Items poking out at me from the local newspaper.. and a couple blaring at me from the kitchen radio:
Beer, Beer...
I'm pleased to read that the Yuengling Brewery has expanded once again to become the largest American beer maker. Last year, they began to enter the Ohio market.. and you all know that those Ohio folks love their beer.. especially at the Bratwurst Festival in Bucyrus, Ohio.
For years, I was a devoted Yuengling Beer fan. I even made a trip to Pottsville, Pennsylvania to visit their bottling plant. That was quite a visit.. the plant is on a very slanted street and I slid in just after an ice storm.. in spite of a few spills (of me, not the beer) I spent a pleasant hour walking through beer- sloshed floors, watching the process, and sampling a lot of their wares. There was a little gift shop where I purchased some frames with the Yuengling logo. I used one of those for a neighbor who likes Yuengling beer. I secretly took his picture and put it into the frame and surprised him with it. I don't think his wife appreciated my effort.
Kind of like Newt Gingrich, I eventually got bored with old passions and changed my beer allegiance to India Pale Ale (IPA). My favorites are: Snake Dog IPA, bottled at the Flying Dog Brewery in nearby Frederick, Maryland; Yards IPA, bottled at the Yards Brewing Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Southampton Publick House IPA, bottled at the Southampton Bottling Company in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
The British invented IPA by adding additional Hops to their beers to keep them from spoiling on the long sea transport from Britain to their troops in India. If you like beer, try India Pale Ale.. you'll be glad you did.
Beer, Beer, Beer..
I've mentioned this in my blogs before. I've been asked why I refuse to drink "Lite" alias "Light" beer. One day, visiting a brewery in Pennsylvania, I asked how they made their "Light" beer. The brewmaster told me that they just add a gallon of water to each gallon of already prepared beer. In other words, they water down their beer and then sell it at the same price as their regular beer. Isn't that another form of a ripoff?
I've heard that the head of an Italian family will usually add water to jugs of wine.. but that is so that more can be drunk without causing people to fall asleep at the supper table. So, maybe that is why light beer is popular.. people can drink more without becoming drunk too soon. But, if your desire is to become drunk, why do it slowly. Get with it.. drink vodka or rum. Why fill yourself up slowly with watery slop to get the same effect? (Oh, I forgot to mention: vodka means "water" in Russian, and it would appear that Russians drink it right down as though it were water. Most Americans add it to cocktail ingredients and take a longer time to get sloshed.)
Beer, Beer, Beer, Beer..
Back to beer... the best beer that I have ever tasted was sold in Germany and was called Loewenbrau (Lion's Brew) and was a German favorite. Germans know how to make beer, and they do it using only ingredients prescribed by law since the thirteenth century.. Reinheitsgebot. When I got back to the United States, I searched until I found a Liquor Store that sold Loewenbrau. When I tasted it.. I spit it out. It was not the same.
Somebody told me that they water it down for the US because Americans like lighter beer. I think they have greatly misjudged American beer drinkers and would not have their miserable sales record in the US if they got back to importing their REAL beer.
Beer, Beer, Beer, Beer, Beer..
For several years, I brewed my own beer. It was never great beer, but it was drinkable.. and definitely not "Lite" beer. At one time I even brewed Russian beer.. called Kvass. I made a big mistake.. I brewed it in green beer bottles. Those bottles have a tendency to explode, as I found out.
One day, I made a large batch of kvass and put it in green bottles containing grapes (to help with the fermentation). I placed them to age on shelving in my garage near the garage's rear door. The garage was warm, the air outside was cold. I went past the shelving, opened the door, and stepped out for just a quick moment. When I came back in, all of the bottles had exploded and glass shards were stuck in the walls. If I had just opened the door and not have gone out, those shards would have been stuck in me. I stopped brewing kvass and stopped using green bottles.
Well, my hour is up and I never did get past the first item I wanted to talk about... God's gift to mankind: BEER.
Prosit!
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