Revisiting Subconscious Concerns

I had a great date night last night with Sally Wally. We got to enjoy a new dinning experience at Papas and Beer on Tunnel Rd, my Burrito Organico was so huge that I brought half of it home. Afterwards we went to the Crow and Quill and enjoyed some amazing, handcrafted cocktails. I am certain that I will be writing about the Crow and Quill on some other social networks.

Oddly, I had the old dream in which I am still in college, close to graduation, but am confused about my graduation requirements. Amid that confusion I was in the middle of moving my housing from the ground floor of an apartment building to the second story. The new occupants had moved into my old apartment but I had to retrieve my cat and give them the key. I have had cats most of my life but we currently do not own any pets.

My dreams have been very vivid lately and this one certainly was. The cat was even identical to one of mine, a tabby who was quite chubby. In fact, she was the only chubby cat I have ever owned. I am not trying to draw any correlations between the enjoyable evening and these things which no longer need to occupy my conscious thoughts. All I can do is document this as a dream journal.

Back to reality, did I ever tell you about the time I infused a citrus liquor? I hope to share that with you all soon.

I don't believe that I have mentioned...

home brewing? Oh yeah, I have mentioned that, at least once. Since leaving Knoxville my leisure time interest has shifted away from role playing games and toward home brewing. I really hadn't written much about role playing last year. Darn career, and company going bankrupt, getting in the way of my leisure time! I'm inching my way back into the rpgs a bit, it's hard not to enjoy writing silly stuff.

On the home brewing front, I'm brewing my way through Charlie Papazian's Complete Joy of Home Brewing. In fact, my batch from the first recipe in the book received a Best in Class, British Ales, award at the War of the Wort on May 3. I knew I had made a good beer but not an award winning beer? My score was 41 out of 50 points. That left plenty of room for a really great beer to win the class. Those other guys must have had some dirty bottles or something?

We don't have a reliable or convenient home brew supplier here in Muscle Shoals, Al. There's the Wine Maker Shack in Loretto, Tn. which is forty minuets away. They have all the basic supplies but their hours are 9 to 5, Mon. -- Fri, rather inconvenient hours for me. (Or for any other honest home brewer I should think.) Yesterday I visited a farm supply store in Florence, Longrider Supply. They have a mishmash of basic brewing equipment and ingredients, but no hops and no dried malt extract. As Sally says, how can you make beer without  hops?

I believe I have owned The Complete Joy of Home Brewing for twenty years. In all this time I would only describe myself as a casual home brewer. I would go for years without brewing a batch. Since I know the basics of home brewing, and I have certainly owned the book long enough, I thought I would brew my way through all the recipes in the book.

My next batch will be Wise Ass Red Bitter from page 179, the second recipe in the book. Since there is no local home brew supply store handy, I have used the resources of the entree-net to order the necessary ingredients. I plan for the brew day to be in the next seven days, possibly this weekend, I'll keep you all posted.

I should also mention; a fellow Muscle Shoals Masher, Randy Myers, who took 1st Place in the IPA category at War of the Wort. Congratulations to Randy and to all other brewers who participated in the competition.

Northern Brewer Honey Kolsch, extract kit

It's true, what they say about the best beer from any batch of homebrew is the last one. I bottled this Kolsch on Oct. 20th and in the subsequent three months all the homebrew funk has settled out.  My original notes described a vinous smell with plenty of carbonation and head retention. The initial flavor was malty with hops and cider following.

I drank one of these about a month ago and it was still too heavy, malty and hoppy, to be distinguished as a Kolsch. At that time, and all previous samplings, this brew would have qualified as an ale or pale ale style. My notes graded it as a 2 or 2.5 out of 5.

Here's the update: I smelled this before pouring it, there was some vinegar smell and I noticed some hops residue inside the bottle neck. (As for the smell, I've been smelling sour liquids all afternoon.) The pour is clear gold with good head retention.

The first sip is very light but with enough body to distinguish it from an American Pils. (Just like a Kolsch!) The hops are very subtle, becoming more assertive in the body of the beer. The finish is a bit more hoppy. The mouthfeel is light and effervescent.

I still can not grade this beer very highly. I'm not ready to self-promote my brews, but I can give it a grade of 3.5. This was not the last bottle of the Kolsch, I will be able to share some with friends and get unbiased opinions. The boss, Sally, has already said that this is my best brew in years. Let's see if time has improved my Oatmeal Stout?

That's news to me...

Grand Rapids wins 2013 Beer City U.S.A. I found this news today while doing some entree-net related beer research. This is six month old news, did I mention it has been a busy year? I'm not sure what happen to Portland  in this year's poll, but Asheville came in third behind Kalamazoo Michigan. Looks like Sally and I need to add Grand Rapids to our "places to visit" list. Maybe we should visit Kalamazoo too?

Beer reviews will return soon, as soon as I quit loosing my review notes.

"Coldest Beer in U.S.A."

This sign is outside of a, now closed, bar near my current home in Strawberry Plains, Tn. The bar was named Joann's when Sally and I moved here and we visited it one afternoon. They, supposedly, had Yuengling on tap, but the cooler had "gone out." They supposedly had Heineken but it was stored in the same malfunctioning cooler. I think we both had a Miller Lite and went home. 

When Joann's closed, the bar reopened, named Knuckle Bones or Lucky Bones or some such. Then, presumably, the management changed again and the name was changed to the Wolves Den. There are a few more of these road houses out here in Straw Plains, The Oak Lounge and B&M Lounge. I intend to visit them before we move out of town.

I can't really call the local beer culture "cultural decline" because a lack of progress doesn't signal a decline. Where Sally and I are moving, the Muscle Shoals Alabama community, there's no beer culture as we are accustomed to in East Tennessee. Here's a brief outline of the discrepancy of available beers in the Shoals.

Beer Brands available in Knox Co. Tn. not available in Muscle Shoals, Al. 

Depot Street Brewing, Jonesborough, Tn.

Foothills Brewing, Winston - Salem, N.C.

Greenman Brewing, Asheville, N.C.

Highland Brewing, Asheville, N.C.

New Belgium Brewing, Ft. Collins, Co.

Old Hickory Brewing, Hickory, N.C.

Saw Works Brewing, Knoxville, Tn.

Schlafly Brewing, St. Louis, Mo.

Smokey Mnt. Brewing, Knoxville, Tn.

Thomas Creek Brewing, Greenville, S.C.

Beer Brands available in the Shoals which are not available in Knox Co, Tn.

Blue Pants Brewing, Madison, Al.

Founders Brewing, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Good People Brewing, Birmingham, Al.

Left Hand Brewing, Longmont, Co. 

Rammer Jammer Beer Co., Birmingham, Al.

This is not an exact list and there are many more brands that will not be available in the Shoals. There is some crossover between the two beer communities. Thank the beer gods for Yazoo and Oskar Blues, brands that are available in both locations. It is difficult for me to believe that New Belgium is not available in Al. But, I strongly suspect that this will change in 2014. Left Hand Brews are occasionally available in East Tn. Lastly, The Shoals is, roughly, a two hour drive to Nashville, Tn. Sally and I will be making the occasional weekend journey to this more culturally advanced community.

What is really going on at F.R.I.?

It has been a rather eventful year for us at Fanatical Recycling Inc. Back in August, our parent company filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Now, the business has been sold and the buy-out transition is complete.

During the bankruptcy close-out there was a general attitude of apathy. Even before bankruptcy was declared there were a lot of problems with production. There were problems with shipping and with our info database. The problems with the database continue and I believe, unfortunately, that these problems will not be resolved until the closing of the 2013 business year.

All these factors were mentally taxing to the point of apathy, as I have mentioned, causing very little productivity in all things F.R.I. As the business year winds down I have been able to dedicate a bit more time to F.R.I. contributions. I intend for the pattern to remain in place for this fall and winter, and beyond.



With all this in consideration, along with other issues which I have not mentioned, the F.R.I. staff, myself, Sally and Iris, have decided to break from our current parent company and move the F.R.I. corporate headquarters to the friendly confines of North Alabama, specifically the Muscle Shoals area. As they say, "this should not affect the day to day operations of the corporation."

As a symbol of our dedication to the continued productivity of the Co, we introduce the latest product, currently in production. This will be a Honey Kolsch which was racked to secondary fermentation yesterday and will be bottled in two weeks.

Moerlein Over the Rhine Ale

Why the sudden interest in Cincinnati brews? About a month ago, Sally and I managed to take a few vacation days and visit Cincinnati. We visited the Christian Moerlein Lager House and managed to bring home a few beers.

Here I'm sampeling their Over the Rhine Ale. It smells hoppy and produces a hazy brown pour. It produced a pretty good head for a bottled beer which was purchased at a grocery store. I imagine it was pretty fresh since Cincinnati is just over 250 miles from Knoxville, Tn.

The first sip is hoppy too but subsequent sips are more balanced.  This is no IPA, it's just a good old "Ale" and an inspiration to would-be home brewers, such as; myself. The hops and malt are very well balanced but the hops remain on top of the tastes, I like this beer more with each sip.

I just got a taste impression that was, very much, mocha, similar to iced coffee. That's what I'm calling the mouthfeel, sweet and sour, like iced coffee.

Moerlien brews are available locally, I will be looking for this one again.

Grade: 4 out of 5 pints.

Yes, I still have T-shirts!

Yeah, I have fallen a bit behind with the T-shirt Tuesday feature. I could blame this on the rigors of modern life but I'll not present excuses, I'll only present t-shirts. Here are two I have acquired recently.

One of our local public schools, Karns, has chosen the beaver as their athletic mascot. I believe this is due to the local geographic point, Beaver Creek or something. Regardless, I became enamored with their mascot and found the shirt at Wal-Mart for $10.

The second shirt I picked up while Sally and I were in St. Louis. It's a St. Louis Cardinals St. Patrick' s Day shirt which reads, "Luck? I doubt it." This is a reference to any chance luck may have played in the Cardinals 2011 World Series Championship. I'm not strictly a Cardinals fan but I am a baseball fan and couldn't pass up this shirt which was on the bargain rack at the Cardinals Club House store.

 

 52 shirts posted 313 'til 365. As I've mentioned, since starting this project, I now suspect I only own around 100 t-shirts.

T-shirt Tuesday returns from a long vacation.

Yes, my job is busy enough that t-shirt Tuesday has been on vacation since Jan. 31. In that time I have acquired a few new shirts and can't recall disposing of any shirts. Here are two new additions to the collection. I finally purchased a Fanatical Recycling t-shirt from Zazzle. I thought the shirt was going to be a more neutral color green and, while it is not a color I would normally wear,  I have come to accept the lime green as an appropriate color for a shirt from the recycling services industry.



The second shirt is from Estes Park, Co. when Sally was out their earlier this year. As you can see, it has the image of a moose inside the Batman logo. Both these shirts have been in pretty heavy rotation this year.

So, what's our t-shirt tally? 50 shirts posted and 315 to go to reach 365. Hum?

St. Louis, Mo. Beer on Monday

Sally and I are in St. Louis, Mo. this week on our vacation and visited the Budweiser Brewery today. I felt this was a necessary stop on a tour of brewing shrines. Honestly, the A - B plant is nearly a  necessary stop on any tour of the American Corporate landscape, I swear, they invented the corporate logo and modern product placement advertising. (Remember Spuds McKinsey and the "Bud-Weis-er" frogs?)

All snide remarks and corporate analysis aside, St. Louis is still a Mecca of beer brewing tradition. We tried to visit the Morgan Street Brewery today but, it was lunch time, and they open late on Mondays. Yesterday we found the International Tap House in the Soulard neighborhood, also where the Bud Brewery is, so we went back today.

We asked the barkeep at the Tap House where to find a store with a big selection of beer and he directed us to Randal's which turned out to be a liquor store/ warehouse. Sally and I ignored the liquor section and went straight for the beer shelves and found plenty of labels which are unavailable at home. The best finds were; Summit Summer Ale from Minneapolis, Black Butte Porter from Deschutes Brewery, Bend Oregon, Lucky 13 Anniversary Release from Lagunitas, Petaluma, Ca, 1715 Classic Lager, Lvivska Brewery, Ukraine ($1.99.) I also got two cans of Milwaukee's Best Ice for 59 cents each, you all know how I have to revisit my roots and I did manage to avoid buying a beer named Blue Diamond Lager which was $2.99 a six pack. On  the other hand, I did find a local brew at the grocery store, Stag, in a 24 oz. can for $1.49.

We will be in St. Louis for the next two days and still have the Schlflay taproom to visit. In fact, I had the Schlafly sampler at lunch today and we tried a few at the Tap House too. The Schlafly Pale Ale is great, the summer lager is good but the Saison and Hefeweizen just didn't have enough body for me.

So far, St. Louis gets a 4 out of 5 pints as a good vacation spot and we haven't even made it out to the suburbs yet.

Paperback Friday: Stableford Finale, for now

Here's the last of the Brian Stableford novels in my collection. Oddly, this one is the first book of the Star-Pilot Grainger series for which I posted a few covers last time. I didn't have the image scanned and just threw this one in the hat for this week. Through the internet I have learned that this series is actually titled, the Hooded Swan and is supposed to be some statement about Stableford's attitude toward violence, Mr. Stableford is, in fact, Dr. Stableford and a lecturer in sociology.

In other news, Sally and I will be on vacation next week and I intend to share it with you all through the blog.


The Halcyon Drift
Copyright, 1972, Brian M. Stableford
All Rights Reserved
Cover art by Jack Gaughan.
Dedication:
For Val and Maureen
First printing, 1972
Daw Books Inc.
Original cover price 95 cents,
purchased at McKay Books for 90 cents.

Here's to the new boss...

She's not the same as the old boss, but she's much like him. I picked her up from the side of Asheville Hwy about a month ago. Sally says she's not sure why she is here and I said, "to avoid being road kill and, or procreation." We have named her Iris. She is almost exactly the same size and age that Pal was when I got him.

I took these photos a few weeks ago, when Sally was visiting North Alabama. In the second photo, I imagine Iris is saying, "where is the nice lady?" She was probably saying, "Why's this glass (window) between us?"

Que the Who, Here's to the new boss...!

Margarita Monday: Sassy Ann's; a Fanatical Recycling Endorsement

No matter where ya live, there is always some place that claims they make "the best Margarita in town." I am of the opinion that this claim is usually falsified. It is an attempt to sell a Margarita or multiple Margaritas. The claim should usually read, "we sell a lot of Margaritas" to our regular clientele when they need a break from drinking Bud Light. Personally, I pull no punches in regard to Margaritas, I could probably make the best Margarita in town and I can tell you where to get the best Margarita in Knoxville.

But this post isn't about the best Margarita in town, it is about "the claim." Any hole-in-the-wall can make the claim, fortunately, with the help of my lovely assistant Sally, we have found a hole-in-the-wall that can actually backup "the claim." We have an old bar in Knoxville named Sassy Ann's which I've heard of since I moved in to town and finally visited for the first time last month.

Sally had visited Sassy Ann's a few years ago, before I moved to Knoxville, but we had not been there together. As we were out this past Saturday celebrating her birthday we chose to include a visit to Sassy Ann's in the festivities. Sassy Ann's makes the Margarita claim and we wanted to submit them to our Margarita snob test.

First, I would like to point out what makes Sassy Ann's unique. I can find very little about the history of Sassy Ann's on the entree-net but I would guess that it has been opened nearly 15 years, if not longer. So, this doesn't make it an old, established business but it is in a Victorian era house which is, understandably impressive.

Sassy Ann's is not elaborately decorated by an means, nearly every surface is covered with the simplicity of wood-grain. I can't imagine that anyone would ever describe the interior of Sassy Ann's as "nice." I can't imagine that anyone would describe the exterior as nice either but every bar tends to be run down. Bars always have dust in the corners, there's always a leaky pipe somewhere and some loose or broken ceiling tiles. This is part of the appeal of bars, that they have the "lived in" look, and what better place to feel like home than an old home. Sassy Ann's has character and a welcoming atmosphere. Even before I ever visited the place I knew, from my many friends who had told me of Sassy Ann's, that it would be a relaxed, friendly and enjoyable watering hole, greatly worth visiting...

And they don't make a bad Margarita either. The Margaritas at Sassy Ann's come in a pint glass. I didn't watch the bartender make our first round of drinks and my first impression was that it was sour. But it was a good sour, fruit juice sour not sweet n sour mix sour. Sweet n Sour mix is a sure road to a bad Margarita, it's so easy to attempt to make Margaritas with the mix and no fruit juice. If you don't have, at least, lemon juice in a Margarita you're not doing it right. These Margaritas had a good sweet and sour taste combination from fruit juice which earns Sassy Ann's the right to "the claim." Then I watched the bartender as he made Margaritas and learned that they use no Sweet n Sour mix but use orange juice as the base.

The Margarita blend at Sassy Ann's is very simple. A simple blend that earns them right to the claim, one of the, Best Margaritas in Knoxville. If your ever in Knoxville be sure to visit Sassy Ann's. In fact, contact me and I'll be glad to introduce you personally. If you're a Knoxville resident and have never been to Sassy Ann's, you need to put it on your "Things to do in 2012" list.

2011 Year End Report

Here we are at the end of 2011 and it's been another banner year at Fanatical Recycling Inc. We did a lot of recycling and rated a few beers, didn't bitch about culture too much, but there's always more room for that, and we didn't do any restaurant reviews. One local bar barely escaped a disrespectful post, we didn't sell any F.R.I. t-shirts and, in fact, T-shirt Tuesday is still in the lurch.

So, as C.E.O of F.R.I., my number 1 priority for the new year is to reach some level of resolve with T-shirt Tuesday. I have come to the conclusion that I do not have 365 t-shirts, I believe I have around 100 shirts. We will, collectively, see what we can determine through the T-shirt Tues project.

Other things that didn't happen on F.R.I. this year; I didn't write about our wedding anniversary or our vacation. For our wedding anniversary, back in August, we went over to Maggie Valley, N. C. for a weekend getaway which was nice. Sally and I have been on vacation this week in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and we'll be going to Gainsville, Ga. to celebrate N.Y.E. with a few of our old pals.

Myrtle Beach has been nice too. We have been shopping, went to the beach and collected some shells. We've played in the indoor Lazy River at the condo. I've been playing Danger D.J. on facebook and Sally's been learning her way around her new Kindle Fire. Neither one of us eat seafood so we haven't done that. We did eat at a great place called Nacho Hippo at Market Commons. It was good, if you come here, go there!

More beer on Monday has been clicking along this year. I always have plenty of craft beers to taste and write about. But, occasionally other responsibilities keep me from writing about a new beer each week. I will put more effort toward this thread in 2012 too.

Paperback Friday, an archive of artwork from old paperback novels, has appeared again belatedly. I'll work on finishing the book images which I have scanned and then start over, since I've acquired more paperbacks since this project started.

I could talk and blab about plans for this blog as if it were a real business but, "that's all I have to say about that." I wish you all a Happy New Year and I'm sure to be back typing some smart ash comments again soon.

Monday morning affirmation: Who needs Jack Handey?

I love my wife because; she doesn’t complain when I leave the garden shears in the kitchen over night.

Two new shirts from the 2010 holidays

Here are two new shirts I got this past winter.


The gray Stroh's shirt is courtesy of Wal Mart. It was $5.00 and I have to represent my old school beer brands. The slate blue Knoxville shirt I was given by my wife. She received it as a promo item for a seminar that she attended. She says the shirt is too large for her and she knows how much I love t-shirts! The logo design leads me to believe that it is a product of Yee Haw Industries here in Knoxville but the label is just a generic t-shirt brand label.

30 t-shirts presented & 335 more shirts to count...

Love List

limpery over at the blog Aldeboran has posted a list of his love interests. This isn't a list about potential mates but a list of what he loves about life and I'm inspired to follow his example.

Things I love about life:

I love my wife.
I love my family and friends; the Creels, the Morgans, the Gollihers, the Hamners & the Browns.
I love my stepsons, my granddaughters and their mom.
I love our cat.
I love my new friends in East Tennessee and all my old, and new, friends on Facebook.
I love freedom.
And, I love beer.

This is the short list version; I may add some more when they come to mind.

Oh, of course, I love reading.

Second Anniversary

This Monday, August 30th, will be the second anniversary of my marriage to my lovely assistant Sally Ruth Pangle, or as I've been known to call her; Sally Wally Hot Tamale. She and I are very philosophically compatible, a point which was proven by our anniversary gift exchange today. I thought she would buy a book for me as a gift which she did. I was surprised because she did not get the book which I had anticipated. She got me Spectrum 1: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. She also purchased the Agent Orange recording Living In Darkness and it was a very big surprise. I listened to this cassette tape quite a bit in my youth and had the CD on my Amazon wish list. She also surprised me with a gift card for one of my favorite local restaurants, Veg-O-Rama. I would say that Veg O Rama is one of our favorite restaurants but I know Sally isn’t as fond of it as I am. But, the Agent Orange CD and the Spectrum volume were both real surprises!

I got Sally a hammock and a hammock stand for our tree encircled backyard. (White Pines and White Maples) I'm certain she'll enjoy lying in the hammock and reading and alternately taking naps . I also got her the book Drawing Down the Moon, the Art of Charles Vess. I feel the fact that we both received fantasy art anthologies as anniversary gifts is not ironic, but it is indicative of how compatible Sally and I are.

Happy Anniversary Sally Wally Hot Tamale, Happy Anniversary to us!

The Beer Review that was not and a beer quote.

Monday I took this photo of the Michelob Hop Hound to prepare to write a review of the beer. There are two glasses of beer because the label of the Hop Hound claims the beer has a "unique amber color." I thought, "there's nothing unique or amber about this beer." I showed this beer comparison to Sally who asked, what is the other beer and she was surprised when I told her it's my homebrew.

I didn't do the beer review because the Hop Hound turned out to be flat and nothing worth writing about. So, which beer's Hop Hound and which one is homebrew, you tell me?


"In my opinion, most of the great men of the past were only there for the beer." A.J.P. Taylor, British Historian

Margarita Monday: 2010 Vacation

My lovely assistant, Sally Bally Whoa Wally, and I just returned from our vacation to Colorado. We went on the B&B tour. No, not Bed & Breakfast, we went on the brewery and book store tour. (Which is a story for another time.) We dined at Juanita's in Boulder twice and enjoyed the food and the Margaritas each time. I have the mysterious ability to make food, and Margaritas, disappear. While I remember that the food at Juanita's was very good, I don't remember the details because I ate entirely too fast. I did have the Chile Relleno which was suggested by our friend, and current Colorado resident, Scott. I'm a sucker for good Chile Relleno but I've really got to eat slower and enjoy my food. The half liter of Margaritas was $17.50 and was much more economical than paying $7.50 for each drink.

Here we are over looking Boulder.

Down in Denver we got to eat at Jack n Grill and of course we had a jumbo Margarita too. I'd seen the features on Jack n Grill on the Travel Channel and wanted to be sure to eat there while we were staying in Denver. I'm pretty sure I had the veggie burrito and devoured it.

The Margaritas at both of these restaurants where good but not as good as our favorite Latin American restaurant in Knoxville, Chez Guevara, which translates; House of Guevara. Chez G has the best Margaritas, they are so good I’ve considered asking them for their recipe. I know they use fresh oranges because they are always slicing them at the bar. Perhaps we’ll get to visit Chez G this weekend and provide a report for the next Margarita Monday.