Sam Adams Glassware

As a member of the American Homebrewing Association,
i just received my two free unsolicited newly designed
glasses from Sam Adams. It sure pays to be an AHA member:
Nice discounts at brewpubs all over the country
and now free beer glasses. You should join AHA too!

This new vessel has all kinds of fancy features, the purpose is ambitious:
"delivering sweetness from the malt;
maximizing the hops aroma and flavor;
maintaining the ideal temperature;
supporting a rich and creamy head;
and sustaining the right amount of carbonation."

They teamed up with "Tiax, a Boston-area company that
for decades has worked with food, beverage and pharmaceutical
companies to create and enhance products. [...] "They spent almost
three months on the project before handing over a 300-page report."
They then sent this over to the German glassware specialists Rastal
and this is their new baby:


The marketing materials sure look great right?
So once i received them, it was time to put'em to the test.


Well right out of the box, the new glasses were underwhelming. The marketing pictures just looked so much nicer, big and shiny. I passed on the SA Boston Lager and I picked up Sammy's O'fest instead, which by the way they claim is the widest selling o'fest beer in the world... hmm... I grabbed a snifter glass which i tend to favor, which are good for malty brews such as the o'fest.

The "constant aroma releasing laser-etched circle" on the bottom on the glass is a little hard to see but pretty nifty. It's fun to try to see the circle of bubbles rising up through the brewksi.

The shape was pleasant to hold. Also I could try to imagine a small improvement in terms of aroma, and to a lesser extent for taste and mouthfeel, but I couldn't really tell decisively if there was any difference at all.

What I did enjoy was the curved lip. It was just a very confortable and natural fit. All glasses should be like that! That curvature was definitely an improvement with the more pronounced curve that on the Gulden Draak glasses i like too.

Overall I'd have to say it's certainly a very nice glass. I've
also read an enthusiastic endorsement online from a guy who
enjoyed the practical nice fit of the upside down glass over
a beer bottle. I doubt it will become my go-to glass, but
it is assuredly a nice new addition to my collection. And
it might just call for a lot more experimentation....

Cheers and thank you Mr. Jim Koch!!

For more info:
Article from Realbeer.com
Boston Beer Company presentation

Crab Fest '07

Jorge was not kidding around


We got down to business


Check out the slideshow


Or browse all 22 pix here:
See y'all next year again!

Atisu et copains

It was the year I turned 20
studying abroad in the South of France.
In the bleak worn hallways of the student dorms,
I heard Atisu singing.


Cathal was already penning gorgeous songs for her

David and I were more than happy to join up with our guitars.
'tis' found us a few gigs around town and for local radio shows.

Namibia and Cape Town

Our NamibiMobile
Notice the rooftop tent, unfolded and ready in minutes.


Hoba Meteorite.
At 60 tons, the largest known meteorite.


Elephants at Halali water hole, Etosha National Park


Twyfelfontein Petroglyphs
With over 2,000 figures, it's one of the largest collections
of rock engravings in Africa dating from the Late Stone Age.
Also Namibia's first UNESCO World Heritage site, declared in 2007.


Keepin' cool


Dune Playing in the Skeleton Coast


Dune Topper near Walvis Bay


Desert critter


Dead Vlei, Sossusvlei


Whale watching in Hermanus, South Africa


Ciao


Slideshow (all 164 pictures)

Quote of the Day: Eunuchs

"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how its done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves."

Brendan Francis Behan (1929-1964), Irish Poet

National Toast for Beer Writer Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson passed away in his London home last month.
The world of craft beer mourns and celebrates its single greatest advocate.

His beer tasting sessions were always insightfully illuminating
and thoroughly entertaining. With his impressive knowledge of
the complete universe of beer, he was a masterful orator,
frequently digressing with countless anecdotes but always somehow
getting back to expertly showcasing the wonderful beers.

He often promoted the sense of place.
He would tell us about the place where the beer was brewed:
the actual room, the building, the town, the region, the country.
He regaled his appreciative audiences with stories about the people who made the beer, about the complex history behind the different styles of beers.

There were also some pretty good stories about the master storyteller himself. My single favorite one was relayed by fellow BURPer Tim Artz. He first posted it on our local beer discussion group and it was then reprinted in this months' BURP (Brewers United for Real Potables) newsletter. Here it is, shamefuly without any express permission of any kind:

"Many years ago when the AHA Conference was in Manchester, NH, I found myself in the hotel elevator with Michael Jackson. He inserted a key card to go to the penthouse level of the hotel and mentioned that it was nice to have such things paid for by the Discovery Channel folks.

I asked him about some of the unusual homebrews he had tried during the week. He mentioned that he really expected in New England to see more homebrews made with maple syrup, and he wanted to try some maple syrup beers. I replied that I had some Maple Syrup Old Ale in my room, and I would fetch a bottle and meet him back in the ballroom. I tracked him down with my bottle, and his eyes widened when he tasted the beer. He commented on the sherry notes and then was swamped by others getting him to try their brews. Several times throughout the evening, I would turn around, and there he was with glass extended looking for another sip.

The Manchester conference hotel did not permit us to have hospitality suites, parties in rooms, or even consume alcohol outside of the ballroom. Each evening was a ritual of shuttling beer from rooms to the ballroom. One night, my future wife and I ended up staying up til sunrise with the Chicago Beer Society guys, Kinney Baughmann, and Greg Noonan. When I finally went to turn in, two young women in hot pants, hip boots, and halter tops jumped in my elevator to go up. They produced a key card for the penthouse suite, and rode up. I thought, "Hmm....Discovery Channel account." The next day, we barely made it out of bed for the luncheon where Michael Jackson was the keynote speaker. I nearly fell off my chair when his first words were, "Just a few hours ago, I learned that lust is much better than love!"

Brew-pub'in' Montréal

Here is the much delayed account of our jaunt up to
gorgeous and lively Montréal. Even the daily downpours
could not possibly tame the Québécois vivaciousness.

Things started off superbly when I spotted Le Cheval Blanc
brewpub as we were pulling into the bus terminal coming
from the airport. Beers were all clean and solid.
The friendly waitress was a doll and even bought us a round.
The hefeweizen with a lime! was admirably thirst quenching.


Over the following days I got to visit with a dear ol'
friend and even randomly bumped into an even older friend
I had last seen 16 years ago on a different continent.
T.A. will forever be that cool cat that lent me a tape
with Led Zeppelin I on one side and Led Zeppelin II on the
other. As a 14-year old living in North Africa, that just
blew my mind. I wore out that tape non-stop for weeks until
he finally made me my own copy from his dad's LPs.

While up there we of course visited a plethora of brewpubs
and beer bars. They ranged from quaint unassuming little jewels
such as Montréal's oldest bar Le Vieux Dublin to sparkly
soul-less mega-chains.

I was delighted to revisit old favorites such
as the impressive patio at St Elisabeth Pub.
And it was exciting to see some newcomers such as
Brasserie Bénélux which had a terrific porter.

A good place to stock up is Super Marché Rahman,
Le Paradis de la Bière, 151 Laurier West,
it's just a couple blocks west of Dieu du Ciel.
We also hit up Brutopia, Le Réservoir, and L'Amère à Boire.



We rented a couple bikes for the pleasant 40 mile
roundtrip ride to picturesque Chamblis for a pilgrimage
to Unibroue's must-visit Fourquet Fourchette restaurant.




We checked out the wonderful Atwater Market to load up on
fresh fruits and a wondrous selection of Québec cheeses.

Scrumptious mussels and gourmet pizzas were on the menu (not pictured...) at Le Sergent Récruteur and Bières et Compagnie.





All in all this was a fantastic trip. We did stay away from
cheese and beers for a little while after getting back...
Montréal is as fun place to visit as ever and the jazz fest
was outstanding as always.

Happy Independence Day

As with almost every year around this time
I'll be heading up to Montréal during the holidays
for the fantastic Jazz Festival and to bask
in the city's fun multicultural vibe and cool hipness.


So happy 4th of July y'all,
don't let little dubya and his pals ruin the country

any more while I'm gone.

God Bless America!

Triple Double Medalists

yeah baby! we gots homebrewing medals!!!!

"Where my troopers at?"

Wyclef, Shaggy and the Ska-Talites are doing a free
outdoors show in DC, so I've been listening to ol' Wyclef.

There's a fantastic sample at the start of the
"Hollywood to Hollywood" track off his 2000 "Ecleftic" album.

I finally found out what song that came from:
Super Cat "Dolly my Baby" (Bad Boy Extended Mix, 1993)
Featuring Third Eye, Notorious B.I.G and Sean "Puffy" Combs
propelled by Herbie Hancock and the Headhunter's "Watermelon Man"

Ginger, Guinness, Guava, Lychee... Ice Cream

York's Tropical Ice Cream in Silver Spring
is a Jamaican family-run quaint piece of heaven.

The crystallized ginger and coconut/pineapple
ice creams were fantastic, fresh and not overly sweet.

www.yorkcastleicecream.com
9324 Georgia Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-589-1616

Iritis Band is Alive

Take a sneek peak out our myspace page under construction!
http://www.myspace.com/iritis

Spirit of Free Beer

The results are in for this year's Spirit of Free Beer.
My first ever homebrewing prize!

Click for full results:

SoFB is a nationally sanctioned homebrew competition,
open to anyone, and organized by my local homebrewing Club,
the Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP).

Yes I have been a proud BURPer for a good 6 years or so now.
I've been sporadically and lackadaisically brewing beer for
about 10 years now, yet i had never won or even placed in any
of the 5 or 6 competitions I had entered.

This time I benefited from the direct help of the famed Wendell,
it was Beth's lucky first brew and we got some kick-ass
yeast slurry from a local professional brewer.

Not only did we win the 3rd prize in the hotly disputed
Robust Porter category, but we won the top honor
for Extract Brewing.

Yeeeehaw!
Cheers

Life Imitates Art or The PinkEye Cometh

Taken a few hours after my first personal trip to the ER.
At least it would make a good album cover
and perhaps even gave us a name for the band:
Iritis.

..where the first "i" is the most High.
Jah, Rastafari!

Blenheim Ginger Ale

Oh this is so incredibly delicious.

It stings, it burns and it uplifts.

Brewed in South Carolina since 1903,

it's a classic true to its roots.

I praise the blessed land
that also brought us James Brown.


Blenheim Old #3 Hot for me, baby!

Little Peapod

In a stroke of pure nerdy genius,
my coworker Chris and his wife lovingly
dressed up their poor kiddo for a special event..

Here's from their blog:

"Andrea and Gabe at the opening for the National Museum of Health and Medicine's new exhibit, "Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics." When he starts dating, mom will proudly pull out this picture and he'll be totally mortified. All the scientists (and others who attended the event commented, "Oh, he's the green, smooth variety!" What a cutie!"

Soccer final

Yeehaw!
We're in the final!!!

After a great 3-2 victory in the first leg of the play-offs
last night, the MDA Federales won a spot in the finals.

The game will be next wednesday evening,
here's the full score sheet.

Pinkeye

Here's our latest song with François and Binesh.

I just got done reworking it...
"remixing" and "mastering" are too big words for
something so raw that we laid down in just a couple of takes.

Music and lyrics are all from Francie's tainted soul,
some snippets:

"Sail the ship with no name"
"..backwards walking in
to love dressed up as sin
the cure for your purpose"
"chasing piece of mind
will soon be left behind"

Maybe he's been listening to too much Mars Volta lately.

Francie was going for the Pink Floyd melded vocals sound.
I tried to embellish (read "bury") our voices with effects.
But we just might need a real singer.

This song is radically different from our first, Houroub which
is more of the east-west fusion i really love.

Speaking of which, i recently discovered an amazing Iranian-American
singer/songwriter. Her name is Haale. This is what the NY Times wrote about her:
"Percussionists provided driving rhythms...over which Haale's warm, supple voice unfurled like a curlicue of smoke. Her band's amplified rumble served as a reminder of the extent to which rock bands like the Doors and the Velvet Underground turned to the East for their most hypnotic efforts; here their borrowlings were reclaimed with interest."

There are numerous uncanny parallels with my Iranian-Spanish friend Atisu and our jazz-folky band during my student year of living in Toulouse, France. I'll try to dig up some of the tapes from a couple radio shows we played and post them up here for you to check out.

Ok, enough digressing, here's our latest, Pinkeye!
Let me know what you think!

Soccer Team Work

Our indoor soccer team is dragging along this season.
The league screwed us up so consistently it
looks intentional. First they caused us to miss
an entire season and then they stuck us in the last
division on a different day that we had requested.

For our game last night, 5 players (out of 10)
didn't show up, some with good reason but most
just didn't turn up, leaving the team severely depleted.
The ragtag team still managed a win but it wasn't pretty.

At least there is still is some inspirational soccer
out there: selfless and flawless. Enjoy:

10 Year College Reunion

Old Friends, Many Beers and Old Bay Crabs