DevelopingStorm

In celebration of the end of softball season,  Jayne and I headed out together for a lunch date that was more centered on finding a good burger than finding good beer.  Lucky for us we found both.  The place was Bison Country Bar and Gril l on Moody St in Waltham, MA. The first thing I noticed as we sat down at the bar was the Clown Shoes Tramp Stamp on tap.  I'm not a huge fan of Clown Shoes beers but the fact that they were pouring Tramp Stamp instead of the more ubiquitous Clementine was a great sign.  Without even checking the rest of the beer menu I ordered one. The bar area itself was well worn but comfortable.  It had the feel of a place that sees a lot of happy customers.     Jayne loves Buffalo Shrimp and spotted them when she opened the menu so we ordered some for a snack while we decided on lunch.   They were good.  The shrimp were a nice size.  The sauce was generic but fine.  Like a lot of Bu...

It's been a busy reading month.  In preparation for reading the 'A Dance of Dragons', the latest installment of George R.R. Martin's series 'A Song of Ice and Fire', I decided to re-read the previous four novels (all 3496 pages).  It had been a few years since I had read them originally and after a reviewing the plots summaries on fan site dedicated to the series I realized much of the story hadn't stuck with me.   I really enjoyed the HBO series based on the first novel as well, so it seemed like a fun project. When I was a kid I read and read Tolkien's LOTR multiple times and the first Dune book a couple but other than that I've never been a re-reader.  In my rough calculation it's been  25 years since I read a book more than once.  My expectation was that it would go quickly.  That's not been the case however. I'm finding much more enjoyment in the minor characters and over arching back story than I did on the first read.  ...

I was up in Maine for my annual Hermit Island vacation last week and I flanked the trip with stops at two of my favorite beer bars: Lions Pride in Brunswick and Novare Res Bier Cafe in Portland. I stopped in at Lions on Friday afternoon on the way up and sampled a a couple of sours: St Louis Gueze Fond Traditional and Rodenbach Grand Cru.  I'd had the Gueze before but the Grand Cru was a whole new taste experience. Sours are not your average beers.  If you didn't know better you could could almost mistake a Gueze for glass of white wine.  The Rodenbach Grand Cru however was more like a glass of malt vinegar.  It takes some getting used to but its quite delicious.  It's not going to replace IPA as my go-to summer beer but I'm very intrigued by it's potential for food pairing. While also at Lions I split a bottle of Fantôme Saison with a nice guy sitting at the bar.  It was so interesting.  Great funkyness on the nose.  For a beer no...

I traveled north yesterday and visited White Birch's brewery in Hooksett NH. It was very cool. They truly are a micro brewer.  There's not a whole lot more than what's pictured.  Every inch of the space is dedicated to beer.  The nooks and crannies are full of carboys fermenting new experimental brews. My tour guide was an apprentice brewer and I picked up a bottle of his apprentice brew - a beer the bottle describes as a summer barley wine.  I look forward to try it.   And check out the awesome mash-paddle.  It didn't dawn on me when I was holding it but I think it's a riff on Worf's weapon from STNG. On my way home I made a pit stop at Strange Brew in downtown Manchester NH.  It's a great bar and as luck would have it they had two White Birch beers on tap: Hooksett Ale and Hop Session.  I love the Hookset but while the Hop Session has great flavor the mouth-feel is a little flat with no head at all.    If they can twea...

There's a great little beer bar in Brunswick Maine called The Lions Pride.   I don't get to stop in that often but whenever I'm in the area I try and visit.   On this stop I had the chance to try two brews from Denmark that where new to me: Mikkeller 1000 IBU   and Evil Twin's Before During and After Christmas Beer.  My palate isn't great so I'll save you from my trying to stumble through the exact hop profile but they were both tasty big hopped brews.  The staff was on their game during the visit too so I had a couple of nice beer discussions which always makes for a more enjoyable stop. Mikkeller 1000 IBU     Evil Twin BDA Later in the trip I also got to try my first can of Baxter Brewings Stowaway IPA.  I never gave the beer it's full due as I drank it from the can while fishing but even so it was very good.   I'll be back in Maine in a few weeks and can't wait to try it again. Baxter's Stowaway IPA ...

  lick·spit·tle    noun  /ˈlikˌspitl/    lickspittles, plural     1. A person who behaves obsequiously to those in power   How did I survive this long in the era of Fox News without having used this word before.

Over the years I've bought a lot of albums.  According to iTunes I have 536 albums and this doesn't count the music I've deleted nor the records, tapes and CDs that never made the move to digital. Within this collection of albums there are a lot of memories.  I can still remember flipping through albums at the record store in the Village Street plaza in Marblehead, looking at the endless possibilities and wondering what to buy.  With a little luck and the help of a school friend who played in a band I made some good choices that have stood the test of time. American Beauty, Physical Graffiti, Decade, Exodus. I've also bought my share of stinkers.  I'm not immune to the fashion of the day.  I bought a Loverboy album once.  I had a couple of Fog Hat albums.  I've also bought music to impress girlfriends and I freely admit I've bought more than one album just because the artwork looked cool. But this post wasn't inspired by albums that fit either ...

Supposedly 'Falling Skies' is a new sci-fi series on TNT.  I say supposedly because I just watched it for 45 minutes and I saw nothing new at all.  It was one cliche leaped upon another with a dollop of trite military nostalgia added in for flavor.  Not a sprig of a fresh idea was to be found.  Barf. The whole post-apocalypse suburb genre is tired - I'm looking at you Walking Dead.  Using empty suburban sets has become the modern TV equivalent of the substituting the California desert for an alien planet.  Both scream budget constraint. And this being a Spielberg production it's all about the kids.  We gotta save the kids.  This is the sort of show that will add a cute robot in the second season - Biddi, biddi biddi.  No, wait that was another sci-fi hack job.  Forgive me, there's been so many they all run together. I admit a few minutes of satisfaction as the various troops of surviving humans marched out to raid the same grocery ...

After my American Craft Beer Fest experience that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago, I set out to try more of White Birch's beers.  I found a nice selection at Colonial Spirits in Acton and picked up one bottle each of Wrīgian, Dubbel, Belgian Style Pale, Hop Session and Tavern Ale. I drank them over a couple of weeks in that order.  I enjoyed each of them but none stood out till I tried the Tavern Ale.  I didn't think I was a fan of smoked beers but this brew has made me a convert.  I've tried a few German beers and some American smoked porters but hit the spot like this balanced brew.  The smoke was very noticeable but not overwhelming.  The malt sweetness nicely contrasted the smokiness. The name makes it sound like a weak session brew but this bad-boy has a bit of backbone.  It's not kick-you-in-head heavy but at just 8.0 ABV there's a punch. Unfortunately, Tavern Ale is not one of White Birch's regular brews so I don't know whether ...

R.I.P. Ryan Dunn (Actor/Stuntman from Jackass, etc) but honestly I'm not surprised you're dead.  I'm more surprised that A. You lived as long as you did and B. More of your cohorts didn't precede you to the grave. Don't take me wrong.  I like risk takers.  They are a fun group.  I wish I had more guts to do some of the crap they do.  I'm just not surprised when they die. I can't even mourn that much for their friends and families.  A Daredevil seldom dies a tragic death.  It would have to be something really ironic for it to be tragic - like slipping on a banana peel.   A drunken, speeding car crash is not ironic.  On a scale of tragic deaths I'd say a Daredevil's (non ironic) falls somewhere between that of a Volunteer Soldier's and a Mercenary's. People had to have seen this coming - at least as a distinct possibility  They were delusional if they didn't.   When a loved one is living the lifestyle of an adrenaline junky you ...

In honor of Father's Day I sat down too write a post about my father, John Francis Lyons, who died in 1997 at the age of 78.  I figured it would be easy since he had such a strong impact on me; but I find I'm struggling.  In my memories the things that made him such a awesome Dad stretch across the years into a web that defines the shape of my youth but is made of such fine thread I can't find any single anecdote or story that does the man justice. I can tell you this.   Everyone called him Jack.  I don't think I ever heard someone call him John, my mother included. He was whip smart, a lot smarter than me.  He was a poor Cambridge kid who got a full boat  R.O.T.C. scholarship to M.I.T.  Graduated class of 41. He spent WWII in Panama defending the canal.   Even at a young age he had white/gray hair piercing blue eyes.  Women always commented that he looked like Henry Fonda. He loved to sail, hike and ski and dragged the family ...

This movie surprised me.  I had heard it was good but that's faint praise.  This movie was awesome.  It's funny, beautiful and unlike any other stop motion film I've seen.  I like animated films and they've certainly been enjoying a Renaissance lately, but I don't get as excited about them as a lot of my film buff friends.  I think Pixar does a nice job but I never like their films nearly as much as they do.  The one exception being Toy Story 3 which I loved (I've not seen Up yet but I have hopes for that too). The films of Hatao Miyazaki are also quite popular but I've seen so many and they all kind of mush together in my head.  Recently I tried to watch Ponyo and though the animation is stunning I found it rather boring and didn't finish watching it. So it was with this background that I sat down to watch Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I'm sure at some point previously I had heard it was directed by Wes Anderson but I didn't pick it up while watch...

I've been loving the HBO series Game of Thrones.  I'm bummed the season is almost over.  As a fan of the books I've been pleasantly surprised by the faithfulness of the adaptation.  Even though I know the overall story arc I'd forgotten enough of the details that I've been enjoying many fun moments of re-acquaintance as the story unfolds.  I'm going to be following the off season casting news of Stannis and Brienne of Tarth with great anticipation. As for the greater story, while reading some of the online chatter regarding the series and the books I stumbled upon a theory regarding Jon Snow's birth that I'd never entertained before.   If you enjoy speculating consider this.  Jon Snow is the child of  Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen.  Ned never had an affair but instead was protecting his nephew from Robert Baratheon's wrath.  This means Lyanna probably loved Rhaegar and didn't want to marry Robert at all.   It makes perfect se...

I attended the 2011, Saturday evening session of the American Craft Beer Fest at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston last night.   My session wasn't sold out but it was the largest crown I've seen.  This may have been because I usually go on Friday nights.  We changed over because last year there were quite a few booths where the brewers didn't arrive in time to setup.  I hear that was an issue again this year for at least one brewer but perhaps the tradeoff of shorter lines is worth it. I wasn't interested in standing in long lines to try beers I've already tasted from the major brewers so I spent my time among the lesser known and local companies.   I didn't keep notes so I'll just report on the brewers that had enough of an impact on me that I can remember their names. White Birch Brewing.  These Hooksett, N.H. guys are quickly rising on my list of favorite N.E. brewers.  They brew very small batch interesting beers.  I had a...

It must be a San Diego thing.  Last week I had a Tongue Buckler from Ballast Point, this week I see that Green Flash is releasing a Palate Wrecker.   What next: Tooth Chipper, Throat Torturer, Lip Lasher?  I'll be on the look out.

Have you seen the Paul Verhoeven movie Starship Trooper?  In the movie the heroes fight bug aliens that attack in waves of chitinous clicking and mandible drooling mayhem.  If the movie wasn't so silly it would be horrifying. We are in the end game of my project at work and the thought struck me that at this stage in the development cycle my reality has a lot in common with the soldiers in that movie.  I'm a bug hunter.  The bugs come at me and I kill them; but no matter how many I kill it seems there is always another one behind it.   As in the movie, most are easy to kill,  but every so often there's a boss bug that's a little harder to get your blaster zeroed in on.  In the end it's a loud and messy affair with blood and guts spraying everywhere. This isn't to say I think our project is buggy.  I think we've done a great job but the reality is that everyone on the greater team is now looking for the flaws.  It's a time of focused negat...

Harpoon Oyster Stout at Meadhall I had a short beer tour Sunday with stops at  Meadhall, Deep Ellum and The Sunset Grill and Tap. This was my second stop at Meadhall since they opened a few weeks ago.  It continues to be disappointing.    I like the actual bar and space but all the most interesting kegs on their beer board are always kicked and the food is priced outside the budget of my beer discovery excursions. A few less expensive small plate items would be much appreciated.  The staff is pleasant albeit somewhat distant.  The management seems to hover around ignoring customers and creating an atmosphere of intimidation.  I don't get what sort of atmosphere they're aiming for but casual pub it is not.   Maybe they're on to something.  Personally, I think they need to rethink their approach.  Our next stop was Deep Ellum, my favorite place in greater Boston for drinking good beer.  It has such a fun vibe.  The s...

I was conversing with someone on Reddit's beer forum this morning when I recalled a drink I'd had years ago called an Irish Male.  It is a glass of Champagne with a shot of Irish Whiskey in it.   I learned about this drink from an old Clarke Gable movie but I don't recall the movies name and I can't find any reference to the drink on the web. I've made the drink on a few occasions as a sort of a joke.  If I recall the movie correctly, its name is meant as either a brag or a derision in that only an Irish male would be in pursuit of being as drunk as this drink will get you.  I've never had an appetite for more than one or two but I'm sure it gets you where you're going.  If you actually drank these all night the headache the next day must really be something special.  If you happen to stumble across this post in your own search for information I'd like to hear any details about the drink you can recall.

My laptop battery is about to run out so I'll keep it short. This is fun, ultra bloody satire.  It's a lot better than it's brother film Machete.   I found it reminiscent of the Evil Dead films.  I really enjoyed the work of the character actor Jeremy Akerman as the corrupt police chief.  He has some of my favorite dialog from the film: "Grab your guns boys.  Grab your guns.  We got homeless people to kill.  Let's go make some dead bodied"