Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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What Are They Saying?

OK, first read this interesting point from the UK perspective about the Great Scotch Egg Debate.

Now, doesn’t this sound like what is happening in a certain metropolitan area in Southern California? Tying meals to alcohol and what the politicians mean when they do it. Pete Brown does argue persuasively that this is not some 2020 version of prohibition as I have proclaimed it is in numerous posts since March. The idea that politicians are just trying to limit people in ways they will accept, albeit grudgingly Eric Clapton, does make more sense especially in light of the current stay at home orders we are living under.

Notice that the order started AFTER Thanksgiving and is served to expire BEFORE Christmas. That totally lines up with what Brown is saying in his post. Politicians are just swaying with the wind. And there’s is no bigger wind than late year holidays. If breweries complain enough, they get to have outdoor seating but only if the cases stay flat. Once that number rises, hospitals bark (rightfully) and restrictions return but only on what politicians can push past the populace. The stay at home should have started before any holiday and stay in place until the chart trends down, no matter what Santa’s plans are.

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The Firkin for November 2020

10pm. 10 fucking pm. Our French Laundry Governor might drink, might be taking scads of donations from the wine industry but damn if he isn’t a Prohibitionist. Citing “inebriation”, he has instituted a curfew. But like most parents isn’t thinking about anything other than being strict.

What policeman is going to cite me for being outside at 10pm? None. Because they want to cite businesses. Not individuals. I see more people in mask demanded Glendale wearing them on their chin or holding them in their hand at 1pm. How does sending people home at 10pm going to help that? How is 10pm going to stop idiots from gathering and passing the virus on Thanksgiving?

The answer is that it won’t. Newsom lost my vote by stranding small business when they needed help and my guess is that the alcohol industry ain’t gonna give much campaign funding to someone who thinks that 10pm is going to stop the virus.

Alcohol is not the problem. Get that through your slicked back hair. The problem revolves around gatherings and masks. It could be a teetotaling book club or a church or me on my off drinking day. Time of day doesn’t enter it to it and you are a moron if you think it does.

Or you can’t “cancel” Thanksgiving so you shift the blame to food and drink.

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Names to Look For

Quick hop post for y’all.

Remember these two hop names because I bet you will be seeing them in beers next year and more I need 2022.

First up is Australia- Eclipse. Then to New Zealand for – Nectaron.

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Reparations

Charity beers have been a bright beer light this year and in 2020 fashion, we ain’t done yet. Great Notion Brewing in Portland has a new one, named Reparations Imperial Stout. All (100%) of the proceeds will be donated towards The National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) in support of bill HR-40

The brewery was buoyed by the success of the Black is Beautiful Beer program from Weathered Souls in Texas so they are inviting other breweries to do their versions. You can read more at reparationsbeer.com.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Patience. We are close to a vaccine. So please do not spread the virus at literally the second to last holiday of the year just to eat turkey next to a cousin who you only see once a year. Make this year a Zoom-sgiving. Stay safe and enjoy your beer in your holiday bubble so next year can be a return to normal.

Cheers!

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Peel the Label – Making Up for Lost Styles

It can be easy to fall into a beer buying rut. Whether you are chasing the latest releases or even just supporting your local brewery in trying times. But in this time of transition from one president to the next, from one season to the next, from one holiday to the next, this marks a good time to pause and consider the beer selection you have made in the last eleven months and how you can change in the final month.

It would be better to keep everything mixed up year round but especially this year, without taster trays or travel, 16oz IPA cans have taken over. Right now there is one bottle in my beer fridge. ONE. I am as guilty as the next person.

What have you not had a lot of this year? Use December as your testing ground. For me, barrel-ages beers have been in shorter supply. For you, it might be sours or Belgian beers. Whatever style has been missed, rectify that situation. Maybe, ask for that style of beer for a Christmas present.

Peel the Label is an infrequent series with no photos or links. Just opinion.

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Second of Best of 2020 – Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine

There is a nice mix of lists from Crafts Beer & Brewing magazine. Bordering on too many almost. You have a main Best of featuring twenty beers of which I had three. Then there are readers choice categories in top 50, favorite brewery by category and a who brews it best by style. Then there are five more Best of’s from different contributors.

From an LA perspective Monkish gets their hazy (and stout) love but Highland Park is making some serious inroads and could almost be considered 1B from our area. Speaking of, the excellent Glendale Tap in my adopted town made the best beer list which s quite the commendation.

The sheer amount of beers can lead to overload but you can see patterns emerge as you see breweries show up on multiple lists. You may have to make notes in the margins but this is a lot of helpful leads.

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You Could Do Better

When I first saw the label below, I thought, “Oh, that’s clever”. But as I nosed around the design, my mind changed.

The name is great but I am just not a fan of the color scheme or the image choices. To spot on is the main problem design wise. I would have gone with a listicle graphic instead with all the problems on it and then added a couple blank lines for customers to write in their own problems with this craptacular year and have them post a photo of it on social media. You could even have a second label done with customer versions.

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Election

OK, it has been a couple days now since the calendar marker of Election Day. Due to our over friendliness with Covid, it has been much different with more voting before and more counting after.

So much more counting after.

It is fairly (don’t jinx it Sean) clear now that with the Pennsylvania results this morning, we will be finally getting rid of the Worst President Ever which means two things.

One, is that hopefully the battle against Covid will be waged better. Granted, low bar, but for breweries to emerge OK we will need a nationwide response. Biden / Harris will provide that.

Second is that I won’t have to talk about the lying liar that lies because this is a beer blog not Politico. I don’t want to talk about that psycho much in the same way comedians are tired of finding laughs in it. One of the head writers of the Tonight Show left partially due to that very reason.

So, let’s all take a deep breath. Not look at the news and Twitter so much and dive back into beers, especially holiday seasonals. Still time left in 2020 for craziness and if the super spreader in Chief was a bad winner in 2016, he is sure to be a worse loser. But we as a country have taken the first step back towards normalcy.