beer and music.

So, I think I'm going to remove the beer and music reviews from this blog, since it's supposed to be personal. I'll link to them somewhere obvious. I think they will be much more robust than this blog because they are the things I'm most excited to write about, plus trying out all the fancy beer at the nearby wine-gallery is quite a lot of fun, and i don't want to forget which were good and which sucked. My first inclination is to put them into a spreadsheet with conversions to price per mL and price per alcohol vol. and rankings based on a weighted scale with various bonuses for ridiculosity, cool artwork, etc, making it possible to get the proverbial 'A+,' a score over %100. Good luck bitches, I'm a snob. And by bitches, I mean breweries. And I take it back, I'll probably give gems like Aventinus and Sweetwater Imperial IPA A+s.
So I've officially thought this over too much and must restrain myself.
The music part would be a little more difficult to quantify, though I'm pretty sure the Jolie Holland concert I'm missing because of a stupid neuroscience conference would get an A+.
Of course, the highlights from the beer and music log will be summarized herein.
i think the next beer blog will be about wine, namely Charles Shaw, which is absolutely the shit.
Apparently it's between $2 and $4 at Trader Joe's throughout the U.S., and they stock enough of it for you to buy it in crates, which many respectable (believe it or not) people buy. did you know that the acronym for 'believe it or not' is bion?
I suggest the Charles Shaw shiraz and merlot. The cab sav is a little weak.
for music, I'm going to Wally's Cafe again tonight, and expecting another amazing old-school-ish, bebop and fusion-ish jam session, with no cover. Boston does have some perks. Among them of course, is the rent, which in addition to my credit card bill for this week will cost almost as much as I make for the entire month.
but if you come visit me, i charge very low rent for the comfy futon. if you're lucky, i'll even throw in coffee and stale bread for breakfast. just kidding. COME VISIT ME. free.

let's see, what else is there. oh yeah. fuck the northeast. it's cold already.
ok, now to make that other blog. i think i'll creatively call it... beermusic. if it's open.

wha's a blog?

so, i'm not sure i'm ok with writing a 'web page' entirely within someone else's templates.. but i think blogs have been around long enough and have been successful enough to go ahead and succumb to. next thing you know i'll be buying an ipod and a blackberry. anyway. i don't have anything particularly interesting to say in my first blog. i know what would be fun: logs.
Music:
- The Cure - "Disintegration." fucking awesome album. If you haven't listened to it, especially on a cold, snowy day when you're alone and a little pessimistic...
- Beck - "Guerolito." yeah that's it.
- Rilo Kiley - "More Adventurous." rocks.

Beer:
- Polish: "Okocim - Porter" and "Zywiec - Porter." both very much like chocolate liqueurs, though moreso for the Okocim. the Zywiec has more bite, though is certainly not as smooth. Both exceptionally tasty thick, creamy, smoky, and chocolatey porters. Very strong (around 9% alcohol), and relatively cheap ($2.50 for a 1/2 liter at a Boston beer snob store).
- German (?): Schneider "Aventinus": one of my favorites ever. The related "Eisenbock": basically the normal Aventinus double bock dehydrated to fit into a smaller bottle. Not as good, though interesting if you're a big fan of Aventinus to try it with less water.
The organic weisse with American Cascade hops is also amazing, on the level of the Aventinus but more... honestly, American tasting.
- Heavyweight ... Porter: some fancy name referencing mythology or something. Anyway, similar to the Okocim porter, and going out of business, so generally on sale in the states. 6ers of a great porter with very high alcohol for $5.50.
- Moylan's: rated highly by many beer snobs. I think this is for its independence and exlusive customer base. I tried their entire line at a tasting in Brookline, and wasn't particularly impressed. If the double IPA is on sale, as it has been in Boston, for $2.99 per 750mL, it's awesome. Normally priced, it's better to stick with any other double IPA.

more to come. I'm a little sad that the beer list so outnumbers the music list, but I think that's because right now I'm drinking the "ice bock," smoking hookah, and listening to Beck. There's no point in me writing about Beck. I've tried, and I have nothing intelligent to say.

Anyway, I'll try to do something useful with this blog eventually. Maybe I can manage to upload my Vandy webpage here eventually.

C