A Salt & Vinegar Miscellany XVI - Ecce cashew!

Last week I wrote in black distress that I hadn't seen Planters Salt & Vinegar cashews for some time and feared that they had been discontinued. Much to my delight they were back on the shelf at my local supermarket last weekend. Now that I think about it, I should have bought more than one bag as who knows how long before they go missing again?

I tried to find out how many varieties of cashews there are and all I could come up with was one. Many different grades of cashews but I found no evidence of multiple varieties. Perhaps I need to hit up some hardcore botany sites.

On the other hand, I learned that the cashew originated somewhere in the Amazon region, although it has since spread, and that it looks like this when still attached to a tree:

The nuts hang from this apple fruit bit. The apples can be used for cooking or made into vinegar or booze, presumably. Cashews are cousins of poison ivy and the shells around the nuts are poisonous. Picking and processing these things must be a pain.

Eating them, however, is painless.

These puppies were rather lightly seasoned. If you pop just 1 or 2 in your mouth, you get that luscious sweet-fatty taste of the cashew and a lingering sense that something is different. I didn't taste much more saltiness but you do get a hint of vinegar tang. It was only when I put several in my mouth at once did my tongue get something approaching a healthy dose of acetic acid.

I suppose Planters has a fine line to tread here. When appealing to a broad audience, one nut shouldn't be super-sour tasting and, since many people eat several at once - something approaching a handful - that approach shouldn't be deadly.

As someone who loves vinegar, I found these cashews to be on the mild side. Having said that, they were plenty tasty. When I needed something more potent, I ate about half a dozen at once to get that tanginess level up to where I like it.

They'll stone you when you're lying on the couch

Piper played with a catnip toy last night.

As she chewed on it, I could smell the pungent aroma. I think she got rather high as she didn't mind the toy lying on her side as she relaxed.

First snow

We got a dusting of snow last night - our first of the season.

It's either snowing out now or it's very windy.

I must get the shovels and other winter accoutrements out of the shed.

Slaar? Is it you?

Have you seen the poster for the movie Dahomey? It's a documentary about the repatriation of artwork to Benin from France. And it screens tonight at UW Cinematheque!

Does anyone else see the Ice Warrior commander Slaar from behind?

The helmet, the color, the jaw-like hand.

I look forward to seeing the front of that statue tonight.

The Lamb deluxe

News is out that Genesis' opus The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is getting the super deluxe 50th anniversary (which was earlier this week) treatment with a massive box set out in March. A remastering will surely make it sound wonderful, assuming it isn't compressed to the gills, and an Atmos remix is a glorious proposition.

A live version of it is included but it's the same show that was included in 1998's Genesis Archive 1967–75 and that had contemporary overdubs which need to go away. At least the encores will be included this time.

And there is a trio of demos to be had as well on a "download card" - not sure what that is. There are hours of demos/rehearsals from the Headley Grange sessions that produced the album out in trading circles. Highlights for me are a 12 minute version of "Fly On a Windshield" and 23 minutes of the band working on "The Waiting Room". Plus there are various instrumentals whose music was never utilized and so on.

I am waiting on more specifics before making the decision to buy or not.

The Lamb turns 50!

And it was only 11 when I first heard it. Tempus fugit. But it has aged well. Still a classic.

The closest The Lamb tour got to Wisconsin was Chicago with shows there bookending the U.S. leg. Recordings from the first couple on 20-21 November 1974 have never surfaced, to my knowledge, but we have audio and a bit of video from the 4 February 1975 show. This is 8mm film footage with synched audio.

And this is most of the show audio only.

A Salt & Vinegar Miscellany XV - A leap into the gluten-free

My wife has renounced gluten so I spend time in the gluten-free aisles at grocery stores and have come to know which pizzerias offer a crust sans gluten for those times when a DiGiorno GF pizza pie just won't cut it for her.

While the gluten-free food industry has gotten much larger and offers a rather wide array of foods that would have been a dream not that long ago, it is woefully behind on salt & vinegar snacks as this is the first I've encountered. Milton's was unknown to me before I spotted them in Woodman's gluten-free aisle. They are out of California and offer many products without gluten but not exclusively.

Ridding these crackers of wheat, we instead get a whole panoply of flours including rice, corn, and millet along with potato starch. Since my wife dropped the habit, I've eaten various GF foods and I have to say they have been very tasty so I am not predisposed to look askance at crackers without wheat. Let's check these puppies out.

Milton's deviated from the norm here as the crackers are hexagons. They were nicely browned around the edges with some have brown spots closer to the center as well. Fairly thin, they're light as well as crunchy.

The chips taste mostly like rice with little of the sweetness I associate with wheat or even corn. The salt level was indistinguishable from a normal dose for a cracker. The vinegar was barely there, sadly, and you have to eat a lot of them for your tongue to register any acidic goodness. I guess it's no surprise as these ingredients come under the "Contains 2% or less of:" heading.

While these crackers taste fine, they barely register on the Vintner's Scale. I've been eating them with dips and salsa.

East side strategic sandwich reserves being depleted

Sandwich lovers on Madison's east side have suffered a lot of bad news recently.

News came down this summer that Alimentari would be opening a second location out west on Monroe Street. Well, now we learn that the east side location on Brearly is going away.

And now we learn that Stalzy's Deli is closing its restaurant.

In the statement, Stalzy's said, "We will continue to operate in a retail capacity and look forward to still providing our neighborhood with all of our staples. Look for us in fresh new spaces, both in our deli, and in our community." It's unclear whether the deli will continue to sell sandwiches and other items off the restaurant menu.

It's been a while since I've eaten at Stalzy's but I will miss the opportunity to stop in for a Reuben.

Now I am having flashbacks of eating at Ella's Deli and What's Cooking in Chicago.

R.I.P. Pete Sinfield

Pete Sinfield was a man of many hats. He was King Crimson's OG roadie, wrote lyrics for them, produced albums, did lighting, got album covers painted, et al. I also know him as someone who wrote lyrics with Greg Lake, worked with Roxy Music, and made one solo album. A prog legend and he passed away yesterday.

Here's a sampling of his work.

A Salt & Vinegar Miscellany XIV - Carassius auratus

Sing the subtitle like Yes!

After having filled my basket with salt & vinegar peanuts, I traipsed down the snack aisle on my most recent shopping trip and ran across the latest snack to catch my interest: Salt & Vinegar Goldfish Crisps.

While familiar with Goldfish crackers, the Crisps variety were new to me. They were salt & vinegar so I put them in my basket regardless of what this whole Crisps class of crackers was.

The bag says "LIGHT & AIRY" and indeed they are. The fishes are hollow and their shells are almost tissue paper thin. It's like they're the croissant of the snack world.

I threw a few into my maw and began chewing. It wasn't long before I noticed that these weren't simply diet Goldfish crackers. They tasted differently from the familiar snack that I grew up eating so I looked at the ingredient list. It turns out they're a junk food chimera - a potato chip-cracker hybrid. Potatoes are the first ingredient although there's also wheat. That explained the earthier taste.

Just because they don't taste like the crackers doesn't mean they were bad. On the contrary, the potatoes ably lent their earthy sweetness while I tasted more salt - nothing to get your blood pressure to spike, just a little extra saltiness. While not the tangiest s&v snack ever, there was a decent vinegar flavor to them, much more than the peanuts that lived just down the aisle. After eating, oh, say, a quarter cup, my tongue felt the tang and had a pleasing, if fairly mild, numbness.

All in all, a very fine snack.

A Salt & Vinegar Miscellany XIII - Mr. Peanut meet Mr. Acetic Acid

Several weeks back, I found myself perusing the new snack aisle my local Woodman's and came across a couple salt & vinegar treats from Planters - peanuts and cashews.

After wiping the drool from my goatee, I thought to myself that, not only would they be tasty, but also that they need to become part of my ongoing salt & vinegar saga. Then it occurred to me that I've had them before and that they've already been reviewed. I got home and queried my blog only to find that I, in fact, hadn't reviewed them. Yet.

For 2-3 weeks I bought both fully intending to review them but I instead just gobbled the precious down with not a care. And then a few weeks ago, I found that the cashews were unavailable and the part of the snack shelf where they once resided has been lamentably empty since. I don't know if this is because of a supply chain issue or if the product has been discontinued. (Forsooth!) But the peanuts have been there every shopping trip like an old friend. And now I have finally gotten around to a review.

Perhaps Planters should put something on the label about shaking the can well before opening because, while the nuts had a fine dust on them, they weren't very tangy. However, after eating my way to the bottom of the can, I found that a lot of the precious vinegar dust was just sitting there peanutless. Maybe peanuts just aren't very adhesive.

There wasn't an excess of salt here and the vinegar was very mild. A definite accent as the peanut flavor shown through. Tasty but not particularly tangy.

As I ate them, I thought about how I have pondered potato varieties in the past and how they taste when turned into a chip. Then I wondered about peanut varieties. Surely there is more than one. Indeed, the internet notes such.

What type does Planters use? According to this site, Runners are the most common in snacks. I might just have to seek out the different varieties and do some flavor comparisons.

The Crucible of Prog

When Crucible opened back in 2019, I was fully under the impression that it was place for DJs to spin EDM and for folks to get kinky, indulge their fetishes, and enjoy burlesque. And, while it is certainly a place for all that, it also hosts non-kinky music shows.

I first noticed this only last summer when I saw that Afroman was to play there. And then a few weeks ago I saw that Chicago noise rockers The Flying Luttenbachers were scheduled to play there this month. Sadly, I was unable to attend that show last weekend due to a Covid scare. But now I see that Crucible is highly progressive rock friendly.

Random Bandcamp browsing revealed that Boston proggers OK Goodnight played there last summer (with Atlanta's Challenger Deep and Wonderful Bluffer from Milwaukee who are not prog but sound good so far) and in 2022 the instrumental prog of Minneapolis' OVRFWRD graced the Crucible's stage.

It's really nice to see the much-maligned genre that I adore get some love here in Madison, especially newer/indie bands. I shall be keeping an eye on their schedule from now on.

I do think it's good redux

Someone has put a couple videos from the Beat concert at the Orpheum earlier this month that aren't the drum solo up at Youtube. Many thanks to PeacenikG.

Coming Soon. Ish.

I simply cannot get enough of The Lighthouse. I just love that film. And so of course my ass was planted in a seat at the IMAX on Wednesday night for a screening. The trailers:

The End. Joshua Oppenheimer goes from Herzogian documentary to a musical. Looking forward to this.

This looks to be a comedic take on The Wicker Man/English folk horror.

A new flick from Bong Joon Ho. Looks to be a grotesque dark comedy. Very dark.

Anything by Robert Eggers is a must-see.

Not my cup of tea.

I really liked the stylized text scrolls. Appears to be an epic drama.

New and winter brews

Lake Louie (nee Wisconsin Brewing Company) has a couple new brews:

It isn't clear to me if these are autumn seasonals or winter or who. I have a Dark Side of the Loon and am looking forward to sampling it.

Also, I want to say thanks to Lake Louie for making a change so that they now actually list their brews on tap at their website instead of lamely linking to a blatantly unhelpful Untappd.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Winter brews are trickling in. Capital's Winter Skål is available and Scottie at Vintage now has 30 Point Bock available over on the west side. Tiggy Toboggan cannot be far behind. I am not sure if Sprecher will release their Winter Brew or not. I wish New Glarus brewed Uff-Da bock every year. Regular bocks are a bit rare as it seems brewers prefer doppelbocks. Though New Glarus will have Cabin Fever out next month. I like it but prefer Back 40, if Uff-Da is unavailable.

I rather like Sam Adams' winter seasonals - I've had Winter Lager and Cold Snap. Ooh! Hofbräu has Winterzwickl and that sounds delicious. Not sure if any of it makes its way to these shores.

Too bad Lakefront no longer brews their Holiday Spice Lager. Well, they have a barrel-aged version but not your regular one.

Well, there will be plenty of good winter brews, I am sure. A Baltic porter here, a bock there.

Ugly progressive

It's been about a week since Donald Trump won the popular vote to become president once again. I didn't vote for the man and I believe that his call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking for him to "find 11,780 votes" and his attempt to intimidate the Georgia official by saying, "You know, that's a criminal offense. And you know, you can't let that happen. That's a big risk to you." should have disqualified Trump for running for president again, if not subjecting him to charges of treason. But such are our laws.

Just as the election season is done so too am I with the post mortems. If I never have to hear Rachel Maddow bloviate again it will be too soon. Sadly, the election has revealed that the ugliness which infects Madison progressives goes deeper than a trio of moviegoers.

Take Paul Fanlund, publisher of The Capital Times. In an opinion piece called "Face it, Donald Trump’s ‘cult’ is now an American majority", he writes:

The country today is on strong economic footing, whatever the distortions. That an overwhelming majority of Wisconsin voters did not understand or appreciate those facts represents the ultimate triumph of propaganda.

The very next day Isthmus noted "Times are tight at Madison food pantries".

This echoes what Fanlund's own paper noted earlier this year in a piece called "Dane County food pantries say demand surged to record highs":

I guess these area folks who don't have a lot of money left to buy food after paying rent are actually flush with cash from the booming economy and just don't understand or appreciate how pecunious they truly are because of propaganda. Perhaps it's how you slice it, which statistics you cite but there just seems to be a disconnect between the wonderful economy heralded by this well-heeled blowhard and a growing number of Wisconsonians who are in the bread line.

"Propaganda" from Appleton's Post-Crescent dated barely a month ago indicates that the same holds true in the northeastern part of Wisconsin.

What a bunch of fools! How can they not appreciate the great economy?!

Look! Even more victims of propaganda in Menominee County:

and the Coulee Region.

Later in his screed, the querulous Fanlund claims that all Trump voters are white.

Trump voters are willing to tell young women and people of color they should continue to know their place as second-class citizens.

Trump voters are willing to tell immigrants who — like their own northern European ancestors — are simply seeking the American dream, that that door is now closed.

These comments elide the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say, i.e. - the news that people without northern European ancestry voted in larger numbers for Trump than previously thought possible by the progressive clerisy. Trump made gains with Black and Hispanic voters in large part because of the economy. Support for Trump from Blacks here in Wisconsin soared dramatically.

Oh look! Latinos saying it was the economy.

And Native Americans also moved right. Here's a bit from "A Navajo perspective: why many of us support Trump over Harris":

But for Fanlund, there are no Trump voters of color and the Orange Man's lily-white supporters are all too stupid to see how great the economy is, their pocketbooks be damned. The Cap Times' grumbletonian just cannot even imagine that people unlike him might have different priorities, that their finances might not correspond to macroeconomic statistics in the ways he thinks they should.

"It's inconceivable!" he blurts out to no one in particular from the porch of his not inexpensive home, sounding like Vizzini but with the gentle humor leeched out in favor of red hot sanctimony. What a jagoff.

Being disgusted with such naked condescension, I have stopped contributing to the Cap Times.

R.I.P. Roy Haynes

The legendary jazz drummer Roy Haynes passed away yesterday at age 99. 99! The guy played with seemingly everyone - Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk - the list goes on.

Here's his performance from the Madison Jazz Festival back in 2008 at the Union Theater when Haynes was a youthful 83.

I do think it's good

For reasons unknown, the only footage of the Beat show here in Madison a week or so ago that has made it onto Youtube is Danny Carey's drum solo during "Indiscipline". I'll write about the concert sometime as it was a great show with Steve Vai defying expectations most assuredly and Danny Carey putting his own stamp on the Brufordian rhythms.

The maples want more Citra and the oaks ignore their pleas: Oaked Smoked Helles Lager by Pipeworks Brewing Co.

With my Frau having gone gluten-free, I found myself trapped in the indecision of the massive beer selection at a Binny's outpost in western Chicagoland. I really didn't need to bring home a lot of beer as I would be the only one drinking the stuff and I was clutching a couple of packs already. But I just couldn't let the prospect of more Rauchbier pass me by. On the shelf before me was Pipeworks' Smoked Helles as well as their Oaked Smoked Helles. Which to choose?

If memory serves, I checked each for dates on the bottom of a can but I cannot recall what I found. The date on the Oaked Smoked cans were smudged but they were dated this year and the month appeared to be August. They cost the same or very nearly so thusly price was not at issue. In the end, as you can see above, I went with the latter. Oak smoked Rauchbiers are just less common and I don't think I've encountered one of the Helles variety before so I fell on the side of rarity. But look at that poor oak! Talk about trouble with the trees. No doubt it was the work of a malicious maple.

I generally hold Pipeworks in high regard. They brew more than IPAs and I am surprised that I never reviewed their Pastrami on Rye: Manny's Deli Edition beer which was very tasty.** (Indeed, it appears I haven't reviewed any of their beers since 2013. How odd.) To my mind, that they brew zwei types of smoked Helles speaks to their eclectic/good tastes and makes them a cause worth supporting, even if only one 4-pack at a time.

A cap of loose, white foam sat atop the aureate elixir. Unfortunately, the head was off like a prom dress leaving a glass of lightly golden goodness that was perfectly clear. A stray bubble was to be seen inside here and there. Upon sniffing, smoke came first followed by a bit of honeyed sweetness. There was just a hint of grassy hops to be had underneath it all.

My first sip revealed a medium-light body with only a modicum of fizz. The promised oaked smoke took pride of place but there was also a little breadiness and a hint of sweetness, just like the aroma. Similarly, a mild grassy hoppiness was to be had as well. The luscious smokiness lingered on the finish as the hops took on a herbal tinge to allow for a bit of bitterness and dryness.

Sweetness was minimal allowing me to drown in oaked smoke gluttony. Although I would have liked a tad more fizziness, this stuff went down easily. And at 5% A.B.V., this wasn't a problem. I am not sure if the restrained hop flavor was intentional or if my 4-pack was reaching senescence. (The 4-pack was not refrigerated.)

While part of me notes that this brew lacks the full-breaded flavor of Schlenkerla's smoked Helles, in truth, this is a very fine beer regardless. The smokey taste is excellent and there's just enough of everything else to round out the overall flavor. A wonderful smokey midsummer brew became a true autumnal treat.

Junk food pairing: Oaked Smoked Helles Lager will pair well with just about any potato chip but I recommend either All Dressed or Cheese & Onion varieties.

**Madisonians should note that Delta Beer Lab has a rye beer called Make Rye Not War that is a "collaboration" with Stalzy's Deli. Or has the name on it, anyway. This brew is once again available.

A Mondasian tragedy

There is a subset of Doctor Who fans that listen to the Big Finish audio dramas. And there is a subset of this subset that feels that Big Finish's golden era was roughly from 2000-2004. These early years saw Sixie do a panto and a musical and come down with a brilliant case of logorrhea at a conference of lexicographers; the Fifth Doctor was in a wonderful tale whose narrative threw linearity out the window and another in which he witnessed the genesis of the Cyberman; the Seventh Doctor met Benny in what was essentially a New Adventure on audio and he also had a lengthy dark and brooding conversation with his arch-nemesis, The Master. And Paul McGann brought the Eighth Doctor to life before our ears in some wonderfully challenging tales, including one that felt a lot like an episode of Sapphire & Steel and is now a Christmas classic.

As time wore on, stories became more rote, for want of a better way of saying it, and the New Series made its aesthetic presence felt with stories becoming shorter. The Third Doctor Adventures have been an antidote, of sorts, with Tim Treloar standing in for Jon Pertwee quite admirably in stories that have a distinct early 70s feel. And they haven't been one hour tales either; they've been 4 and 6 parters, in the main. It's also been a hoot having Liz Shaw, the Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith, and others return. These adventures capture the Pertwee era just wonderfully.

But the most recent story, "The Quintessence", is something new. A 6-parter, it opens with Jo having a hallucinatory episode involving a girl named Emmeline who gives our companion a set of coordinates. The incidental music here is almost psychedelic with sounds quickly panning from left to right and back quickly, bringing an uneasiness to our ears. Following the coordinates, our heroes land on a seemingly empty storm-ridden planet where they improbably run across a Victorian mansion.

The mansion is inhabited by the Pepperdine family, Lucy, Arthur, and their daughter (zoinks!) Emmeline. Emmeline is ill and bedridden. But she also has potent psychic powers. It turns out the mansion is a spaceship and Lucy and Arthur have, out of desperation, been communicating with "angels" who have helped them to help their daughter.

It turns out the angels are Cybermen who want and eventually do kidnap Emmeline. Lucy is killed and Arthur follows the abductors to Mondas through a portal. Jo and the Doctor follow in the TARDIS but arrive 6 years late and find that Arthur is still alive and looking for his daughter. In addition, he has captured a Cyberman and has been conducting hideous tests on it in a search for methods that undo Cyber conversion. In one scene, Arthur tortures it and the creature cries out in bloodcurdling agony. This is one of the most disturbing scenes Big Finish has produced since "Project: Twilight".

Emmeline has been converted to a Cyber Planner and, because of her psychic abilities, she has kept more of her body than most Cyber folks. Instead of simply threatening death and/or becoming a Cyberman, she speaks more like a human and converts Jo to her cause - almost. That opening scene was just a prelude to the Jo-Emmeline relationship which begins with tenderness and mercy before getting twisted and perverted into pure Cyber manipulation.

For his part, the Doctor is his usual pushy, arrogant self but he gets what he gives. More than once he simply wants to return to the TARDIS and leave only to have Jo or Arthur convince/force him to stay. And arriving 6 years late not only shows that his imperfect skill with the TARDIS, but also, arguably, lays blame at his feet for the sad condition that Arthur is in once we meet him on Mondas.

While there are thrills and adventure to be had here, the true greatness of this story comes from the dark tone and the emotional resonance of the characters. Lucy and Arthur are desperate to save Emmeline at the start and there's a Herzogian quality to the Arthur we meet on Mondas - a man in extremis who is losing his own humanity in fighting the grand inhumanity of the Cybermen. Jo nearly betrays the Doctor and the Doctor is almost unable to make the situation right again, or as right as he is able to make it.

Writers Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle came up with some classic Doctor Who here. "The Quintessence" is a visceral, emotionally wrenching tale that takes its place with the best of Big Finish's golden age.

(And good on Big Finish for not putting the villain on the cover.)

Coming Soon?

The Frau and I went to AMC Fitchburg earlier this week and these are the trailers we saw before Meanwhile on Earth. Hopefully these flicks actually screen here. A lot of Tilda Swinton.

Huh. I cannot find the trailer for Love Me online so here's an interview.

Oof. I cannot find a trailer for The Return either. The movie apparently dramatizes the last bits of The Odyssey. Here's a clip, though.

Prog at the movies Nov. '24

"Your Move" by Yes is featured in the trailer for Robert Zemeckis' new movie Here. Not sure if it appears on the movie itself, though.

Listening to the voices of the naiad girls during the fermented hours on Bealtaine

Many thanks to Greg Walker at Syn-Phonic Music for the fine Wobbler albums. So much proggy goodness!

Piper in the sun: A study

Front and back.

A eureka moment at the grocery store

In a recent beer review I found myself befuddled by a flavor called "chamoy drip". I googled it and found that chamoy is a Mexican condiment made from dried fruits and chili powder. On my next visit to Woodman's, I perused their new ethnic foods aisle that had plenty of comestibles from lands to our south. No, not Illinois, but rather Central and South America. My investigation paid off, sort of. I discovered two brands of chamoy sauce and was so excited that I couldn't even take pictures in focus.

Unfortunately, neither were made with dried fruit beyond some dehydrated lime juice. Oh well. Perhaps a Mexican grocery store would have something better.

Madison Metro Transit has mercy

Our BRT platforms have misericords! Monks would feel right at home.

Happy Election Day

I spied this on the bus shelter this morning.

As the late Glenn Frey once noted

...the heat is on. Our fancy new BRT bus platforms have heaters and they are now running with the cooler autumnal weather.

R.I.P. Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones passed away yesterday. Perhaps he is best known for producing Michael Jackson's Thriller. I went over to Wikipedia to look at his body of work and, while I knew he was a producer extraordinaire, I had no idea just how much music the man helped to make. In addition to producing duties, the guy played with the likes of Dizzie Gillespie, worked with Cannonball Adderley, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie, scored numerous movie soundtracks, and so on and so on. He played, composed, produced, conducted, orchestrated - just amazing.

He produced the soundtrack to The Wiz and I saw the musical last year so I am listening to this classic.

Even more autumnal scenes '24

It's been a gloomy, rainy day. The rain was coming down when I got out of bed and it continues as I type in the evening. Despite the precipitation, I took a walk around Acewood Conservation Park this morning with a cup of coffee in hand as I needed to be out in the trees.

The geese were there in droves and were all talky. I could hear them honking and squawking the whole time they were within earshot. Sadly, I did not have my camera camera with me so I got no action photos of the geese.

It was long after I got home that the neighborhood gang of turkeys wandered through our yard into that of the next door neighbor.

All Souls' Day

This All Souls' Day I am enjoying happy memories of my brother. It's still difficult for me to believe he's gone and that it has been nearly 10 years since he died.

Earlier this month he was memorialized in an epic 40+ hour round of Beyond the Mountains of Madness at Gamehole Con where he was Ike Clanton, crew chief of the S.S. Gabrielle. His memory is kept alive at gaming cons (and progressive rock concerts), which tells you something about him. Ha!

New tunes: Mdou Moctar

Thanks to MadCity Music for getting me a copy of the new Mdou Moctar album Funeral for Justice. Bummed that I missed him a couple weeks ago at the Majestic.

Waking the Dead

Drinking seasonally this morning. Good stuff, Just Coffee. Dark, roasty goodness.

Rauchbier is like the sin of the flesh; the more you have the more you want: Bamberger Rauchbier by Klosterbräu Bamberg

This may be my first taste of a German Rauchbier that isn't from Schlenkerla. A true red letter day!

Like BestMaid's pickle beer, this one was purchased in exurban Chicago. The clerk at the register was surely thinking I was a weirdo as I came before her with 2 packs of Rauchbier and one of pickle beer. Plus Malört and Underberg.

I don't recall having seen Klosterbräu's beer previously but I don't know if this means they started exporting to the States fairly recently or if they've been doing so for a while but the beer has finally made its way to the middle of the country after being available to coasties for some time. The bier came in cans and, according to Untappd, Klosterbräu Bamberg is a subsidiary of Privatbrauerei Kaiserdom, Bamberg's largest brewery. By large we're talking New Glarus size, not Miller. Perhaps the Damen und Herren at Kaiserdom are aiming for the American market. I only saw their Rauchbier which is, in my opinion, an odd choice if you are looking to gain market share in this country.

Can you imagine the management meetings about this?

Vee vant to penetrate zee American market.

Aber how do vee do so vizout an IPA?

Vee shall zend zem zee Rauchbier!

However a strange business plan they may have, to them I say willkommen!

Klosterbräu Bamberg dates back to 1533 although there is a mention of whatever it was called back in the Middle Ages from two centuries earlier. The can notes that the grand guaiacols, the fantastic phenols, and the scintillating syringols come from malt that is dried using the smoke from beech wood flames. Beech wood is traditional these days for Bamberger brewers but I'd bet their forebears used whatever hardwood they had at their disposal back in the day.

One thing the can didn't mention was what style of beer this is. Is it a Märzen? A bock? A Helles? Maybe it's just their own creation.

I was very eager to try this beer. How would it differ from Schenkerla's?

A big, firm tan head with staying power sat atop the liquid which was dark and opaque. Lifting my glass to a light and putting it at just the right angle revealed the beer to be a deep ruby-brown hue. It seemed to be clear. I mean, it's a German beer that's not a hefeweizen so surely it was clear. It looked like just the tonic for a chilly, overcast autumn evening. And so it smelled too. While the smokiness came first and was most prominent, it was a complex aroma with a bit of wood of the unburnt variety in addition to the usual fuliginous elements. There was also a hint of malty sweetness, mild stone fruit, and some spicy hoppiness struggling to be smelled.

The medium-light body was punctuated by a good, firm fizziness. Still, the luscious smoke flavor had a pleasing smoothness to it, at times. The smokiness was rather potent and tasted rather sprightly, as if it wasn't being dulled a bit by malty sweetness. Indeed, the beer had a clean smoke taste and was not the least bit sweet. The hops protested the grains vigorously and added a very nice spicy contrast. On the finish, the smoke lingered as the hops took on herbal notes that gained in strength to give firm doses of both bitterness and dryness. I also tasted bitter chocolate here once the smoke began to fade.

Sehr schön!

This is one fine bier. While it looks like the stuff in the pool that takes you to the Black Lodge, it has a fairly light body and is the very definition of easy drinking. It went down like water for me. I loved the smoke flavor and the way the other malts didn't get in the way of it so it had a sharper, "fresher" taste. Marvelous! It had a stronger hop flavor for me than any Schlenkerla beer I've had but I am unsure if this is because Klosterbräu uses more of the precious herb or if the Schlenkerla varieties I've tasted had their hoppy potency dulled by age. Also, I think Schlenkerla's brews tend to have more sweetness and bready flavors than this stuff.

I am unwilling to say that this is better than Schlenkerla or that Schlenkerla is better than this. However, Klosterbräu's Rauchbier is no shadow on a cave wall; this is definitely a Platonic ideal.

Junk food pairing: Klosterbräu's Bamberger Rauchbier pairs magnificently with Herr's Horseradish Cheddar Potato Chips. The folks at Herr's do not skimp on the horseradish which makes this perfect companion to the smokiness.