Sitting in a coffee shop with my buddy right now in Santa Cruz writing down some plans and ideas for a new project. Can’t say much now but hopefully it should come to fruition in the next month or so. In the meantime, if you are a talented writer and would be interested in writing interesting articles on a semi-daily basis to put on your resume and maybe for pay in the future, hit me up in the comments.
The other night I spent 15 minutes perusing the beer selection at this heady little grocery store down the street. This is typical for me - I’m terrible at making decisions, especially when there is an incredible selection in front of me and every beer on the shelf will make me very happy. I picked up the Aventinus because I’ve never heard of it before and I am a huge fan of doppelbocks. Another reason is because it was $2.99 for a pint; let’s face it, sometimes you’ve got to choose with your wallet.
Thankfully for me, the Aventinus which Schneider-Weisse calls “Germany’s first Wheat-Doppelbock Ale”, was more than satisfying, it was unbelievable. I was blown away to find that this seemingly random beer to me has received a 99 on RateBeer and an A at Beeradvocate. True to many a German doppelbock this beer has the aroma of apples and cloves, maybe a hint of citrus. It pours a gently cloudy brown with a medium to thick caramel colored head. On first sip I got that very syrupy toffee flavor with a bitter kick on the finish. Not spicy, just slightly tangy.
This is an unbelievable brew, definitely not for throwing back six in a row but if you’re hanging around and just want to sip on a tasty beer with an admirable ABV (8.2%) then I highly recommend the Aventinus.
Let me preface this by saying that I’m not a big fan of the black ale, I love stouts but don’t really enjoy porters. New Belgium’s 1554 pours a medium to dark brown color with reddish tints when held to the light. It has a very light tan and thin head (see picture) that dissipates within seconds. Aromas include chocolate, dried cherries and wait for it… mahogany. The flavor is light on the tongue with that smoky porter style finish. My problem with this beer and most porters is the lack of hops. I really like that bitter kick. Very little to medium carbonation and sweet but it’s no tripel.
Overall I’m really glad I tried it but based on my preferences I wouldn’t buy again. If you’re into porters and even stouts - give ‘er a whirl.
I spent time this past weekend in Santa Cruz working at an organic farm my buddy Justin setup at a local high school. With help from a grant provided by UC Santa Cruz and several other foundations, the farm was built with plans to integrate it into the school’s curriculum. A class will be provided to students who are interested in learning about the process of building infrastructure with time spent outside actually maintaining the farm. The 1-acre plot of land was built with less money than you’d think using organic seeds and only water, no chemicals to feed the crops. A simple irrigation system with timer allows the farm to basically take care of itself, with the majority of human labor spent in planting and maintenance when the plants need attention.
If you aren’t familiar with Gary Vaynerchuk, then I urge you to check out his personal video blog and hit Internet show Wine Library TV. Since 2006 Gary has been producing the show in order to educate people who might not have a lot of experience with wine in a completely unpretentious way. Basically he has made tasting and understanding great wines easy and fun for everyone - he describes himself as “the wine guy for the average Joe.”
Tonight, Gary held a live filming of his 500th episode at Crushpad in San Francisco. I finally had the chance to meet the man with the plan and honestly I can’t even express how incredibly talented and warm he is. What a down to Earth guy that knows how to treat everyone as his friend and almost dare I say, as family. The night consisted of a few hours of tasting not only some great wines from local vineyards but also a ton of bottles brought by guests. We tasted an awesome variety of wines from Pinot Noirs to Cabernet Sauvignons to Riojas. I also had the chance to finally meet Gary’s brother AJ albeit very briefly because he was under the weather (hope you’re feeling better!) and a ton of other people I’ve chatted with on Twitter but had never met in person. It was a great night all in all, the episode should be up tomorrow. Check it out!
Electro/hipster/indie/rock is the only way I could really think of to describe Ratatat, the genius duo of Mike Stroud and Evan Mast. There’s a good chance that if you haven’t heard of them you might of heard the track Tropicana in the movie Knocked Up during the time lapse pregnancy montages.
Their newest release LP3 is more laid back then ever with a very loungey groove throughout. No worries though, there are some definite breakout tracks on here. Instead of going into a review, why not listen for yourself? I posted all the even tracks of the album on my Muxtape. Why only the even tracks? Because I want you to be encouraged to purchase it and support these indie musicians.
As promised, here is my first San Francisco landmark photo. You might recognize Alamo Square Park from the opening credits of Full House, actually I’m almost positive you’ll recognize it because it’s been burned into my mind since early childhood. The park is right off Hayes Street and entails an almost 45 degree walk uphill (over exaggerating a little) to get there. Since it’s only a half mile from my house I think I might head back more often to hang out on the grass and read a book.
You know you want to hear it:
If you know me well, you’ll know that Marc Chagall is one of my favorite painters of all time. I was floored when I first came face to face with “I and the Village” in person at the MoMA in New York City. Today, July 7th is Chagall’s birthday and to celebrate Google has put together this awesome logo including the works “Birthday”, “I and the Village” and “Lover’s with Half Moon”.
Thanks Google for appreciating such a creative mind.
Photo credit: Madhu
I’m here, I made it! It was rough at first - flying into SFO with two gigantic bags and making it up to my friend’s in Berkeley was an unbelievable hassle, especially when you don’t understand how BART works. I spent the first week checking out apartments that I found on Craigslist and not a single one was how it was described. “Renovated kitchen with stainless steel appliances” translated to renovated in 1984 with yellow appliances and a strange odor permeating the carpets. I’ll spare the gruesome details. As I was starting to become pretty glum, thinking all was lost, I met up with another friend who took me to his buddy’s house on Haight to chill. His buddy mentioned that he was taking off for the summer to do some traveling and half-jokingly I asked if he was interested in subletting. To make a long story short, I got hooked up randomly by a friend of a friend who by some weird circumstances was best friend’s in high school with someone I know back in Philly.
Last week I attended IgnitePhilly an amazing event at Johnny Brenda’s that brought together a variety of speakers who talked about inspiring ideas or projects that they are working on. One such project that is close to my heart is Bike Share Philadelphia. If you aren’t familiar with bike share programs then I wouldn’t be surprised because they are very rare here in the U.S. Overseas however and in cities such as Paris, Barcelona and Oslo particularly, bike share programs have grown to an incredible size.