Magic Hat, Encore IPA

I have been trying to write about this beer all year. It is very difficult for me to come to terms with a beer that mostly tastes like citrus juice. IPA is not one of my favorite styles but I  still enjoy it occasionally.

Magic Hat Encore pours with a good to great foamy head. I even over flowed the glass, and I haven't done that in ages. (I borrowed the photo from the entree-net, thus the lack of head in the photo.) The smell is yeast and citrus. The first sip is, what I associate with IPAs, grapefruit. The fruity and hoppy flavors dominate until the last sip. Encore's as good an IPA as I require and I give it a 4.5 of 5 possible pints and a Hats Off to Magic Hat.

Eulogy for a domestic pet

Warning: Sad Content Follows

 How do we eulogize a pet, how do we eulogize anyone? Our pets are friends and family and certainly earn their share of emotional attachment. So, the loss of any pet is not easy or pleasant to discuss but, invariably, as with much of life's unpleasantness, these things must be discussed.

Thus, I share with you all the passing of our FRI family cat  from this mortal coil. It seems he, Pal, developed cancer. Pal was a rescue cat and I am certain that his short life was much more pampered and joyful than any enjoyed by his litter mates. He met and loved many people during his short life and was known by many who had never met him.

In the words of Johnny Allen Hendrix, "Fly on my sweet angle. Fly on through the night."

2005 -- 3.24.2012

If he were still with us he would give me the very look in the photo, as if to say, "get on with your beer writing funny man."

April Twools!

That's two and fools combined, not an implication that this post is about tools. Although, it certainly could be and yes, I'm posting this photo all over the internet. (With similar comments.)

Cypress Mulch, that must be what the kids call it these days? With as much mileage as I'm getting out of this photo, I should give Kudos to the artist who painted these pallets of mulch in Lenior City.

Whatever happened to April Fool's?

Is April Fool's Day just an occasion for school boys? Do we out-grow the recognition of April Fool's Day as we become adults? There's no easy way to celebrate April Fool's, nothing simple like putting on a green shirt for St. Patrick's Day. Which brings up another point; they say that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland which is obviously not the case. If St. Pat had driven all the snakes out of Ireland than James Joyce would have had a very different social landscape to memorialize.

I will add, it is no fun when April Fool's is on Sunday because any possible jokes and gags that might arrive at work are abandoned. Hopefully regular, foolish, postings will resume soon.

Paperback Friday: Brian Stablefore pt. 1

I discovered Brian Stableford in a little used book shop in Morristown, Tn. He produced novels for Daw in the 1970s and the cover illustrations for his books just scream out at me. I've collected over half a dozen of his Sci-fi novels but haven't read any of them. Most of these books from the Deadalus series came from McKay Used Books and still have price tags of $.75.

The Florians
"A biological surprise awaits the Deadalus's first planetfall."
Copyright 1976 by Brian M. Stableford
Cover art by Micheal Whelan.
First printing, Sept. 1976
Daw Books: Printed in U.S.A.
Original cover price: $1.25

Critical Threshold
"The second landing of the Deadalus mission."
Copyright 1977 by Brian M. Stableford
Cover art by Douglas Beekman.
First printing, Feb. 1977
Daw Books: Printed in U.S.A.
Original cover price: $1.25



Wildeblood's Empire
"The third landing of the Deadalus mission."
Copyright 1977 by Brian M. Stableford
Cove art by Michael Whelan.
First printing, Oct. 1977
Daw Books: Printed in U.S.A.
Original cover price: $1.50.


The City of the Sun
"The fourth landing off the Deadalus mission."
Copyright 1978, Brian M. Stableford
Cover art by Don Maitz.
First printing, May 1978
Daw Books: Printed in U.S.A.
Original cover price: $1.50.


Balance of Power
"The fifth landing of the Daedalus mission."
Copyright 1979, Brian M. Stableford
Cover art by Don Maitz.
First printing, Jan. 1979
Daw Books: Printed in U.S.A.
Original cover price: $1.75.

The cover art for these books all look to me like some Sci-fi based rpg fun! I have a few more Stableford books which I will feature next Friday.

Magic Hat, Ravell

I try to keep a Magic Hat mixed 12-pack in the house at all times. At the moment I still have the remains of a few of the Winterland 12-packs which each include 3 bottles of Ravell. I didn't know what to expect when I poured this brew into the pint glass. Ravell is very dark which indicated that I'd be reviewing another Porter.

I managed to pour some of the ale straight into the glass and it produced an average beige head. This disappeared quickly but Porters aren't highly carbonated beers. I anticiaped lots of chocolaty flavor but I got a mouth full of coffee instead. But, I've learned that, Ravell is a vanilla porter not a coffee porter. In Ravell the vanilla translates into coffee flavors for me. As the drink warms the chocolaty flavors appear.

Ravell is a well crafted, well balanced porter. The roasted malt dominates the flavor to the end but a skilled application of hops keeps the drink chewy without becoming too sweet. I give Ravell a 3.95 out of 5 pints.

Here's a photo of a guitar painted as a Magic Hat promotional item. I love these old el cheapo guitars and I love the random images I find when searchin' the entree'-net.

Paperback Friday: Joanna Russ & Theodore Sturgeon

And Chaos Died
Copyright 1970, Joanna Russ
An Ace Book. All Rights Reserved.
Original cover price: $.75.

To Sidney J Perelman and Valdimir Nabokov.

I have had this book for years, and years and read it long ago. I purchased it for two reasons; the cover art really leaps out at me and, at the time, I was pretty unfamiliar with female Sci-Fi writers. It is one of the few books that I have never returned to the used book stores but I still have only read it one time. I think it's about time for a review.



The Female Man
Copyright 1973 by Joanna Russ
A Bantam Book / February 1973
This book dedicated to Anne, to Mary and to
the other one and three-quarters billions of us.
Original cover price: $1.25.

I'm pretty sure I purchased The Female Man at the Friends of the Knox Co. Library Sale where I also found a copy of the Philip Jose Farmer novel Flesh. Someday I'll share the contents of both of these books with the blog-o-sphere.



Sturgeon in Orbit
Copyright 1964, Theodore Sturgeon
First Jove/HBJ edition published: January 1978
To the most patient of all editors, who is out-shown by Perkins only for his lack of a wolf, Don Bensen and his lovely wife Anne.
Original cover price: $1.50.

This is a collection of five short stories originally published in the pulps from 1951 to '55.



Next time I'll be featuring some Brian Stableford book covers.