Brewmaster Jack – Seedling Series #1: Milkshake IPA

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Brewmaster Jack, IPA, Massachusetts, New England

Another day, another brew!  This next beer is one of two offerings my wife picked up on the way home the other day.

Beer Name: Seedling Series #1: Milkshake IPA

Brewery: Brewmaster Jack (Florence, MA)

Style: Milkshake IPA

ABV: 7.3%

Description: Per the website, this is a milkshake-style IPA brewed with guava, tangerine, vanilla beans, and Citra hops.  To note, use of the vanilla beans was “restrained” to let the fruit shine through.

Appearance: It poured out the can to a murky, yellowish-orange/amber body with thin wispy white foam scattered across the top.

Smell: Mild scents of guava and tropical fruit, with perhaps a soft melon-like end.

Taste: Again tropical fruits led the way, starting with guava and ending with some serious pulpy tangerine notes.  Creamy light malts poked through around mid-sip and the beer finished with a mild, juicy bitterness and just a slight hint of vanilla.

Mouthfeel: Soft medium body that thinned out a bit at the end.  Carbonation level was roughly moderate.

Hype: I’ve developed a particular affinity for this brewery over the years, so I was looking forward to trying this out.

Overall: I liked, but not loved, this.  It wasn’t quite what I was expecting for the style, but it was tasty and rather easy drinking for the ABV.  I wouldn’t go out of my way for this, but do give it a try if you have the chance.

 

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Somerville Brewing Company (Slumbrew) – Yellow Shark

Tags

American Fresh Brewhouse, Beer, Beer Review, Massachusetts, Slumbrew, Somerville Brewing Company, Summer

This past Friday my wife and I had plans to meet a friend of ours for dinner after work at Assembly Row. Arriving first, we made the executive decision to make Slumbrew Brewing Company’s American Fresh Brewhouse as our meeting place as it had something for everyone; namely outdoor seating, plenty of beer for the adults, and a children’s menu! Since I was on childcare duty that evening I didn’t exactly go crazy trying everything I had wanted to, but I did make my two beers count by revisiting an old favorite and trying out this delicious new to me summer brew.

Beer Name: Yellow Shark

Brewery: Somerville Brewing Company (Somerville, MA)

Style: Witbier

ABV: 4.3%

Description: Listed simply as a Belgian Witbier with notes of orange and citrus.

Appearance: On draft, it poured a light golden yellow with thin wisps of white foam on the edges of the glass.

Smell: Mild notes of coriander and spicy Belgian yeast.

Taste: It had a light, clean citrus taste upfront backed by coriander, banana esters, and the distinct presence of Belgian-style yeast. There was also a very little bit of pepper around the edges towards the end of the sip.

Mouthfeel: Slightly below medium bodied with moderate-plus carbonation.

Hype: None that I was aware of.

Overall: Really tasty and refreshing. This was an excellent beer for drinking outside in the summer, so I had it in exactly the right time and place. It was also pretty light which made it an excellent choice to go with dinner as well. Check this one out if you’re in the area!

Random Tag Tuesday: The Playlist Book Tag (Part One)

Tags

Blog Life, Book Tag, Brandon Sanderson, Cosmere, Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zepplin, Music, N.K. Jemisin, Playlist Book Tag, Random Tag Tuesday, The Seatbelts

Random Tag Tuesday is a feature I came up with in order to mix things up a bit.  The name is a throwback to my college days when Tuesdays were the day for, well, random adventures.  For my blog, it will mean that on any given Tuesday I’ll tackle one of the many tags I always wanted to write about but never got around to.  Please note that most of these will come from my backlog notes and that I am terrible about keeping track of where I find these. As such, I probably will rarely, if ever, tag anyone.  It is not personal.

I’ve been looking for time to have fun with this tag for months now.  All you have to do is set a playlist to random and pair whatever songs come up with a book or character.  It’s intended to get gut reactions, so I image some choices are going to make a lot of sense while others might seem rather random.  To confess, I don’t really use Pandora or Spotify all that much and my personal library has been in a state of disarray since Winamp stopped being a thing so what came up for me was not quite as random or thorough as I might have wished.  As such, I‘m going to call this post Part One and revisit this tag again in the near future when I’m a bit more organized and can come up with some deeper cuts and more variety!

Gotta Knock a Little Harder, The Seatbelts – Kaladin Stormblessed

“Happiness is just a word to me

And it might of meant a thing or two

If I had known the difference

Emptiness, a lonely parody

And my life, another smokin’ gun

A sign of my indifference”

Part of the soundtrack to the legendary anime series Cowboy Bebop, this song is a beautifully performed journey of someone’s attempt at escaping from the depths of depression.  My first thought here went to Kaladin from Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive novels since his personal struggles with depression make up such a key part of the story thus far.

Gimmie Shelter (Live – 1971), Grand Funk Railroad: Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson

“Ooo, a storm is threatenin’, my very life today

If I don’t get some shelter, oh I’m gonna’ fade away

War children, it’s just a shot away, it’s just a shot away

War children, it’s just a shot away, it’s just a shot away”

I hate to double dip into the same universe right off the bat, but this is just too good a fit not to.  When an ancient enemy returns and unleashes the powerful Everstorm upon Roshar at the end of Words of Radiance, it is a signal that the main conflict of the series is getting started.  As for the song itself, I absolutely love the raw power and energy of this cover and daresay it surpasses the original version.  It also makes the literary tie-in feel that much more appropriate.

When the Levee Breaks, Led Zeppelin – Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters, by N.K. Jemisin

“If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break

If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break

When the levee breaks I’ll have no place to stay

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan

Lord mean old levee taught me to weep and moan

It’s got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home”

This was another obvious one for me. If ever N.K. Jemison’s short story about one man’s battle again a timeless evil in Katrina-ravaged streets of New Orleans is put to screen, this song absolutely needs to be featured in the adaptation. It’s bluesy laments cast a hypnotic, almost otherwordly trance over the listener that would provide the perfect backdrop to the story.

Stay tuned for Part Two!

Four Quarters Brewing – Strawberry Shakedown

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Four Quarters Brewing, IPA, New England

This next exciting Vermont beer was purchased…in downtown Boston on my lunch break.  Yeah, the weekend getaway beer reviews are done with and it’s back to reality for me.

Beer Name: Strawberry Shakedown

Brewery: Four Quarters Brewing (Winooski, VT)

Style: Milkshake IPA

ABV: 7.0%

Description: A milkshake-style IPA brewed with Barbe Rouge hops, lactose, strawberry and vanilla.

Appearance: It poured to a hazy, pale yellow body with plenty of little bubbles running up from the bottom.  Just over a finger’s worth of fluffy, white foam collected at the top.

Smell: Strawberry creamsicle was the first thing that came to mind here.  The beer had a mild berry presence upfront and cream on the end.

Taste: Sweet strawberries at the start, followed by creamy lactose and biscuity pale malt presence that gave the beer a bit of strawberry shortcake-like vibe.  There was a faint bitterness on the very end, with vanilla becoming apparent around the edges after a couple of minutes in the glass.

Mouthfeel: It had a soft, medium body that was creamy smooth with a slightly below moderate level of carbonation.

Hype: Heightened optimism.  The brewery has a solid reputation and for some reason this offering really caught my eye.

Overall: Although, the milkshake style IPA isn’t exactly my thing, but I did enjoy this.  Despite the creaminess, it was rather light overall, a feeling that when combined with the berry tastes made this one quite easy to drink.

Bent Hill Brewery – Better Every Day

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Bent Hill Brewery, NEIPA, New England, Vermont

Another general store pick up, I was again swayed by the packaging.  The 8-bit design really called to me, what can I say?

Beer Name: Better Every Day

Brewery: Bent Hill Brewery (Braintree, VT)

Style: NEIPA

ABV: 5.8%

Description: This New England-style double IPA was brewed with Citra, Centennial, Jaryllo, and Mosaic hops.  10% of all proceeds from sales go to support a local high school’s music scholarship program.

Appearance: A somewhat unattractive murky yellowish-brown/slightly orange body.  There was a pretty noticeable amount of carbonation feeding the beer’s white foam head.

Smell: An alluring burst of pulpy citrus and melon juice greeted me immediately upon opening the can.

Taste: The juice and melon promised by the smell appeared right away, but got rather quickly by pale malt in the middle of the sip and a warming, slightly boozy haze of resinous bitterness on the finish.  This ending bite seemed a bit assertive considering the soft sweetness at the beginning.

Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body with moderate carbonation.

Hype: None.  It just happened to catch my eye.

Overall: It was alright.  After drinking a second one, I am content to say that this falls solidly in the category of perfectly fine but otherwise unremarkable.  Yeah, the ending was a bit assertive but it is far from the worst offender I’ve come across in this area and drinking it out of the can did minimize that a bit.

Upper Pass Beer Company – Moove on Up

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, New England, Stout, Upper Pass Beer Company, Vermont

I picked this next beer up in a quaint little general store in Jamaica, VT that had a surprisingly solid beer fridge, complete with labels dating their IPAs!  I don’t want to over sell their selection since any enthusiasts out there would note that it’s missing some of the state’s heavy hitters, but it did nonetheless offer some rather enticing choiced.  I grabbed this one because I liked the name and the can art just screams Vermont.

Beer Name: Moove on Up

Brewery: Upper Pass Beer Company (South Royalton, VT)

Style: Milk Stout

ABV: 5.9%

Description: 

Appearance: Pour a dark, brownish-black body with a thin white head.

Smell: Sweet cream and chocolate.

Taste: True to the smell, the beer opened with sweet chocolate and cream notes upfront.  These were followed by a light to moderate blend of roasted coffee and bittersweet chocolate to close it out.

Mouthfeel: More or less medium bodied and super smooth. Low carbonation.

Hype: None that I am aware of.  

Overall: It was alright.  I wasn’t necessarily blown away, but it was a nice little beer to enjoy on an evening when a stout probably should have been the last thing on my mind.  Worth trying for those that like the style.

Burlington Beer Company – Peasant King

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Blog Life, Burlington Beer Company, NEIPA, New England, Vermont

Hello everyone!  I’m now officially back from a long weekend spent out in beautiful southern Vermont.  While we didn’t exactly turn this into one of those infamous “Vermont beer trips,” my wife and I did take advantage of opportunities to sample some local wares.  This one was not only one of our favorites from the weekend, but it also comes with a rather memorable story.

Before treating our son to his first ever fireworks show, we took him on a gondola ride up a mountain and on a short hike to a fire tower on Stratton Mountain.  At the base of the tower, my wife and I broke out some snacks for him and a beer for us. No sooner had we done so than a friendly park ranger came out of a nearby hiking shelter and started a long chat with us about the area.  She didn’t say a thing about the beverages, but that didn’t stop us from feeling a bit like chastised teenagers on the way back down the trail!

Beer Name: Peasant King

Brewery: Burlington Beer Company (Burlington, VT)

Style: NEIPA

ABV: 9.0%

Description: An imperial NE-style IPA brewed with Kohatu, Zythos, and Cascade hops and a mix of Pilsner and Vienna malts.

Appearance: Once I finally got it to a glass, the beer poured to a murky orangish-yellow body topped by about a quarter-finger of thick white foam.

Smell: Tropical fruit followed by a warm hazy bitterness hanging over the end.

Taste: Lots of melon and tropical sweetness upfront, followed by some grainy light malts in the middle.  The beer closed out in a slightly booze haze of bitterness, featuring a nice blend of tropical and pine hops.

Mouthfeel: The body was a touch above medium and had a slightly less than moderate amount of carbonation.

Hype: None.  This brewery has been hit or miss for me on a couple of occasions but I was determined to go into it optimistic.

Overall: This was a good.  It had a bit of a kick to it while still being refreshing.

Random Tag Tuesday: 2019 Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

Tags

Book Tag, Books, Random Tag Tuesday, Reading

Random Tag Tuesday is a new feature I wanted to try out just to mix things up a bit.  The name is a throwback to my college days when Tuesdays were the day for, well, random adventures.  For my blog, it will mean that on any given Tuesday I’ll tackle one of the many tags I always wanted to write about but never got around to.  Please note that most of these will come from my backlog notes and that I am terrible about keeping track of where I find these. As such, I probably will rarely, if ever, tag anyone.  It is not personal.

Since we’re still right around mid-year, this is probably going to be one of the least random tags I post under this header.  I do seem to be a couple of weeks late to this party, though, so I guess I have that going for me.  Either way, a tag felt like a nice, fun way to ease back into things after the holiday.

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2019

I’ve actually been really lucky in all my selections this year so this is kind of a tough call.  The two clearly at the top list for me are 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson and Circe, by Madeline Miller.  The former was sci-fi at its absolute best, offering up a wondrous view of the future that mixed compelling scientific theory, political intrigue, environmental awareness, and told a gripping story.  The latter was a powerhouse story that provided a very moving and personal view of mythology that really flips the script on some popular stories.

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far

The Dark Forest, by Liu Cixin.  The follow-up to one of my favorite novels from 2018, this one took the story of alien first contact and impending conflict to new heights with plenty of thought provoking scientific and social dilemmas.

3. A New Release You Haven’t Read Yet But Want To

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, by K.J. Parker.  I’ve seen some very positive initial reviews and both the title and concept sound absolutely fascinating.

4. Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of 2019

This had been Mistborn: The Lost Metal, but unfortunately I found out recently that’s been delayed a bit.  I’m not sure I’m up enough on upcoming releases to have a second choice here.

5. Biggest Disappointment

My biggest disappointments this year have been rather minor thus far.  I’ll call this story a toss up between Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker and the People’s Future of the United States compilation that I just finished.  Warbreaker, despite its importance, just felt hastily put together and incomplete while the People’s Future felt a bit uneven with just as many hits as misses.

6. Best Surprise

Tough call, but probably Luo Ji’s plan to fight the Trisolarians in The Dark Forest.  I won’t ruin the surprise!

7. Favorite New Author

N.K. Jemisin.  She’s more of a new to me author since she’s been writing for several years now, but I’ve read quite a few of her short stories recently and have been very impressed.  They’ve made me think, they’ve made me angry, they’ve me laugh, and they’ve made me hungry and I am absolutely ready for more.  Photo courtesy of nkjemisin.com and photographer Laura Hanifind.

8. Newest Fictional Crush

I don’t usually have these and this year, so far, is no different.

9. New Favorite Character

Hard to pick just one since no one in particular has stood out above the rest yet.  Some of my favorites so far include Anthony Dey Craze from Lagoon, Swan Er Hong from 2312, and Circe.

10. A Book that Made You Cry

I haven’t had one of these this year.  I guess Circe probably came the closest though, as some of the parts about the fears associated with parenthood really struck a chord with me.

11. A Book that Made You Happy

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers.  While I didn’t love it unequivocally, there’s no denying that this was a feel good story.

12. Favorite Book to Movie Adaptation

I don’t really watch movies anymore so I couldn’t tell.  I am cautiously optimistic that the latest Dune reboot will good, though.

13. Favorite Review That You’ve Written

Probably my review of How Long ’til Black Future Month.  I just had a lot of fun with that book and enjoyed the challenge of picking only 5 or 6 of the short stories from it for the review.

14. Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought This Year

I haven’t bought any books this year!  Favorite cover goes to Circe.  I just really like the style.

14. Books You Need to Read by the End of the Year

In no particular order, I’d like to read the aforementioned Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, get started on Brandon Sanderson’s White Sands comics, and read at least one more Kim Stanley Robinson novel.

Book Review: A People’s Future of the United States, edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams

Tags

A. Merc Rustad, Book, Book Review, Daniel H. Wilson, Fantasy, Hugh Howley, Lizz Huerta, N.K. Jemisin, Omer El Akkad, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Short Story

I’ve probably said this before, but one of my greatest discoveries upon starting this blog was the wonders of short story compilations.  This one immediately caught my eye with its obvious homage to Howard Zinn’s famed historical text, A People’s History of the United States, and I was excited that the introduction mentioned that some of Zinn’s central ideas regarding power, representation, and inclusion were used as writing prompts for the 25 authors contributing to this compilation.

It pains me to say it, but taken as a whole I found this collection to be a bit uneven and occasionally unsatisfying.  I wanted to love it through and through, especially since I fully believe in and support both the ideals that inspired it and the voices of the authors presented, but several of the stories I just couldn’t connect with.  Some I didn’t find interesting, a couple had a writing style I couldn’t stand, and some were perhaps too thematically similar to the stories preceding them. Again, I absolutely believe that stories like these that examine issues of racial, sexual, and gender equality, civil rights, and the role of government are important, even essential, topics to cover, I was just not sold on how some of them were told.

That’s not to say I had a bad time with this read, though.  There were some real gems in here and upon looking back these far outshine the works I found less interesting.  To focus on the positive, my favorites (in the order presented) were:

Our Aim is Not to Die, by A. Merc Rustad: In an authoritarian future where conformity to a straight, white, conservative worldview is monitored through mandatory social media updates, a group of non-binary friends are forced to put their lives in the hands of an illusive AI promising to protect their secret.  I liked how this story provided both a glimpse of a social media-driven dystopia as well as a reminder that good actors can also leverage technology to the benefit of society.

The Wall, by Lizz Huerta: Secure in their position behind a border wall, a group of Mexican scientists work to re-humanize the drugged American soldiers used to instigate a brutal military coup in the former United States.  One of a few stories that depicts Mexico as the ultimate beneficiary of a border wall that shields it from the chaos of a failed US, this one just like it had the most complete vision of these stories.

Riverbed, Omer El Akkad: A Muslim diplomat from Canada returns to her childhood hometown in the Midwestern United States to collect the belongings of her brother.  Killed after escaping an internment camps several years prior, his remains are part of a controversial period of history that has left people on both sides of the camps alienated.  A thought provoking look at the limits of protest and the lengths to which rank and file individuals will go to justify and rationalize their role in abuse. It also touches upon the human tendency to shy away from that which discomforts us by delivering on of my favorite quotes of the compilation:

“You know what this country is?  She said. “This country is a man trying to describe a burning building without using the word fire.”

No Algorithms in the World, by Hugh Howley: Story of a son bringing some life changing news to his near-future Archie Bunker dad.  A fun little slice of life story, it was also notable for being the only story in which the future more or less turns out alright.  It also shone an entertaining, yet no less accurate, light on the hypocrisy behind some strongly held conservative beliefs and the extent to which Google guides us all.

Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death, N.K. Jemisin: This story of a black female militia fighting genetically engineered dragons set loose on their community by an oppressive government was probably my favorite in the collection.  Using the power of love and food (most notably collard greens), they find creative ways to turn the tools of the oppressors against their creators. Like so many of the other Jemisim works I’ve read this year, this not only made me think but made me really hungry as well!

A History of Barbed Wire, Daniel H. Wilson: A dead body found in the haven that is Cherokee Nation raises some profound security questions and reveals the lengths desperate people will go to in order to protect their family.  I apparently really enjoy a good detective story, and this one certainly fit the bill!