Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Stout, sadness, and utter panic

STOUT:
I recently had what I consider to be, perhaps, the best Stout I have ever tasted and it came from an unexpected source. Having written an article on the history of Scotland's Belhaven Brewery for Zymurgy magazine some years ago, obviously I have a personal attachment to this brewery and to its head brewer, George Howell. Having visited what is perhaps Scotland's most historic brewery and having been given a lengthy, personal tour by none other than George himself, I hold this brewery quite dear in my beer allegiances. Here in Austin, Texas, Belhaven beers are the only stable Scottish beers on offer and while I enjoy them immensely, I have to say that I was totally blown away by Belhaven Scottish Stout, which just became available here. This is an absolutely wonderful creation based on a very old Scottish recipe overseen by George himself.

I contacted George via email to give my personal accolades and thanks to him for such a great beer and through this correspondence I found out how fortunate we are, for the time being, here in America (for a change!) as this beer is currently not available in the U.K. George assured me it soon will be but what a boon for the U.S.! This stout has an incredibly smooth, creamy finish with a wonderful balance of the flavors of chocolate and roasted barley but not as dry as an Irish stout. What surprised me most knowing George as I do is the alcohol content. George told me during my tour and my subsequent interview with him that he actually prefers a 3%-ish ale to higher alcohol beers. This might explain why Belhaven 60/-, that I waxed so lyrically about in my article, has so much character. This baby, however, clocks in at around 7% but trust me, you'd never know it. There's little hint of this alcohol content in the flavor. A truly great Stout experience and I encourage everyone to get ahold of a bottle or two right away.

SADNESS:
A week ago Friday, what I consider to be THE best sports network on the planet went bankrupt. Setanta Sports got into serious financial difficulty and couldn't make its payments to the Scottish Premier League or, far worse for them, the English Premier League, and subsequently not only folded in Britain with the loss of some 200 jobs but lost their rights to the games from both leagues. Apparently, none other than the U.S.'s ESPN bought Setanta's rights for some 46 or so English Premier League games. Very depressing news for all sports fans in the U.K.

UTTER PANIC:
While the loss of Setanta in the U.K. is horrible, I went into utter panic when I heard the news. Personally, I could care less about the English Premier League games and rights as I see it squeezing out more important coverage such as Magner's League Rugby, Guinness Premiership Rugby and all the U.K. and European rugby matches as well as my beloved Glasgow Celtic and all the other Scottish Premier League clubs' coverage on Setanta here in the U.S. My first thought was, "I might as well drop DirecTV and sell all my DLP and LCD TVs without Setanta". Thankfully, at least according to Setanta's U.S. website, the Irish and "International" businesses are still profitable and Setanta's coverage will continue in the U.S. including EPL coverage. I cannot say how relieved I am, for now. I only hope Setanta finds a solid financial foundation to keep the U.S. broadcasts well and truly intact.

Yours Aye!
Neil

Monday, June 15, 2009

Madness, The 'Duke, beer, the hoose, and the disturbing...

Has it really been since mid-April that I've posted anything? Now that I think about it, it comes as little surprise. This seemingly never ending saga with the hoose has nearly done me in. Fear not, my son, all will be well soon (or so I'm told).

For early summer I have a short musical commentary as well as - you guessed it - a wee beer note. First, I have to say that once again thanks to both Tom Morton and Vic Galloway, those two highly underrated, world renowned, first class broadcasters for BBC Radio Scotland (among their many other talents), I've picked up some quite enjoyable new music. I've always been a fan of Madness but I have to say their newest is perhaps their best. What a great work. Being a huge Biffy Clyro fan, naturally I was very intrigued having heard Vic play a tune from Biffy side project Marmaduke Duke a few weeks ago. I picked up The 'Duke's newest and to little surprise like it immensely. Also, not related to either of their shows, out of curiosity I picked up Steve Earle's newest "Townes", a tribute to local Central Texas music legend Townes Van Zandt who is sadly no longer with us. This is a great piece of Central Texas Americana, for certain. Well worth checking out.

On the beer front. It seems that nearly every summer I wind up with some major home DIY project and usually find a "beer that built..." for each project. Saint Arnold's "Lawnmower" built my deck a couple of year ago and this year, for all the recent hoose renovation, the "beer that built..." is none other than Oskar Blues' "Mamma's Little Yella Pils". I think I've already extolled the name of the tiny Colorado brewery who makes perhaps the best beer ever produced in a can - "Dale's Pale Ale". "Mamma's" is also canned - perfect for summer, especially in the Texas heat which is pushing 100F every day already, mind you. I wouldn't personally classify it as a Pilsener beer in the truest sense as it is a bit sweet, not overly hoppy (which is a big surprise considering "Dale's") and bears little resemblance to anything from Pilzen. Nonetheless, it is a great tasting, very drinkable golden beer. Highly recommended.

On the hoose front, uh, no further comment at this time.

Now for the truly disturbing. Check out Vic Galloway and Jim Gellatly's "wedding" at the Rockness music festival near Inverness last weekend. Vic, Jim, I still love you...

Yours Aye!
Neil