Speciality Review #2: Avery's Hog Heaven Barleywine style Ale

Astute readers may notice (hey Nathan what's up) that instead of the term "extreme" I've used specialty. I'm still going to maintain the numbering system I started in the last review because I wan to maintain my continuity. I'm going to give the term a spin for a while, if it doesn't work I'll go back to extreme, if only for a lack of a better term. I don't know, maybe I should frame the discussion in terms of specialty beers antithetical position in relation to the more commonly enjoyed session beer and calling it event beer or something. Anyway, that's not important right now, what is important is the beer I'm reviewing, in this case actually a barley wine, Avery Brewing Company's Hog Heaven Barleywine Style Ale. Now I'm not sure if this is actually a barleywine or just an ale that is made like a barleywine or if there is some geographic protection on the name barleywine (sort of like champagne), but I'm going to treat this as a beer anyway. This is of course problematic but for the sake of my blog (and the fact that only one person reads this blog) and the fact that in this country a barleywine is more or less a speciality brew I will treat it as a beer.

Anyway, I bought this one yesterday because I was in the mood for a "fancy beer" from Belgium. Of course this meant a "Chimay" but I couldn't find a bottle smaller than a 750 so instead I ended up with this bad boy at about the same size.

I hate to keep going back to Dogfish (the next review I do won't allow me to, hopefully) but this beer reminded me strongly of Dogfish 120. The connection is obvious, for all intents and purposes Dogfish 120 is a barleywine, and actually a much stronger one than this one, which only comes in at about 9.2% abv. I really liked this one actually, despite both my father and Nathan sort of dismissing the form altogether. I don't know what Nathan's problem is, but I know my father has had a long history of drinking beer (longer than I've been alive) and whatever his issue was it was probably important. Interestingly enough my father also liked this one, and despite his insistence that he would probably pour most of what I gave him back into my glass he drank all of it. I guess that gives you some idea of quality.


And another thing, I like Avery a lot. I've had their Salvation ale, which is 10%abv and one other which was about 9% abv. Colorado is doing a lot of exciting things with beer, so is Belgium, so is New Belgium. Ok New Belgium is actually just producing a lot of quality session beer, but who ever said that was so bad? Not me that's for sure.



Authorial voice comes through



achh I'm tired of things. Listening to Converge on my new noise canceling headphones, it's pretty intense I feel so disconnected from my typing because I cannot hear it.


Also New Year's celebration coming up, super excited!

Extreme Beer Review Number 1

So here goes the first in a series of reviews on extreme beers. In the coming weeks I will be consuming many of these beers, and also trying to formulate a better terminology.

For my first review I've selected, or rather my father has selected because he paid for it, Lagunitas' Hop Stoopid Ale, which as the title suggests is a rather hoppy beer. It's rated at 102 IBUs (International Bitterness Units) and comes in at a pretty lean (for a beer of its type) 8% abv.

What most pleased me about this beer was its fruity aroma, which comes in as a result of heavy hopping. Lagunitas makes really good stuff, their IPA is basically a mini version of this if I recall correctly (I probably don't). On thing my brother remarked on was that it tasted remarkably similar to Stone's IPA. Though I am familiar in general with Stone's products, I haven't had the IPA so I can't say one way or the other whether my brother's comparison is apt. As far as very hoppy beers go, this one wasn't as bitingly bitter as the 90 minute IPA from Dogfish, which my limited beer knowledge forces me to bring in as a comparison. I liked this beer, I would probably buy it again, but not right away. I guess I could say that for any extreme beer though, the thing that makes it extreme also turns it into a kind of singular experience for me.


Anyway, stay tuned for more beer updates. A new Spec's just opened up and it has a fairly wide selection (for this part of the country) of Dogfish I haven't tried yet.

Extreme beer!

Man every time I come home I get excited, and not just because I haven't seen my family for about 4 months, or that the weather is warmer, or that I have access to all sorts of delicious food on the cheap (free), but because it means I can finally start drinking extreme beers again.

I'm a huge fan of extreme beers, though not so much the term. To me extreme calls forth memories of adderall and mountaint dew fueled sugar freakouts and bland corporate attempts at alternative guitar rock, which I hesitate to associate with my new beverage of choice.

Needless to say, extreme in this case definitely means a deviation from the norm more than a high energy turbo crash.

Extreme beers are characterized by their unwillingness to conform to our notions of what beer should be, going even so far as to violate the sacred tenets set forth by the Bavarians in their Reinheitsgebot. I mean a lot of beers do that, namely any beer from Belgium, but you get my point. The German model for beer, a beverage made of malt, yeast, water and hops has dominated the american scene for so long (though we introduced rice into the equation because it diminishes taste, at least that's why I think it's there) that Americans often forget that other kinds of beer exist and have existed for longer than German style.

This is not to trash the German style mind you, I grew up on it. With such limited ingredients the Germans created an amazing variety of flavor that I can still hardly believe. It's just that extreme beer offers something more. It offers beer fermented with raisins or algae, or beer that has been hopped for 2 hours and then dry hopped for a month! It offers stouts that are so dark no light can escape them. Now how could I, as a burgeoning beer snob, ignore such exciting developments in the field of beer? Let's not be mistaken either, though the Belgians were often freer with their beer than the Germans, even they are being surpassed by us now. We are taking their models and pushing them to extremes, because we have the technology and the know how to be the greatest beer producing nation on earth and by GOD WE ARE


I am not at all sorry that this entry turned into a rant about America. I love this country's beer and frankly I think we get a bad rap because certain corporations have been shoving the same swill down our throats for so long that the rest of the world associates our beer with horse piss.

anyway

I'm going to use this break to drink extreme beers, and not just made by Dogfish either. Reviews to be forthcoming.

Sorry Internet, some things are too personal. Even for you.


I know this is hard, but I think we should just not talk for a couple of weeks. A combination of laziness, depression and general frustration with people has led me to believe that you are the cause of my problems, and not the excessive drinking.


Internet, you're a bitch and I hate you.



also I'm not done with you, or this blog. I just can't really talk about my life up to this point on the internet (too many people watching you see). Even writing about this seems dangerous, oh well I do it anyways because I DO NOT CARE ABOUT A SYSTEM OF TUBES DESIGNED TO EASE MY ACCESS TO THINGS I WOULD RATHER NOT HAVE SEEN.


blah fuck hell weeks and finals.



Thanksgiving was nice, surprisingly.

What kind of person gives away their otherwise perfectly functioning microwave because the light inside no longer works?


Apparently someone at Grinnell, because that is exactly what I found and claimed this afternoon as I was walking home from the library. It had a note attached that said in big capital letters, "Free" and underneath, "Works great, the light doesn't work"

I figured, well I mean there is really no other good reason for that microwave to be there and if I don't take it someone else will. It doesn't matter that I already have access to a perfectly good microwave on my floor, and that I don't have room for a microwave in my room, and that something clearly exploded inside of this one, how often do you find a free microwave?

I would venture to guess almost never of the time, which is a meaningless phrase to be sure.


So I grabbed the (surprisingly light) microwave and brought it back to my floor, where I ran into my friend Joel. Joel was as impressed with the find as I and we decided to test it out immediately. The only thing we had on hand to microwave was some left over pancake batter from the previous night. I figured what the hell and tossed it in. After some mild confusion and worry that by "light doesn't work" they meant, "the timer function which actually makes the whole thing start is broken," I set the timer for 1 minute and waited patiently.

Much to my surprise not only did the microwave work, but the pancake batter actually sort of turned into a pancake. I mean it wasn't the same color, but it was mostly the same consistency.

Thus I have learned two things:
1. Some idiot just tossed out a perfectly good microwave that instead of giving away for free they could have sold to a consignment shop or something, AND
2. You can make pancakes in the microwave.

Truly my life has been changed.

Also I still don't have a place for the microwave. I'll probably have to get rid of it, which is depressing. But instead of simply giving it away I will attempt to sell it.


Also tomorrow (or I guess today) is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. Regardless of your opinion on the matter of German Reunification (a lot of people hate that term) you cannot deny that it is an incredibly momentous occasion in German history. I hopefully be celebrating with my fellow German majors by getting irresponsibly drunk, partly on expensive imported German beer, and partly on Hawkeye Vodka, which is a chilling reminder of the dangers of drinking Hawkeye Vodka.

Somehow drinking Rum and Coke while I did research for my German paper seemed like it would be relaxing.


I was right, but in all the wrong ways. I am way too into this Sugar song right now. For those of you who are ignorant, Sugar was Bob Mould's band after Husker Du (umlauts omitted because I am not on a mac) and was for the most part a pretty good band.

Basically right now I am looking for a canonical work on modernist architecture and am failing pretty hard, though that might not be my fault.


Modernism is confusing, besonders auf Deutsch.

Fall Break

Men at Work fucking rock my world right now



seriously

Midsems can go fuck themselves



I get a break in a week!

10/10

So basically if you asked any Grinnellian what his favorite time of the year was, he would probably tell you it was 10/10.

Why?


Well the most obvious answer is because he imbibes a truly horrendous (and for most other people clearly fatal) amount of alcohol in a roughly 4-5 hour period.


But this isn't really why.


No, the reason why is much more complicated and difficult to articulate. It might be helpful to get an understanding of what 10/10 actually is before I go into what it means.



Basically 10/10 is a celebration occuring on the nearest Saturday to October 10th as possible. The reasoning behind this is that back in the old days students would get their first pay checks on the 10th and subsequently blow the contents of these checks on as much alcohol as they could get their hands on. Today the pay schedule is different but the party still remains. There are other origin stories to 10/10 and it is mostly likely that 10/10 is actually a product of all of them rather than just the first weekend students could blow their paychecks.

In any case 10/10 is a progressive party which starts at Norris, which is the northernmost dorm on campus and slowly makes its way to Gardner Lounge, which is the basement of Main Hall, the southernmost dorm on campus. Few people actually make it that far though and for most the night actually culminates in the campus wide shot at midnight, truly one of the most beautiful things about Grinnell in my opinion. 600+ (probably much more) all taking a shot more or less at once is no easy task I assure you.


10/10 is such a uniquely Grinnellian event not because it we get super trashed (to be honest I've been more trashed on other occasions, at least I that I can remember) or because it's a progressive party. No 10/10 is more than that, it's a celebration of all of us, Grinnellians of all walks of life (meaning people who live on North Campus, East Campus, South Campus and off Campus) get together and celebrate who we are. We have something the rest of the world cannot possibly understand, we have a deep and well developed mythology surrounding a party that basically should have killed us all right now.


So if I call you tonight, and I probably will, sounding impossibly intoxicated and enthusiastic understand that I am celebrating what is possibly the finest of Grinnell traditions.



10 MOTHERFUCKING 10

silly firefox

I had a pretty good entry detailing my life last night, but Firefox decided to crash and I lost it all. So instead I will simply say this:

I drank .375 L of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, a liter of Leinenkugel's creamy lager, an Oatmeal Stout from Goose Island and two steel reserves.


Plus other stuff I'm not dumb enough to talk about on the internet.


I spat on things a lot. It was pretty cool.

So it's finally started to get cold, though I don't want to jump the gun on that one.

I've been really exhausted as of late, like pass out and sleep through late morning classes kind of exhausted.


Joel and I have decided to set aside the hours of 10-midnight on Sundays to sit and be metal. We will listen to From the Depths on KTRU and contemplate all things metal. It will be good times.


Not much else to report I guess, I mean there's a ton of stuff going on but I don't want to keep revisiting it here.


I haven't showered in a while, is a phrase I utter quite frequently. I also have picked up this habit of not changing my clothes either.



This entry was kind of depressing

I am sick and I am tired. Apparently whatever virus is having its way with the rest of campus decided to pick me up at a party and ditch me before breakfast. Now I feel like shit and I got applications due. I'm basically done except for one last little thing but man is that thing taking its sweet time to get done.


Don't worry though, the health center pumped me full of drugs and so now I'm feeling better. I've bought myself some time on some assignments and later on I'm probably going to actually go to bed at a reasonable hour.



Kids this might just be a blessing in disguise.


Also this is blatant nostalgia.

Last night I couldn't sleep because I was sick so I went down to the Kum&Go (seriously guys that's what the place is called for realz) and bought a pretty white trash meal of microwaveable burrito and chili cheese fritos. I then returned to the dorms where I enjoyed both items late at night after losing a shirt and gaining a beer.

A guy who lives down the hall from me came up to me and, basically assuming I was high, started talking to me about drugs and how they make you better when you are sick. He was of course talking not about prescriptions but about the myriad of illegal and controlled substances flowing through his veins at the moment. He then sneezed on his arm and wiped it on his face while commending me on my patience in buying a product that required microwaving.

Afterward he wandered downstairs to find a friend and reappeared shortly thereafter to go back to his room where I assume he passed out.


There really isn't a point to that story.

I left Berlin for this?

Seriously though it's great being back I guess. My friends have changed but I guess I have as well.

My friend Rick and I went to see Heart/Journey at the Iowa State Fair and I kid you not I actually enjoyed myself. I never saw myself as actually liking Heart but damn if they didn't just rock the fuck out. I mean I know they're mostly just pumping out a formula but I'm finally starting to learn that sometimes that can be ok and I can just shut up and enjoy something that everybody else likes. Plus they played Magic Man, Barracuda and Crazy on You, how could I have not enjoyed myself.

Journey was basically just karaoke, they've got this new lead singer who sounds like Steve Perry but doesn't have any of the charm, and it just felt fake, not that the audience seemed to care. More often than not they would drown him out.

I will give Journey some credit though, they have the all the cliches of a 70's/80's stadium rock band down pat. At all the right moments the lead singer climbed on top of a speaker/the drum stand and jumped down exactly when he was supposed to and he never hesitated to point at the audience and encourage them to clap by mimicking the motions with his hands. On level it was some kind of bizarre performance art because it did seem so constructed but really it was just midwesterific. Ultimately I was happy enough to say that now I have seen Journey and no one can force me to see them again.


I had plenty of state fair food but it wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. Sure they had all the usual suspects: corndogs, pork chops on a stick; fried snickers; fried oreos; continuously peeled potatoes covered in nacho chees as well as some foods that I wasn't expecting, such as the pickle dawg, a truly delightful concoction consisting of a pickle slathered in cream cheese or wrapped in either pastrami or ham. It was all delicious and incredibly heart stoppingly unhealthy but it wasn't the chocolate covered bacon or beer on a stick that I had hoped for. Rick and I were there on the last day of the fair so that might have affected it somewhat. We missed out on a lot of the quintessentially Iowan stuff that you only find at the state fair but we did find free parking and discounted tickets so that was a win.


I have homework to do, which is kind of an alien concept. I turned in a paper the other day that I might have to apologize for later on. Oh well.


Anyway, just got invited to a bluegrass jam that happens weekly so I'm excited about that.

I'm just stealing things now.



I've had to eat some of her recipes, they were kind of bland and eh.

and actually that article isn't about rachael ray at all so fuck it


I hate Rachael Ray, a lot of people do, it ain't even a thing any more


I don't think she actually hates America, but this ad I found suggests otherwise.

I realize it's been overdubbed, but that's not the point!



Rachael Ray is the devil: Proof!



I know that doesn't prove anything.



This article might prove to be something.


My favorite is the last one, "She recently told an autograph seeker, "There is no Rachael Ray, only Zul."


Brilliant

Flying Saucer Pie Co.

Ok so Freepress Summerfest, despite only happening about a week ago, is already a distant memory in my head but because I said I would talk about it here are a few brief points:

Houston bands by and large are very good and we are very lucky to have such a diverse and fruitful group of musicians making music in our fair city.

Austin has some very nice bands that came down to help out, though I kind of wish some more Houston bands had been allowed more time than they got, especially Los Skarnales who have been around as long as I can remember (which actually is through most of high school)

Some guys started a fight during Broken Social Scene's set which doesn't even make any kind of sense. Kevin Drew stopped the set to yell at the two guys. His solution to the problem was one dick go one way and the other dick go the other way. The crowd cheered afterwards. The band picked up more or less where they left off, which for 8 or 9 people is very impressive.

Explosions in the Sky were definitely the best show I've seen in quite some time. It was a balmy summer night and the sun was setting, it was all very dramatic. I would highly recommend seeing them under these or any conditions.

It was really hot, but the vitamin water was free and beer was only 5 dollars.

There was a lot of weed, and the cops didn't seem to mind.

Devin the Dude was fucking fantastic, though whomever was working sound wasn't really on their game. The bass during "She Want that Money" completely overwhelmed the sound system and the hook got totally lost in the mix which is a shame because it's a good hook.

All in all it was great to finally see Houston with a music festival. We're a great city with a great scene and it was great to see all those bands assembled in one place for so cheap. If I can offer only one praise for this festival (not that I don't have more) it was that the whole thing seemed as non-commercial as possible. Beer and water were both plentiful and cheap and security allowed attendees to bring their own water. Despite the big names performing prices for weekend passes never rose above $20 which would have been enough to see any of the national acts alone.

It was a spectacular festival and despite the heat I had a really great time. I really hope to see something like this happen again next year.



Anyway, on to the main event, an institution Nathan and I have been trying to visit for at least 2 years, the Flying Saucer Pie Co. This has been difficult due to its opening hours, which end at 6 in the evening and Nathan and I constantly forgetting that we wanted to visit. Well a few months ago I discovered a program that emails your future self and reminds you to do something you've promised yourself to do in the past (it also does much more than that, also that last sentence was a little confusing but whatever you just deal with it ok). We both sent ourselves emails and were finally reminded of our duties to flying saucer.

Now unlike House of Pies, which is open 24 hours a day pretty much everyday except Christmas (where it really isn't open I don't think), Flying Saucer Co. is only open till 6. Also unlike the House of Pies it does not make a wide variety of pie, and once they run out of a particular variety they will not make any more for the day. So naturally working around their conditions for pie are a little difficult but not impossible. As it turns out they make more than enough pie to last them to 6 and even if you get there at around 3 or 4 you'll have more than enough to choose from.

So anyway I pick up Nathan from his house and we make our way to the loop. The trip was filled with discussions of my brother's idiocy and Devin the Dude. Eventually we find Flying Saucer Pie Co. The sign outside encourages visitors to try the pecan and strawberry pies, and had ample parking. Once inside we saw that there was no place to sit and everything was to go. So Nathan and I got slices of pie, I got the pecan and he got the strawberry The pecan pie was really good, the insides were gooey but not too runny and the pecan layer on top was nicely caramelized. Nathan's strawberry pie was made with whole strawberries and also looked quite good. We both raved about our pie and proclaimed that it was worth the trip which really hadn't taken that long.



I go back to Iowa in less than a week, I still need to pack.

So I am currently drinking my first durian smoothie. For those of you who are still unfamiliar with this very unique and interesting fruit, Wikipedia exists for a reason.

Anyway it definitely seems like an acquired taste, as all I can say about it right now is that it's creamy goodness sandwiched between two farts. It kind of smells like my cousin Sam's apartment, which isn't to say his apartment smells bad, it just smells like durian.



Anyway I should probably move onto more interesting territory shouldn't I?

Next Post: Free Press Summerfest!

So I guess it's time to kick this thing off up right, but first a little disclaimer I forgot to include in my last entry:

If you are offended by vulgar language, sexual or suggestive language, depictions of copious drinking, poor spelling and punctuation and all around poor life choices please don't read my blog. Also please don't tell my mom about it either.



Anyway to kick this thing off right we have a couple of links:

http://beernews.org/2009/08/dogfish-head-and-sierra-nevada-brewing-form-epic-collaboration-for-life-limb/

http://www.thebeerinme.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?5646.0


I didn't really have anything smarmy to say to put in place of those links so they just get a straight up nude posting here.


I for one am incredibly excited for November to roll around. Both of these breweries are some of the best in their league, for entirely different reasons of course. Sierra Nevada produces straight up class beer, that is to say its beer isn't anything crazy it's just damn good. It's one of the few good beers I can get in Grinnell that I still buy at home. The folks over at Sierra Nevada have been bolstering and encouraging the craft and micro brew industry for almost 30 years now and this collaboration is sure to open a new chapter in what is already a venerable brewstory (get it history + brewing? eh eh well fuck you it's a good joke).

As for Dogfish so much has already been said about how they're completely revolutionizing the industry, or trying to. While most of what has been written is true I can't say they're making much of an impact, which is something that New Yorker article I read last year also said. That aside I haven't had as much Dogfish as Sierra Nevada. I had the 90 minute IPA (that's 90 minutes of continual hopping, yeah it is way more than usual) once and it knocked me off my feet both in terms of taste and abv (9.0%). It is definitely not a beer for the casual beer drinker, but for the truly adventurous among us it is certainly a treat. Dogfish is doing all sorts of crazy stuff that has nothing to do with IPAs and for many years has been working on becoming more than just a novelty in the beer community.

I for one am excited about this collaboration, like most other people. You don't really see a lot of collaborative brews. If you can get your hands on it, Life&Limb (the 10% beer) comes out in November and Limb&Life (5%) comes out in October.

Here's a brief description of the 90 minute IPA:

so this thing is dead, at least in the way I originally planned it. I was originally going to post pictures of people in Germany dancing, mostly because its funny but also because it's the kind of quirky idea that seems to dominate the blogosphere these days, or at least did when I formed my conception of the blogosphere (do people even say that anymore?).

Anyway I have changed my mind about this blog but have decided to keep the title because I like it. Instead I'm going to use this blog as a general non-project specific blog. Some of you may have read my other blog on blogspot, Ich steh' auf Berlin! which was about my experiences in Berlin for the spring semester of my Junior year. I may continue in the vein of project specific blogging in the future but for now nothing especially noteworthy is going on in my life. I stand at a key point in my life, I am about to leave that liminal state known as college that seperates the worlds of childhood and adulthood. I want to use this blog in part to record my experiences in dealing with the transition which has already begun to emerge in my mind if not necessarily my life. Apart from that I also realized that after years and years of having a livejournal I missed having a public place on the internet to write about my life, especially because I'm doing all sorts of neat stuff now. I wanted a place on the internet to just be me, without the expectation of a specific topic, such as life in Berlin (which to be honest is pretty banal to hear about sometimes when you don't have a lot of money, not that there's anything wrong with that) but that also didn't have the stigma of highschool poet turned full-fledged amateur whiner that is livejournal.

Thankfully I am not alone in my endeavors, my old friend Nathan recently relaunched his website in blog form and the results have been encouraging for me. Nathan found a fresh start with his website and now I've found mine with blogspot.

As for general topics, I plan on writing about the things I love like beer, music, food, grilling, the Astros, the Dynamo, my dog, German(y) and of course Grinnell.

I'm looking forward to writing in this thing fairly regularly, though like my Berlin blog updates will vary in frequency. If you want more regular contact I have facebook and email and a telephone.