G&T

The video claims they changed the signs, but when? What's ridiculous is that it was so blatant, but, yeah, that's when you put one in his thigh.

Ricky Nolasco with a 16 K night. Another brilliant move there.

Haven't heard of many of them, and didn't see any of them.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 03:24 PM) Having been mostly out of the Finer Things loop for a couple of weeks, I need to go back and catch up with some previous posts. . . Have you cracked this yet? I can't wait to hear what you think of it. Have not touched it yet. Probably won't happen until the weekend, but I'll post my thoughts. I don't know if I can drink fresh Hennepin again. I think the result would be the same if you just aged it in for a couple years, but it's almost worth the money to have them do it for you.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 11:37 AM) I dont think Obama went there so he could come back empty handed. That's the question in my mind. Did he go because he thinks he can change voter's minds, or did he go because he knows their minds are made up?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 08:57 AM) I tought I was a beer snob... until I read this thread and realized that I am nothing on the beer snobbery scale, and the beer knowledge scale for that matter. I'll just throw a name out there, that I don't think I've seen discussed in here yet... 90 Shilling, by O'Dells (Colorado). Fave beer ever. Nectar of the Gods. Unfortunately, they don't ship outside CO and some nearby states, because they don't put preservatives in the beer whatsoever - the only way to get it elsewhere is to order it online. Anyone ever had it? Yeah, I'm a snob. It's an illness, cured only by drinking...I hope. I LOVE scotch ales. Have you ever tried 3 Floyd's Robert the Bruce? Probably the best scotch ale I've had. Haven't had the 90 Shilling, but the Robert the Bruce might be a good substitute. By the way, very few breweries put preservatives in their beers. Macros tend to because they have no hops. No craft brewer ever adds preservatives to the best of my knowledge. Hops are a natural preservative. Interestingly, the preservative quality of hops is the reason for the India Pale Ale style, which is essentially an English ale with a ton of hops to survive the trip to India back during the days of English rule. It's more likely that O'Dells just doesn't have the capacity to brew for national distribution. Also, the larger the batches, the more likely a drop in quality will occur. They might not want to sacrifice quantity for quality.

I had the Smuttynose Pumpkin offering over the weekend. Plenty of pumpkin but also a high level of hops which leaves it difficult to drink for me. Very bitter and very spicy. However, after about half a glass, that bitterness fades a bit and leaves a solid pumpkin beer. Shipyard is easy to come by out here, and while there is good pumpkin flavor in theirs, its a bit thin for my tastes. I also had the Blue Moon Pumpkin which was pretty nondescript. Southern Tier (which I thought I had but I can't remember) and Weyerbacher are 2 that I would like to try.

QUOTE (AssHatSoxFan @ Sep 26, 2009 -> 11:23 PM) Had a Stone Ruination IPA last night and a Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale tonight... both are very good! I give a lot of credit to people that can stomach that level of hops. The Ruination rates over 100 for bittering units. That's pretty ridiculous. 50 would be considered bitter by normal standards. So 100 is an assault.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Sep 28, 2009 -> 01:30 PM) 182 dollars. What is he, her uncle?

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Sep 24, 2009 -> 02:30 PM) Isn't Manhattan an island? No. It's more like a peninsula.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 04:25 PM) Time out. What's going on in here now? Unfortunately, they seem to be speaking in song.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Sep 24, 2009 -> 11:29 PM) Yeah, my drinking has been pretty light for a couple weeks (huge event coming up at work on Saturday that's all on me), and with you and bmags on walkabout the Finer Things thread got ignored for a little while. Let us not speak of it again. Man, I'd love to try some of those New Glarus brews — it's been way too long. What little tippling I've done has been mostly rummy, but I've snuck a few festbiers in as well. I think this year's Sam Adams O'Fest is pretty good, malt-accentuated like it should be and with some Munich character for sure. I've mostly had bottles and one marginal draft that I think got manhandled somewhere because it was not all that good. Seeing as my big work event is now looming and I'm stressed, I'm doing some drinking tonight. Couple Spievak Zombies with minor tweaks. The current iteration uses Barbancourt 8 Star (how can you go wrong with Hatian rhum in a zombie?) as one of the 4 rums, and is served up in my angry Maori tiki mug complete with and extra 1/2 oz of Gosling's 151 in a half lime shell and set aflame to spectacular effect. Damn thing burned for almost 10 minutes. I think I need to get some of those long metal straws you sometimes see for sale by the Slurpee machine at 7-11 so I can actually drink my drink whilst it's still flaming. I had said something similar earlier. I had Octoberfest on tap and bottled, and there is no question that the bottle is better. One day I'm going to try your tiki recipes, but I just splurged on Stingo so...maybe I should wait.

I'm currently doing a tasting of fresh Hennepin vs. Cave Aged Hennepin and the results are in. Cave Aged is AMAZING and blows away the fresh version. First, a little background. Ommegang sets aside a few cases a year of each Hennepin, Abbey Ale, and 3 Philosophers to sit in the Howe Caverns for a year at a constant 52 degrees. I have been to the Howe Caverns and they showed where this is done. Basically it's just a closet in the cave, carved from the rock. They also age Cabot cheese there. This is a traditional form of storage for beer. Aging can been effectively accomplished without the cave in a basement or a closet (as I can attest), but it's nice when the brewery does it for you. Unfortunately, you pay for the honor. This beer was pulled in December of 2008 and has been awaiting my taste buds in the Ommegang Brewery shop ever since. On to the results, and the differences are clear. Fresh Hennepin is very citric. The palate is pretty thin and finishes sweet. There is some orange and banana, but the citrus is predominant. There are yeasty notes typical of a saison. This is good beer, but lacks depth. The Cave Aged is rich, and malty. The citrus has subsided and given way to earthy notes. The palate is creamy and the flavors linger a bit longer. There is a flavor and aroma that I can't pin point, but I think the best description is caramel apple. It's present in the fresh version as well, but only in the background. Lacing has improved dramatically over time. The color difference is also remarkable. The fresh is golden and hazy, the cave aged is reddish. Saisons are low hop beers so I'm not certain what exactly is happening in the bottle, but it's all good. The Cave Aged is about $16 as opposed to $7, but the price difference is made up for in a refined, rounded character. This is just a beautiful beer. It's unfortunate that these are only available at the brewery, which is 2 hours from me. But I might have to make a return trip at some point to try the other selections and grab more Hennepin!

Found Stingo at the bottle shop today. Probably shouldn't have spent that much on 1 bottle, but since it's the only one I'll ever buy, it's worth it.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 11:10 AM) I think Bobby Abreu is the guy to try and get this winter. In my mind, he's the perfect replacement for Thome at DH. He brings the things you liked about Thome - the OBP and RBIs - while also bringing something Thome was obviously severely lacking, which is speed. And also like with Thome, he would help balance out what is a rather righty-heavy line-up at the moment. He's been one of those guys whom Kenny Williams has targeted in the past, and he seems to have a good rapport with fellow Venezeulan Ozzie Guillen. So in all material respects he just seems like he'd be a very good fit for the White Sox as the designated hitter for the next year or two. Doubtful. The time to get him was last off season when he was dirt cheap and the Sox didn't get him. He had a great year and will want a big contract. Is he worth it? Probably. Will the Sox spend it? Doubtful.

He's making $6M this season. They don't appear to want to pay Jenks $7M, so I can't imagine they would come close to that for any pen piece right now that isn't a dependable closer. Unfortunately Liney is still making $5M next year.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Sep 24, 2009 -> 11:29 PM) Yeah, my drinking has been pretty light for a couple weeks (huge event coming up at work on Saturday that's all on me), and with you and bmags on walkabout the Finer Things thread got ignored for a little while. Let us not speak of it again. Man, I'd love to try some of those New Glarus brews — it's been way too long. Outside of Crack'd Wheat I wasn't that impressed. The Fat Squirrel was an uninspired brown ale and Spotted Cow tastes nothing like a farmhouse. However, they have a lot of stuff that is very highly regarded that I couldn't find in one weekend. If I get another chance, I'll look harder. BTW, we were way up in northern Wisconsin and they just built a tiki-bar. Calm down, Jim. It's still northern Wisconsin and it's fun, but not authentic. However, for $5 they mix up a bucket of Cruzan and a bunch of ice and juice to make something delicious. After I was a bit tipsy I asked for the finest rum they had, which was some kind of Rhum that I could only pick out if I saw the label. I tried some on the rocks since just to see if I'd be blown away by what good rhum might taste like (if it even was good, which I don't know). Tasted like cognac. While I was impressed that it tasted like cognac, I was also reminded that I don't care for cognac. So, in very un-Finer Things fashion, I swallowed my pride and had it made into an awesome daiquiri. They put plenty of parasols in it and I think they called me a nancy. I didn't care.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 24, 2009 -> 11:43 PM) So tell me the finer things about Icehouse... The style that created Icehouse (eisbock) is pretty interesting. Brewers used to store barrels of wheat dopplebock outside during the fall, and, if they weren't attentive, the water in the beer would freeze leaving a highly alcoholic beer (one of the most authentic offerings, Schneider, hitting 12%) that was also very rich. For Schneider, this "problem" occured during transportation before climate control. Eisbocks are sippers to be sure. Unfortunately, Icehouse carries none of those attributes forward. I can't imagine there is much else other than water in the beer, so I don't know what they froze. The ABV is 5.5% as opposed to about 4% for Miller Lite. So...I guess that's something.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 18, 2009 -> 08:42 AM) Now is the time of year I drink about 100 bottles of Sam Adams Octoberfest. I can't believe this fell to the second page, but, if you like Octoberfest, grab the Harvest pack and try the dunkelweizen. It's a solid example of the style and pretty tasty. Meanwhile, I was in Wisconsin last weekend and had my fill of New Glarus: Crack'd Wheat, Fat Squirrel, and Spotted Cow. Crack'd Wheat was the standout there by far. Also had Bell's Oberon and 2 Hearted. Good stuff. Even though I'm no hop head, I think the 2 Hearted was better than the Oberon (completely different styles, btw, but Oberon was too hoppy for a summer ale for my tastes).

People who are involved in child porn don't bring pictures to be developed at Walmart. And the power to determine what is and what is not child porn cannot reside in some clerk developing pictures. As a result, the problem here isn't the policy, it's either the police (most likely) or Child Protective Services who should have looked at the pictures and known what they were looking at wasn't sexual in nature before taking the children away. However, I haven't seen the pictures, so there is no way to know how they made their determination. But the reaction shouldn't be unexpected. I worked for a summer in special victims for the DA. Child predators are EVERYWHERE and this stuff is taken very seriously. After that summer, I can tell you that I would never post pictures of a young child online and would never take nude pictures of my child no matter how cute it might be. But most people don't think about that.

Thanks for the info Flaxx. I'll be away for the weekend, but when I get back, I'm going to have to make a trip to the liquor store...and the book store.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 07:58 PM) i dont ever use anything but on demand anymore...why go any where when i can sit on my ass and do it all from my couch On demand is comparatively expensive.

While it might be true, Bill gates never said any of those things. Linky

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 01:28 AM) Perhaps some forgot the original guidelines? The idea is simple, each sentence added to the discussion must begin with the next letter of the alphabet and be seven words or less. Really?

QUOTE (hogan873 @ Sep 14, 2009 -> 05:12 PM) When Pods is looking to the 3rd base coach for signs it looks like he's ready to cry. He always seems to have that emotional look on his face. That would be the fire and the passion.