Common Ales: Wayfinder’s Red Fang

So, I was expecting the Red Fang malt liquor made by Wayfinder to be some gimmicky bullshit.

Because c’mon. How is this not gimmicky bullshit? The band themselves are well known for drinking PBR and while I dig their music, I’m also aware that these things are a business. Wayfinder gets the name recognition of Red Fang, Red Fang gets to cling to some hometown/indy cred. 

But you know what? This is pretty damn drinkable. It’s got that funky lager nose, and yes, I did put it in the freezer for 20 minutes to get it extra cold, but I still found the beer to be pleasantly drinkable. Would recommend (to my own surprise).

The Way of The Dinos

With all of the other changes the pandemic has wrought, I’m sad to hear that beer bars are on the decline.

I don’t know how long that will be the case: places like Bailey’s were always incredibly lively when I would visit. Clearly there is a space in the market for beer bars, staffed by knowledgeable folk. Hell, you could argue that Portland’s Beer Bunker or Proper Pint are living and thriving examples of this.

But we still lost some cultural institutions and that’s a bummer.

Front Porch Chats #69 (nice)

Longtime followers of the blog may recall that I enjoy football and this week the NFL announced pretty severe penalties for players who didn’t get vaccinated and enabled COVID outbreaks. That is: the infected team would forfeit their game.

Is this really what it takes to combat a worldwide health problem? I suppose for millionaires, it might be.

But what was disturbing for me was how the NFL subreddit went berserk for 24 hours. Every story that was submitted to that forum regarding a player’s opinion on getting vaccinated had to be auto-locked, because…

Well, let’s just say it: egocentric dickbags who refuse to see past the tip of their own nose and won’t get vaccinated, just lost their shit.

Because good lord the gnashing of teeth that people have about not getting vaccinated and insisting on ‘muh freedumbs’.

Listen: I’ve already lost all of those anti-vaxxers already, and it is with this fine glass of Ridgeback Red ale from Block 15 that I tell you: those people have been conned. The anti-vax movement is a con job to line the pockets of assholes with money.

I’d feel sorry for them-in the way I feel bad for anyone who’s suckered- except for one thing: their manipulation has taken a wrecking ball to everyone’s lives.

It’s a nice day to have a beer on the porch, may I remind you. A beer that leans hard into the Irish Red style, with a subtle fruity quality that is well hidden behind the roasted flavors.

Because I am on this porch (and don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice porch and I am fortunate to have one to sit on) because people didn’t follow health guidelines, the gov’t didn’t help people who would have starved or become homeless not become those things, and now people aren’t getting vaccinated so we’re looking at Pandemic II, Delta Force: the Southern ‘Solution’.

So quite frankly: fuck all y’all who refused getting vaccinated for non-medical reasons. You got played and what’s worse, you getting played is now us getting played. If I was just a little meaner I’d say you deserve to choke, except that medical care should be provided to anyone regardless of need or my feelings about how they’ve lived their life.

And that supersedes even your callous choice to endanger people.

Sometimes, under the bright light of the Summer sun, in front of everyone, I feel it shouldn’t.

But it does. Because we-even you-deserve better.

So get your COVID vaccination, if you haven’t. Please.

Wine…In…spaaaaaaace

Because if its inherent properties as a carbonated beverage, you really can’t take beer into space.

But this is an area where my interest in potent potables and my interest in science definitely converge, so I dig on this article on the impact of aging wine in space!

March Munich

So for a beer I brewed in March, this is holding up alright. The head is persistent, it’s got a decent maltiness to it-but, this beer was made with a lot of Munich malt, as a way of spotlighting it.

And it’s been so long that I don’t quite remember what Munich malt should taste like!

However, there’s a pleasant enough caramel nose, which means I’m not going to complain.

This beer has got a very nice texture to it as well: heavy enough to provide some weight on the tongue but oily enough that it slides right over it. I don’t get much in the nose, and I think that’s a small drawback. There might even be an ever so slight touch of paper on the finish, a sign that the beer is going stale.

It’s a passable beer; Not sorry I have one, but can’t tout it as one of my better efforts, either. Might’ve been tastier if drank at optimum conditions.

Brew date: 3.6.21

Steeping grains
3 lb Munich
3 lb Vienna
1 lb Digngemans Aromatic malt

Fermentables: 3 lb dry malt extract pils

Hops
1 oz Willamette, .25 oz Falconer’s Flight @60

Yeast: Imperial Pub yeast (2nd)

OG: 1.06

FG: 1.012

Bottled 3/14

ABV: 6.5%

Front Porch Chats #68

Got a Super Chief IPA from Brothers Cascadia Brewing and the first thing I notice about it is that the head on this beer looks like velvet-soft and thick. It’s not a nice nose, too-just a little dank, just a little malt. I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy this one.

And yeah, I do. The dank is swapped for a citrus note on the finish but the midrange malt quality help bridge things together. Well done, good porch thinkin’ beer.

Because I was away for my grandma’s memorial last weekend. She was 97 and…well, I didn’t know her.

What the people who did know her said was that she “had an intimate relationship with Jesus”.

So I wonder if anyone really knew her.

It made me sad to hear people talk about grandma, because nobody really had anything to say. A couple people said she was funny, but the stories were…sensible chuckles at best. At a memorial that’s fine, of course, but it’s no Stephen Miller has COVID (the best punchline of 2020). It’s not even really funny, once you leave.

Mostly, those stories were about her trying to make sure you were getting right with Jesus. And, honestly, it’s none of anyone’s business if I’m right with their deity. ‘Cept mine.

But she could have had a relationship with me. She made her choices though and here we are. Wherever she is, I hope she is happier now.

I don’t think grandma would approve of me, if she did know me. So perhaps it worked out for the best. But I’m glad I’m walking this path, as I’m definitely happier on it than on the one she would’ve insisted on.

$13 Pints

While I appreciate the inspiration and even the array of flavors, this offer from Salt and Straw is pretty absurd.

I realize I just reviewed a $15 pint of beer on Monday, but at least a pint of that will give you a buzz. A pint of ice cream just gives you brain freeze.

Finally, I’ll be on the road this weekend, so no post on Friday.

Front Porch Chats #67/Second Pint HYA

I snagged the Lumberbeard Anniversary ale (a barleywine) because I like the name of the brewery. It’s bourbon barrel aged but this is the rare barrel aged beer that hasn’t let the barrel overwhelm the beer. There’s a little spice and heat on the finish-just to let you know that this beer isn’t an easy drinking safe one. But otherwise, you got a damn fine ale.

Which is good, because they’re charging $15.30 for it. But at 16.5%, this is definitely a ‘once a year’ ale.

On a do nothing Saturday, I got to spend most of it playing games with a friend.

It’s really all I could’ve asked for. I’ve got beer, I’ve got people I like, I’ve got something fun to do on a day that isn’t so hot or cold that I am certain that it is trying to murder me.

It doesn’t seem like much, does it? It isn’t much, is the thing.

And there seem to be three categories of people here: those who don’t have the baseline that I do, those who do have what I have, and those who have so fucking much that their acquisition denies things to the people in the first two groups.

Most of us don’t want or have any need to rule the world. But we do have a need to curtail the abuses of people who do need to rule. Because they will let us starve, deny us the simplest of things, for one reason only: To have more.

And those rich people can enlist others, they have the luxury to pay hype men to lie and fuck with us.

Down here, we have to do the work. Maybe look around for the other people who are doing the work-and whom they are working for. Because some people aren’t worth defending. If the power that some people have isn’t something we can democratically take away, they they are not representatives, they are monarchs.

That goes from people as high up as Bezos, to as street level as the cops. But we fought a monarchy once. I have a feeling we’ll do it again if that’s what it comes down to.

I hope it doesn’t though, because we deserve better.

Today’s second pint goes to the Homeless Youth Alliance.

That’s One Way To Go About It

I wouldn’t say that it’s healthy and definitely not their job but…it is a thing.

Throw Money And Smart People At It

Once again, I am pleased, but maybe in the slightly awkward position of giving Big Beer Business credit.

But sometimes, you just throw money and smart people at problems and they come up with cool solutions.