Not sure I see the big deal: "Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die . . .". If you put me in a Kennedy mansion, I'd have an uncanny knack for predicting when one of them is going to get drunk.
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Jimmy Kimmel: "If Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears are any indication, rehab works about as well as the Ab Roller."
Brews You Can Use
Worse rain news since Noah: "Wet weather in northern Europe and Great Britain could reduce the quantity and quality of the barley harvest, and in turn lead to still higher prices for barley, then malt and beer."
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Some of you may have discerned that I've been referencing more beer blogs in the past couple of months. That's because beer blogs have been exploding, thereby making normally making it easier to find brew news. This blogger discusses the beer blog industry and provides link to a handful of good ones.
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Always something new under the sun: Pine Ale. Here's this blogger's pun-filled take: "I thought I was climbing out on a limb when I bought the case. And my friends needled me when they saw the bottle. But drink up - its bark is worse than its bite."
Cone on! That's awfully coney.
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A debate rages in the beer world: Should the industry embrace a numbers rating system? I guess a (the most?) popular institute is the Beverage Testing Institute. It tastes beers and gives them a rating on a scale of 1 to 100. At least one beer manufacturer has put its rating on its bottle. Joe Six Pack doesn't like it:
I don't like 'em for at least three good reasons:
-They're unneeded.
Like wine, beer is becoming increasingly confusing, with a myriad of styles and flavors from obscure breweries and importers. Unlike wine, beer is still cheap enough that you can drink lots of different bottles while you discover your own favorites. A number only reduces what should be a challenging and enjoyable pastime to the blind pursuit of the so-called "best."
-They're inflationary.
High scores will only justify brewery price increases. Some wineries focus their entire production on these expensive, big-flavored bottles, hoping to cash in on the attention of a 95 from the likes of Wine Spectator. Worse, the high scores attract speculators who drive up the prices on low-production gems.
-They're anti-beer.
The mere process of rating wine, in which a few experts - whose standards do not reflect the masses - influence the marketplace, is elitist and autocratic.
Beer is democratic by nature and should reject any high-handed incursion by taste-makers who insist they know better. All you need to know here is that professional tasters spit without swallowing.
These are valid points, but I visited the BTI's website and it looks pretty neat. I tried to type in some queries ("Budweiser" for laughs; "Oberon" for confirmation that I am a good person), but the server seems to be malfunctioning. I'll try again later.
