Big Beer Paradox

My employer, Hugh Sisson, owner of the Clipper City Brewing Company, has recently begun syndicating a blog he calls: Diary of a Brewer.

In one post, he talks about something which I have been saying as well for years: that one test of a good brewery lies in its lightest beer. There, there is nowhere to hide - no big hop or malt or yeasty character to cover up brewing faults. Hugh dubs this the big beer paradox. Of course, after taste-testing such a beer, I'll quickly move on to that brewpub's or brewery's big flavored beer.

Beer writer and editor of Malt Advocate, Lew Bryson has long been a fan of good beer but not necessarily of - ugh, I dislike the term - extreme beer. Read Lew's rant.

iPod generation tunes out of Japanese jazz culture

Here's an article about the closing of the last of the jazz coffee shops which once were plentiful in Japan. Such a place sounds great to me; just blend in beer!

A line in the piece alarmed me: "These days, kids don't listen to jazz, and they walk down the street with iPods, which makes the whole idea of 'place' irrelevant," says Michael Molasky, author of "The Jazz Culture of Postwar Japan."

Great Smoky Mountains

I've just returned from working the market for Clipper City Brewing in western North Carolina - the Boone and Asheville area. [What's my job?]

It is beautiful country there, quite different from the rest of the state, in the mountains - Great Smoky and Appalachian ranges - ranging from 2200 to 3700 feet. It was cold Thursday with temperatures in the upper teens, but snow and wind gusts made it seem much colder. Adjoining Boone is Blowing Rock which was described to me as a "drinking town with a skiing problem" - a lot of vacation homes there.

Clipper City has just begun to have our beers sold in the region, but even so the response from retailers was quite gratifying.

On the way back, I paid a visit to a local competitor - Highland Brewing Company, itself growing, having only recently moved into new digs west of Asheville. The staff was quite busy that day, so I didn't snap any photos. The Oatmeal Porter is delicious: smoky, bakers' chocolate-character, and a smooth, luscious mouthfeel.

I am a vegetarian

I am a vegetarian. Not quite earth-shattering news ... but at least self-revealing.

And I have been so since Papa Bush launched his Gulf War, on 17 February 1991. I didn't select the specific date as a protest per se - although I could have. But by that time, I had significantly reduced the amount of animal in my diet. It was, however, a momentous date, one which I could easily remember.

That being said, I dislike the word vegan. It sounds so hard and ugly. It seems to reference an alien space traveler from the star Vega. And, it is an unnecessary neologism; there already exists a perfectly good word for the lifestyle - vegetarian.

Vegetarian: One who abstains from the use of flesh, fish, and fowl as food, with or without the use of eggs and dairy products.

Joseph Brotherton, 1847

Modifiers are often appended to the word: pesco, lacto, ovo, etc. But to my mind, these appear akin to a specious pronouncement such as "slightly pregnant". Either you happily restrict your diet to only vegetables, fruits, and grains, or you don't only do that. And, linguistically, what is to prevent the word vegan from being similarly adsorbed?

Many years ago, when a waiter, I was asked by a dining couple as to what were the vegetarian choices on the menu. The restaurant wasn't vegetarian-friendly, but certain items could be modified: that is, there were salads, pasta dishes vegetable side plates, etc. This I explained.

When I returned to take the order, the couple asked for the double-cut, sausage-stuffed pork chop and for the filet mignon, very rare. My eyebrows must have involuntarily arched, Spock-style. "You see," the diners quickly reassured me, "we are, indeed, vegetarians - at home."

Casa-vegetarians?

Anyway, I have enjoyed my choice, and I do eat well (and have become a better cook and brewer in the process). And I take great amusement in the incessant "But what do you eat?" queries. About vegetarianism, there are many cookbooks and medical studies, and there are, of course, many food options.

Look up Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I dig her recipes and ethos. I'd like to buy Ms. Moskowitz a beer - itself, a wonderful vegetarian foodstuff and cooking ingredient.

Respect for democracry

This happened to me the other day.

The driver in the pickup truck to my left was furiously beeping on his horn. He drew even with my driver's side window and beeped again. I looked over ... and he flipped me the bird.

What the? ... then I understood.

He was demonstrating his respect for my choice for president. He had noticed my Hillary Clinton for President bumper sticker.

And we complain about the uncivil partisan tone of our elected representatives?