Grumpy Beer Geek

This damn thing has sat dormant for too long. Time to get this moving again.

I’m working on redesigning and getting some new stuff added. But after all, this is my personal blog — it’s going to be disorganized just like I am.

I’ll leave you with this thought — a new term for movies that is analogous to “Jumping the Shark” for TV — “Nuking the Fridge”. (Hat tip to Jeff L. for that one) If you haven’t seen the new Raiders of the Lost Ark movie that may not make sense.

Cheers!

Very sorry to hear of the passing of perhaps the greatest beer writer in history, Michael Jackson. Mr. Jackson, better known as The Beer Hunter passed away last night in his home in London. I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Jackson a few times while working for Real Beer. He was a good and very knowledgeable man. One of his methods of beer writing others could learn from still, never say anything bad about a beer, just don’t say anything at all. That points to how revered a mention by Mr. Jackson was by all brewers.

Some of his work is available online here: http://www.beerhunter.com

Update: His last column can be found here: http://www.allaboutbeer.com/

Some reaction around the web:

http://www.realbeer.com/blog/?p=632 (a great, quick obituary by Real Beer Editor, Stan Hieronymus)
http://www.brookstonbeerbulletin.com/michael-jackson-passes-away/
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/ (including his final published article)
http://appellationbeer.com/blog/more-than-a-moment-of-silence-for-michael-jackson/

Hop Talk has more links.

Take a look at pictures and the full recipe here.

PCWorld.com - Mac Skeptic: Aperture Takes Digital Photography Back to the Future - this looks so good it would almost make me switch to Mac. What am I saying? I must be going insane.

Beer For Dogs! Share a beer with your best friend! — if you really love your dog you’d give it a cat smoothie instead.

“As a longtime cheese aficionado, The Chronicle’s weekly cheese columnist and a nightly wine drinker, I’ve reluctantly concluded that many cheeses give wine, especially dry wine, a rough time. But after several weeks of “research, ” including two marathon tastings, I’m convinced that beer as a partner for cheese rarely stumbles. It takes some knowledge of beer and cheese to engineer the most harmonious marriages, but intolerable mismatches are rare.” — Janet Fletcher from “BEER & CHEESE - Forget wine and cheese parties — the true soul mate for fromage isn’t made from grape juice”

“Here’s a HOWTO for converting cans of Guinness to popcicles by freezing them, slicing the bottom of the can, inserting a stick, cutting the top off the can, and sliding the can off. The results look beautiful and delicious.”  Just watch those sharp edges kids.

“65+ dogs and cats living in sin and 38 dead cats in a refrigerator”  [via FARK]

MEXICO, Ind. — Investigators reported finding 38 dead cats in the refrigerators of two Miami County homes and have charged a woman with animal neglect.

The owners of a rural home near the town of Mexico had asked Carla C. Randolph of Peru to occasionally check on their house while wintering in Florida, the Miami County Sheriff’s Department said.

…

It doesn’t matter what party you affiliate yourself with — all of our votes are equal. I believe that Americans deserve to know that their votes will count - and will be counted.

It’s time to:

* Provide a verified paper ballot for every vote cast in electronic voting machines;
* Set a uniform standard for provisional ballots, so that every qualified voter within the state will know their votes are treated equally and will be counted; and
* Require the Federal Election Assistance Commission to issue standards that ensure uniform access to voting machines and election personnel in every community.

American democracy requires fair, accurate and credible elections!

Sign on now as a citizen co-sponsor of vitally important election reform legislation:

Count Every Vote!

I’ve upgraded my blog to WordPress. Hopefully now I can re-enable comments and won’t have to deal with as much spam.

Cheers!