Friday, October 31, 2008

Fun Fact Friday!

This week's installment is quite spooky! Ok no, it's not. As a matter of fact the only thing that might be considered scary would be my vocabulary. Spooky? When am I going to learn that grandma ISN'T up to date with her slang? Anyway since it is Halloween today I felt that a little history lesson was in need to understand why we dress up, ask strangers for candy, or get drunk. The quasi-holiday began in Celtic times in Ireland to celebrate the end of the harvest season. Around this time of year in Ireland, along with Oregon, crops start to die off because of the crappy weather. Well the Celts saw this as a mixing of the living world and the dead world; thus the Celts felt a need to scare off the dead world by having animal sacrifices and burning the animal remains in a large fire. At the same time they would be wearing masks and costumes in attempt to copy the dead.

The Irish immigrants spread this wonderful day to the US in the 19th century where we have put our own traditions in place, most notably, the pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern. The Irish would carry a light, but instead of it being in a pumpkin, the light would typically be in a turnip or rutabaga. The Irish always used the head of the plant because the head was seen as the most powerful part of the human body, thus making it the best weapon to fight off the dead and their spirits. The name Jack-O-Lantern came from Irish lore as well. It's been told that a farmer known as Stingy Jack tricked the Devil up a tree, then carved a cross on the tree, in attempt to keep the Devil there. In turn, the Devil laid a curse on old Stingy Jack that forced him to walk only at night, with his only light being a candle inside a turnip. The reason why we use Pumpkins is because we have a better inventory of them, and they just look cooler.

Well have a safe Halloween, get some free candy, enjoy the Simpsons Haunted Tree House episode on sunday, and...............PROUST!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Liberty Ale/ Fun Fact Friday!

The Liberty Ale I had last night, was possibly the most needed beer of my life. Not only did the Freshman football team I help coach lose badly to the cross town rivals, one of our kids broke his leg, which shook me up a bit. At that point in the night I really didn't care what the beer by the infamous Anchor Brewery in San Fran tasted like, I just needed comfort in malted barley and hops. Oh how the bitterness of hops can really keep your head level.

The second I opened the brew, I could smell the intense hop flavor the beer was going to have. Actually, I really don't remember much of a sweet malt taste to it, just the fine bitterness of a strongly hopped beer. If you're looking for a beer that will smack you in mouth to get you out of a bummed mood, I would strongly suggest this one. And an episode of the Office helps too.

On the interesting/FFF side, the beer was originally released on April 15th (14? One of the two)
1975 in celebration of Paul Revere's historical ride two-hundred years before. As long as we're on the subject of American Revolution, apparently, George Washington had a hellacious right arm. I mean, the guy had a CANNON! Multiple stories exist talking about how in throwing competitions among his soldiers, he would throw once and that would be it, the game was over. I found this on a pretty funny article about US Presidents and their athletic ability here (http://www.faniq.com/blog/Video-On-Election-Day-Barack-Obama-Or-John-McCain-Will-Join-The-List-Of-Somewhat-Athletic-Presidents-Blog-13026).

Enjoy the week end, and if you get a chance, send a Proust Joe's way. Get well soon bud.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Fun Fact Friday!

This week's instalment of the always thrilling FFF is some what of a sad story, but interesting at the same time. On this day in 1814 in London, England, there was a beer flood that killed nine people. A BEER FLOOD! The Meaux and Company Brewery had a vat break spilling about 135,000 gallons of beer, that took out other vats adding up to a total of 323,000 gallons of beer that flooded the brewery. It all eventually flowed out of the building, and destroyed two homes as well. Eight of the deaths were because of drowning, and the ninth was because of alcohol poisoning. And to top it all off, the brewery wasn't criminally charged because the judge and jury saw it as "An Act of God."

Well, that's about the craziest thing I've heard in a while. Here's hoping to everyone to have a safe weekend, and that no one is involved with any beer floods.

Proust!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Fun Fact Friday!

Good afternoon to you all, hope everyone is having a pleasant week and will have an even better weekend. This week's Fun Fact is just a compilation of a bunch of random facts that are good conversation starters, or are so useless that they stick in your head forever! I tried to find something entertaining and interesting this week, but everything is covering the list of lies our two politicians are claiming, and my head is just too cluttered with BS. So here we go:

All of the continents in the world end with the same letter they start with. EuropE, AustraliA, AmericA you get the picture.

The kings in a deck of cards represent different kings from history: Spades is King David, Hearts is Charlemagne, Clubs is Alexander the Great, and Diamonds is Julius Cesar.

The only days of the year that don't have a major professional sporting event (NBA, MLB, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and after the MLB All-Stars Game.

The first number, spelled out, to have the letter "A" in it is 1,000 (One ThousAnd).

Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, was allergic to carrots.

To finish us off, there are only 18 countries in the world that are richer than Bill Gates.

I promise, I don't have eight years worth of Snapple bottle caps stored in my room, my mom made me throw those out when I was 16. Have a lovely rest of your week, go outside it's not that cold and it's more fun because there are less people out there!

Proust!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Iron Horse IPA

I am finishing up this fine IPA from the glorious state of Washington as I write this entry, and am thoroughly enjoying it, just like every beer I drink. It's a pretty typical fall night right now, it's really started to rain and moisten up around these parts, which is alright because now I feel like drinking heavier beers because of the colder weather. As a side note, thank you for your addition to the FFF Douglas, and I did get your post card, so YING YANG TWINS UP IN THIS B-I-ITCH (that means thanks)! I also just finished updating myself on Douglas' travels on his other blog. He seems to be having an awesome time, which I always love to read about my beermigo's experiences.

This brew is a pretty typical IPA; Hops are the dominant theme. Taking the first sniff of it, I could tell it was going to be bitter because of the strong Cascade hop aroma that exploded out of my glass (that's a guess and I'll explain my reasoning later). Typical copper color with an off white head, and again, the hops dominate to the point where my inexperienced tongue can't muster up any other flavors.

As to why I am guessing they used Cascade hops, is because I embarked on a first time journey today. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I brewed my first batch of beer. The Big Guy helped out with organizing stuff, and it was nice spending the time with him, but the smells are what had me in pure euphoria. I think my favorite smell combination was right after I poured the malt in, after the barley grains had been removed. My concoction had that faint oatmeal smell, with the added smell of the sweet malt just set my beer libido on fire. But when I was breaking up the hops, it expelled a herb filled aroma that is unforgettable, the same smell that came from the Iron Horse. It took a couple of hours to finish the process for now, thus I figured all of that hard work earned myself the Iron Horse that was sitting in the fridge.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Add on to FFF

Hey dude, well here's a couple of other things to add on to your great FFF. First the actual celebration now begins in late September because of problems with the weather. I heard that they started doing that several years ago. I wish I could tell you when exactly but I was kinda sloshed. Another thing, no beer fountains just tons of beer and drunkards. The sausages are not that big John, but plentiful to say the least. As far as your vision of German hotties goes...exactly. Lowenbrau is a great tent with a reputation well deserved and some damn good pilsner beer.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Fun Fact Friday!

For this week's installment of FFF, I felt that since it was the first week of October, there was only one thing I could talk about; Oktoberfest. Our Beermigo Douglas is going to have the supreme privilege to attend this festival, and hopefully he'll be able to add on to what I scribe down here since he'll have the fortune of actually attending.

The festival first started on October 12, 1810 in celebration of the marriage between the Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Say that last name five times fast. There was a horse race on the 17th of that same year that continued the celebration, so there are different opinions as to what the true original date of Oktoberfest is. As wonderful as this festival is, there have been some unfortunate years where it had to be cancelled, whether it be for war or an out break of cholera. There are six breweries that have supplied beer to this festival since 1818. Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr, who are apart of what's known as the "Big Six."

Well Doug I hope you can add on to my quick blurb about possibly the greatest festival ever created (sense some bias?). As long as it's good stuff, I don' want my vision of beer fountains, sausages the size of baseball bats, and German hotties walking around with gold plated clogs. Anyway have an awesome and safe weekend everybody, and go Ducks!

Copascetic IPA

As I write this, I am trying to recall a certain Friday evening some time ago, but it's not going too well. I've forgotten many details and even the general situation is a bit hazy. Thus is the power of Amnesia.

On the corner of Mississippi and Beech in North Portland is a warehouse brewery with a pub out front The restaurant serves two food options, burgers or dogs, and the taps rotate slowly--four regulars and a seasonal. I started with a pint of the standard pale ale, but once my lips touched the rim of my pint of IPA, my senses instantly slipped into a deja vu of recollection from my only previous encounter with the interesting orange beer.

About a year ago, I'm not sure exactly when, I stumbled across the Copascetic IPA at the Bier Stein, a Eugene pub well known by the beermigos crew. I selected the Amnesia ale based solely on the name, and after that night, promptly forgot everything about it save the title and the euphoric flavor. Research revealed that rare is the occasion that Amnesia escapes Portland, but nobody could specifically give directions that I might find it again. Fortunately, the internet knows all, and again, that fateful Friday, I rediscovered Amnesia.

Of course, since that time, I have forgotten anything that would help me describe it, but I can say that it was delicious and that I know where to get another one.

Copascetic IPA: orange, fantastic, well-paired with cheeseburger. Other information cannot be said in mere words. Such is the tragedy and beauty of Amnesia.