I was going to do a writeup of Fuller’s 1845, but then I cracked open this bottle that I picked up on a whim at my local Whole Foods. I pour the beer, it is really black, but the lighting isn’t super-bright in the room, so I figure it’s maybe dark, but probably not as dark as say a Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. Now, with better lighting, I see that it is also a beer from which light cannot escape.
But I digress.
So I pour the beer, trying to collect my thoughts on the Fuller’s. The smell of chocolate syrup hits my nose. From at least one foot away. So I was inspired to whip up a review for this instead. The smell has forced me to ruin my palate and just dive in. This one is in realtime.
Appearance: Inky black, short-lived head with some moderate lacing on the glass and some patchy tan remnants on the surface of the beer. A more vigorous pour of the last bit in the bottle yields a half-inch tan head that is slowly fizzing off.
Smell: Well, it’s chocolate syrup. Closer sniffing reveals a smell like making a hot chocolate with high-end, expensive (Vosges Chocolate or better) mix and steamed milk.
Taste: A strong chocolate lead-in. I cannot begin to express just how chocolatey this beer is. In the middle are strong notes of caramel malt, with a hint of chocolate malt. Although you barely taste the hops (Chinook and Wilamette), this could be simply a blend of the bittersweet Belgian chocolate and the bittering effect of the hops themselves.
Mouthfeel: Thick and chewy with a creamy smoothness, this one finishes up with considerable sweetness and some dryness largely due to the bittering effect of the chocolate and hops.
Pairings: I’d pair this with dessert, but not a chocolate-based item. Fresh strawberries dusted with sugar would likely be the most sweetness you’d want to add. Heck, this is really dessert in a bottle.
According to my distributor, this one may be a limited run, so grab it while you can.
Posted by CmdrSlack in Beer
January 16th, 2008 at 06:14pm
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So yeah, when the expiry date of your payment method lapses, it’s really smart to update that information with your service provider.
I am teh stupid.
I blame the commies and their mind-control satellites. Wolverines!
Posted by CmdrSlack in Blog
December 17th, 2007 at 09:04pm
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I wasn’t always a big white wine guy. My idea was that all whites were so sweet that either a) my teeth would rot with each sip or b) I’d need to invest in insulin to handle them. I’ve since proven myself wrong with many varietals and vintages, but this wine is a puzzle to decipher.
According to the winemaker, this vintage includes Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Muscat Canelli, and Chardonnay grapes, all sourced from various lots in California. I’m no wine wizard at this point in my life, but I definitely taste sauv blanc and chardonnay in this vintage.
Expect a very fruity nose, with aromas of pear and apricot. There are also some floral elements, but they are overshadowed by the white fruits. In the mouth, the 2005 Conundrum has the presence of oak — which makes sense, this vintage is 3/4 oak and 1/4 stainless steel fermented. It is also cloyingly sweet and dry at the same time. Some of the sweetness is definitely sucrose, the Muscat makes sure of that. However, some of the sweentess comes from the pronounced fruit flavors that carry over from the nose to the mouth. Other background flavors include tropical fruits and vanilla. There is a hint of spice, but not as much as you’d get from a red.
This bottle is a bit pricey ($28 retail), but worth the expense if you’re hosting a small gathering or trying to impress a white wine drinker. As a daily drinker, I can’t recommend this wine simply because there are far superior single varietal wines for a fraction of the price. As a blend, this one is a must-try.
Posted by CmdrSlack in Wine
December 1st, 2007 at 08:59pm
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Wow. This wine is like the Godzilla of Zins. Clocking in at 15.5% abv, letting this one sit in the glass for a few minutes after pouring is a good idea. A sniff immediately after pouring may very well burn off your nose hair, but once some of the alcohol smell has evaporated away, this zinfandel reveals a very complex character that includes smoke, plum and cherry.
In the mouth, this zin is huge. The plum and cherry flavors persist past the nose and the tannin bite is significant, but not “feel every space between my teeth” tanniny. The finish is oaky and spicy, very much black pepper. This wine was aged in American oak for fifteen months, which definitely influences the flavor and nose. Expect this one to explode in your mouth while also fighting Gammorah.
Posted by CmdrSlack in Wine
December 1st, 2007 at 07:50pm
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The good folks at Anchor Brewing have once again hit it out of the park with the 33rd annual Anchor Christmas Ale. This year’s version is a porter-style ale. Packaged in six packs and magnums (also on draft), it is full of seasonal flavors and an excellent winter warmer. The beer itself is as dark as a winter night, almost pitch black and mostly opaque. A moderately vigorous pour yeilds a medium-sized light brown head that leaves a ring of lacing after each sip.
This year’s spicing reveals cinnamon, clove, ginger and allspice. I also get a good deal of sweetness from the dark malts, but it may also be honey in the mix. The hop finish is pleasant and piney, but well in line with what a porter should be (malty but not as bitter as a stout). There is a bit of chocolate, but my mouth always reads that as “dark malt.” Most beers made without cocoa tend to not come across as chocolatey as reviews would indicate.
For some reason, this seems to taste better out of a magnum bottle than a twelve ounce bottle. I’ve had it both ways, and maybe it’s just the Lil John in me, but I really enjoy the magnum more. Either way, this is a must-buy if you’re a beer geek. I would almost replace Sammy Smith’s Winter Welcome with this year’s Anchor Xmas brew as my favorite winter warmer ever. But hey, Winter Welcome.
Posted by CmdrSlack in Beer
December 1st, 2007 at 07:34pm
2 Comments »
Raph posted a link to Sean Howard’s Three Hunded Mechanics page. He also posted a link to a game made based on one of those mechanics, Lost In The Static. The game is rather nifty once you get used to viewing white noise on top of white noise. When your eyes adjust, it’s a rather addictive exploring game that reminds me of Montezuma’s Revenge or Pitfall. I’ve manged to waste several hours today playing around with the game. My favorite thing, it turns out, is “dying” largely because the animation is great. The music is also nice, and sets the mood of the game quite well.
Posted by CmdrSlack in Games
November 24th, 2007 at 01:30pm
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So although I’ve been really out of it as far as game and law blogging goes, I just read Lum’s article about the whole Jade Raymond debacle and actually have a few things to say. First and foremost, I wonder if this whole situation has been blown out of proportion. Not by Lum, but by the gaming “press” in general. Ok, so she’s an attractive woman who is also a producer at Ubisoft. She’s well-spoken and did what many game producers do — promote their games. The game bloggers predictably went one of two directions: 1) ZOMG SHE IS HOT and 2) How dare Ubi exploit her to sell games?!!@!!!one!!!! Then the infamous web comic surfaces in the wake of a rumor that she was going to pose in Maxim.
This is where things get stupid — after the break.
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Posted by CmdrSlack in Games
November 20th, 2007 at 01:27pm
5 Comments »
So I forgot to decline a “featured selection” from the friggin record club (yes, I know I am stupid for having ever joined one). What arrived was actually pretty damn good: Chris Cornell’s solo album, Carry On. I like it much better than Audioslave, and it really feels like he’s had a chance here to explore his talent and tastes a bit more. The songs range from some harder ones (Poison Eye) to sprawling soundscapes like “You Know My Name.” Also fun is his cover of Billie Jean, which is so well done you don’t realize what song it is until the lyrics start.
Although I’m not usually a big fan of solo projects from artists who used to be in bands that I like (I’m looking at YOU Paul Westerberg, “Dyslexic Heart” was crappy pop pablum), this album is just damn good. It rocks when it needs to and then pulls back and then WHAM more rocking.
And now we know why Rolling Stone has never given me a job as an album reviewer. But hey, I’m doing research today and I’m trying to make up for months of not posting.
Posted by CmdrSlack in Blog
November 20th, 2007 at 12:01pm
2 Comments »
So my great job search ended back in August. Instead of landing a gig as an attorney, I’ve turned my law practice into a hobby practice — I do real estate closings and contract drafting when people need it done, and I am currently networking out a bit to get more paid research and drafting work. It turns out that many lawyers don’t like doing the legwork and will pay me to do it for them. Hurrah.
So what am I doing as a “day job” in the meantime? I’m a beverage specialist for a major organic grocery store. It should take about, oh one guess to figure out which one. (Especially since the one I work for has been slowly absorbing the other ones.) So basically, my job is to order all of the beer that we sell, and to spend tons of time hand-selling beer and wine to the residents of the surrounding community. As a home brewer and general beer enthusiast, this kicks ass. It sure as heck beats working 70-90 hours a week as an associate at a law firm, and I get to do cool stuff.
Last week, I went to the grand opening of the new Two Brothers Brewing facility in Warrenville, IL. I got to see some massive stainless steel brewing vessels up close and enjoy all of their beers on tap. I also got to meet the Ebel brothers and generally have a great time being a huge beer geek.
Next spring, we’re planning a family trip to Cooperstown, NY. (Well, I’m planning the trip, Mrs. Slack thinks I’m still in the wishful thinking phase.) Why Cooperstown? Because that’s where one goes to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. Oh, and the Ommegang Brewery, Duvel USA’s facility in the states. Ommegang makes some great beers, many of which are frequently in our fridge. Heck, I’m currently cellaring a bottle of their Ommageddon Funkhouse w/ Bretts beer until New Year’s just to see how it has developed since we drank one in September. The nice thing is that we’ll get to go on a pretty cool tour (and hopefully one that is better than the normal tour) thanks to the kindness of the people at Ommegang.
So, currently on my horizons are: starting teaching brewing classes at my store, figuring out how to get the cash to attend the Siebel and get my master brewer’s degree, and figuring out how to beg, plead or bribe my way to being an apprentice to a master brewer somewhere. Oh, and if anyone has piles of money just laying around, starting my own brewery is another thing I’d like to do.
At any rate, once I get the time to dig into the code for the site, I’ll be adding a beer category, etc.
Posted by CmdrSlack in Blog
November 20th, 2007 at 11:50am
1 Comment »
I wrote the following piece as a term paper for a class I took early on during my LL.M. studies. I’m currently working on some other material related to this, and the topic of RMT in general, so I thought I’d repost it here since it seems that Grimwell has removed the archives of old articles from Grimwell.com. It could also be that I suck at using websites and I could have just linked the nice, formatted copy that I had but can no longer find.
At any rate, this is just as much a reminder to myself to get back on a few back-burnered projects, and hey, maybe this is still worthy of some discussion. There’s a few ideas in here that I don’t necessarily buy anymore, but for the most part, I think it’s a fair read on the law. Anything regarding EULAs is probably not as accurate as it could be, but if anything, EULAs are still strong, just vulnerable on a case-by-case basis.
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Posted by CmdrSlack in Law
August 28th, 2007 at 11:00pm
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