Brews for Friday. It's been a brutal week. I'm typing this at 6:20. I'll attend Mass sober at 8:30, but after that, all bets are off. Like most Fridays, I'm working out of my house today, which typically means I don't work much at all, except to respond to clients' immediate questions and needs. Unfortunately, that won't be the case today. I'll probably work a chunk of the day, alternating office work with writing deadline work, all the while trying to resist the temptation to start drinking beer, knowing that I have to go to the office on Saturday too.
I would've drank last night. That typically removes the beer craving after a rough week, but two of my kids had basketball games last night. Nothing is better than cramming nearly 40-50 hours of work into four days, then finding out that, instead of unwinding with a beer Thursday evening as your reward, you have to drive 20 minutes in sleet to sit on an uncomfortable bleacher for a few hours, asking every three minutes, "Where did Tess go?"
Oh well, such is my lot this week and probably the next. As far as crosses go, it's awfully small, but it still bums me out.
Brews You Can Use
A good summary of India Pale Ale. I never realized where it came from. From the intro:
Most craft beer drinkers learn early that IPA stands for India Pale Ale and that it is a beer style designed to be strong and very “hoppy”, so that it could last the grueling trip from London to India. It was brewed to supply British Troops and citizens occupying India with non-spoiled ale and it was thought that the general public wouldn't want to drink anything that bitter. Some think that IPA might have disappeared with the end of the British occupation of India if it wasn't for the “good fortune” of a shipwreck with a shipment of IPA leaving London. Some of the casks that were in the shipwreck were damaged and ended up for sale on the local market. The extra hoppy beer was a hit with the locals, who started to demand IPA for themselves.
Well, I'm glad Londoners liked it. I tried one a few weeks ago and nearly gagged. I hated it.
It's a tough thing to admit. Among beer enthusiasts, saying "I hate IPA" is pretty much the same thing as saying "I'm a flaming homosexual." Oh well. I can't change my taste buds. Call me Elton.
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This story at CareerBuilders.com lists twelve elite companies that use unique perks to lure and keep employees (which isn't that new; when I first came out of law school, the firm I worked for provided valet parking, Friday late afternoon cocktail parties, reimbursement for an unlimited number of lunches if the person took a summer associate, and interest-free mortgages). Anyway, the list is interesting because two of the twelve companies are providing free beer. Let's hope these folks are trend-setters in this regard.
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I used to collect beer coasters (the cardboard ones you get at a bar). I had a pretty good collection, many of them marked with a condensation ring from my own beer. Unfortunately, I looked for them a few weeks ago and couldn't find them. I'm suspecting my wife is the culprit. Something tells me stained beer coasters don't rate high on a woman's list of valuables.
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Beer picture of the week:
