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LPBC 2012-08-18 Embrace the Funk, Embrace the Future
by John Taylor Williams, Thomas Gideon
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This is an episode of the Living Proof Brew Cast.
We recorded on our most recent brew day and were joined
by friend of the podcast, Chooch[1], who was recently
returned from dipping his ass in the ocean. We all shared
our appreciation of the restorative power of the ocean.
Chooch explained the theory Viv, his wife, has in terms
of having no choice but yielding to the greater power and
majesty of nature.
We got off to an early tangent, teasing John about for
the environmental noises most listeners are not likely to
notice. I offered any of the other podcasts produced by
our fellow non-profits and think tanks as proof of my
point that New America[2] has little to worry about with
the quality of audio John produces.
We talked about how the brew day went, especially that we
seemed to really hit our efficiency target in the mash. I
was able to help track that and judge it with Brewzor[3],
an app I loaded onto my new tablet. We were able to get
an additional half gallon of beer and still hit our
desired original gravity. In this batch of his stale
vatted IPA, John has finally been convinced to take the
plunge and oak it, a step he was not sure of last time.
Among the many oaked beers we've had since that first
batch that convinced him was Victory's Dark Intrigue[4].
Our first beer was the last beer we brewed, the Dye-cast
Dubbel, my Belgian dubbel recipe. Despite now being down
to the last of this batch, I think this is the first time
we have tasted it on mic. I reiterated our theory,
previously shared, about where the sugary notes from
Belgian beers really come from, that it is as much if not
more the malts they use than the candy sugars which most
people attribute. This put us in mind of other beers
where the sugary sweet, especially with a fair amount of
complexity, plays a strong role like John's Jinx-proof
Porter and the Southern Tier Creme Brulee[5].
Caramelization and smoke are clearly a large part of
that, like in the Backyard Ale[6] from Flying Dog.
As much as we caught the same sort of sugary,
caramelization and complexity in the Green Grass and High
Tides, we also appreciated the intense hopping regimen.
The first beer Chooch enjoyed with us arriving late at
brew day, Sierra Nevada's Hoptimum[7]. John agreed with
that over the top, sticky, unctuousness that he also
likes in Oskar Blues' Gubna[8].
I am not sure why, but perhaps revisiting earlier,
challenging beers put me then in mind of Victory's Storm
King[9] which I had for the first time recently and in
which I found a nice chocolatey sweetness for the first
time. I had Peg Leg[10] from Heavy Seas for the first
time in a while, too, and had a similar experience. Both
experiences had me thinking that I need to find time to
retry beers that I have not had in some time.
Chooch had his own palate level up, the Leifman's[11] Oud
Brown, a sour ale that he really enjoyed. He embraced the
funk, reading us his check in notes on Untappd[12]. Like
with my roasty beer revelations, he knew that had he
tried this beer a year ago, he would have spat it out.
Now, he enjoyed it a great deal. John explained what he
finds appealing especially in the sour brown ales, which
often has a nice malty finish. John reminded us of the
straight gueze we tried several years ago, that as much
as we disliked it, we should revisit that. I gave a few
more examples of beers worth finding again and giving a
second chance. Chooch nicely related this to our thoughts
on touchstone beers, that there may be a worthwhile
corollary in gauging progress in the cultivation in our
palates.
John took that back to comfort beers but in the context
of being a local guide. When playing host, it is useful
to find the accessible but distinctive flavors, something
that is close to the idea of re-visitation. This part of
beer questing and sharing complements the usual seeking
out of new peaks. I rattled off more local high points,
especially a recent one off, the Derecho Common from Port
City[13], but also DC Brau[14] and Chocolate City[15]. I
related it to the motto Cmar shared with us in the last
episode, that when friends are globally traveling, to
visit us as locals, John's thoughts fit nicely into that
ambassadorial duty.
This reminded Chooch of a couple of new Virginia
breweries, one from which he brought us some samples,
Devil's Backbone[16]. The other one is Roanoke Railhouse
[17] but he didn't bring us any as it didn't stand out as
much. These beers were involved with some of Chooch's
recent travel, where he was planning to meet with Billy
and Flynstress from Geek Radio Daily[18]. Though he
missed that connection, he did find a place a little east
of the city that had one of our very favorites, Brother
Thelonious[19], on tap. I used to live in Richmond, over
ten years ago, and recall even then some good spots
comparable to Gilly's[20] and Pepe's and Pinky's[21]. My
first taste of Unibroue[22] was at a local Richmond shop
where the resident expert guided me to that brewery.
Chooch remembered that it was The Village Cafe[23] he
tried. It was of course good for food as well as beer. He
was recommended to it via a roller derby connection,
speaking of John's cousin. A fellow roller derby player
of Flynstress (whose nom de roller is Thistle Hurt) is a
waitress at Village. John had been and also recommended
it.
Talking about Brother Thelonius put me in mind, again, of
its relation to my dubbel. It started life as a clone of
North Coast'[24]s strong golden but it was Thomas Vincent
[25] who really called it, that my changes morphed it
into a dubbel. My trips to Brussels over the past year
and tasting dubbels there have me agreeing more than
ever. John shared his top five, which include the Ayinger
Celebrator[26], Chimay Rogue[27], the Brother Thelonius,
Gubna and quite possibly my dubbel, so a good
representation of Belgian style beers.
I described a moment of immodesty when I shared this most
recent batch of my dubbel with my father-in-law who I
have a long history of sharing beer and homebrew with. On
returning the empty of the bomber I gave him of the 2012
dubbel, he honestly and seriously wondered when I was
going to go pro so he could buy this beer in particular
by the case. I won't lie, I have thought doing so might
be my third career in another few years, especially since
I feel like the recipe for the dubbel is pretty close to
the target.
Chooch changed the tone, bringing the goofy. My first
thought as he warmed up was the banana bread beer he
brought us. He was thinking more about strange, wacky
side projects. In this instance, he wanted to conduct a
lightning round. He had a set of simple questions, this
time on the subject of beer pairings. He first asked what
beer we'd want to have with a big, juicy cheese burger.
John went for a brown ale since that was the pairing he
had when he hurt his finger all those months ago. For me,
it was an IPA as I consider those my Summer beers, like
Loose Cannon[28] I've been having on tap recently. So
much for the lightning round as we rat holed on Heavy
Seas talking about their golden ale and the fact that AHA
members can get a free brewery tour, a recent addition to
the list of membership benefits.
Round two, best beer for a hot day on the beach. I went
for the obvious, the Summer ales, like the one Sam Adams
[29] makes. I also thought of the spiced wit biers. John
suggested Somersault[30], Negro Modelo[31] and Pacifico
[32]. I offered a craft alternative to Negro Modelo,
Chocolate City's Cerveza Nacional[33] which I enjoyed at
a family friendly happy hour at Wonderland Ballroom[34].
There was a lot of agreement around the Baja,
Californian, Mexican local beers for hot days spent
around water. This reminded John and I of one of the last
times Chooch was on[35], sharing some beers from that
region.
Final round, the best beer for buffering your system for
transmatter ray teleportation. Think Douglas Adams. I
haven't been teleported but did have a good beer in mind
for general purpose buffering of the system. At Meridian
Pint after a stressful day, I had a session IPA from DC
Brau, Groundwolf[36], that was conditioned in a rye cask
and served cask style. I think it would serve to prepare
for beaming aboard a Vogon deconstructor ship. No peanuts
or cheese sandwich required. John recommended a liquid
date bread of a beer, chunky and monkey, the 21st
Amendment Monk's Blood[37]. It is a nutrition bar in a
can. Chooch awarded the round to John.
Chooch's third lightning round had us all appreciating
how deeply science fiction has pervaded our lives. I
talked about a recent episode of my other podcast, one of
my intermittent discussions of the genre from a literary
and cultural perspective. Mention of my other podcast[38]
put us onto some wonkish topics, including P2P piracy and
admission that efforts by industry have not stemmed it. I
was IGF USA[39] recently sitting at a table with a
representative with Disney who showed an odd dissonance
around embracing online opportunities while still pushing
back against piracy.
John brought us back to our last point of departure an
interview as part of Intel's Tomorrow[40] project where
Brian David Johnson interviewed Bruce Sterling. He got
him talking about the electronic tools Sterling and
William Gibson used to write the Difference Engine.
Johnson previously interviewed Cory Doctorow and
commissioned Knights of the Rainbow Table. He is also a
Virginia local who we think we can lay good odds we could
get on both this podcast and my other one.
Johnson's work here really highlights a strong trend of
futurism among not just Gibson, Sterling and Doctorow but
many others like Rudy Rucker and Charlie Stross. Much of
what Johnson has done here has very specifically been to
leverage deep thinkers to spark thought and creation from
today's engineers. It made me thinking of the odd
reminiscences I've been having using my new Nexus 7. For
me, they served as a reminder of how continuous these
inventions often are, that a connector like Johnson can
help keep things brewing until the right opportunity
comes along to see them really take off. We dug into how
astonishing it is that so much of what was once futurism
is now quite pedestrian.
John brought up Michael Lind's new book, "Land of Promise
[41]", which touches on how concentration and break up
within the market affects innovation, for good and for
ill. Chooch's mention of AT&T's "You Will...[42]" ad
campaign put this in John's mind. Chooch had some other
examples counter to one of Lind's arguments about how
much longer Bell Labs would have cranked out amazing
inventions if not divested. Like many things, trying to
tease out the best way forward is complex and
challenging. I pointed out how this can lead to
retrodiction, like the recent mischaracterization of the
creation of the internet. John Scalzi's confessions of a
self made man[43] better makes my point that we need
admixtures of public benefit and private gumption.
I started to put a post-partisan point on the productive
power of hard fought compromise. Chooch went even pithier
with the quote: humans don't scale. A good thought to end
on.
References
1. http://chooch.us (link)
2. http://newamerica.net (link)
3. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brewzor.pro.beta&feature=…
4. http://victorybeer.com/blog/dark-intrigue-release/ (link)
5. http://www.stbcbeer.com/stbc/our-beers/black-water/creme-brulee-beer-page/ …
6. http://flyingdogales.com/beers/#/Wild+Dog/Backyard+Ale (link)
7. http://www.sierranevada.com/beers/hoptimum.html (link)
8. http://www.oskarblues.com/the-brews/gubna (link)
9. http://victorybeer.com/beers/storm-king-stout/ (link)
10. http://www.hsbeer.com/beer/peg-leg/ (link)
11. http://www.liefmans.be/ (link)
12. http://untappd.com/home (link)
13. http://www.portcitybrewing.com/ (link)
14. http://www.dcbrau.com/ (link)
15. http://chocolatecitybeer.com/ (link)
16. http://dbbrewingcompany.com/ (link)
17. http://www.roanokerailhouse.com/ (link)
18. http://www.geekradiodaily.com/ (link)
19. http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/beer-brotherThelonious.htm (link)
20. http://gillyscbfw.com/ (link)
21. http://pinkyandpepes.com/ (link)
22. http://www.unibroue.com/ (link)
23. http://villagecafeonline.com/ (link)
24. http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/ (link)
25. https://twitter.com/geistbear (link)
26. http://en.ayinger-bier.de/?pid=118&par=82 (link)
27. http://www.chimay.com/en/en.html?IDC=27 (link)
28. http://www.hsbeer.com/beer/loose-cannon/ (link)
29. http://www.samueladams.com/ (link)
30. http://www.newbelgium.com/beer/detail.aspx?id=84ea39a5-9587-4ff9-b178-28ee…
31. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/75/667 (link)
32. http://www.mexicoviapacifico.com/ (link)
33. http://chocolatecitybeer.com/content/cerveza-nacional-de-la-capital-0 (lin…
34. http://www.thewonderlandballroom.com/ (link)
35. http://livingproofbrewcast.com/2011/12/episode_31/ (link)
36. http://www.dcbrau.com/our_brau.cfm?brau=13 (link)
37. http://21st-amendment.com/beer/monks-blood (link)
38. http://thecommandline.net/2012/07/17/predictions_from_80s/ (link)
39. http://youtu.be/UPlKFr5l5xo (link)
40. http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/research/tomorrow-project/the-tomor…
41. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/books/review/land-of-promise-by-michael…
42. http://youtu.be/TZb0avfQme8 (link)
43. http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/07/23/a-self-made-man-looks-at-how-he-made…
Date Published: 2012-08-18 22:51:33
Identifier: Lpbc2012-08-18EmbraceTheFunkEmbraceTheFuture
Item Size: 616052624
Media Type: audio
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