photo by adrianclark on flickr

A year ago my good friends Edie and Bob were visiting and we decided to drive around Wiltshire seeing the sights, when we took a wrong turn and ended up in a small village called Seend. On one post was a magic marker sign, like some secret doorway to a malty dimension: BEER FESTIVAL. We followed the arrow, gleeful at our luck, and ended up at the community centre where a trad band was playing and over 30 kegs of local microbrews were mounting on scaffolding waiting for us.

I should explain here that Bob, brewer extraordinaire, is the person that taught me how to love beer. We'd been to many countries tasting different beers but the Seend beer fest was by far the most fun. We sat on hay bales and compared different half-pints from a cider called "Green Wonder" to a strong porter enticingly named "Chocolate Frog", all while being serenaded by a decent trad folk band. It was heaven.

I decided to go back this year, even though I knew it would make me miss my American friends even more. I'd been to the Great British Beer Festival in Earl's Court and found it really overwhelming. Clearly I needed something like the cozy limits of the village festival to really train up to something as massive and overwhelming as the GBBF.

I noticed that there were actually women drinking beer here, though only a handful. Most were drinking white wine, cocktails or abstaining while watching their children as the men drank. I did bond with another woman beer drinker in front of the gents as we guarded the door for each other. We compared notes scrawled on our line-up fliers provided at the door. She said, "I'm a Guinness drinker so I'm starting dark and working my way backward." I loved her for that-- breaking the rules! We both regretted that there was no Chocolate Frog-- a velvety, seductive porter with a high alcohol content. She convinced me to try Fruit Bat which turned out to be my favourite of the day. I steered her away from Dark Star's Espresso- a bitter stout which was a bit too ash-scented for me-- something I love in a whisky but don't want in a stout.

Ironically when I went outside to listen to the trad band again, the singer was warning people off the Espresso-- "It should come with a warning label!" So I'm not alone. I was drinking the Wickwar Severn Bore-- an oakmoss nose, bog-standard tea at the middle. It was malty but forgettable, my least favourite of the day. I was drinking it while someone was smoking a cigarette next to me when the band shouted out to Boris, the new conservative mayor of London-- GO TORIES-- which definitely killed my buzz. Later they dialed down the controversy and shouted, "WHO'S IN FAVOUR OF WIND FARMS?" before playing "Drunken Sailor" - a song my mother used to sing to me as a baby. Sea shanties as lullabies-- no wonder I turned out the way I did.

While waiting for the next pint, a gent next to me with the wild grey curls indicative of rural English freakdom, notices the strongest ale, Highland Fling, is all gone. He says to me, "The greedy drinkers start backwards knowing us sensible lot start lighter. Don't worry--" he winked conspiratorially, "We'll last longer." Beer flirting!

By this time it was quite a scene. People were getting happily drunk and silly, talking to strangers and dancing around. I started to note the tee shirts about-- WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY DRINKING? CALL xxxx; GLASTONBURY 2007; BENCH; WARNING: CONTAINS NUTS; CROUCHING FAIRY, HIDDEN HOMO and one, worn by an a spreadsheet wielding American: SAVE THE ALES. Her loud, punning husband paired a "MIND THE GAP" trucker cap with the conversation-starter-- WHAT WOULD JESUS BREW? stamped across his shirt.

How is it I can come across an ocean, trekking far from the city to a community centre of a little village and I still find myself next to a loud, Christian, American nutter? He was spewing something about "YOUR PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR THINKS HE CAN SCAN MY LAPTOP, SO I BUILT MY OWN." Someone next to me dealt with this man in the most sensible way, telling his teenage son, "Just don't look directly at him." Someone across from us asked him, "Well, what would Jesus brew?" and the guy started actually going off about mead in the Bible.

Meanwhile a Mod cover band called Carnaby Street warmed up, starting their set with the Monkee's Stepping Stone, and everyone knew the words. Pretty soon the Americans had made tracks and I was left with everyone else, dancing on tables, pounding on chairbacks and singing along. While I was angsting out about my fellow countrymen a party had started. I got myself another pint as the band started up Small Faces' Itchycoo Park which really brought the house down in this gentle, whacky way. It's all too beautiful-- a drunkards dream if there ever was one. I thought, yeah, believe it or not, I'm home.

And now on to what I drank there:

I started with Joseph Holt Mild, it being CAMRA'S month of milds. It was hoppier than expected. I prefer Harvey's mild-- I'm really after malty-toasty ease in a mild and the hops can go hang. Still, easy to drink as I meditated on the choices and made a numbered game plan.

After breaking for a dinner of packaged salad, I tried the Bath Ale Barnstormer. I'm a fan of Bath Ales-- and this one did not disappoint. It was dark caramel in colour with a fruit nose and biscuity front. I was drunk at this point and was losing patience with my note taking. It did taste just right after the garlicky edamame salad.

Bearass from Beartown. Ask for it by name. The whole name. I had a blast of synesthesia tasting this-- this was an American beer (though it wasn't). It might be something cooked up by a friend in Portland or Los Angeles--a berry nose, a malt-hop one/two punch, with a clean, slightly bitter finish. It was zesty and daring and made me a bit homesick.

Buffy Bitter-- again I tried it for the name being a big Buffy fan. I took to this beer big-time. Cut grass nose-- Canalside grass in August when all the berry briars are ripe with fruit! That kind of nose. The malt was straightforward and sweet, with delicate floral hops on the finish. I could drink it all day.

Castle Rock Harvest was made with American hops. The soapy nose put me off but the front-- dandelions and daisies-- with a citrus-rind finish won me over.

I got the second to last half pint of Fruit Bat-- it was my lucky day. It had a beautiful amber colour and a wild, blooming fruit nose, with berries and mango and melon up front, but without the sweetness. -- the hops closed it off nicely. I was wishing I had some strong hard cheese with this one. Anyone who doesn't think beer is as complex as wine should try this.

Mr. Chubbs Lunchtime Bitter from West Berkshire. I also tried this one for the name. Mr. Chubbs lives in a cottage with a fusty carpet you can smell it in the beer! This beer is lightly-hopped nostalgia-- like drinking ale at grandpa's place as he opens you a tin of beans. White pepper finish was the only flourish here. There's definitely a "liquid bread" thing going on albeit a buttered, crustless white slice.

Old English Rose-- Queen Estery! This was a startling beer in that it was redolent of red roses and tasted just barely of the same.

When I ordered the Palmer's Tally Ho, which is named after a fox-hunting cry, the guy pouring had to note the colour. "It's beautiful! Like a squash," an English fruit punch. We both stared at the pretty red color, sharing a beer geek moment. My notes a were a drunken scrawl at this point-- something about melon and wood and the lipstick on my glass being the same colour and keelhaul the man until he's sober, early in the morning! but hey, this fox is still drinking!

Tira realizada por: © AleS (Rafa Amat)

Una din problemele politicienilor este dată de faptul că ei reprezintă fiinţe sociale doar în campaniile electorale. Vreau să mă refer aici doar la dimensiunea socială publică care priveşte şi interesează comunitatea. Atunci vezi cum interacţionează cu potenţialii alegători, cum pozează în fotomodele de prost gust în materialele electorale, cum schiţează zâmbete cu grimase forţate, cum îşi însuşesc priviri umile şi nevinovate, cum încearcă să cumpere într-un mod josnic şi ieftin voturile prostimii reduse şi manipulate de ei, de cei aflaţi acum în ipostaza Don Juan-ilor politici.

Nu le confer la întâmplare oamenilor politici numele de Don Juan. Pentru că Don Juan-ul politic este asemeni Don Juan-ului clasic, fermecător, în ipostaza seducătorului de fiinţe feminine, ce nu are de fapt nici o tangenţă cu fiinţele feminine. El este interesat doar de statistică. Veleitatea lui este doar aceea de a cuceri un număr cât mai mare de fiinţe pe care le lasă cu sufletele descoperite şi goale în pustiul realităţii lipsite de iubire. De aceea, el poate fi numit şi Fata Morgana în variantă feminină.

Ca şi Don Juan-ul de odinioară, care era o nălucă şi o nulitate, vorba lui Paleologu, în viaţa fiinţelor seduse, Don Juan-ul politic este o nulitate şi o nălucă pentru cei care l-au ales. De ce? Fiindcă el nu le reprezintă interesele, ci a dorit să ajungă acolo ca să îşi poată reprezenta mai bine interesele personale. El este implicat şi prezent în viaţa oamenilor doar atâta timp cât îi este necesar să seducă. Odată aflat în posesia dovezilor ce confirmă că a sedus – voturile, Don Juan dispare în ceaţa absenteismului din viaţa comunităţii refăcându-şi apariţia abia în următoarea campanie electorală.

În Adrian Năstase identific un Don Juan versat, fermecător şi seducător, ce joacă chiar rolul garantului sau a mentorului celorlalţi Don Juani de culoare roşie. Continuarea e predictibilă...

Penibilul campaniei electorale din 2008 e concretizat de Gigi Becali care garantează pentru câţiva potenţiali primari de sectoare al oraşului Bucureşti. Cum poate garanta Becali pentru ceilalţi atâta timp cât el, Gigi Becali, ca să uzez o repetiţie proprie domniei sale, nu deţine suficiente trăsături carateriale favorabile pentru a putea garanta măcar pentru propria sa persoană?!

În afara campaniilor electorale oamenii politici nu există. A nu se înţelege greşit! Când vorbesc de existenţă nu mă refer, spre exemplu, la o fiinţă umană ce există doar fizic ci şi prin acţiunile pe care le iniţiază, în cazul indivizilor politici, în interesul celor care i-au ales. Susţin acestea şi pentru că, luând ca analogie exemplul relaţiei dintre doi amici, măsura în care cineva este amic cu altcineva e dată de semnificaţia şi consistenţa interacţiunii pe care o oferă acel cineva celuilalt. Celălalt nu o să susţină că cineva îi este amic dacă cel din urmă nu se manifestă ca un amic, ci dimpotrivă, asemeni unui străin. Altfel spus, în spatele cuvântului amic trebuie să existe realitatea amiciţiei dintre două persoane.

Asemeni unor străini sunt oamenii politici pentru noi. Ei se recomandă drept potenţiali prieteni ai comunităţii din care fac parte şi pe care doresc să o conducă dar, la finalul campaniei electorale, după ce au fost aleşi şi viaţa lor îşi reâncepe cursul obişnuit, lipsită de grija zilei de mâine, îşi arată colţii de rechin şi ne invită să-i căutăm altădată şi în altă parte. În ipostaza aleşilor nu mai au timp. Sunt ocupaţi...                      

May 1st isn't celebrated widely in London, but the handful of people who do honor this day of class struggle and pagan roots do it in fantastical style. Yesterday I went boozing with Jack-in-the-green, a leafy giant and his attending bogies, men dressed in green rags and ivy crowns. Following them were a motley group of musicians. We wound our way through the streets from one pub to the next, startling the suits and rushing commuters.

We started with Adnam's May Day golden ale while waiting at the Charles Dickens for the revelers to show. In our pessimism-- they were over 40 minutes late-- we turned to Sharpes Cornish Coaster. But once they arrived-- rather mysterious and triumphant-- we were treated to a pint of bitter by a kind, green-faced gentleman from Hastings named Jim.

Later we switched to milds-- Harveys Sussex and Knots of May to be exact. While the pub lit up with fiddling, tin whistles and squeeze boxes, I decided the malty, easy drinking mild would become a favourite of mine. It's a shame the style is so rare. (CAMRA devotes every May to celebrating this style-- otherwise I might not have even tried it, or perhaps the pub we were in might not have had it!)

I ended the night raising a pint of Harvey's Best Bitter with green-bearded brethren. (I now understand why 1,200 Best Bitter drinkers signed a petition to have the drink restored to a local pub in East Sussex after it was removed from pub-owning giant Greene King. People here care about beer, they really do.)

I took no notes. I was too busy dancing.

Tira realizada por: © AleS (Rafa Amat)

Fitting then that Badger should do this femme beer, adding the folk cure for Blandflord fly bites-- ginger-- into the brew. With a delightfully homeopathic logic the beer has it's own "bite."

And I do love it-- candied ginger in the nose with a ginger bread middle and clean finish.

Eats: chipotle-glazed grilled halloumi

While listening to: Cramps' Human Fly

Tira realizada por: © AleS (Rafa Amat)

Hogs Back Brewery's Traditional English Ale is bottle conditioned, meaning the yeast is still active in the beer, and part of the fermentation takes place in the bottle. It is considered "live"-- resembling real ale in the cask. The label clearly states "Do not refridgerate" and suggests a serving temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit. In California, where I am from, this would probably require chilling of some sort but in England it's room temperature.

I was skeptical, being a beer-cheat in this one regard. I chill most beers I drink. But maybe it was the cute little pig on the label, or more likely that I was cold from carrying my beer haul home under the ominous grey skies, and I was getting my head around the idea of a warm pint.

And it was without a doubt a revelation. This ale presents you with a full-on toasted nose, a rounded malt middle with a light caramel warmth. Undoubtedly it is this delicate sweetness that would be lost first with chilling, the most charming note. Despite its subtle complexities, it's balanced and easy to drink, even "warm" (says this American palate).

T.E.A., like it's namesake that other English beverage, is a come-in-from-the-rain, a welcoming sort of drink. It seems to say, Don't worry, you'll dry.

With: springy Comte cheese on an oat biscuit with a smoosh of avocado.

While listening to: Irma Thomas' It's Raining

Miercuri 23 aprilie
Selectro Every Wed - 2 scene
In Expirat: DJ Zinn (San Diego - USA)
Marika (FW Agency - Selectro)
In Other Side of Expirat : Hazard Djs & Ales (CT)
ora 22.00

It's close enough to May Day that I've got my sandals out of storage. Despite the lingering chill and the snow from a fortnight ago, I'm in a Van Morrison sort of mood, daring Spring to come. Maybe that's why I decided to try Wychwood brewery's honey ale, BeeWyched.

I was feeling optimistic-- I've never met a honey ale that agreed with me. I've tried Young's endearingly-named Waggle Dance and The Black Isle's Heathered Honey Ale among others. To my palate, the combination of the earthy sweetness of the honey clashes with the other beer-y flavors. But I will try anything by Wychwood. I confess the beer drinker part of me is stuck in junior-high, playing Dungeons and Dragons and listening to metal. Maybe that's why I love all Wychwood brews, right down to their Dungeon Master Guide label art.

BeeWyched did not disappoint. With a nose full of flowers you dive right into amber sunlight in the first sip. There's a ruby grapefruit-rind hoppiness that keeps it from being too cloying and feels in perfect harmony with the sweet finish. Ovid's Flora, the Goddess of flowers, seems to float in soft white head of this beer:

"Tis I who call the winged creatures, which yield honey, to the violet, and the clover, and the grey thyme..Honey is my gift."

With: seeded bread toasted and slathered with fresh Welsh goat cheese.

While listening to Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl

Tira realizada por: © AleS (Rafa Amat)

Tira realizada por: © AleS (Rafa Amat)

Tira realizada por: © AleS (Rafa Amat)

O: am replicat cu ceva de genu: dacă tot ăsta e sistemul care se promovează la greu și pe care nu îl putem stăvili, măcar trebuie să vă gândiți că ăia 30-50 din 700-1000 de studenți vor da înapoi cât și pentru ceilalți la un loc.. dacă sunt ajutați și se investește realmente în ei.. ceilalți se pierd dar asta, în final, nu contează foarte tare..
O: a ramas uluit.. pentru prima dată l-am văzut așa.. și face:  da.. păi.. niciodată nu m-am gândit la asta.. e o chestie..
SF: :) 
O: știi cum era ăla din ally mcbeal.. crețu „i am troubled” ? exact așa! :))
SF: :))) măi, vor da înapoi dar nu la fel de mult pe cât ar da dacă ar fi totuși mai puțini studenți și mai mult studiu, adică facultatea și societatea tot în pierdere sunt
O: nu cred asta.. deloc chiar
SF: ba da... pentru că restul s-ar reprofila... cumva tot ar face-o.. pe când așa, se pierd
O: nu toți sunt „aleși”.. și nici nu e nevoie ca toți să fie aleși.. scrie și în Biblie :P
SF: da, binențeles, știu asta și sunt conștientă
O: e nevoie de o mână de oameni pe care, dacă o speli și o dai cu cremă, nu face cangrenă
SF: corect... dar... când cutia de cremă o împarți la 500 de oameni
O: (Doamne.. i sounded like him... fuck :| )
SF: :)) dap, știu, observ
O: she was right :( i am transforming :((
SF: :))

En trobareu més informació al web de l'òpera: Ales.

 

Tira realizada por: © AleS (Rafa Amat)

 

Tira realizada por: © AleS (Rafa Amat)

http://www.cafepress.com/kmratticus

 

Tira realizada por: © AleS (Rafa Amat)

Commençons par les présentations :

Nous sommes quatre étudiants de l'Ecole des Mines d'Alès (EMA) et nous avons décider de participer à la 12ème édition du 4L Trophy qui se déroulera du 20 février au 1er mars 2009.

Le but est d'amener des fournitures scolaires dans des écoles défavorisées du Maroc et ce en 4L en traversant la France, l'Espagne et enfin le Maroc.

Nous sommes donc en train de mettre au point ce projet et recherchons entre autres choses, une 4L, des sponsors, des fournitures scolaires et beaucoup d'autres choses comme nous l'expliquerons au cours des nombreux (je l'espère) post de ce blog.

A bientôt pour de nouvelles infos sur l'avancement du projet.

 

Tira realizada por: © AleS (Rafa Amat)

I will now bring this blog up to speed on Batch #2, and English style Brown Ale titled "Big River Brown Ale" according to the recipe kit I ordered.

This was my first experience brewing solo, as well as my first time using liquid yeast. I ordered the kit, which came with a Wyeast Propagator "Smack-Pack" #1028. FedEx arrived at around noon that Saturday (February 23) and I quickly went to work. I had spent the previous part of the day listening to Basic Brewing Radio podcasts and sanitizing my kitchen and all my gear, as I decided that anything worth doing is worth doing with to the best of my ability.

I opened the package which contained my jet bottle washer, a racking cane, and most importantly the kit. I opened the kit and read the yeast directions, which indicated to allow the starter to work for 2-3 days, needless to say I wasn't going to wait that long. The Wyeast website said 12-24 hours for a starter on the propagators, so I went to work making a starter. I smacked the package at around noon. I then put about a "glug and a half" from a bottle of liquid extract from the kit in a quart of water, boiled for a few minutes, cooled, and poured into sanitized apple juice container I had finished earlier that day. Pitch the yeast, and airlock.

The starter was fun to watch as I waited to do the rest. I brought 3.5-4 gallons (probably too much, better stick to 3-3.5 from now on) up to 155F to steep my grains in and also began sanitizing my carboy with a small amount of bleach in 5 gallons of water.

I steeped the grains for 30 minutes, then removed from the heat to stir in the extract. After adding one bottle of liquid extract, I put it back on the heat to keep it warm enough to absorb and added the second bottle. Hops in at boil time.

While the wort boiled, since I had to hang out anyway, I rinsed my carboy after emptying the bleach solution out and racked Batch #1 into secondary. (See prior posts).

After boiling for around 55-58 minutes (I think closer to 58, my notes were taken from memory after clean up) I added the aroma hops and put my new homemade wort chiller in to sanitize.

I was really excited to see what the wort chiller would do for me this time as Batch #1 took nearly two hours to come down to pitching temperature. To make the chiller I bought 20' of 3/8" copper tubing from the hardware store as well as 3' of vinyl tubing cut into two pieces and a garden hose fitting for my faucet and one for the tubing. I carefully shaped the chiller to fit into the pot and bend up over the edge. I have about 3" of tubing past the edge for inlet and outlet. I attached the tubing to each end, and the garden hose fitting to the inlet end to attach to my faucet adaptor. Pretty basic, but still exciting because I MADE IT!

I used ten trays of ice in my sink, set my brewpot into the sink, then ran water into the sink (not into the brewpot!). After that was full, I hooked up my chiller and let it rip. I was amazed.

I could watch the temperature going down on the thermometer as I stirred. I was down below 75F from boiling in around five minutes! Definitely one of my best investments into the hobby so far.

I poured the new wort into my newly sanitized five gallon bucket that previously contained Batch #1 (barely cool from the hot water rinse) and decided that to ensure proper aeration (which probably didn't happen after observing fermentation) I would use the hand sprayer attachment from my sink to spray in cool water to fill to five gallons.

I can't believe the foam that was created! I spooned some off to make room for the starter, and pitched my (now roughly ten to twelve hour old) starter.

Fermentation was crazy, and I learned that my lid doesn't exactly seal 100%. The yeast blew off for a solid 36 hours, it got so bad I had to use a blow off tube to catch all the runnings.

After the blow off was done, however, I think everything else was too. No bubbles in the airlock to speak of after another day, and so she sat until this past Saturday when it was moved to secondary.

More to come in part two!

-Ben

A few days later (Tuesday now) the kreuzen had fallen all the way back down! I couldn't believe it! Only slightly more than 72 hours of fermentation and it seemed to have stalled. I was worried, some resources I found did say that it was a possibility that fermentation would only last roughly 72 hours but this just didn't seem right. Being fearful of contamination (remember, sanitation wasn't #1 on my priority list for this one... naivety at its best) I let it ride though, and so it rested. At one point I picked the bucket up by its handle and gave it a bit of a turn to maybe stir it back into work... which yielded a bit of foam reformation, but now I suspect that it was probably just carbon dioxide coming out of solution. The beer still smelled great, so I let it be.

One week after starting primary on the Irish Stout, I decided to rack Batch #1 to secondary and start Batch #2 (post coming). When I siphoned I tasted a bit and it still tasted very sweet to me, so I decided to take a hydrometer reading. The gravity going in to secondary was 1.032, since my original gravity was 1.056 I don't know if that is to be worried about so onward we go.

Batch #1 has been in secondary for 6 days now, was racked into a 5 gallon carboy that was sanitized with ~1oz. of bleach and filled to the brim with warm water. There was some signs of restart for the yeast a few hours (maybe next day?) after racking to secondary and the airlock bubbled for a bit. The airlock still bubbles every once in a while, but I really don't want to cut it short in the carboy (this probably is a bad idea, but this is my first real batch, I need a control). Tomorrow is bottling day, and rack to secondary day for Batch #2 so more to come from there.

The best part about Batch #1 is that the timing will be perfect for two weeks of bottle conditioning to time out to St. Patrick's day exactly. Yahoo!

Here's the specs for Batch #1:

Brewer's Best Irish Stout Extract Kit

Expected O.G. - 1.048-1.050
Actual O.G. (temperature adjusted) - 1.056
Expected F.G. - 1.017-1.020
Actual F.G. - TBD

Ingredients:
6.6lbs. Munton's Unhopped Dark Liquid Malt Extract
8oz. Maltodextrin
12oz. Crushed Crystal Malt (60L)
8oz. Crushed Black Patent
8oz. Crushed Roasted Barley
2oz. Bittering hops (the kit now ships with German Perle, I can't recall what my kit had)
1/2oz. Fuggle Aroma Hops (the kit now ships with Golding)

That's it for now, bottling day tomorrow!

-MJB