Hello blog.
I've been up most of two days, trying to kick out the last of this thesis against a deadline.
I'm settling. It's going to suck. But I knew that already.
A steady diet of Mogwai, Stars of the Lid, The Field, and Deerhunter have kept me in the game.
Plus, whenever I decide to take a break, I panic and sit back down.
I would like a beer, please. A large beer.
(off screen) Get back to work, you!
'bye, blog.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Tasting: Angler's Ale
Arcadia Ales, Battle Creek MI
Angler's Ale
From the bottle:
"Premium English Two-row Malted Barley"
"Premium Pacific Northwest Hops"
"A Pale Ale--brewed in the English tradition"
So, I'm of two minds on hops. I occasionally like a brew with hops up front, where you can't pretend they're not there. Certain beers demand it, like the classic I.P.A., which was designed for long boat rides to a hot country, and used hops for their germicidal properties. Some of the more decadent I.P.A.s attempt to achieve some balance with the hops by adding malt. While this move makes it more palatable to me, it also raises the alcohol content, which kind of misses the point for a refreshing summer beer. I'm actually more likely to try a Pilsener in the summer--a good, bubbly lager with a *ping* of hops right on top, like a celery stalk in the bloody mary.
More often, however, I like my hops to be part of the bigger picture, blended nicely with the other elements of the brew. Lately, here in 'Merica, there's been a trend in Pale Ales actually being I.P.A.s, and I.P.A.s being akin to some bizarre college stunt. Therefore, I was intrigued by this "Angler's Ale", which, despite hawking Pacific Northwest hops, offered the reassurance of an emphasis on malt and a disclaimer that it was brewed in the traditional English style.
The pour was pure amber--not pale at all! The beer was fully chilled, and there was no apparent head. I smelled caramel/toffee/coffee malt first, then the pungent Northwest hops. I was expecting some fruitiness, but it really just smelled like a clean, slightly hoppy ale. My first taste impression was of complex malty sweetness, followed after a moment by a bit of sourness, possibly from the yeast. The hops contributed most of the bitterness, with a minor assist from the roasted barley. The body was medium light, but the hops cut through and made it feel lighter. Since the brew was fully chilled, the carbonation was trapped in the liquid, and it emerged with a refreshing vengeance upon sipping. The aftertaste was initially clean, and then tending toward sourness.
As the beer warmed, the hops came forward in the aftertaste, mingling pleasantly with the natural sourness of sugar in the mouth, and encouraging another sip. Drinkability factor: Medium high. It's a reliable beer, but not boring. I could see having a few of these on a summer evening, or sharing a six-pack with one or two friends. It has entered the realm of "viable option", and I would struggle to choose between this and, say, Newcastle, at the grocer's fridge.
One more thing...I'm also posting this over on Links (<---- Thataway)...this is the site for official beer tasting guidelines for competition. If you follow it to English Pale Ale, like I just did, you'll find an explanation of what certified judges look for in such a beer. That said, this beer is more like the Special Bitter than the simple Bitter in color, aroma, and mouthfeel.
Angler's Ale
From the bottle:
"Premium English Two-row Malted Barley"
"Premium Pacific Northwest Hops"
"A Pale Ale--brewed in the English tradition"
So, I'm of two minds on hops. I occasionally like a brew with hops up front, where you can't pretend they're not there. Certain beers demand it, like the classic I.P.A., which was designed for long boat rides to a hot country, and used hops for their germicidal properties. Some of the more decadent I.P.A.s attempt to achieve some balance with the hops by adding malt. While this move makes it more palatable to me, it also raises the alcohol content, which kind of misses the point for a refreshing summer beer. I'm actually more likely to try a Pilsener in the summer--a good, bubbly lager with a *ping* of hops right on top, like a celery stalk in the bloody mary.
More often, however, I like my hops to be part of the bigger picture, blended nicely with the other elements of the brew. Lately, here in 'Merica, there's been a trend in Pale Ales actually being I.P.A.s, and I.P.A.s being akin to some bizarre college stunt. Therefore, I was intrigued by this "Angler's Ale", which, despite hawking Pacific Northwest hops, offered the reassurance of an emphasis on malt and a disclaimer that it was brewed in the traditional English style.
The pour was pure amber--not pale at all! The beer was fully chilled, and there was no apparent head. I smelled caramel/toffee/coffee malt first, then the pungent Northwest hops. I was expecting some fruitiness, but it really just smelled like a clean, slightly hoppy ale. My first taste impression was of complex malty sweetness, followed after a moment by a bit of sourness, possibly from the yeast. The hops contributed most of the bitterness, with a minor assist from the roasted barley. The body was medium light, but the hops cut through and made it feel lighter. Since the brew was fully chilled, the carbonation was trapped in the liquid, and it emerged with a refreshing vengeance upon sipping. The aftertaste was initially clean, and then tending toward sourness.
As the beer warmed, the hops came forward in the aftertaste, mingling pleasantly with the natural sourness of sugar in the mouth, and encouraging another sip. Drinkability factor: Medium high. It's a reliable beer, but not boring. I could see having a few of these on a summer evening, or sharing a six-pack with one or two friends. It has entered the realm of "viable option", and I would struggle to choose between this and, say, Newcastle, at the grocer's fridge.
One more thing...I'm also posting this over on Links (<---- Thataway)...this is the site for official beer tasting guidelines for competition. If you follow it to English Pale Ale, like I just did, you'll find an explanation of what certified judges look for in such a beer. That said, this beer is more like the Special Bitter than the simple Bitter in color, aroma, and mouthfeel.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Tasting: Trois Pistoles
Today, I thought, “Hey, I’ll do an easy tasting! I will try one of my favoritest beers of all time, Trois Pistoles!”
This turned out to be harder than I thought.
Trois Pistoles is a dark, bottle conditioned ale from the Unibroue brewery (check out the website!) near
Truth be told, I lack the skill in tasting to do this brew justice. There’s just so much there. I think that I will resort to bullet points.
- I bought it fully chilled, and poured it into one of our oversized Reidel red longstems.
- The head was robust and stiff, but did not adhere to the glass.
- The first sniff revealed the distinct smell of…brown? It’s such a rich, almost wine-like aroma. Barleywine comes closest, I suppose. Jill smelled clove, I smelled licorice (just barely), but the overall impression was one of A Lot Going On With This Brew.
- Think Imperial Stout with a much lighter body.
- The first taste fairly explodes in your mouth. There’s an undeniable sweetness up front that cannot be explained away by malt sugars. They must be using the trippel Candi sugar for the priming.
- It is richly carbonated with tiny bubbles that wake up your entire mouth with a song of deliciousness.
- The bitterness has the quality of a really clean coffee, and is hard to attribute to hops, so it must be the dark roasted malt, but...it’s almost a sarsaparilla kind of thing, comforting and warm.
- The finish is as enjoyable as the initial sip.
- It is the color of Coca Cola, and in many ways, just as sweet.
- Do not drink most of a bottle on an empty stomach, as I did just now.
- Try this, please.
- Also, Maudite.
Trois Pistoles!
Trois Pistoles!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Taking a break
Well, this blog has been kicking for well over a week now, but it's time to take a break. I'm working on my dissertation now, and the pressure of posting every day is straining me to the limit. Granted, my counter indicates that no one has yet accessed this URL, but I like to hold myself to a high standard.
Remember, it's what you do when no one is watching that counts.
There will be the occasional tasting, and I might throw out some top ten lists here and there, but expect reduced volume until at least mid-August.
Thanks for your loyalty. You mean everything to us here at TOMP.
Remember, it's what you do when no one is watching that counts.
There will be the occasional tasting, and I might throw out some top ten lists here and there, but expect reduced volume until at least mid-August.
Thanks for your loyalty. You mean everything to us here at TOMP.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Tasting: Breech Baby Beer
When baby Elaine was still a month away from her expected arrival, Jill got brave and decided to brew a batch. She had been nauseated by the faintest smell of alcohol throughout the pregnancy, much to my chagrin, but had finally gotten past it. We agreed that we needed something summery to ring in the advent of parenthood, and we decided on a successful recipe from last summer. In the Papazian book, it's called "Who's in the Garden Grand Cru", allegedly a clone of the Hoegaarden Grand Cru. The beer itself is a spiced summer ale, a wit flavored with orange peel and coriander, much like Blue Moon. Jill modified it last year, using Belgian Ale yeast instead of the German Wheat beer yeast (wit=wheat), and that change undoubtedly added some much-needed character to this brew. Of course, we'll never know for sure, because I doubt that we'll ever make it any other way!
I put one in the fridge for about 30 minutes...wait, I'll go get it now...
So maybe I should have let it cool a bit more, because it gushed on me. We've taken to adding a bit of extra priming sugar, because our beers were ending up less lively than Jim and Sonja's, and that made a huge difference in the impression you got when tasting. There's only a few styles of beer where no head is desirable.
Still, having the beer less chilled allows the flavors to really emerge off the first sip. The beer poured orange-amber, much like Bell's Oberon, with moderate cloudiness. I smelled banana and orange with the hops hiding way in the back. Fruit aroma completely overpowered the light malt extract. On the sip, there was sugary sweetness with very little bitterness, and the strong orange flavor providing, I think, more bitterness than the hops. It was light to medium-bodied with light carbonation at 10 minutes (although quite a bit was used up in the initial gush). The aftertaste is where the coriander becomes evident, pleasantly mingling with the clean bitterness of the orange peel oils. The beer itself appears to be merely a vehicle for transporting these two flavors, to its possible detriment. Maybe next time, we'll back off of the adjuncts a bit, and let the malt play a slightly bigger role. Still, it's delicious, refreshing, very drinkable, and I could easily see spending an afternoon reaching for one after another of these.
Great job, honey!
I put one in the fridge for about 30 minutes...wait, I'll go get it now...
So maybe I should have let it cool a bit more, because it gushed on me. We've taken to adding a bit of extra priming sugar, because our beers were ending up less lively than Jim and Sonja's, and that made a huge difference in the impression you got when tasting. There's only a few styles of beer where no head is desirable.
Still, having the beer less chilled allows the flavors to really emerge off the first sip. The beer poured orange-amber, much like Bell's Oberon, with moderate cloudiness. I smelled banana and orange with the hops hiding way in the back. Fruit aroma completely overpowered the light malt extract. On the sip, there was sugary sweetness with very little bitterness, and the strong orange flavor providing, I think, more bitterness than the hops. It was light to medium-bodied with light carbonation at 10 minutes (although quite a bit was used up in the initial gush). The aftertaste is where the coriander becomes evident, pleasantly mingling with the clean bitterness of the orange peel oils. The beer itself appears to be merely a vehicle for transporting these two flavors, to its possible detriment. Maybe next time, we'll back off of the adjuncts a bit, and let the malt play a slightly bigger role. Still, it's delicious, refreshing, very drinkable, and I could easily see spending an afternoon reaching for one after another of these.
Great job, honey!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Tasting: Morland “Hen’s Tooth” Strong English Ale
The name is explained on the bottle as, “A fine, specially-brewed English ale which finishes fermenting in the bottle. In the words of our head brewer – a combination of flavour and character that’s as rare as a Hen’s Tooth”. We shall see.
Despite the bottle conditioning, it’s a clear, caramel-colored brew that looks like a bitter. Upon opening, I immediately smelled a touch of fragrant hops and the strong smell of rising bread. Yes, we’re in England here. It was fully refrigerated, and poured with a modest head that faded to a polite but persistent skim in a few minutes. Once in the glass, the finishing hops were floral and very much in evidence, almost overpowering the toasted smell of the malt. Upon the first taste, however, the malt came front and center with a welcome sweetness and medium body. The hops cut the body a bit to keep it refreshing, but most of the bitterness came from the coffee-like dark roasted malt. Carbonation was on the low end, with only a few, rebel bubbles fighting their way up from the bottom after 15 minutes in the glass, but it was quite appropriate for the brew.
This reminds me of Old Speckled Hen, which I believe is a bit paler, but similar in alcohol content. “Hen’s Tooth” clocks in at 6.5% abv, which is just right for one pint in the evening, wouldn’t you say? The extra ethanol isn’t as overpowering as in OSH, but you can’t ignore the contribution to the flavor, especially in the aftertaste. It’s been about three minutes since I took a sip, and my mouth tastes a little bit like kerosene. Hang on….that’s better.
Let’s see what they say about this beer over at that other place:
“The good news is that this beer tastes a lot better than it smells. The smell on the initial pour can slap you in the face. It is a sour, unpleasant smell – much like the trub (or fermentation residue) from a batch of homebrew. This makes sense, as this beer is bottle fermented. The color, on the other hand, is beautiful. It is a bright ruby/amber color that is a pleasure to look at. The taste is rather nice. It is a rich English bitter with a slight carbonation burn and a lasting bitterness that hits at the back of the mouth and sticks through to the aftertaste. For any fan of “real” English ales, this will be a treat. It isn’t sweet or terribly unique. But, it is a solid and consistent traditional English Ale.”
Wow. I totally disagree with two points. First, the trub isn’t always a bad smell (I even downed the yeast, old school style, because it didn't smell terrible. Great source of B-complex vitamins!).
Second, sweetness is the first thing that I registered upon sipping this beer .
What’s that they say about taste?
Despite the bottle conditioning, it’s a clear, caramel-colored brew that looks like a bitter. Upon opening, I immediately smelled a touch of fragrant hops and the strong smell of rising bread. Yes, we’re in England here. It was fully refrigerated, and poured with a modest head that faded to a polite but persistent skim in a few minutes. Once in the glass, the finishing hops were floral and very much in evidence, almost overpowering the toasted smell of the malt. Upon the first taste, however, the malt came front and center with a welcome sweetness and medium body. The hops cut the body a bit to keep it refreshing, but most of the bitterness came from the coffee-like dark roasted malt. Carbonation was on the low end, with only a few, rebel bubbles fighting their way up from the bottom after 15 minutes in the glass, but it was quite appropriate for the brew.
This reminds me of Old Speckled Hen, which I believe is a bit paler, but similar in alcohol content. “Hen’s Tooth” clocks in at 6.5% abv, which is just right for one pint in the evening, wouldn’t you say? The extra ethanol isn’t as overpowering as in OSH, but you can’t ignore the contribution to the flavor, especially in the aftertaste. It’s been about three minutes since I took a sip, and my mouth tastes a little bit like kerosene. Hang on….that’s better.
Let’s see what they say about this beer over at that other place:
“The good news is that this beer tastes a lot better than it smells. The smell on the initial pour can slap you in the face. It is a sour, unpleasant smell – much like the trub (or fermentation residue) from a batch of homebrew. This makes sense, as this beer is bottle fermented. The color, on the other hand, is beautiful. It is a bright ruby/amber color that is a pleasure to look at. The taste is rather nice. It is a rich English bitter with a slight carbonation burn and a lasting bitterness that hits at the back of the mouth and sticks through to the aftertaste. For any fan of “real” English ales, this will be a treat. It isn’t sweet or terribly unique. But, it is a solid and consistent traditional English Ale.”
Wow. I totally disagree with two points. First, the trub isn’t always a bad smell (I even downed the yeast, old school style, because it didn't smell terrible. Great source of B-complex vitamins!).
Second, sweetness is the first thing that I registered upon sipping this beer .
What’s that they say about taste?
Knocking on heaven's door
Kind of a long one today. OK, it's a freaking book chapter.
I first posted this on BGG 6 weeks ago, before Elaine was born. Since I'll be discussing religious items from time to time, I thought I'd throw this up as an intro to my theological perspective.
"I was raised as a Roman Catholic, from baptism to first confession. The next scheduled event would have been confirmation (kind of the Catholic equivalent to adult baptism, or being ‘born again’, but with oil instead of water). But my family drew up stakes and headed for the Carolinas to enter the exciting world of retail ownership. The hectic nature of running a hardware store in a small town distracted my parents from things like my religious education, and it sort of went by the wayside. I hadn’t really been that taken with it, anyway. Thinking about Christianity dredged up half-formed emotions of anxiety, guilt, and dread. Suffice to say, I hadn’t been paying that much attention, what with the pretty girls at church all dressed up in their Sunday best.
Eventually, I began to see the idea of God as rather ridiculous, and I began to scorn those who were blindly and spinelessly led by the word of God. Living in the Baptist South, near the gilded wonderland of Heritage, USA (Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s compound/waterpark) and during the advent of the megachurch, I had plenty of easy targets. Near the end of nights spent partying, I loved to turn on televangelists and laugh at their wide-eyed, sweating faces as they went into hysterics. I especially loved Robert Tilton, who would implore a man (or men) with some problem with the stomach or stomach area to touch his TV screen and receive the healing touch, followed by Tilton muttering some babble that was supposed to represent Speaking in Tongues. HI-larious.
Several years later, I realized that I DID actually believe in something more (meaning an afterlife of some sort). Meditation and thoughtful contemplation led me to kind of a half-baked view of life, death, and justice, where we would be so unified by death that we would finally understand each other (I would know the harm of my actions, and others would understand my original intent, for example). In this view, the universe started by purely physical principles, and God evolved into being as the spiritual residue of our deaths.
Further questing led me to read about the roots and practice of Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. Then it occurred to me that I had been heaping scorn on the gullibility and hypocrisy of Christians for lo these many years, but that I had never actually read the Bible. I set out to read it as literature, cover to cover, and I used a study bible that included footnotes on the historical context of the writings. I did pretty well getting through the OT, until about halfway through the prophets. At that point, I said, “OK, I get it.”, and moved on to the NT. I found the NT to be very compelling, and read it twice before acknowledging that I might just be a Christian. I knew that I was moving back to Michigan for grad school, so I resolved to find a church when I got there.
I'm back, baby!
I got engaged when I moved to Michigan, and my fiancé and I attended the adult initiation classes at my church (I went with Catholic, probably due to lingering childhood connections with the music, incense, and liturgy). We later broke up, but I continued attending the classes, as the end point for me was finally getting confirmed. I was glad that I didn’t get confirmed as a younger man, because it should be an adult decision, based on careful thought and a thorough understanding of the faith.
As I began to understand the how and why of every aspect of the RC mass, I gained a deep reverence for the two thousand years of honing this style of worship. Rather than reciting the creed and the Lord’s Prayer, I gave each line my full attention and intention. I saw the mass as a time when we are lifted up to heaven to perform this act of worship in God’s own presence, and He unites us as one body. There was more than one occasion when I thought that I felt the power of God while praying during Mass. This led me to seek more ‘experiences’ of God in church, expecting to be moved every time. It also led me to be more self-centered in church, so that the Mass became more of a solitary activity, something achieved in spite of all those other people there.
Eventually, I left that church. Ann Arbor, surprisingly, is a center of some of the most conservative Catholics in the US, and a core of parishioners began affecting the fabric of the community. During the 2006 election cycle, I was basically told (during a homily) that I should only vote for people who agree with issue X. This also happened in 2004, but this time, it was the final straw. I moved over to the student parish. It was nice enough, but I didn’t get that sense of awe there, and I never got involved by volunteering for ministries. But I think that getting out of that beautiful marble church with the pews and kneelers and going to the largely wooden campus church with padded chairs and a much more liberal bent allowed me to look at what the Mass really offers, and what I was really seeking.
It’s clear to me now that I was getting high, so to speak, on Jesus. When you see the snake handlers and faith healers on TV shaking, falling down, babbling incoherently, they really believe that the Spirit is moving through them. But I remember as a child how you can get yourself worked up into a crazy lather very easily with no thoughts of God or Jesus. More like a cat getting all worked up over its tail. I’m not saying that it’s true in every case, or that God doesn’t work that way, but I do believe that a lot of it is seeking that high and achieving it psychosomatically. I never raved or gesticulated, but I think that I had been an experience junkie, looking for some tangible manifestation of God to justify my faith.
The Question
I haven’t been to church in a few months. The last time I went to Mass, I was struck by the sense that this was a really strange way to worship God. That’s the point, right? I know that there are a few other important things that people get out of attending church, such as community, a much-needed reminder of how to be kind to one another, etc., but the main point is to worship.
So what is worship, really? I can think of how a human would want to be worshipped, but God? The OT God wanted sacrifices, but the NT God supplied the sacrifice, and made it abundantly clear that we do not gain favor by our worldly offerings. So meeting once a week is purely for instruction and a reminder of who’s in charge? That seems kind of sterile. Or is God like your grandma on her birthday…it really doesn’t matter what gift you get for her, she’s just happy if you show up so she can see the whole family one more time. I welcome any thoughts on this matter.
So here’s the plan: to escape the psychological triggers of the Mass, I’m going to start attending non-Catholic churches for awhile. I have liberal politics, informed by my conscience and sense of justice, so I have limited my search to more inclusive churches. I don’t know much about Protestant churches, so I’ve been doing a bit of research to determine the liberal to conservative spectrum of various denominations.
My tentative plan, going into effect this morning is to start out as far as I think I can go, and work my way back to the more familiar. First stop, the Unitarian Universalists! In addition to being the most inclusive church I know, it may also be the best chance of my wife attending church with me. I suspect that it will ultimately be too wishy-washy for me, but I won’t know if I don’t go. Next week, I have a Presbyterian (USA) church penciled in, and the Lutherans (ELCA) are queued up after that."
When I originally posted this, I asked for suggestions of denominations that I might find to be plausible options. I was offered, among others, messianic Judaism, Quakerism(?), and pleas to avoid UU.
I attended one UU service a few days after the original post. I haven't had an opportunity to attend any other church due to the combined time commitments of a dissertation and the baby's needs. I will go back to UU for another try, just to flesh out my impressions a bit more. Here's how the first visit went:
"As it turned out, this wasn't the best week to visit the UU here in Ann Arbor. They were celebrating the new high school gradutes, and also the Coming of Age students--eight graders who had been individually mentored, taken special classes, and attended retreats. Each student gave a 4-5 minute talk called "Credo", outlining their beliefs as honestly as they could. Thus, I don't think that I got a realistic idea of how that community worships.
I arrived a few minutes early and walked through two hallways that were bustling with activities, including lots of people manning tables for various volunteer opportunities. Always a good sign. There was a tangible sense of warmth and community from the moment I entered the building. I took a seat in the back and flipped through the program, trying to figure out how they could pull off something as pluralistic as their mission statement declared.
The service began with a piano piece called "Tenderly", by Gross and Lawrence. It's a jazz piece, with no vocal accompanyment, and it left me a bit perplexed. I mean, I was a bass line away from thinking that "Whaddya Know" was about to begin. Then I noticed that there was a yard gnome on a table behind the lectern. When the piece ended, we were treated to "Pomp and Circumstance" as the high school graduates were introduced. Finally, the Senior Minister addressed the congregation. There was a lot of vague, "I'm glad you're here, and I hope that you're glad that you're here, too!". She was very nice. There were other events that involved a lot of clapping for people. Like I said, probably not the best day for my spiritual quest. The senior minister was like a cross between Diane Rheam and a happy Professor McGonagall. I kept waiting for her to just award the 50 points to Griffindor and be done with it.
Then, she lashed out. She said that most people think that UU means that you can believe whatever you want, which is demeaning and wrong. UU, she says, means that you are given the freedom and responsibility to figure out what you believe within a diverse community. She stressed the word responsibility a few more times. This was followed by the eight-graders' "Credo" readings. I stayed for about 9 of them. There wasn't a theist in the bunch, but there were two atheists, three humanists, two agnostics, one "Earth-centered", and one...well, I wasn't really sure what he was getting at. Interestingly, all but one used the expression "web of Life" in their talks, and most discussed the importance of interconnectedness of humanity. I got the sense that the kids were all being honest, which I thought was great, but I also suspected that they were, to some extent, being led by the nose by their mentors and peers as much as anyone in a more structured religion.
So, what I got out of my first go with the UU: I think I get what they stand for, but I don't know how they go about teaching it. I think it will take a few more visits to form a more fair opinion."
I first posted this on BGG 6 weeks ago, before Elaine was born. Since I'll be discussing religious items from time to time, I thought I'd throw this up as an intro to my theological perspective.
"I was raised as a Roman Catholic, from baptism to first confession. The next scheduled event would have been confirmation (kind of the Catholic equivalent to adult baptism, or being ‘born again’, but with oil instead of water). But my family drew up stakes and headed for the Carolinas to enter the exciting world of retail ownership. The hectic nature of running a hardware store in a small town distracted my parents from things like my religious education, and it sort of went by the wayside. I hadn’t really been that taken with it, anyway. Thinking about Christianity dredged up half-formed emotions of anxiety, guilt, and dread. Suffice to say, I hadn’t been paying that much attention, what with the pretty girls at church all dressed up in their Sunday best.
Eventually, I began to see the idea of God as rather ridiculous, and I began to scorn those who were blindly and spinelessly led by the word of God. Living in the Baptist South, near the gilded wonderland of Heritage, USA (Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s compound/waterpark) and during the advent of the megachurch, I had plenty of easy targets. Near the end of nights spent partying, I loved to turn on televangelists and laugh at their wide-eyed, sweating faces as they went into hysterics. I especially loved Robert Tilton, who would implore a man (or men) with some problem with the stomach or stomach area to touch his TV screen and receive the healing touch, followed by Tilton muttering some babble that was supposed to represent Speaking in Tongues. HI-larious.
Several years later, I realized that I DID actually believe in something more (meaning an afterlife of some sort). Meditation and thoughtful contemplation led me to kind of a half-baked view of life, death, and justice, where we would be so unified by death that we would finally understand each other (I would know the harm of my actions, and others would understand my original intent, for example). In this view, the universe started by purely physical principles, and God evolved into being as the spiritual residue of our deaths.
Further questing led me to read about the roots and practice of Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. Then it occurred to me that I had been heaping scorn on the gullibility and hypocrisy of Christians for lo these many years, but that I had never actually read the Bible. I set out to read it as literature, cover to cover, and I used a study bible that included footnotes on the historical context of the writings. I did pretty well getting through the OT, until about halfway through the prophets. At that point, I said, “OK, I get it.”, and moved on to the NT. I found the NT to be very compelling, and read it twice before acknowledging that I might just be a Christian. I knew that I was moving back to Michigan for grad school, so I resolved to find a church when I got there.
I'm back, baby!
I got engaged when I moved to Michigan, and my fiancé and I attended the adult initiation classes at my church (I went with Catholic, probably due to lingering childhood connections with the music, incense, and liturgy). We later broke up, but I continued attending the classes, as the end point for me was finally getting confirmed. I was glad that I didn’t get confirmed as a younger man, because it should be an adult decision, based on careful thought and a thorough understanding of the faith.
As I began to understand the how and why of every aspect of the RC mass, I gained a deep reverence for the two thousand years of honing this style of worship. Rather than reciting the creed and the Lord’s Prayer, I gave each line my full attention and intention. I saw the mass as a time when we are lifted up to heaven to perform this act of worship in God’s own presence, and He unites us as one body. There was more than one occasion when I thought that I felt the power of God while praying during Mass. This led me to seek more ‘experiences’ of God in church, expecting to be moved every time. It also led me to be more self-centered in church, so that the Mass became more of a solitary activity, something achieved in spite of all those other people there.
Eventually, I left that church. Ann Arbor, surprisingly, is a center of some of the most conservative Catholics in the US, and a core of parishioners began affecting the fabric of the community. During the 2006 election cycle, I was basically told (during a homily) that I should only vote for people who agree with issue X. This also happened in 2004, but this time, it was the final straw. I moved over to the student parish. It was nice enough, but I didn’t get that sense of awe there, and I never got involved by volunteering for ministries. But I think that getting out of that beautiful marble church with the pews and kneelers and going to the largely wooden campus church with padded chairs and a much more liberal bent allowed me to look at what the Mass really offers, and what I was really seeking.
It’s clear to me now that I was getting high, so to speak, on Jesus. When you see the snake handlers and faith healers on TV shaking, falling down, babbling incoherently, they really believe that the Spirit is moving through them. But I remember as a child how you can get yourself worked up into a crazy lather very easily with no thoughts of God or Jesus. More like a cat getting all worked up over its tail. I’m not saying that it’s true in every case, or that God doesn’t work that way, but I do believe that a lot of it is seeking that high and achieving it psychosomatically. I never raved or gesticulated, but I think that I had been an experience junkie, looking for some tangible manifestation of God to justify my faith.
The Question
I haven’t been to church in a few months. The last time I went to Mass, I was struck by the sense that this was a really strange way to worship God. That’s the point, right? I know that there are a few other important things that people get out of attending church, such as community, a much-needed reminder of how to be kind to one another, etc., but the main point is to worship.
So what is worship, really? I can think of how a human would want to be worshipped, but God? The OT God wanted sacrifices, but the NT God supplied the sacrifice, and made it abundantly clear that we do not gain favor by our worldly offerings. So meeting once a week is purely for instruction and a reminder of who’s in charge? That seems kind of sterile. Or is God like your grandma on her birthday…it really doesn’t matter what gift you get for her, she’s just happy if you show up so she can see the whole family one more time. I welcome any thoughts on this matter.
So here’s the plan: to escape the psychological triggers of the Mass, I’m going to start attending non-Catholic churches for awhile. I have liberal politics, informed by my conscience and sense of justice, so I have limited my search to more inclusive churches. I don’t know much about Protestant churches, so I’ve been doing a bit of research to determine the liberal to conservative spectrum of various denominations.
My tentative plan, going into effect this morning is to start out as far as I think I can go, and work my way back to the more familiar. First stop, the Unitarian Universalists! In addition to being the most inclusive church I know, it may also be the best chance of my wife attending church with me. I suspect that it will ultimately be too wishy-washy for me, but I won’t know if I don’t go. Next week, I have a Presbyterian (USA) church penciled in, and the Lutherans (ELCA) are queued up after that."
When I originally posted this, I asked for suggestions of denominations that I might find to be plausible options. I was offered, among others, messianic Judaism, Quakerism(?), and pleas to avoid UU.
I attended one UU service a few days after the original post. I haven't had an opportunity to attend any other church due to the combined time commitments of a dissertation and the baby's needs. I will go back to UU for another try, just to flesh out my impressions a bit more. Here's how the first visit went:
"As it turned out, this wasn't the best week to visit the UU here in Ann Arbor. They were celebrating the new high school gradutes, and also the Coming of Age students--eight graders who had been individually mentored, taken special classes, and attended retreats. Each student gave a 4-5 minute talk called "Credo", outlining their beliefs as honestly as they could. Thus, I don't think that I got a realistic idea of how that community worships.
I arrived a few minutes early and walked through two hallways that were bustling with activities, including lots of people manning tables for various volunteer opportunities. Always a good sign. There was a tangible sense of warmth and community from the moment I entered the building. I took a seat in the back and flipped through the program, trying to figure out how they could pull off something as pluralistic as their mission statement declared.
The service began with a piano piece called "Tenderly", by Gross and Lawrence. It's a jazz piece, with no vocal accompanyment, and it left me a bit perplexed. I mean, I was a bass line away from thinking that "Whaddya Know" was about to begin. Then I noticed that there was a yard gnome on a table behind the lectern. When the piece ended, we were treated to "Pomp and Circumstance" as the high school graduates were introduced. Finally, the Senior Minister addressed the congregation. There was a lot of vague, "I'm glad you're here, and I hope that you're glad that you're here, too!". She was very nice. There were other events that involved a lot of clapping for people. Like I said, probably not the best day for my spiritual quest. The senior minister was like a cross between Diane Rheam and a happy Professor McGonagall. I kept waiting for her to just award the 50 points to Griffindor and be done with it.
Then, she lashed out. She said that most people think that UU means that you can believe whatever you want, which is demeaning and wrong. UU, she says, means that you are given the freedom and responsibility to figure out what you believe within a diverse community. She stressed the word responsibility a few more times. This was followed by the eight-graders' "Credo" readings. I stayed for about 9 of them. There wasn't a theist in the bunch, but there were two atheists, three humanists, two agnostics, one "Earth-centered", and one...well, I wasn't really sure what he was getting at. Interestingly, all but one used the expression "web of Life" in their talks, and most discussed the importance of interconnectedness of humanity. I got the sense that the kids were all being honest, which I thought was great, but I also suspected that they were, to some extent, being led by the nose by their mentors and peers as much as anyone in a more structured religion.
So, what I got out of my first go with the UU: I think I get what they stand for, but I don't know how they go about teaching it. I think it will take a few more visits to form a more fair opinion."
Babies are weird
I’m talking really little babies. Our darling princess is four weeks old yesterday, and she is the data point for today’s discussion.
Now, picture me standing there gaping in shock at the mountain of rage that she had mustered.
Now, picture my wife coming in the room and demanding to know why I wasn’t trying to do something about it. (She already knew about the thing where little babies don’t cry themselves out, it seems. But I digress. )
Back to the evolution question, how is it that giant birds didn’t just swoop down and haul off our offspring, as they shrieked, “Here I am!” at the top of their lungs, lo those many years ago, in the time of the mighty mammoth? Perhaps giant birds can’t hear. At any rate, it appears as if babies have no survival instincts at all, unless you count crying for food, or being so damn cute.
Take my daughter, for example. She knows the instant my hand is momentarily occupied, and takes that opportunity to spit the pacifier onto the floor, or to kick out and arch her back and fling back her head as I’m carrying her down the stairs. She wiggles like a fish, seemingly to evade my grasp, but then when I try to reposition her, she goes from a coiled spring to a wet noodle, so that suddenly I’m on the verge of giving her whiplash.
How did parents do it, back when the giant sloth ruled the jungle? How did the hunters hunt, or the gatherers gather, after going through every-three-hour feedings?
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Game Mechanics 101 -or- Himalaya: the review
You know what? Screw it. You're all adults. I'll skip the whole "101" nonsense and just review a game straight up. This one I had already posted on BGG, and I present it in its entirety.
Himalaya, a board game for 3-4 players, takes about 90 minutes to play.
Summary
Himalaya is a programming game with elements of area control, area majority, pick up and delivery, and set collection (see this wiki for definitions). The board art represents mountain passes in Nepal, and each player controls a caravaneer. The object is to guide your caravaneer from one village, where goods are picked up, to another, where orders are filled. Filling orders allows a player to leave behind influence in the region of the village. The major competition comes in the form of other players attempting to get goods or fill orders before you get to them. Victory is achieved by having sufficient religious, political, and economic influence to survive the game-ending elimination round.
Components
Image of yellow player's caravaneer and one religious influence marker
The game board is on glossy stock, and is mounted on standard, thick cardboard. Despite the European-style fold, there is a noticeable crease in the middle of the board. The orders are printed on nice, thick cardboard, and the goods are small, painted cubes. The caravaneers and influence markers are colored plastic, and come in sprues. Removing these many small pieces takes a while, and requires some work with a razor cutter to clean up. The player screens are quite flimsy. The intention of the designer is to have the goods hold the screen down, but that doesn’t work. My fix is to get some Velcro self-stick tabs to hold the shape of the screen. All in all, the components are original and well-conceived, and the art is well-done and clear.
Gameplay
The Himalaya board depicts 20 villages of various sizes, connected by gravel roads, stone roads, or icy roads. At the start of each turn, players program their next six moves. This is accomplished using discs that have four colored regions on one face, each representing a different action. A player sets up the discs, in order, behind his screen, with the desired action facing outward. Action 1 is resolved first for all players, in player order, before moving on to Action 2, and so on. The five actions are to Travel by Gravel Path, Travel by Stone Path, Travel by Icy Path, Deal, or Rest. Taking a road means that you move your caravaneer along a road of the indicated type that is connected to the place from where the caravaneer starts. Dealing means that you take goods or fill orders. Resting means that your caravaneer stays put for that turn.
Image of a programming disc (showing"resting" on the reverse side)
The board is pre-seeded with goods in certain villages and orders in others as determined by a die-roll. Anytime an order is filled or a village is emptied of goods, a die roll is employed to determine the next village to receive either goods or orders.
To pick up goods, a player must travel to a village with goods and remove the lowest valued good from that village.
To fill an order, a player must travel to a village that has an order ring, and spend the goods indicated on the ring.
After filling an order, a player may choose how to increase his influence. The order rings have variable numbers of yaks printed on their reverse. Yaks are the currency for determining a players economic influence, so a player may simply decide to pick up the order ring and keep it. Alternatively, a player may place ambassadors in the region of the village for political influence. If the player is the first one to fill an order in that village, he may place a stupa on that village, increasing his overall religious influence. The villages come in three different sizes, so the amount of political or religious influence that a player may gain from a village increases with the village size.
After three of the rounds, there are inventory phases in which players are rewarded for having the most of a certain good by receiving a token worth 3 yaks.
Finally, there is an optional rule where all players have three power tokens that can be played at the start of a turn. Only one of each type may be played at once, and only one per player may be in play. The three tokens are
1)Yeti Footprints: Place this on any path to render it unusable for that turn
2) Snowstorm: Place this on any path to make it twice as hard to travel that path
3)Market Day: Place on any village so that anyone visiting that village to trade on that turn can select the good of their choice.
Optional rules also allow for religious or political influence to be increased during the inventory phase.
Game end
4p game
After the 12th round, players are eliminated based on their respective influence in the three areas. First, the player with the least religious influence is eliminated. Then the player with the least political influence is eliminated. Finally, the player with the most economic influence is declared the winner.
3p game
The player with a majority of influence in two of the three areas is the winner. Economic influence is the tiebreaker.
Strategy
1) Timing is critical in Himalaya, and there’s a fair amount of gambling involved. The programs are activated in player order, so if an opponent appears to be heading for the same village as you to grab goods, you need to determine who will arrive first to know who will receive which goods. Remember, the first player takes the lowest valued good, so if two players reach a village with tea and gold on the same turn, the one who was first in turn order would take the tea, and the second player would get the gold. This is where the option to rest, or stall, comes in handy. By resting, you allow your opponent to arrive first, so you get the more highly valued good.
2) Based on the victory conditions, a player’s first, second, and third objectives are plainly laid out. There are a limited number of villages, so securing a reasonable amount of religious influence is the first priority. Aiming for larger villages is a good idea, as well, as you can maximize your distribution of influence.
3) Orders that require gold often provide a higher economic incentive (more yaks). It is tough to turn down the chance for religious or political influence, but economic influence wins the game. Take these order rings almost every time, as they let you increase your economic influence while wasting the least amount of religious and political opportunities.
4) Finally, there are often clusters of villages that contain goods and orders in the early game. It is not a bad idea to make your way toward the more far-flung villages after the first few turns, as the next goods/orders-containing villages may suddenly appear there, with little competition for you.
Parting Shots
Like another programming game, RoboRally, the programming phase of the turn can take a while, as players assess their best moves and attempt to second-guess their opponents. I find the time spent waiting for other players to settle on a program to be annoying, and it is the main reason that I am reluctant to play programming games now.
Also, like RoboRally, when you run your program, it is fun and satisfying. The groans and cheers of those who made mistakes and those who got lucky breaks are a big part of what make this a fun game. This is the main reason that I continue to talk myself into programming games now.
My biggest knock on the game is the elimination aspect, as you may know at the halfway point that you are going to be eliminated on the basis of religious influence. This can put a bit of a chill on the rest of your game, as you can not even attempt to improve your rank in the game – you are, and will remain, in last place. A fix has been proposed, and I will use it next time we play.
So aside from game length and some questions about the victory conditions, I really like Himalaya, and I would recommend it for just about any group that likes strategy games with a fair amount of luck.
Himalaya, a board game for 3-4 players, takes about 90 minutes to play.
Summary
Himalaya is a programming game with elements of area control, area majority, pick up and delivery, and set collection (see this wiki for definitions). The board art represents mountain passes in Nepal, and each player controls a caravaneer. The object is to guide your caravaneer from one village, where goods are picked up, to another, where orders are filled. Filling orders allows a player to leave behind influence in the region of the village. The major competition comes in the form of other players attempting to get goods or fill orders before you get to them. Victory is achieved by having sufficient religious, political, and economic influence to survive the game-ending elimination round.
Components
Image of yellow player's caravaneer and one religious influence marker
The game board is on glossy stock, and is mounted on standard, thick cardboard. Despite the European-style fold, there is a noticeable crease in the middle of the board. The orders are printed on nice, thick cardboard, and the goods are small, painted cubes. The caravaneers and influence markers are colored plastic, and come in sprues. Removing these many small pieces takes a while, and requires some work with a razor cutter to clean up. The player screens are quite flimsy. The intention of the designer is to have the goods hold the screen down, but that doesn’t work. My fix is to get some Velcro self-stick tabs to hold the shape of the screen. All in all, the components are original and well-conceived, and the art is well-done and clear.
Gameplay
The Himalaya board depicts 20 villages of various sizes, connected by gravel roads, stone roads, or icy roads. At the start of each turn, players program their next six moves. This is accomplished using discs that have four colored regions on one face, each representing a different action. A player sets up the discs, in order, behind his screen, with the desired action facing outward. Action 1 is resolved first for all players, in player order, before moving on to Action 2, and so on. The five actions are to Travel by Gravel Path, Travel by Stone Path, Travel by Icy Path, Deal, or Rest. Taking a road means that you move your caravaneer along a road of the indicated type that is connected to the place from where the caravaneer starts. Dealing means that you take goods or fill orders. Resting means that your caravaneer stays put for that turn.
Image of a programming disc (showing"resting" on the reverse side)The board is pre-seeded with goods in certain villages and orders in others as determined by a die-roll. Anytime an order is filled or a village is emptied of goods, a die roll is employed to determine the next village to receive either goods or orders.
To pick up goods, a player must travel to a village with goods and remove the lowest valued good from that village.
To fill an order, a player must travel to a village that has an order ring, and spend the goods indicated on the ring.
After filling an order, a player may choose how to increase his influence. The order rings have variable numbers of yaks printed on their reverse. Yaks are the currency for determining a players economic influence, so a player may simply decide to pick up the order ring and keep it. Alternatively, a player may place ambassadors in the region of the village for political influence. If the player is the first one to fill an order in that village, he may place a stupa on that village, increasing his overall religious influence. The villages come in three different sizes, so the amount of political or religious influence that a player may gain from a village increases with the village size.
After three of the rounds, there are inventory phases in which players are rewarded for having the most of a certain good by receiving a token worth 3 yaks.
Finally, there is an optional rule where all players have three power tokens that can be played at the start of a turn. Only one of each type may be played at once, and only one per player may be in play. The three tokens are
1)Yeti Footprints: Place this on any path to render it unusable for that turn
2) Snowstorm: Place this on any path to make it twice as hard to travel that path
3)Market Day: Place on any village so that anyone visiting that village to trade on that turn can select the good of their choice.
Optional rules also allow for religious or political influence to be increased during the inventory phase.
Game end
4p game
After the 12th round, players are eliminated based on their respective influence in the three areas. First, the player with the least religious influence is eliminated. Then the player with the least political influence is eliminated. Finally, the player with the most economic influence is declared the winner.
3p game
The player with a majority of influence in two of the three areas is the winner. Economic influence is the tiebreaker.
Strategy
1) Timing is critical in Himalaya, and there’s a fair amount of gambling involved. The programs are activated in player order, so if an opponent appears to be heading for the same village as you to grab goods, you need to determine who will arrive first to know who will receive which goods. Remember, the first player takes the lowest valued good, so if two players reach a village with tea and gold on the same turn, the one who was first in turn order would take the tea, and the second player would get the gold. This is where the option to rest, or stall, comes in handy. By resting, you allow your opponent to arrive first, so you get the more highly valued good.
2) Based on the victory conditions, a player’s first, second, and third objectives are plainly laid out. There are a limited number of villages, so securing a reasonable amount of religious influence is the first priority. Aiming for larger villages is a good idea, as well, as you can maximize your distribution of influence.
3) Orders that require gold often provide a higher economic incentive (more yaks). It is tough to turn down the chance for religious or political influence, but economic influence wins the game. Take these order rings almost every time, as they let you increase your economic influence while wasting the least amount of religious and political opportunities.
4) Finally, there are often clusters of villages that contain goods and orders in the early game. It is not a bad idea to make your way toward the more far-flung villages after the first few turns, as the next goods/orders-containing villages may suddenly appear there, with little competition for you.
Parting Shots
Like another programming game, RoboRally, the programming phase of the turn can take a while, as players assess their best moves and attempt to second-guess their opponents. I find the time spent waiting for other players to settle on a program to be annoying, and it is the main reason that I am reluctant to play programming games now.
Also, like RoboRally, when you run your program, it is fun and satisfying. The groans and cheers of those who made mistakes and those who got lucky breaks are a big part of what make this a fun game. This is the main reason that I continue to talk myself into programming games now.
My biggest knock on the game is the elimination aspect, as you may know at the halfway point that you are going to be eliminated on the basis of religious influence. This can put a bit of a chill on the rest of your game, as you can not even attempt to improve your rank in the game – you are, and will remain, in last place. A fix has been proposed, and I will use it next time we play.
So aside from game length and some questions about the victory conditions, I really like Himalaya, and I would recommend it for just about any group that likes strategy games with a fair amount of luck.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
My Boardgaming Obsession: A retrospective
I have a pile of games. Here's a photo of most of my collection.
So, how did this happen? When I was growing up, I had encountered the same games as most kids in the early 70's. The classics like checkers and chess; commercial games like A Game of Life, Monopoly, Clue, Stratego, Sorry, and Chopper Command; card games like Uno--you get the picture. My game playing died out a bit, in my teens, except for some poker and other games when my grandma would visit on holidays. In my early 20's, I played a bit of rummy and commercial variants like Phase 10. I loved playing cards and other games, but I wasn't exactly surrounded by like minds.
One game that was introduced to me around this time was the old Avalon Hill game Acquire. I had a group of friends who would get together at least every few weeks for a game or two of Acquire, and there was much smack talked. I was convinced that there were other games out there that I hadn't encountered that offered the same depth and ease of play of Acquire, but I didn't really know where to look. All I knew is that I loved playing board games for the competition and the relatively structured social time with friends.
Most of the games that arose in the intervening years were party games like Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary and Cranium. I loved Cranium because I love to ham it up, but I'm too shy to do it under normal circumstances. Fast forward to 2002, when I met my wife. We played a lot of Scrabble, but found that we were too evenly matched (and too competitive), such that the game would inevitably grind to a halt as there would be nowhere to put letters! So we were often found in the game aisle of big department stores, looking for something that played well with two people.
Then, one fine day, I was looking at the front page of Wikipedia, where they list the recent submissions, and there was a description of a game called Barbarossa. The link from the article took me to Boardgamegeek, which is an amazing database of thousands of board and card games. Tens of thousands of people visit the 'Geek every day, and they form a great community of mostly well-spoken personalities. Every game has its own page with its average rating on a 10 scale, and a ranking as compared with every other game. I've been addicted to the website and the hobby ever since. I never bought Barbarossa, but I have accumulated a lot of really fun games that have brought me many hours of joy.
Most of the games that I ended up purchasing are not widely available. They are referred to as designer games, Eurogames, or German-style games, and they are usually found in hobby shops, dedicated game and comic shops, or at online retailers. A full boardgame usually costs between $24-$50, which can be a bit off-putting for someone unfamiliar with these games. Gaming evangelists will usually cite the cost of going out to dinner once as opposed to playing a good game over and over.
There are a few things that make these games somewhat more desirable than the games in the aisle of Target or Toys 'R Us:
- Mystique -- They are not widely available, and this novelty itself can be attractive. "Designer" indicates that the designer's name is usually on the box lid, and hobbyists develop favorite designers.
- Components -- There's often a lot of love that goes into crafting these games, and it shows in the thick cardboard, wooden tokens, and creative artwork
- Strategy -vs -Luck -- An effort is usually made to minimize the randomness of the outcome, allowing player decisions to have a greater effect. Roll and move, ala Monopoly, is verboten.
- Simple Rules -- Non-mainstream gaming can conjure images of huge rulebooks (wargames and role-playing games). Euro rulesets are usually pretty simple, though not so simple as to be printed on the box top.
- Theme -- Theme is often sacrificed for streamlined gameplay...there is always a theme, such as 'gaining influence in the court of Louis XIV', but the game can usually be reduced to an abstract. This is unlike "American-style games" which are laden with situational rules exceptions to satisfy the theme.
- Game length -- Euros, optimally, last no more than 2 hours, and normally last 60-90 minutes, including setup. This is for a group who is already familiar with the game, and assuming that you're playing with an appropriate number of people. Some games have so many decisions to be made, that each additional person can add 30 minutes!
Next, I'll cover basic mechanics in games so that anyone unfamiliar with these games can follow any game reviews that I post in the future.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Another tasting...Delirium Tremens!
DT is a Belgian Tripel Ale that I have enjoyed for some time, and it's actually the first Tripel that I ever tried. My first time was last summer, when I brought a 750ml bottle home and uncorked it.
I thought that it must have gone bad.
My taste buds, accustomed to English-style ales, porters, and stouts, were not ready for these exotic fruity flavors coming from a beer. And the wild yeast in these old Belgian breweries has a certain...gamy quality to it, such that it seems more hearty than a beer of similar lightness. My wife assured me that nothing was wrong with it, and that it was delicious. Skeptical, I let her finish the bottle, but I gave it another go the next week. Tasting it with more open buds allowed me to appreciate what was there, and it quickly became one of my favorites.
Tripels are bottle fermented with candi sugar, which is crystallized sucrose. This gives a different kind of sweetness than corn sugar or malt extract, especially since all of the sugar is not used up in carbonating the beer. Tripels, as the name suggest, have higher alcohol content than most beers (8-10%), but the only indication that there may be more alcohol in DT is the extra syrupy sweetness. Much like a shooter that's high in sugar, you can drink yourself into a headache with DT.
So the unofficial tasting, interrupted for a few hours by a squalling infant, goes like this:
The pour is very golden, very effervescent. The head is light and fragrant, and doesn't linger long. This beer remains cloudy, because the yeast flocculate, or remain in suspension. Most yeast sediments. The flocculant yeast provide most of the fruity flavors by virtue of the specific sugar breakdown products, or esters, but their presence in the glass contributes to the spiciness of the beer. I smell strawberries, banana, and spice as the bubbles pop, and I taste a wine-like sweetness that is cut by citrus flavor and intense spice. The effect is not unlike a champagne made from Viogner, but much more refreshing! I say champagne because the tiny bubbles that consistently dance with the yeast give DT a mouthfeel similar to a champagne. The high carbonation really softens this in your mouth, as opposed to the larger bubbles in a lager. Fortunately, a healthy proportion of extra light malt sugar keeps DT from being dry like a champagne.
Overall, then, Delirium Tremens is an outstanding specimen of a Tripel, outshined only by La Fin du Monde in flavor and character. And since I'm all about Michigan microbreweries, I'll put in a plug for the best Michigan-based tripels that I've tried, in order of preference:
Bell's Sparkling Ale Kalamazoo
Dragonmead Final Absolution Warren
Dark Horse Sapient Trip Ale Marshall
Honorable Mention -- Really good, but -WHOA! - the hops!
New Holland's Black Tulip Holland
I thought that it must have gone bad.
My taste buds, accustomed to English-style ales, porters, and stouts, were not ready for these exotic fruity flavors coming from a beer. And the wild yeast in these old Belgian breweries has a certain...gamy quality to it, such that it seems more hearty than a beer of similar lightness. My wife assured me that nothing was wrong with it, and that it was delicious. Skeptical, I let her finish the bottle, but I gave it another go the next week. Tasting it with more open buds allowed me to appreciate what was there, and it quickly became one of my favorites.
Tripels are bottle fermented with candi sugar, which is crystallized sucrose. This gives a different kind of sweetness than corn sugar or malt extract, especially since all of the sugar is not used up in carbonating the beer. Tripels, as the name suggest, have higher alcohol content than most beers (8-10%), but the only indication that there may be more alcohol in DT is the extra syrupy sweetness. Much like a shooter that's high in sugar, you can drink yourself into a headache with DT.
So the unofficial tasting, interrupted for a few hours by a squalling infant, goes like this:
The pour is very golden, very effervescent. The head is light and fragrant, and doesn't linger long. This beer remains cloudy, because the yeast flocculate, or remain in suspension. Most yeast sediments. The flocculant yeast provide most of the fruity flavors by virtue of the specific sugar breakdown products, or esters, but their presence in the glass contributes to the spiciness of the beer. I smell strawberries, banana, and spice as the bubbles pop, and I taste a wine-like sweetness that is cut by citrus flavor and intense spice. The effect is not unlike a champagne made from Viogner, but much more refreshing! I say champagne because the tiny bubbles that consistently dance with the yeast give DT a mouthfeel similar to a champagne. The high carbonation really softens this in your mouth, as opposed to the larger bubbles in a lager. Fortunately, a healthy proportion of extra light malt sugar keeps DT from being dry like a champagne.
Overall, then, Delirium Tremens is an outstanding specimen of a Tripel, outshined only by La Fin du Monde in flavor and character. And since I'm all about Michigan microbreweries, I'll put in a plug for the best Michigan-based tripels that I've tried, in order of preference:
Bell's Sparkling Ale Kalamazoo
Dragonmead Final Absolution Warren
Dark Horse Sapient Trip Ale Marshall
Honorable Mention -- Really good, but -WHOA! - the hops!
New Holland's Black Tulip Holland
Sunday, July 8, 2007
A Tasting -- Bam Biere!
In addition to homebrewing, I like to try microbrew offerings, especially from Michigan microbreweries. The cool thing about the Michigan microbreweries is that they don't have a specific identity, like the Northwest or mountain states. They make EVERYTHING. Out West, the choice is whether you want your beer super-hopped or uber-hopped. It's a total pissing contest out there, and beer drinkers lose. It reminds me of people who boast about the amount of spicy heat they like in their food...it seems that at some point, you don't really taste anything.
So, today, my neighbor Bob handed me a bottle of Bam Biere Farmhouse Ale, from the Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales Co. in Dexter, MI. From the bottle,"Golden, naturally cloudy, bottle conditioned, and dry hopped for a perfectly refreshing balance of spicy malts, hops, and yeast."
A bit of explanation. Golden and naturally cloudy are self explanatory. Bottle conditioned means that, like homebrew, the yeast is not filtered out prior to bottling, and is used to naturally carbonate the beer. This also allows for aging of the beer. Dry hopping is placing, well, dry hops right into the fermenter after the boil and cooling of the wort. Those hop oils are thus untouched by heat, which makes for a more pungent bitterness and nose.
So after all of that ado, here are my very unprofessional observations and impressions. The beer poured golden, as advertised, with a tall, creamy, yet very light head right out of the fridge. Unfortunately, I decanted the yeast, as well. Sometimes, bottle yeast is mildly off-flavored, and sometimes it is sulfurous and tart. This was the latter variety. Fortunately, much of the dark brown yeast remained trapped in the head, and I scooped it out with my finger.
I don't know that Farmhouse Ale is an actual variety of beer. The label indicates that it is intended to be refreshing and spicy, so I was expecting something in line with a Belgian ale, like a Hoegaarden. I was surprised to find a strong lemon component, probably a diluted version of the sulfury sediment. I didn't really detect any other fruity flavors, and the spiciness eluded me. The dry-hopping must have been on the light side, as well. It had a nice, light weight, and refreshing liveliness, but in the end, I just wasn't crazy about the flavor.
When my wife tasted it, she suggested that perhaps the bottle had turned. I'll pick up another bottle soon and give it one more go, being careful not to decant the sediment.
So, today, my neighbor Bob handed me a bottle of Bam Biere Farmhouse Ale, from the Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales Co. in Dexter, MI. From the bottle,"Golden, naturally cloudy, bottle conditioned, and dry hopped for a perfectly refreshing balance of spicy malts, hops, and yeast."
A bit of explanation. Golden and naturally cloudy are self explanatory. Bottle conditioned means that, like homebrew, the yeast is not filtered out prior to bottling, and is used to naturally carbonate the beer. This also allows for aging of the beer. Dry hopping is placing, well, dry hops right into the fermenter after the boil and cooling of the wort. Those hop oils are thus untouched by heat, which makes for a more pungent bitterness and nose.
So after all of that ado, here are my very unprofessional observations and impressions. The beer poured golden, as advertised, with a tall, creamy, yet very light head right out of the fridge. Unfortunately, I decanted the yeast, as well. Sometimes, bottle yeast is mildly off-flavored, and sometimes it is sulfurous and tart. This was the latter variety. Fortunately, much of the dark brown yeast remained trapped in the head, and I scooped it out with my finger.
I don't know that Farmhouse Ale is an actual variety of beer. The label indicates that it is intended to be refreshing and spicy, so I was expecting something in line with a Belgian ale, like a Hoegaarden. I was surprised to find a strong lemon component, probably a diluted version of the sulfury sediment. I didn't really detect any other fruity flavors, and the spiciness eluded me. The dry-hopping must have been on the light side, as well. It had a nice, light weight, and refreshing liveliness, but in the end, I just wasn't crazy about the flavor.
When my wife tasted it, she suggested that perhaps the bottle had turned. I'll pick up another bottle soon and give it one more go, being careful not to decant the sediment.
Introduction to Beer
My wife and I began homebrewing last January, after being impressed by the quality of brew being produced by our friends, Jim and Sonja. A local place, the Beer Depot, carries anything the beginner to advanced homebrewer might want, and they're only a few blocks from my house. The features that recommend homebrewing are as follows: it's easy, it's a great social activity, you make about 4.5 gallons of beer for about $35 (once the initial investment in equipment is made), and you receive immense satisfaction as those bubbles pop right under your nose while you take that first sip of a new batch.
The upfront cost would be close to $150. The crucial items are these:
- Large Stockpot, the bigger the better, but at least 4 gallons. A heavy bottom helps avoid burning.
- Two Carboys, glass, 6 ga.
- Two stoppers with vapor locks
- Large 5 gallon pail
- Two measuring pails, 4qt.
- Funnel with screen
- Thermometer with pot hook
- Hydrometer
- Plastic tubing and racking cane
- Capper -- you can get away with no capping if you buy the Grolsch-style bottles
- One-Step or any other sterilizing agent that you do not have to rinse.
- Bottles
Brewing 101
So what is beer? Beer is the fermented sugar from wheat and/or barley. Hops are usually added for flavor and aroma (and for preservative qualities, as in the IPA), but other aromatic plants like heather or spruce can be used as well. If a large amount of hops is used, a large amount of malt sugar is required to properly balance the beer. This is why Sam Adams sucks.
Malt is prepared as follows: Wheat or barley has the hell beaten out of it until the grains fall off and are collected. These grains are soaked in water in huge rooms for a while until they begin to germinate. This is called malting. The water is drained from the room and the malt is dried. Germination activates many enzymes in the grain that are then available for breaking down sugars in the malt. Hardcore homebrewers will set up a mashtun, which is a tank for soaking cracked malt at specific temperatures to extract the sugar and allow conversions, via the enzymes, to other sugars and esters. I purchase my malt in the form of a concentrated syrup that a company was kind enough to make.
The concentrated malt is added to water (usually 2.5gal), and is brought to a boil. Hops are often added for a 1h boil to make the beer more bitter. A few minutes before the end of the boil, finishing hops are added. Because they don't boil as long, the volatile oils extracted from them are retained in the beer, providing that 'green' flavor and aroma. The beer stew that we are left with here is called the wort.
When the wort cools, it is transferred to a glass carboy containing 2 gal cold water. When the temperature reaches 75-80F, the yeast is added. Yeast accomplish the fermentation. For the first week or so, the yeast eat the sugar and grow exponentially on this rich food source. They break down the sugar into simpler components, including ethanol and CO2. When the sugar is all used up, or the yeast have created a self-toxic alcohol environment, fermentation stops. All the homebrewer sees is that there is a thick head on the beer in the carboy that eventually disappears.
After a week or so, the beer is usually ready for bottling. A cup or so of corn sugar is boiled, and the fermented wort is added to it. The beer is siphoned into bottles, and the bottles are capped and put away for 10-14 days. The corn sugar is used by the yeast to carbonate the beer in the bottles.
That's all there is to it. Most of the process is cleaning...cleaning the work area before you begin, sterilizing equipment that will come into contact with the boiled wort, cleaning bottles, cleaning up afterward. But it's really worth it when you have a few batches put away, just waiting for you to have time for a nice beer.
Defining my audience
So, what am I doing with a blog?
I'd hate for it to become a gratuitously narcissistic diary thing. I think that I'd prefer to edge down the scale toward moderately self-absorbed. Mostly, I'll be sounding off on my various opinions, interests, life events, and etceteras in a conversational style blog that will end up being interesting to only a few folks.
Hey, I just defined my audience! A few folks, who likely just want to know what I'm up to, and would possibly be interested in some of the things that interest me. Now that that's out of the way, here's a sampling of what to expect:
I plan to do my entries as discrete units on a single topic, instead of ramblings about my day. So most entries will be either reviews of things in which I'm interested, or thoughts about important parts of my life.
First, I enjoy beer. The making, pouring, smelling, consumption, and discussion of beer makes me happy. I will share recipes and solicit your favorites. Do not try to hold back key ingredients, because I will know, and I will glare furiously at your recipe.
You might know that I have a respectable collection of board games and card games. When I am enjoying beer with friends, I will often suggest a board or card game. Here in this place, I will share my boardgaming experiences, reviews, and holiday gift suggestions. I sincerely hope that your life, and your heart, has room for board games.
My amazing grad student lifestyle has encouraged me to fall into a deep rut, in terms of what music I enjoy. Prior to grad school, I was in another musical rut of my own design, listening almost exclusively to jazz and rock like Blues Traveler, Sublime, and Dave Matthews. With the advent of online music tasting sites like iTunes, I've encountered a lot of great music from the now, as well as music that I missed from the 90s. While I appreciate the doors that iTunes opened for me, I now buy all of my music in hard copy from my local store. You will be treated to what I consider to be the best in music from just off the beaten path, as well as reasoned diatribes against music that I consider to be not-so-much the best.
I have liberal politics, which means that I believe in less of a rigid interpretation of the U.S. Constitution by the congress and judiciary. I have a strong belief in social justice, and in the individual rights of citizens, and I believe that lawmakers and judges should err on the side of these considerations. I believe that large corporations should be viewed as valuable, if untrustworthy. I am willing to concede to a more conservative interpretation of law as it applies to perpetrators of violent crime or sexual abuse, as I am a fan of polite society. I am glad that the ACLU exists, but they piss me off sometimes.
My religiosity is confusing. Raised Catholic, I attended a Catholic church for the last 6 years, until a few months ago. I was last seen in a Unitarian Universalist church...er, building. More on that later this week.
I am not a fan of the current US administration or its war policies. Too many wonderful people have died because of stupid politicians. I don't know who I will support in the next election.
I am a husband and a parent. So weird.
I have a healthy fear of crows, en masse.
To recap: a lot of commentary on boardgames, beer, music, possibly disc golf, and maybe a bit of molecular biology is what you should expect. My liberal politics and religious hand-wringing should help buffer all of that action, and I'll try to slip in some Kinkaid-esque "hearth-warming" stories of my beautiful daughter as she sorts out basic control of both her neck muscles and her talons of fury.
I'd hate for it to become a gratuitously narcissistic diary thing. I think that I'd prefer to edge down the scale toward moderately self-absorbed. Mostly, I'll be sounding off on my various opinions, interests, life events, and etceteras in a conversational style blog that will end up being interesting to only a few folks.
Hey, I just defined my audience! A few folks, who likely just want to know what I'm up to, and would possibly be interested in some of the things that interest me. Now that that's out of the way, here's a sampling of what to expect:
I plan to do my entries as discrete units on a single topic, instead of ramblings about my day. So most entries will be either reviews of things in which I'm interested, or thoughts about important parts of my life.
First, I enjoy beer. The making, pouring, smelling, consumption, and discussion of beer makes me happy. I will share recipes and solicit your favorites. Do not try to hold back key ingredients, because I will know, and I will glare furiously at your recipe.
You might know that I have a respectable collection of board games and card games. When I am enjoying beer with friends, I will often suggest a board or card game. Here in this place, I will share my boardgaming experiences, reviews, and holiday gift suggestions. I sincerely hope that your life, and your heart, has room for board games.
My amazing grad student lifestyle has encouraged me to fall into a deep rut, in terms of what music I enjoy. Prior to grad school, I was in another musical rut of my own design, listening almost exclusively to jazz and rock like Blues Traveler, Sublime, and Dave Matthews. With the advent of online music tasting sites like iTunes, I've encountered a lot of great music from the now, as well as music that I missed from the 90s. While I appreciate the doors that iTunes opened for me, I now buy all of my music in hard copy from my local store. You will be treated to what I consider to be the best in music from just off the beaten path, as well as reasoned diatribes against music that I consider to be not-so-much the best.
I have liberal politics, which means that I believe in less of a rigid interpretation of the U.S. Constitution by the congress and judiciary. I have a strong belief in social justice, and in the individual rights of citizens, and I believe that lawmakers and judges should err on the side of these considerations. I believe that large corporations should be viewed as valuable, if untrustworthy. I am willing to concede to a more conservative interpretation of law as it applies to perpetrators of violent crime or sexual abuse, as I am a fan of polite society. I am glad that the ACLU exists, but they piss me off sometimes.
My religiosity is confusing. Raised Catholic, I attended a Catholic church for the last 6 years, until a few months ago. I was last seen in a Unitarian Universalist church...er, building. More on that later this week.
I am not a fan of the current US administration or its war policies. Too many wonderful people have died because of stupid politicians. I don't know who I will support in the next election.
I am a husband and a parent. So weird.
I have a healthy fear of crows, en masse.
To recap: a lot of commentary on boardgames, beer, music, possibly disc golf, and maybe a bit of molecular biology is what you should expect. My liberal politics and religious hand-wringing should help buffer all of that action, and I'll try to slip in some Kinkaid-esque "hearth-warming" stories of my beautiful daughter as she sorts out basic control of both her neck muscles and her talons of fury.
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