Coffee Stout
Sunday, January 27, 2008 - 11:44 AM
I thought I’d give a little update on the coffee stout that I mentioned previously. As I said, it really didn’t turn out the way I thought. Or, at least, that’s what I thought.
I decided to let it age in the bottle for a while before giving up on it. I tasted some this weekend, and it’s starting to taste pretty damn good! The flavors are starting to mellow and balance out. In particular, the coffee flavor isn’t as overly prominent as it was on first tasting. I’m actually surprised at how good it’s starting to taste. I think in another couple of weeks it will really be a top-notch beer.
Also, I managed to pick up a bottle of the Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout that the recipe was based off of, and what I ended up with really isn’t that far off from the original.
It just goes to show that, in brewing at least, sometimes patience really is a virtue. From my own experience, learning to be patient is one of the hardest parts of learning to brew. You’ve got this beer sitting there that you’re dying to try, and it’s really hard to wait until it’s properly aged before dipping in. To help make my point, a recent Basic Instructions dealt with the issue of patience pertaining to beer. (On a side note, beer really would be a good thing to study in science class, as the third panel suggests.)
On the other hand, it is good to taste along the way to learn how the aging affects the beer. I usually taste the beer during bottling to get an idea of where it’s at, then again after it’s been in the bottle for two weeks. This coffee stout has been a good learning experience for me in seeing how some beers get better with a little aging.
Greatest Commute
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 12:52 PM
Driving into Chicago on Lake Shore Drive has to be the greatest commute there is.
Imagine driving to work with the magnificent skyline stretched out in front of you. To your left, Lake Michigan, with the sun rising up out of the lake, glowing orange against the clouds above. To your right, Lincoln Park, and the light of the sun reflected off the windows of the buildings that overlook the park.
Sometimes, particularly if traffic is a little heavy, I take a detour through the park and past the zoo. Just beautiful.
Of course, the whole thing can be ruined by random traffic problems, like a bus broken down on Lake Shore Drive (an all too common occurrence), or an accident on the Drive. But, normally the traffic isn’t too bad.
Apple TV Redux
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 - 01:19 PM
So, the big news from Macworld Expo ‘08 is the revamped Apple TV with HD movie rentals. At least, that was the big news for me - the MacBook Air is cool, and I’m sure it will be a huge seller, but I don’t consider it “Big News”.
I’ll probably end up buying an Apple TV now that it has the rental service. Eventually. (There are other things that I need/want before this - it’s really just a toy, after all.) But, in the short term, I hope it gives a kick in the pants to Comcast and their “OnDemand” service - especially in the realm of HD. If you don’t have OnDemand, or haven’t used it for HD content, it’s greatly lacking (but has been slowly getting better). With the “new” movies that come out, the selection that’s available in HD is lacking (again, it has been slowly getting better). One thing I haven’t been able to understand is some of the choices for movies that are available in HD. Most of the time the big, “spectacular” movies - the ones that should be visual cinematic treats - aren’t always available in HD, and movies that I could care less to watch in HD are, of course, available in HD.
Like I said, Comcast has been getting better with this, and hopefully the Apple TV will force them to improve their HD selection. Also, this will hopefully force them to lower their pricing for both HD and standard def movie rentals, since Apple is coming in lower than them in both categories.
I should mention, by the way, that Comcast does have quite a bit of free content available in HD (not to mention standard def) - older movies and current TV shows from various network - so that’s a huge plus. I certainly don’t mean to bash Comcast’s OnDemand service, I just sincerely hope that the competition forces them to improve an already decent service.
End of the Battle?
Monday, January 07, 2008 - 02:44 PM
Let’s hope that Warner Bros. announcement that they are dropping support for HD-DVD and will distribute exclusively in Blu-Ray after March 2008 will put an end to the “format wars”. That would be the best thing for the consumers and, despite what Toshiba wants to believe right now, for the entire industry.
I know for me, personally, the announcement has put an end to the decision making process. Since most of the content I would have actually bought was already Blu-Ray, this cinches it. The only thing now is to wait for the prices of the players to drop a little more (which they no doubt will in the coming year - I’m actually hoping the PS3 price becomes reasonable in the coming months).
Time will tell. But, not to the studios that are still in the HD-DVD camp: For me, and many other consumers, the war is over; if you don’t switch to Blu-Ray, you’ll never see any money from us.
UPDATE
From this article at Fortune, which stress my point about the format war being bad for the industry (and not just the consumers):
Consumers who bought HDTVs were so afraid of backing the wrong high-definition movie format that they decided not to buy movies at all.
Exactly. That’s why I haven’t bought any movies (with the exception of the new Futurama movie) at all this last year. Like many people, I was waiting to see which HD format would come out on top, and I didn’t want to spend my money on the soon-to-be-dead standard DVD format.