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