| 06/12/2008 |
U F O - Uncle Franks Opinion |
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I don't know if the world cares what I have to say, but damnit all, they are gonna here me! This is where I get to yell and shout and tell stories and such. Some about beer, well most about beer, but sometimes random stuff. A blog if you will about the beer world, so I can leave my personal blog readers alone and just tell them funny stories. So grab a beer, grab a seat, and read on! ***************************************** 6/12/08 Two notes here. First, why dont we ever see a head line that reads "Psychic Wins Lottery!" Stolen from Gary who stole from Leno. Second, the MS 150 is fast approaching Both Gary and I are not near our goals yet. I know gas prices suck but anything as small as 10 bucks can help. Hell, 10 bucks hardly buys any gas anyway so you might as well donate it. I did try to form a team also but couldnt get through the registration so search for us individually. Team Beer Athletes was to consist of Gary and I along with Mike (Drinker), Derek Luke (Head Brewer Newport Storm) Glen (another drinker) and Aaron (Head Brewer of Union Station) and maybe even Paul from the Paul and Al Show on 94 HJY. My disorganization stopped this from happening and getting shirts made, etc. Dont let my screw up effect the outcome. Donate, PLEASE!! Even split you 30 dollar donation into 15 a piece. Hint hint, nudge nudge. The links are below. Thanks in advance! Cheers and Beers and Spinning Wheels! ****************************************** 06/05/08 Just a quick note today. Gas prices SUCK ROYAL ASS!!!! That said we are now witnesing history. Obama wins, Clinton cries, and the Lakers and the Celtics are in the Finals! Man its a good time to drink good beer! ******************************************** 5/13/08 Chris Jacques has done a wonderful job at the Manchester, CT John Harvard's location helping turnaround an OK brewpub into a great Brew House and Restaurant. Over the past 8 years Chris’ beers have won praise and awards, as has the reputation of the restaurant. John Harvard’s has added a great Head Chef and a “Customer Service” focused new GM, and along with Chris has made JH a destination instead of just a beer stop. Some have heard about the new brewer coming in, but if you havent, stay posted and you will. “If these are big shoes to fill then he and I must have big feet, and we all know what they say about guys with big feet. We make good beer! By they way, I wear an 11-1/2!” So as I say "we", that means that I am taking over as brewer. Im pretty psyched and looking forward to brewing professionally again. I want to mention this for two reasons. First, you may see some new faces behind the counter as I will be looking for help. Also I use it as an example for all of you. If you are feeling down, if things are getting tough, if the shit has been hitting the fan, you MUST KEEP GOING. YOU MUST GET UP AND RIDE AGAIN. IT WILL GET BETTER! Me getting back into brewing is proof that it can. I look forward to sharing pints with all of you soon. Cheers! ********************************************** Cinco de Mayo So I decided to have an experiment today. Its Cinco de Mayo and many people have Corona with lime. Well now Bud Light has created Bud Light with Lime. To prove what a bunch of lazy SOB's we can be and not actually put the lime in the bottle, it will just be flavored! GEEZ!!! So the taste-off is set, but not without some outside interference. Being a wrestling fan I had to make a 3-way fatal four-way match! Bud Light Lime vs. Corona with a lime in it vs. Miller Chill vs. Tequiza! The bell sounds and all the beers gang up on Tequiza and toss it over the top rope. Next the two flavored beers teamed up against the only one with real fruit. The taste of beer comes and goes with waves against the citrus. I like hops and American hops have that, so the taste is ok. The artificial ones taste phony, like flavored beer in a Styrofoam cup. AS Corona gains momentum I realize the other two simply suck! But which sucks worse, and if you suck worse by having too much lime, does it actually win?!? Oh Im so confused.. Then the taste on tinny metal comes out from the Miller Chill, and it gets disqualified for using a foreign object. Now its Mano y mano and Corona squeezes some lime juice into the eyes of the new comer Bud Light Lime. The ref counts as BLL goes down, 1-2-3!! Winner Corona!! Hooray. I win a life time supply of Corona!!! Then, suddenly I hear a buzzing. Its my alarm clock. Thank God, it was all just a bad dream.... or was it?!? ********************************************* May 3, 2008 Random thought. Why is it that when going to a beer festival there are plenty of beautiful single women drinking good beer, but when you go out the the bar the pretty ones are drinking crap and the ones with good beer look like Chewbacca? *********************************************** April 14, 2008
…Doherty’s will be kicking off
“Firkin Wednesdays” starting next month. Firkin is an old English unit of
volume and is derived from the Middle Dutch word vierdekijn which means
fourth…or a fourth of a full barrel. Firkins are what cask ales are
transported in….so yep, Doherty’s will be tapping cask ales starting at 7pm
every other Wednesday. ************************************** April 1, 2008 I have decided to drink only light beer for the next 2 weeks. I want to see what the appeal really is. I want to loose some weight too. I want to know what its like to live on crappy adjunct filled rice beer with cheap hop juice instead of real hop pellets. I am also going to follow NASCAR and put my truck on blocks. Happy April Fools Day! March 3, 2008 Hmm, I have done one of these in a while. Sorry about that. I promise to have something for you within the week. Until then just remember this: The familiar Bass symbol, a red triangle, was registered in 1876 and is the world's oldest trademark. February 11, 2008 Some Internet thoughts I have so many thoughts in my head. Beer thoughts, the Patriots getting 18 wins and 1 Giant loss, life pusuits, etc. But for now I thought I would just share a few things Ive seen along the net. These arent my thoughts, but I agree. So someone else actually gets the credit, but I dont know who so I'll just take it for re-posting. Enjoy! If I wanted to drink something that tasted like lighter fluid, perhaps I’d go buy a bottle of Ronsonol… your prosciutto-wrapped melon martini reminds me of an abomination of a drink I sampled at a restaurant in RI a few weeks back: “Bacon Manhattan”. A Manhattan made with Jack Daniels and M&R vermouth. No bitters in sight–they were replaced by none other than a strip of bacon. To add insult to injury, the drink was vigorously shaken, lending a nice cloudy hue which matched the veins of fat running through the bacon quite nicely, I suppose. Anyway, at $13 for this vile mess I will order a beer should I ever visit that restaurant again. BEER FACT English pubs used to bake a whistle into the rims of their beer mugs as a way for customers to order more beer, hence the phrase, “wet your whistle.” *************************************************
January 29, 2008 Removed and posted on personal site. We are trying to make this more Beer-centered. Thanks. ************************************************* January 23, 2008 THE BEER POLICE Certain websites related to beer are now asking for your age and even might deny you access based on age. I’ve never understood this approach at all. In many states you dont have to be 21 to serve but 21 to drink. Therefore you have access to the product anyway. What if 20 yr old college student who works at a bar or liquor store just wants some info about product. He cannot get it right from the source. Its downright f-in stupid! You need to be 21 to drink, not to enjoy thing of beer. By this measure if you are under 21 you cannot laugh at funny beer ads, drool over the hot girls in beer commercials, or shoot your bb gun at empty cans because there are all sources of fun or entertainment that stems from beer.
************************************************* January 8, 2008 Well, apparently I was so busy for Christmas I forgot to put up a rant back on 12/22/07. Oh well, a justified end to a screwed up year. So as a bonus, you get multiple thoughts! As you already know, here in Uncle Frank's Opinion its not always about beer. It might be that beer goes better with cheese than wine does. But sometimes there is so much going on in the world that I just gotta voice my opinion about "Stuff". Its a new year and Steroids are all the talk. Here is my take. YEAR END This year we lost a great writer, Michael Jackson, also known as the Beer Hunter. When this happened it made me realize something. There were very little websites reporting it, and nothing on MSN, Yahoo, Google, or Wikapedia, which is a shame. The instant Nicole Ritchie farts or Brittany walks out of the house we know what color her underwear are, if she's even wearing any! Here is someone truly important and we were still searching for details days after the event. Sad news and a sad revelation about our society. STEROIDS AND BEER What can I say. The bottom line is we're gonna see the names and can either put asterisks on EVERYONE, or we simply dont put any asterisks at all because its simply the era we were in. Close the door, move on to next chapter, and maybe spend the dough on where its needed. I just think that if you really needed to see who is using steroids to the enth degree and are hurting themselves and children with it, then look at my beloved WWE. People DIE there. The media however would rather see it spun differently. In the WWE its OK, even if it isnt. The media will twist it the way they want. Or better yet, spend the 20 million, or whatever ridiculous amount of money it was and help feed children, or help small businesses, or investigate rising fuel costs. Actually even better would be to use that as a subsidy to farmers so they will continue to grow hops and grain and our beer prices wont continue to rise. Currently one brewery has already closed because of this issue. Its predicted that brewery operation costs will rise 7%-10% over the next year, and a total of 15% over the next two or three. That’s insane! Stop wasting my time with Congress getting involved in a sport that entertains, as we watch it all become Sports Entertainment. Look out Bud Selig, here comes the new Commish, Vincent Kennedy McMahon!
************************************************* December 22, 2007 Rant about sam adams screw ups, the year in review, and something else. ************************************************* December 17, 2007 So there is a World-Wide Hop Shortage. Oil prices are increasing and therefore shipping prices are going up. That means everything else is going up too in order to subsidize it. Have you also heard that grain prices are increasing too? Are you screaming “Why? Why?” in your best Nancy Kerrigan voice? So what’s a Home-Brewer or Wine-Maker to do? In the words of good ol’ Charlie Papazian, “Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Home-Brew.” All of this is true and it sucks, but there is plenty to do about it. Making your own beer and wine is still a great alternative to buying it. Increased manufacturing costs with gas, oil, glass, and even corrugated cardboard are leading to the day of the 10-dollar six-pack. It’s coming, trust me. Although the financial savings may motivate some, most home brewers do it for fun, for the craft, and see the savings in making BIG beers like Russian Imperial Stouts rather than purchasing a case of it at the store. The true financial saving comes from making wine. A wine kit may range from $60 - $175. Making a wine kit of $100 dollars makes 30 bottles of wine. That’s only 3 bucks a bottle for a nice table wine that you may pay $10-$12 for in the store. The best part is most in stock kits are less than that and special order kits from En Premier and the RQ Series produces bottles that you will find at the store for $17-$25 easily. Focusing on beer again, many people are asking why in a serious voice. It may be obvious that an increase in Craft Brew Sales and Hop Usage may play a large part into it, especially with lots of breweries producing the next new Hop Bomb with 10,000 IBU’s and the alcohol content of an illegal explosive. Oh how I miss a nice Pilsner or a smooth malty English ale or barley wine. Anyway, I have polled some resources from the internet, courtesy of Al Gore, as well as info from my brewing friends and suppliers and now pass this info on to you. The reasons hops are in short supply and the prices have doubled are availability of certain types of hops is extremely limited. This has happened due to, but not limited to, a poor Crop Yield, Less overall acreage devoted to hops since there was previously a surplus, a Major Hop Warehouse Fire, and believe it or not a weak U.S. Dollar! Wow, I feel better that my Economics degree has some use. But enough of the college lesson. What does this mean for the consumer? Well of course some decreased availability and some price increases. Certain varieties will be unavailable until next crop. But we are home-brewers. We started brewing for fun and excitement and I actually think this is an exciting time. It’s the perfect excuse for me to bring in some new hop varieties that we never had before. I have also created a nice hop cross-reference chart for easy substitution. Maybe you have always wanted to try “XYZ” hop instead of the “ABC” hop you’ve always used. Now you can. Be flexible and creative. Not only can you try new hops, you can go from pellets to leaf, ands vice versa. It’s also getting better. Last month we were out of a lot of varieties. I have slowly been able to get these hops back in stock and now there are very few hops that are missing. Now don’t come buy them all at once though! If you clean me out I can only order in smaller quantities so that would just make things worse and start the spiral again. Overall I think that we are all going to be OK. I don’t plan on stopping making my own beer and wine and enjoying the craft. The economy will always go up and down. It’s the roller coaster of life and we didn’t have this to complain about, then we would just complain about something else. At least this is about beer and wine, not the weather. If one more person complains to me about the snow I think I might have to strike them my empty home made wine bottle, once I drink it of course. Go forth, brewers and vintners, and make the milk of paradise. Lastly on behalf of the Hoppy Brewer and its staff, please enjoy the Holiday Season with friends new and old, family close and afar, and toast to new relationships yet to be made. Cheers!
************************************************* December 3, 2007
“Heaven is a place you can go and drink a lot of draft beer and it don't make you fat…” – Evel Knievel Those that know me know I tend to do some silly things, take some risks, and enjoy extreme sports. I never knew why, I just know that I do. I have raced BMX for over 20 and have been influenced by many people over the years. What does all of this have to do with beer and home brewing? Nothing, and everything. Brewing sometimes is about risk and adventure and about tossing the rules out the window. Trying to start your own brewery, a dream many of us have had, takes pretty big Kahonas. Therefore, I start this U.F.O. with a mention and tribute to Evel Knievel who passed away this weekend. Evel is known for his crazy trick jumps on a Harley of all freakin’ things where anyone doing jumps or racing knows you need a race bike with suspension like a Yamaha or a Honda. Apparently nobody informed Evel. By doing things his way he became an icon and a legend as we all watched on fuzzy small televisions to see if we were actually going to see someone die on national T.V. All the while he knew we were watching to witness something amazing. We just didn’t know it yet.
The following appears courtesy of Hoffman Bikes. The “Condor”, Matt Hoffman, a BMX legend loved Evel, and so I share some of his post. I raise a glass to Evel. An extreme man deserves an extreme beer. Somebody pass me some Newport Storm ’05. Cheers! Evel Knievel RIP. Inspirational stunt legend dies at age 69.Blogged by theboss as HB NEWS — theboss Sun 2 Dec 2007 1:17 pm
http://evelknievel.com/index2.html
Friday, November 30 marked the end of what will forever be remembered as the longest and most courageous battle between one man, a man we all know as the world’s greatest daredevil, and death. Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel died in Clearwater, Florida, finally succumbing after nearly a three-year bout with the terminal lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was 69.
His death was preceded by more than 40 years of constant battle against the persistent pain of broken bones and severe trauma after jumping and crashing motorcycles like no man had ever done before. In addition, he fought to overcome the tremendous obstacles of diabetes, hepatitis C, a liver transplant, numerous surgeries and two strokes. Knievel’s legacy as America’s Legendary Daredevil, Last of the Gladiators, and King of the Stuntmen will undeniably live on among millions of fans, past, present and future. However, the memories of the man apart from his legend will live on even stronger in the hearts of his friends and family. Despite his well-known swagger of self confidence, the legacy he wished for most of all was simply to be an inspiration. “The fame of great men ought to be judged always by the means they used to acquire it.” By this maxim, nothing will ever be able to take away or challenge the things accomplished by Evel Knievel.
Whether it was unmatched courage or just an absolute unwillingness to give in to fear, Robert Craig Knievel was a man’s man through all the days of his life. He took great pride in the simply stated, yet most difficult to accomplish principles: always living up to his word, never shirking the responsibility or consequences for his actions regardless of the personal risk, and never, not ever, failing to stop trying.”
In the end, he had a few regrets, but he always sincerely strived to do the right thing. He never forgot who his real friends were. He never forgot his love for his family. And he never forgot the place from where he came, what he’d learned or what others had done to help him get to where he did. The red, white and blue for which he is famous were a tribute to his Butte character as much as they were for America.
November 29, 2007 For now we will start with the thank you's needed to put this page together. I was pulling my hair out! And those who know me know I have a shaved head! SkotRat helped with a serious code glitch. Chris M. got me up and running and uploaded. Gary had some info and ideas of where to look to take, umm, I mean borrow code. And Newport Storm Blueberry beer kept my nerves calm. I wont bore you with stories for now, but look hear often for thoughts about the hop shortage, beer selections at places, new beer coming out, and maybe even reviews. For now, good night, and thanks for stopping by. Cheers!
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