Book Review: Adulthood is a Myth, by Sarah Andersen

Tags

Book, Book Review, Comics, Humor, Reading, Sarah Andersen, Sarahs Scribbles

After navigating through a particularly hectic bit of life these last few weeks I was in the mood to just sit down and read something light and fun.  After perusing my options, I decided to go with a collection of my favorite web comics. I first came across Sarah’s Scribbles randomly on Facebook a couple of years ago and have been following the artist on Instagram ever since.

These comics tend to be amusing, episodic slice of life peeks at the experiences of an unnamed young woman.  The humor frequently involves her introversion, social awkwardness, and tendency to procrastinate – all things I find extremely relatable.  The strips are funny but at the same very real to me in how directly applicable they are to my life. An example of one that pretty much nailed my experiences the other day:

Topics geared more towards the ladies in the audience often come up as well, with menstruation and clothing woes being common themes, but I’ll admit I found these panels just as amusing as the ones that spoke to me more directly.  Again, the subject matter is humorous but so very real and I can laugh along without the firsthand experience. To give you a taste of something I found particularly noteworthy from this department:

I don’t have much else to say about this book other than I really enjoy this artist and the Sarah’s Scribbles strip it has emerged as one of my favorites from my “adult” life (favorite childhood comics being a topic for another day).  For more, you can check out the artist’s website here or head on over to her Instagram feed and scroll through the goodness.

Stone Brewing Company – Scorpion Bowl IPA

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, California, Craft Beer, Stone Brewing Company

I’ll admit it was the name that caught my eye on this one.  While it’s been awhile since I’ve had an actual scorpion bowl, I was intrigued to see how it would work in beer form.

Beer Name: Scorpion Bowl IPA

Brewery: Stone Brewing Company (Escondido, CA)

Style: IPA

ABV: 7.5%

Description: Made to be juicy and tropical without adding any fruit, the brewers used a combination of Mosaic, Loral, and Mandarina Bavaria hops to accomplish the goal.  Read all about it here.  The price was most definitely right at $4.99 for the bomber.

Appearance: Cloudy, just barely see through golden copper body with a wispy white head.

Smell: Sticky fruit backed by piney bitterness and a sweet bit of heat.

Taste: Melon and tropical fruit upfront, followed by citrus rind and pale malt.  The finish was dry with a sappy pine bitterness. A warm sweetness closed out the experience after the beer sat in the glass for a bit.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation.

Hype: Being a Stone release I was aware of this beer’s existence but can’t say there was any general hype surrounding this.

Overall: I wouldn’t call it anything particularly special, but I was happy with this.  Not something to go out of the way for, bit still a nice pickup in that it was a solid IPA that could be had at a reasonable price.  It did a passable job at representing scorpion bowls, though if you’re in the mood for one I suggest just taking the plunge and going for the real thing!

Mystic Brewery – Von Lume

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, Mystic Brewery, New England, Pilsner

I grabbed this one on impulse last time I went shopping for beverages.  It wasn’t particularly showy or eye grabbing, it just had the distinction of being one of the few offerings in the local arrivals section that wasn’t an IPA.

Beer Name: Von Lume

Brewery: Mystic Brewery (Chelsea, MA)

Style: Pilsner

ABV: 4.70%

Description: I actually had a harder than expected time tracking down information on this one.  All I can tell you is that this was a can conditioned pilsner.

Appearance: Golden yellow body accentuated by copper highlights and a foamy white head.

Smell: Crisp malt and citrus rind.

Taste: Light notes of pale, crackery malts fortified with moderate grainy taste.  Also picked on hints of lemon and pepper throughout and a mild grassy hop presence on the finish.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied and moderately carbonated.

Hype: None that I am aware of.  I couldn’t even dig up basic background information on this one, let alone any buzz.

Overall: I wasn’t a huge fan of this as the flavor profile just wasn’t quite my thing.  I grabbed this feeling somewhat invincible after having some really great pilsners lately, so I suppose every streak has to end eventually.

Zombie Apocalypse Book Tag

Tags

Book Tag, Brandon Sanderson, Dune, Frank Herbert, Harry Potter, James S.A. Corey, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Mistborn, The Expanse, Zombies

Here we go with another fun book tag I unearthed.  Who doesn’t want to assemble characters from their favorite books into a zombie apocalypse survival group?  Let’s see who I wind up with.

The Rules:

• Choose five books
• Set up your books in any order
• Flip to a random page and write down the first two names you see
• Put the names in order in the categories down below
• Watch the world burn

Books I Chose:

• Persepolis Rising, by James S.A. Corey – James Holden and Naomi Nagata

• Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson – Kelsier and Vin

• Heretics of Dune, by Frank Herbert – Darwi Odrade and Alma Mavis Taraza

• Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien – Bilbo and Frodo Baggins

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling – Severus Snape and Hermione Granger

Uh-oh, not a redshirt in the bunch.  This might get painful. On paper, though, I couldn’t have asked for a much better crew.

Categories:

First Person To Die –

James Holden (Persepolis Rising).  Eh, maybe this isn’t such a bad thing.  Holden has a tendency to draw a lot of attention to himself that greatly complicates life for those in his wake.  I could see him getting the group killed or worse in the zombie apocalypse.

The Person You Trip To Escape The Zombies –

Naomi Nagata (Persepolis Rising).  I feel bad about this one, but let me try to rationalize.  Naomi’s expertise is in advanced computing and engineering which probably won’t be needed in the zombie apocalypse.  More importantly, her physical inability to handle Earth’s gravity after a lifetime in space would make her a huge liability.

The Person That Trips You To Get Away From The Zombies –

Kelsier (Mistborn: The Final Empire).  I’d like to think that it was a situation where it was either him or me, or perhaps karmic retribution for Naomi, but I can kind of see this one.  Especially if I hadn’t proven my usefulness to the group at that point.

The First Person To Turn Into A Zombie –

Vin (Mistborn: The Final Empire).  Ouch.  That’s a significant blow to our survival chances right there.  Not only do we lose her formidable fighting and scouting abilities, but we also lose her experience as a scavenger and thief.  This one hurts folks, but I’m sure she went out a hero.

The Team Idiot –

Darwi Odrade (Heretics of Dune).  If she is the idiot, the rest of the team must be exceptionally intelligent.  The only way I believe this is if you factor in melange withdrawal.

The Brain of the Group –

Alma Mavis Taraza (Heretics of Dune).  Seems highly likely.  Taraza has a formidable intelligence along with superior skills in leadership, tactics, and leveraging social and political influences.  Melange withdrawal is again a concern though.

The Team Medic –

Bilbo Baggins (The Return of the King).  We might be in trouble here unless old Bilbo has some tricks up his sleeve.  I hope pipe weed and ale have medicinal powers way beyond what I am aware of.

The Weapons Expert –

Frodo Baggins (The Return of the King).  Frodo is one brave and resourceful Hobbit, but he wasn’t exactly a fighter.  Fortunately this is a pretty veteran group that doesn’t need much advice on weaponry.

The Brawler –

Severus Snape (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).  Yeah, I can get behind this choice.  Especially with Vin out of commission and Kelsier busy tripping me.  No chance he beats either Odrade or Taraza in a duel, but there’s no doubt he’s suited to this role.

The Team Leader –

Hermione Granger (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).  Feeling pretty confident with Hermione as team leader.  I can only imagine how badass she’d turn out with both Odrade and Taraza around to guide her.

The Lookout Farm Taproom

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Brewery Visit, Craft Beer, Farm, Massachusetts, Natick, New England

Last weekend our quest for family fun brought us to Lookout Farm, located just about an hour southwest of BeerRantsandBooks HQ in South Natick, MA.  This trip did not disappoint; the spacious farm was beautiful to behold and with two play areas and a train to transport visitors around the premises there was plenty to keep our toddler well entertained.  That alone would have made for a pretty good day, but the farm also had another treat in store for us: a taproom serving food and a variety of farm brewed beer and cider. Talk about something for everyone!

I decided to go with a beer flight to (responsibly) get as much of a sense of what they had to offer as possible.  Going in the order of right to left, the sampler offered a nice mix of styles and flavors, starting with Super Yellow Pilsner.  Checking in at 5.6% it had a nice clean, light taste and was rather refreshing after a day out in the sun.  Up next was Natick Nectar, a smooth, funky, and slightly sweet 4.7% witbier brewed with peaches.  Not sure the funk quite fit, but it wasn’t bad either and had a nice fruitiness.  Beer number three was a 6.4% hoppy red ale named Big Red Barn Ale.  I consider myself an aficionado of this style and was quite pleased by this offering.  Its sweet caramel malt base and fresh, hazy resinous hop presence hit all the right boxes for me.  Closing things out was Harvest Day, a 6.7% IPA featuring a grassy/piney hop bitterness atop a slightly sweet light malt base.  The glass behind the flight contains their Hop Up cider, which got an enthusiastic thumbs up from my wife.  

Although I am going to limit my reviews here to the beer, I do want to put in a quick plug for the food  The fried Brussels sprouts and french fries we had were both fantastic, and they served up a pretty good pretzel and cheese and sausage plate as well.  Also of note, food allergies are a concern in my family and the bartender serving us was very helpful and accommodating in helping us make our decisions.

All in all we had a great time here and will definitely be coming back during the months ahead.  There were a couple of brews on tap that I did not get a chance to try this, a stout and a triple, so for sure I’ll be checking those out if they’re still around next time.

Trillium Brewing Company – Keytar Bear

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Boston, Keytar Bear, Massachusetts, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

For those of you not from the Boston area, Keytar Bear is a beloved local street performer who appears at subway stops and other hotspots throughout the city dressed in a bear costume and playing a funky keytar.  He’s unable to perform this summer after getting injured in a motorcycle accident, so Trillium is donating some of the proceeds of this beer to his recovery effort.

Beer Name: Keytar Bear

Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Boston, MA/Canton, MA)

Style: New England Double IPA

ABV: 8.8%

Description: This release was originally planned to coincide with Keytar Bear playing a gig at Trillium’s beer garden, but the brewery moved up their brewing schedule to help out the injured performer.  You can find the full specs of the beer here, but to summarize it is a double IPA brewed with wildflower honey, lactose, and vanilla beans and hopped with Citra and Galaxy.  Cost is $22.20 for a four pack or $5.05 a can if you want to buy singles.

Appearance: It had murky and nearly glowing yellow/light orange body topped by a thick foam that steadily bubbled away to lacing.

Smell: A combination of vanilla, cream, and hazy tropical hops.

Taste: Started out with orange and tangerine sweetness coupled with a fruity/floral bitterness.  Honey and heavy cream came in shortly thereafter with vanilla popping up just before the finish.  Tropical fruits reasserted themselves on the end and brought the beer into a sweeter finish that packed a bit of heat in the form of alcohol and raw hops.

Mouthfeel: Thick, creamy body with a bit less than moderate level of carbonation.

Hype: High.  I thankfully didn’t have to wait in line for this (my guess based on the one case purchase limit is that they brewed a lot), but the brewery was a bit busier than I usually see it on a weekday afternoon.  Local media also picked up on this release, so there are a whole bunch of news articles out about it as well.

Overall: This was a really interesting brew that offered a wide range of flavor.  On the whole I really enjoyed this, but there were a few sips where I thought that either the vanilla came in too strong or the ending was just a bit too hot going down.  I may sit on my other can a week or two to see if any changes develop. Definitely worth checking out though.

Founder’s Brewing Company – Dankwood

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Founders Brewing Company, Michigan, Red IPA

Having a fondness for both red IPAs and brews aged in Bourbon barrels, how could I not try this?

Beer Name: Dankwood

Brewery: Founder’s Brewing Company (Grand Rapids, MI)

Style: Red IPA aged in Bourbon Barrels

ABV: 12.2%

Description: Called “the perfect alchemy of wood and hops,” the brewers took a big red IPA and aged it in bourbon Barrels.

Appearance: Medium brown/dark caramel colored body topped with a thick off-white foam.

Smell: Sweet caramel malts upfront backed up by bourbon barrels.

Taste: Started out sweet with notes of caramel malt and toffee before a dank, resinous bitterness set in right around mid-sip.  A heavy barrel influence set in shortly thereafter which carried the beer into a big pine and bourbon finish. Came with a bit of heat after settling into the glass for a bit.

Mouthfeel: Smooth medium-plus body with a roughly moderate level of carbonation.

Hype: It earned a social media shout-out from a few of my local shops, but I don’t get the sense that there’s a huge demand on this.  I was excited though.

Overall: Tasty, but strong!  A delicious brew but definitely one you want to make sure you are ready for.  Tasted like a very good high ABV red IPA to start and then about halfway through those bourbon barrels hit and the beer took off to a whole other level.  Check this one out!

Book Review: Persepolis Rising, by James S.A. Corey (Book Seven in the Expanse Series)

Tags

Book, Book Review, James S.A. Corey, Reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Space Opera, The Expanse

It’s been a little while since I last checked in on the Expanse universe, but here we go with book number seven, published in December 2017.  Any long time readers of the blog out there may recall that I’ve had a rather up and down relationship with this series, going so far as to declare that this book was going to make or break me sticking with it.

The action picks up about 30 years after the end book six, Babylon’s Ashes.  The forces of Earth and Mars have united and are gradually recovering their strength following their destructive war with the Free Navy.  Colonization through the ring gates has continued at a rapid pace and outposts of humanity are now scattered across hundreds of worlds held together by the Transportation Union that grew out of the Belt factions that opposed Marco Inaros.  The relative peace and prosperity of this new era is shattered, however, when Medina Station receives a message from the Laconia colony announcing an imminent return of the Martian forces that went into a self-imposed exile from the Solar System several decades earlier.

I’ll admit I went into this book with fairly low expectations but must say that I ended up being quite pleased with it.  Previously I had lamented the disappearance of both the protomolecule and renegade Martian fleet from the forefront of the story, but it seems like the plot has finally switched focus back to these arcs.  The book moved along a quick pace and I actually enjoyed spending time with Rocinante crew again.  I found it particularly satisfying to watch them navigate a new group dynamic that emerges and I similarly found their time spent as resistance fighters on Medina rather exciting as well.  On a larger scale, I thought the quick progression of the Laconian conquest was just a little too neat and tidy, making me to think that is how it will be wrapped up as well, but for now I am just going to be content that my interest in the series has been renewed.  The story did a really good job minimizing the things I’ve found most annoying about the series, namely how the universe tends to get held captive by James Holden’s poor decisions, while offering up plenty of what it does best by bringing the conspiracy and protomolecule storylines back to the main stage.  Also to that last point, I don’t think I’ve yet given this series credit for some of the other things it has done well throughout its run. There is an excellent diversity of characters portrayed, indeed people of all shapes, sizes, races, and orientations are well represented in this future, and it addresses certain logistics of traveling, communicating, and fighting in space in ways many other books of this genre tend to gloss over.  Beyond all that, several of the characters have wonderfully cynical outlooks, best represented here by what is one of my favorite quotes so far this year:

It’d be a better world if there was always at least one right answer instead of a basket of fucked. – Chrisjen Avasarala (of course).

I’m a bit wary of saying this, but I am now officially on board with finishing the series.  With only two books left to go (one coming out at the end of this year and the finale planned for 2019), I figure I am now in too deep to stop now, especially since this book got me legitimately interested again.

Toppling Goliath Brewery – Pseudo Sue

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Iowa, Pale Ale, Toppling Goliath Brewery

I happen to live in an area that sees some pretty good beer distribution, with new things coming in fairly regularly these days.  One of the latest brands to arrive here is Toppling Goliath, a popular brewery based out of Decorah, Iowa. Their wares first hit the shelves here with a decent amount of fanfare a few months ago so I waited a little bit before trying to pick any to avoid the rush.

Beer Name: Pseudo Sue

Brewery: Toppling Goliath Brewery (Decorah, IA)

Style: Pale Ale

ABV: 6.8%

Description: A pale ale hopped exclusively with Citra.  Said to feature ferocious hop aromas and a well-balanced body.  It draws its name from Sue, a T-Rex fossil that resides at the Field Museum in Chicago, IL.  Apparently this was the source of some tension at first, bit happily the two sides were able to come together.

Appearance: Poured a cloudy, light orange/amber body topped by a fluffy and slightly off-white head.

Smell:  Mostly tropical fruits to start, followed by a sweet grapefruit and pine bitterness on end.

Taste: Citrus and mango upfront followed by grapefruit and pine bitterness atop a bready/crackery pale malt base.  Smooth and balanced progression of flavors.

Mouthfeel: Fluffy medium body with a moderate amount of carbonation.

Hype: Elevated.  There was a lot of demand for this beer when it first hit the shelves, understandably so it has very high reviews on the popular beer rating sites.

Overall: Very tasty, but from my perspective I think a lot of the excitement about this came from it being new to the market.  I definitely understand why the beer has earned such a solid reputation, but with so many other excellent examples of this style already available in my area, I don’t really feel like I’ve missed out by not having had this before.