Riverwalk Expanding

A little more than a year ago we took a trip to San Antonio. It looks like some plans have been made for The River Walk since we went.

SAN ANTONIO -- For decades, the channel of the San Antonio River north of the popular restaurants and retail shops downtown was overgrown and blighted—the kind of place tourists went only if they made a wrong turn. But not anymore.

A $72 million overhaul—essentially doubling the size of the River Walk—has transformed the dry weed-choked eyesore north of the River Walk into a 1 ½-mile manicured waterway with whimsical art, benches and fountains that can be passed on foot or by water taxi en route to attractions upriver.

Of course there is a beer connection there (why else would I be writing about it?).

The so-called museum reach of the River Walk, which opens May 30, connects visitors from the busy convention center and Alamo area to the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Pearl Brewery, a retail redevelopment project. Beyond that, this fall, a path will allow pedestrians and cyclists to keep going north along the river to Brackenridge Park, home of the Witte Museum and the zoo.

And a historical reference to brewing:

In the 1800s, the river served mills and breweries like Pearl and Lone Star, which used the water for power and to make ice. As the industrial buildings aged, however, the riverbed was largely ignored until the recent restoration push.

Cool. I'd like to go back and see the new stuff, even though Pearl or Lone Star really aren't my choice of beer.

Facing Mecha

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Throes of Robotics

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He Is Risen

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A Review - Woody Creek White

I don't usually do beer reviews here. There are already other sites out there that do a fine job of it, like this one. In all, I'd have to say that the reviews there generally reflect the writer's understanding (or misunderstanding) of what the Belgian Witbier style is supposed to be. In short, Flying Dog's Woody Creek White is a fantastic example of the style.

I know what I'm talking about on this. I drank Celis White for nearly as long as it was brewed in Austin, Texas. Even after Celis moved to Michigan I continued to pick up Celis White whenever I managed to find some on the shelves of my local Spec's. Belgian Witbier is one of my (if not my absolute) favorite styles of beer.

Trust me when I tell you that Woody Creek White is no slouch with respect to the Belgian Witbier style. Now if you don't happen to like the style, that's another matter altogether. However, if someone tells me that Woody Creek White isn't true to the style of Celis White or Hoegaarden I would maintain that person knows nothing of what Belgian Witbier is supposed to taste like.

The Shine

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Proof

Here's more proof:

McHenry county authorities arrest an alleged church burglar and the key piece of evidence that led to the arrest was a can of Busch Light beer.

So not only are macro-brew consumers criminals, but they're absolute God-less heathens in addition to their criminal behavior. Yup.

Sequence 51

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Sounds Good

I'm looking forward to trying this:

Chico, CA (03/06/2009) —Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is pleased to announce the release of Kellerweis Hefeweizen into their year-round portfolio of beers. This is the second new year-round release from the brewery in 2009, and a great addition to their lineup of world-class beers. The name Sierra Nevada is synonymous with hops, and lots of them. Kellerweis is an exception to that rule, but fortunately, no less exceptional.

I love the flavor traditional Bavarian wheat beer yeast imparts, but it's more than just the yeast itself:

For years the brewers weren’t satisfied with the beer; something was missing. In a flash of inspiration, an epic trip was arranged. The brewers took a whirlwind tour through the legendary Bavarian wheat breweries to see what they were doing. It was there they realized the advantages of making wheat beer using the traditional system of open fermentation. Sierra Nevada had been making a portion of their beer using the difficult and labor-intensive technique of open fermentation for years. Most modern brewery fermentation takes place in closed, stainless-steel tanks; this method is efficient, quick and clean. In closed tanks, however, the yeast doesn’t have the opportunity to coax as much complexity from the fermenting beer. Using shallow open fermentation, the yeast has space to build layers of flavors and aroma that would otherwise be impossible.

Sounds good. I'm eager for a taste!

Slow Rollin'

It's been a while since I played. Too much else going on. I'm doing everything possible to hang on to my job (like most everyone else I guess). Music is therapeutic to me though, so I have to make time for that. So... I'm slow rolling back into it.



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Beer Wars

I just learned of an upcoming movie called Beer Wars through fellow Houston based beer blog Barley Vine. Here's a trailer:



I would encourage anyone who can possibly go to see this movie to do so. It's only showing one day: April 16th, 2009. I'm going to make every effort to go. More attention needs to be called to the fact that mega-breweries have been serving a mass produced mediocre product to an uneducated American public for decades. Hopefully this movie helps people to recognize that reality.

I'm seeing "tea parties" spring up around the country in recognition of the reality that American taxpayers are being duped to the tune of trillions of dollars. In that same spirit, perhaps Americans can recognize the reality that the largest breweries have manipulated laws to favor their mediocre products over smaller, more quality minded brewers. It's time to take our country back from these lobbyist favoring buffoons that think they know better than us how we should spend our own money. Enough is enough.

Conventional Wisdom

It just isn't always worth listening to:

As some drown their sorrows in suds during these economic hard times, a Boulder County microbrewery is toasting its' business success. The company's secret? Doing what it was advised not to do.

"People said it was sacrilegious to put a really good, premium beer in a can." said Marty Jones, the idea man for Oskar Blues Brewery.

But 6 years ago, Oskar started hand-canning its beer. The company has experienced major growth every year since.

Read it all here. I like the Dale Pale Ale well enough, but Old Chub is the one I really like. I love a good wee heavy.

Utah Gets With The Program

Here's the link, but it's short, so I'll post the whole thing:

The Utah Senate gave final approval to a bill that will allow brewing beer and wine at home without a license.

House Bill 51 allows anyone over the age of 21 to brew up to 100 gallons of beer or wine at home in a year. If there's more than one adult in the home, the amount allowed goes up to 200 gallons.

The Deseret News reports three Republican senators voted against the bill. One of them, Senate Majority Assistant Whip Gregory Bell, R-Fruit Heights, told the newspaper he is not comfortable with home brewing because it seems "fraught with mischief."

But other lawmakers say this is mainly about brewing competitions or having a home-made drink with dinner.

The bill now goes to Gov. Jon Huntsman for final action.

Home brewing is "fraught with mischief"? These guys really need to get out more.