New England Brewing Company – Woodbridge, CT

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Brewery Visit, Connecticut, Fuzzy Baby Ducks, New England, New England Brewing Company

And now it’s time to catch up on some of the more enjoyable brews I came across during the last month or so.  This next post takes us back to a rather memorable pit stop the family made on our way down to New Jersey last month.

That stop, of course, happened to be at a brewery; specifically the New England Brewing Company, conveniently located in Woodbridge, CT at roughly the halfway point in our drive and the place where we just so happened to start hitting traffic.  It had been a place of interest to me for some time now on account of its well regarded and awesomely named brews like Fuzzy Baby Ducks and Imperial Stout Trooper.  Only the first of those was pouring that day, but we were nonetheless very excited about our impending visit, even to the point of making up stories about the beers and carrying on about the joys of ducks while waiting in traffic!

The brewery is located in a warehouse building hidden behind a car dealership.  We were a bit confused by this situation and almost turned around, but fortunately my (perhaps somewhat dubious) faith in Google Maps and some well placed signage got us there without incident.  Their custom car sitting out front helped a bit too! Walk inside and you’re greeted by an ordering station just inside the door with some benches and seating off to the right. There are also some shelves against one of the walls that boast an impressive stash of games and books, including, to our delight, children’s stories!  Since it was a really nice day and we had a toddler in tow, we opted, however, to sit out on the patio after procuring our beverages and reading materials. While not particularly scenic, it was still nice to be outside and between books our son had a blast watching some of the staff load up a delivery truck using a forklift.

Our first beer of the day obviously had to be the much discussed Fuzzy Baby Ducks.  I don’t think it quite lived up to the otherworldly hype that we had built up around it in the car, but it most certainly did not disappoint either!  I’d say that the fact that beer withstood our highly unrealistic expectations says a lot about how good it actually is. Pictured above alongside our son’s first book of the day, this 6.2% IPA poured to a cloudy orangish-yellow body beneath a persistent foam head and had an inviting aroma of citrus and sticky hops.  Taste-wise, it began with a nice blend of mango and citrus sweetness resting stop a soft pale malt backbone before closing with a smooth, moderate level of bitterness. As for the mouthfeel, it had a moderately carbonated medium body that left a soft, fluffy feeling on the palate. This last point was particularly important for my wife.  I think no matter how good it tasted she would not have been happy if it didn’t feel like a fluffy duck at the end!

For round two, my wife and I went in slightly different directions.  She ordered their flagship Sea Hag IPA (6.2%) and enjoyed that immensely.  Indeed I did as well but could not manage to steal enough sips to give it a proper review.  All I’ll say here is that it offered a nice mix of sweet malts and hops that was right up my alley!  My beer of choice was the almost equally amazing G-Bot.  This 8.8% IPA poured to an orangish-amber body and featured a sweet, pulpy aroma.  Similarly, the taste offered up plenty of citrus notes to start, followed by a nice dank, resinous bitterness on the end.  The mouthfeel was right in line for the style. Overall, this made for our third excellent brew of the day!

And then it was time once again to hit the road.  Between the books, the beer, and the chance to relax we all had an excellent time here!  The beers certainly lived up to our heightened expectations and we also really appreciated how family friendly the atmosphere was (bonus points for the aforementioned children’s books!).  Definitely check this place out! It’s on the list next time we head down to New Jersey or find ourselves in the area.

Book Review: Death’s End, by Liu Cixin (Book Three in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past Trilogy)

Tags

Book Review, Liu Cixin, Reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Three Body Problem

And today I make my triumphant return to book reviews with some exciting news!  Completing this review means that I have closed out my time in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy and have accomplished one of my reading goals for the year.  This series has been a really enjoyable ride so far, so let’s see how the final installment played out.

The child that was human civilization had opened the door to her home and glanced outside.  The endless night terrified her so much that she shuddered against the expansive and profound darkness, and shut the door forever.

Spanning multiple eras from the present day, near-future, and way, way, beyond, this book serves to expand upon the Dark Forest hypothesis presented in the previous novel and look at how the unforgiving realities of such a universe affect not only the situation between Earth and Trisolaris, but the enigmatic game of universal geopolitics.  It does this by following the life and rather eventful career of an aerospace engineer named Cheng Xin. Born in the early 21st century she, like many of the other characters we’ve encountered thus far, lives a life essentially outside of time by using her position and influence to spend many years in cryogenic hibernation, resurfacing only at potentially critical moments in human history to help steer certain events she sets in motion over the centuries.

I enjoyed this story in general, but upon looking back at the series as a whole this is probably  the installment I connected with the least. A large part of that feeling is based on my impression that the characters were not as strongly written this time around.  I liked Xin well enough, but I did not find her nearly as interesting as Luo Ji and thought many of her decisions were a bit suspect, or at the very least based on motives that were made insufficiently clear.  Similarly, her associate 艾AA felt a bit hollow and did not have the same presence as her counterpart Da Shi from the previous novels or even many of the other minor characters encountered previously.  Combined with the diminished presence of the usually rich cast of supporting characters as the story went on, these relatively minor issues stood out a bit more for me than they probably would have otherwise.

This somewhat lackluster showing by the main characters put a lot more emphasis on the story, which for both better and worse, had a tendency to get a bit out there at times.  The numerous theoretical discussions regarding the interactions between various dimensions and the ways in which laws of physics could be weaponized were topics I found fascinating, but they also made my head spin a bit the longer they went on.  That’s not necessarily a problem, mind you, but since there were some moments where I just couldn’t fully conceptualize what was going on I felt a bit lost in places (and yes, I do admit that is in part on me). One area in which I think the story excelled, however, was in its depiction of the changes in human society and culture across the centuries.  I really enjoyed following the ebbs and flows of civilization and how people changed from the carefree naivety of the Deterrence Era hyper-information age (a future that despite its idealism still really creeps me out), the authoritarianism of the years surrounding the Trisolaran occupation, and the determination of the Jovian space colonists. I also found it fun to compare these visions to some of the others I’ve read recently to see where they overlap and contrast.

Looking back on the series as a whole, I do say that I quite enjoyed it despite its occasional faults.  Not only did I find the main stories about the Trisolarian conflict and life in the Dark Forest quite interesting, but I also found many of the more personal interludes equally engaging.  Wang Miao’s discovery of the Three Body game, the experiences of the Galactic Humans beginning with the Blue Space and Gravity, and the interplay of Luo Ji and Da Shi are some of the things that stick out the most in my mind.  I also enjoyed how the author would have minor characters pop up in recurring roles to give the books a sense of continuity that otherwise might have been very hard to maintain.  

So there you have it. I’m sorry to see my time in this universe come to an end, but on the other hand I am also happy that I am a bit more freed up to move on to new adventures!  These books take the reader on a journey through time and space that I would highly recommend to fans of harder sci-fi.

 

Trillium Brewing Company – Spectacle Island

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Massachusetts, NEIPA, New England, Trillium Brewing Company

The first entry from my backlog of posts, I was actually on the fence as to whether or not I wanted to use this review.  My wife, however, was adamant that someone needed to warn the people about this brew, so that is what I shall do.

Beer Name: Spectacle Island

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

Style: NEIPA

ABV: 6.8%

Description: Part of the brewery’s Boston Harbor Island series, this beer is named after one of the most popular destinations on account of its beaches and walking trails.  More details are available on the company website, but in brief this juicy IPA was brewed with a blend of Pale, Honey, and Victory malts and hopped with Galaxy.  My four was canned on August 7 and consumed with in a week or so if that date.

Appearance: Poured a cloudy, murky brownish-yellow body topped by a wispy white foam.

Smell: Lots of pulpy citrus and tropical fruit upfront with some light malts lurking in the background.

Taste: Fruity and sweet upfront as promised by the smell.  Lots of citrus rind and tropical flavors going on. Towards the middle, however, it picked up a gritty, grainy malt/yeast profile that not so pleasantly carried into a hot, earthy bitterness on the end.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.  Right on par for the style.

Hype: I’d heard some good things about Trillium’s island series, indeed my wife even enjoyed a different one while at the taproom, so I was pretty interested in trying this.  It had also been a while since I’d had anything from them.

Overall: Both my wife and I were incredibly disappointed by this one.  It had a sandy, gritty quality that gave me the impression that perhaps they took the island inspiration just a bit too literally.  This was so prominent that it quickly overtook any hint of sweetness and left the ending something of a hot mess. I know you always have to take these numbers with a grain of salt, but the fact that this rated a 4.13 (out of 5) on Untappd is simply mind-blowing.  I know different people have different tastes, but at this point I’m generally able to differentiate a well made beer I don’t like for personal reasons from one that has some pretty significant flaws and this was definitely the latter.

Widowmaker Brewing

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Massachusetts, New England, Widowmaker Brewing

I’m back in the beer game!  Despite all the fun I had with my challenge the last few weeks, one thing I really came to miss was sharing my beer adventures.  I have a few backlog posts I’ll be making over the next week or so, but before I get into those I wanted to first check in with a pair of excellent beers my wife and I came across at the Riverfest in Assembly Row last weekend.

After making sure we hit up all the children’s activities along the way, we decided to settle in at the (family friendly!) beer garden on the Mystic River to grab some refreshments while waiting for the fireworks to start.  There were a few different breweries pouring that day, but for whatever reason the Braintree, MA-based Widowmaker Brewing caught our eye and immediately drew us in.  The original plan was to order a different beer each, share half, and then move on to another place but after our first sips we knew that 1) sharing was off the table, and 2) we found our beer source for the evening!

My first brew of the afternoon was a delicious 7.2% IPA called Ecstasy of Gold.  When we approached the brewery’s tent the thing that struck me the most was how it smelled like peaches.  Turns out this beer was the cause! Moving past the wonderful aroma, it poured to an invitingly hazy golden body and had a sweet, smooth taste of peach and tropical fruits capped off by a mild lingering bitterness.  It was deliciousness in a cup and easily one of my favorite IPAs of the summer!  

Beer number two was a 7.0% peanut butter stout called There’s No Wrong Way.  It poured to a black body topped by foamy tan head and gave off strong aromas of chocolate and peanut butter.  The taste offered more of the same, featuring loads of sweet, creamy chocolate and a big dose of peanut butter on the end.  I’ve had a few disappointing brews made in this style before, and let me just say that this is the beer most peanut butter stouts aspire to be!  It tasted as advertised and its smooth, moderately thick body made it quite a joy to drink.

Needless to say, this brewery has gotten our attention and a visit to their taproom is in the planning stages.  Until that happens I am definitely going to be on the lookout for more of their beer and suggest anyone else in the vicinity do the same.  Cheers!

30 Day Geek Out Challenge – Day 31: A Retrospective

Tags

30 Day Geek Out Challenge, Blog Life, Fandom

The marathon has ended!  I know yesterday’s post was the finish line, but it didn’t feel right to move on without some sort of recap.  I’ll start out by thanking Megan over at A Geeky Gal for the last month of geeky fun! I highly recommend that anyone who found my posts interesting give this challenge a try.  You can find the full list of topics here.

Looking back, I had a lot of fun with this challenge.  I came across it when I was on the verge of falling into a blogging rut and having something fresh to think and post about really helped me find the inspiration I needed to get through it.  It wasn’t always easy, indeed I needed to take a short break to keep up with my personal schedule and not all the prompts touched on topics I was interested in, but on the whole I thought this was a very rewarding process.  I found myself enjoying not only thinking about the content of my posts but also simply the challenge of coming up with something every day. Regarding that second point I dare say I may have even learned some valuable lessons about managing my blogging time and streamlining my posting process.  I definitely made adjustments as the days progressed and now feel much better prepared should I do one of these again.

I think that if/when I do take on another challenge (I am certainly open to it), I might go for one that is a bit shorter in duration.  Keeping it up for a whole month was sometimes a bit tough between work, travelling, and child care and I also missed the chance to share of my regular content with you all.  (Don’t worry, the backlog is coming!). That said, I had a ton of fun with this and hope that you the follower did as well. At this point, though, I think I need to take a day off and go grab a much deserved beer!

30 Day Geek Out Challenge – Day 30: Most obsessed-over fandom?

Tags

30 Day Geek Out Challenge, Baseball, Blog Life, Cosmere, Star Wars

Here we are at Day 30 of the 30 Day Geek Out Challenge!  It’s been quite the ride and for my final prompt I will be discussing my most obsessed over fandom.

This post, perhaps appropriately for the grand finale, had me do a great deal of soul searching.  My initial thought was to think of “obsessed” fandom as a total immersion in the subject matter that requires a level of time, money, storage space, and energy that I simply don’t have anymore.  Coming at the question from that perspective I honestly don’t think I have the proper mindset or interest in anything to quite achieve that level of commitment.

Taking a longer view of this question, I would say that Star Wars was probably biggest fandom obsession and that peaked some twenty or so years ago (my god, I feel old typing that).  I had movies, toys, books, shirts, and even more stuff I’m not thinking of right now. I’ve actually gotten rid of most of it over the years save for a few items of sentimental value and don’t really regret any of it, except maybe the VHS release of the original trilogy before the “special edition” retouches.  As much as I love and have loved the franchise, I moved on. Looking back, I think this happened around the release of the prequels. I didn’t quite realize it at the time, but in retrospect I think that is around the time the franchise started passing me by and targeting a different audience. As of this post I’d say it’s even full on lapped me since I am way out of the loop on the new shows and the Expanded Universe timeline I spent so much time reading is no longer considered canon.  And you know what? I’m perfectly fine with that. I like (mostly) and appreciate the new movies for what they are and am happy the story exists for younger folks. It’s likely my three year old son may end up loving Star Wars as much as I did but for completely different reasons and I actually kind of like that.

Well then.  I didn’t quite intend to go off on that tangent, but there you have it.  To end this from yet another perspective, I’d say that currently Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere is my top “geeky” obsession and the New York Yankees are my longest running one.  For the Cosmere, I think that the thousands of pages I’ve read, the numerous book reviews, and time spent reading up on fan theories and message boards makes that an easy choice.  As for the Yankees, well, they’ve been my team for life despite growing up in the Boston area. It sure didn’t make me popular, but I regret nothing!  

See you all tomorrow for a wrap up.

30 Day Geek Out Challenge – Day 29 – You’re an anime/cartoon character now! What outfit are you always wearing?

Tags

30 Day Geek Out Challenge, Blog Life

Nothing.

30 Day Geek Out Challenge – Day 28: Favorite movie soundtrack?

Tags

30 Day Geek Out Challenge, Mortal Kombat, Music, Pulp Fiction

Day 28 calls me out on a topic I have unknowingly alluded to in some of my previous posts: my favorite soundtrack!  Thank you again to the YouTube folks to whom I link!

Despite my previous assertions, this post is another toss up since the movie qualification excluded Cowboy Bebop from my considerations.  Yes I know that had a movie to go with it, but most of my favorite songs came from the show and I chose to stick with American theatrical releases for this.  That said my choices are:

Pulp Fiction (1994): Track for track this is probably my top choice.  This is one of my top three favorite films and the soundtrack played such an integral role in setting the mood that I can’t help but love it.  Mixing in iconic clips from the movie with rock and roll, soul, and surf rock hits of the early sixties it is super chill and an excellent companion to the film.  Favorite tracks include:

 

 

Mortal Kombat (1995) and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997): I nominate these albums since they arguably played a much larger role in the music I ultimately gravitated towards.  Unlike my previous nominee, these movies were most definitely not good. They came out right as CG started becoming a thing, but before it became a thing people could consistently do well.  The soundtracks, however, were a different story and look to be well received to this day. Their mix of hard rock, metal, and electronic tracks provide a ton of energy that really spoke to the angry youth in me.  It was also my first exposure to groups like KMFDM, Type O Negative, Napalm Death, Juno Reactor, and Sepultura.  Current favorite track from each album:

30 Day Geek Out Challenge – Day 27: Favorite superhero?

Tags

30 Day Geek Out Challenge, Batman, Blog Life

Day 27 presents another eternal geekdom debate: Who is your favorite superhero?

My no doubt, no second guessing myself answer to this question is Batman.  I think what appeals to me so much about him is that he does his thing without any type of superpower.  All he has are his gadgets, detective skills, and his physical training. His vast wealth and corporate empire come in handy too I suppose, but when I think of Batman I don’t tend to gravitate towards that aspect of him.

Source: https://preview.tinyurl.com/y3jyb8n4

How did I come to like Batman so much despite not reading comics you ask?  Well, my love of the character comes from seeing him on the screen. I was a bit too young to really appreciate the Tim Burton’s films of the early 90s at the time, so my first real  exposure was probably from Batman: The Animated Series which aired on Fox Kids between 1992 and 1995.  It offered plenty of amazing dark fun and is especially notable for its long lasting contributions to the franchise, in particular the introduction of Harley Quinn, and its voice acting which included Mark Hammill in a much celebrated performance as the Joker, as well as other highly recognizable names like Ron Pearlman, Kate (Captain Janeway) Mulgrew, and Richard Moll (perhaps best known as Bull on Night Court).  That series piqued my interest in the character enough to make it through the pretty rough films that came out in the mid to late 90s.

More recently, I thoroughly enjoyed the Christopher Nolan film trilogy as well as the Arkham Asylum and Arkham CityPlayStation games.  So really, Batman just checks all the right boxes for me: cool character, great movies/shows, and fun video game tie-ins.

30 Day Geek Out Challenge – Day 26: Favorite Disney movie?

Apparently I goofed a bit and published today’s prompt a few days early. You can find it here. Not sure how I managed to do that, but there you have it.