Fearful Symmetries

Has it really been almost 20 years since I started drinking New Glarus? I recall buying a six-pack of Edel Pils as soon as it was available in Madison.

Robin Shepard has a lengthy piece on New Glarus Brewing. He reviews the brewery's history and notes the release of its 20th Anniversary Ale, a take on the Belgian Dubbel.

New Glarus 20th Anniversary Ale is a robust and flavorful beer made with a combination of American, English and Belgian malts; American and German Hops; and a touch of Belgian candi sugar. Single 20-ounce bottles go for around $9 each. "This is a strong beer, one you'll want to share," adds Dan. It's also a beer that's best served warmer than refrigerator temperatures to bring out its rich sweet plumb and chocolate-y flavors.

Some new labels from Leinenkugel:







The Big Eddy Über Oktoberfest will be a hefty 8.5% ABV and also dry-hopped. Release date is late August. The Big Eddy Ryewine (photo grabbed from this page) sounds very tasty as I love rye. It will be 10% ABV. I am hoping that it is being released next month so that it can age in the cellar and that Leinenkugel isn't actually expecting anyone to drink this stuff during the summer. Lastly, that Bernie's Barrelman Ale is a new beer to be available only at Miller Park. Sounds like a pale ale. Hopheads will be happy to hear that it has Cascade hops in it.

Kirby has brewed an American IPA.



It's available at all four Madison-area Great Dane locations. The Wisconsin Brewing Company is looking for comments on it and, if I ever get around to trying it, I will be happy to give commentary.

Scott Manning of Vintage Brewing was on TV recently sporting his fancy brewing overalls and hogging the camera as his assistant toiled in the background. He brewed his Rhine Heights Kölsch earlier this week and I am looking forward to it.



Lastly, a fond farewell to Joe Walts who is leaving Ale Asylum – indeed, leaving Wisconsin – to become brewmaster at Narrows Brewing in Tacoma, Washington. I am purposely keeping the DVDs he lent me so I have an excuse to go west and barge into the brewhouse once it's up and running. No one has ever taught me more about water softness than Joe. Best of luck to him and his family. Now who will I homebrew a dunkles with?

Well, we had a brief spell of warm weather before spring asserted itself again. Luckily I managed to get in some more Berliner Weisse drinking before the chill and rain took over. Earlier this month it was Blue Lady. This time we have Well Read Temptress, another Berliner Weisse from Chicago's Pipeworks. Often times folks add Waldmeister (woodruff) or Himbeere (raspberry) syrup to Berliner Weisse but here the beer has been aged on fresh raspberries which adds a nice twist.

Temptress pours cloudy just like its blue sister and is a pretty light pinkish red. I got some nice foam atop it all but the stuff dissipated fairly quickly. There weren't a lot of bubbles visible in the glass which is very deceiving. The beer smells like summer. Its heavenly aroma has fresh raspberries first and foremost followed by a bit of the sourness.

Like the aroma, raspberries are the first thing you taste. My big complaint with Blue Lady was that the blueberry flavor wasn't prominent enough and I'm happy to report that Well Read Temptress doesn't suffer this same fate. The raspberry is more plentiful here though not overpowering. It shares your tongue with the lemony tartness well. The lactic acid provides just the right amount of tartness for me. You can't miss it but it is also not going to make you pucker so much that you permanently distort your face. And as with Blue Lady, breathing in while drinking enhances the berry flavor. The mouthfeel is light and, while you can't see much in the way of bubbles, you can certainly taste the carbonation. It finishes with a smooth, lingering sourness.

I adore Well Read Temptress. It was nice to taste that Pipeworks got the perfect amount of raspberry into this beer to balance the tartness. It is 4% ABV which is quite sessionable and is wonderfully refreshing.

Junk food pairing: Go with sour cream and cheddar kartoffelchips.

I see that Sushi Express has opened where Big Red's used to be on the 600 block of University Avenue. They even deliver.

As I walked by I thought about how prevalent sushi is. At what point does does a non-American "ethnic" food become American? At some point hot dogs, being of Germanic origin, became standard American fare. I stopped at a Freiderick's Family Restaurant in Fennimore earlier this week and there was an all you can eat taco bar. Tacos are American now too.

I suspect that sushi has some time yet before it becomes as American as hot dogs and tacos but it's getting there. It is no longer considered to be some exotic Japanese dish. Grocery stores sell sushi and I suspect it won't be long before PDQ and 7-Eleven start doing so if they haven't already.

Adrienne So critiques hopheads up at Slate with an article called "Against Hoppy Beer". The thrust of the article is thus:

That’s when I realized that I had a problem. In fact, everyone I know in the craft beer industry has a problem: We’re so addicted to hops that we don’t even notice them anymore.

...

Craft brewers’ obsession with hops has overshadowed so many other wonderful aspects of beer.

No doubt hopheads at Beer Advocate have their knickers in a twist now. While not the perfect plea for more/different diversity in the craft beer world, I am happy to see overly hoppy beers get knocked in the press.

Is Madison a bastion of cultural conformity?

On the surface, Madison has many progressive aspects. Sustainability and the “greening of the city” stand front and foremost as two easily recognized. Curbside recycling and composting, increasing investment in bicycle transportation, native gardening, and urban farming. There is an intense concentration of a wide range of alternative health practitioners. Artisan craftspeople abound, creating specialty foods and other handcrafted products. “Shop local” is the resounding cry to support small businesses, and farmers markets adorn every neighborhood in the summertime.

Idyllic as this sounds, there is a less appealing aspect to this picture. As Madison concentrates is cultural practices into a few baskets, the proliferation of other ideas diminishes. Ten years ago I would have characterized Madison as a place that had progressive perspectives. Now I would characterize Madison as a place with few ideas, all perpetually reinforced and more deeply ingrained every day. People regurgitate a handful of versions of the same thoughts in ever narrowing expressions. Everywhere you look it is repetition of the same ideas, whether it be on politics, design, or social culture. People strive to look the same, to dress the same, and to have the same lifestyle. It is so pervasive, that women within a 30 to 40 year age range may display similar choices in hair, dress, and accessories. What began as a city with progressive and forward looking ideas to develop a new urban course has become a closed container of cultural conformity. There is a new cookie cutter in Madison, and it is young, alterna-hip, and white.

Truth be told, this is a quote from an article called "Leaving Portlandia" and I swapped out every instance of "Portland" and replaced it with "Madison". But does it still apply here?

I've never been to Portland so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the article but I do think there is a sense of homogeneity here in Madison. Words like white, middle-class, locally sourced, Democratic, and indie rock seem applicable to Madison whereas words such as multiracial, blue-collar, diverse, and hip-hop seem less so.

With the weather finally moving into summer territory I thought the time was right for some 5 Lizard, a Latin-style witbier by Chicago's 5 Rabbit. I first time I had it was at The Great Taste of the Midwest a year or two ago and loved it on that 80+ degree day. A fantastic summer brew. The witbier is a Belgian wheat beer commonly spiced with coriander and bitter orange peel. Here the folks at 5 Rabbit replace the orange with lime and give it a tropical twist with the addition of passion fruit.

5 Lizard poured a hazy yellow and had a nice, frothy white head. (I believe both of these characteristics are due to the wheat.) The glass really glowed in the sun on my porch. It was well carbonated too. Upon smelling it, my nose was struck by the passion fruit first and foremost but there was also a slight bit of herbal hoppiness in there.

The beer has a light and bubbly mouthfeel along with a lovely creaminess on the tongue which I think it owes to the oats in the grain bill. The passion fruit is prominent here with its succulent sweet and sour flavor cozying up to your tastebuds. The tanginess of the lime was also present making this a very fruit forward beer with the carbonation accenting these flavors. While fainter, the coriander was unmistakable. To top things off there was also some graininess present that was vaguely sweet. That's a lot of flavors to juggle and 5 Lizard pulls it off well. The fruitiness dominates, to be sure, but the other flavors don't let it run away with the show. Everything balances out in the end.

The brewery states that 5 Lizard has Motueka hops in it which I discovered to be a variety from New Zealand that has a citrus/tropical fruit flavor and a Noble hop aroma. While I caught the aroma, I'm not sure about the flavor. I didn't find it hoppy; then again, this is probably the first and only beer using Motueka that I've ever had and was expecting more of the Noble flavor since it was in the aroma. More fool me.

The finish is smooth with the lime zestiness and more passion fruit goodness that lingers for a short time.

I have to admit that I liked 5 Lizard even more than when I had it at The Great Taste. My tongue hadn't been battered with a dozen other brews when I had it this go round like it had been at the festival. It is light and smooth plus it has a delightful myriad of flavors that balance well. At 4.3% ABV this beer is quite sessionable and incredibly refreshing.

Junk food pairing: 5 Lizard pairs well with friend plantain chips.

Another trailer but this time it's about beer. Crafting a Nation One Beer at a Time is a new documentary that profiles various craft brewers. I recognize Jim Koch and Sam Calagione here but I'm not sure who the others are. The moviemakers really seem to be pushing the notion of craft brewers as blue collar artisans who sacrifice everything for the love of beer with the music here that is some of the most cloying, saccharine stuff ever. Sounds like second rate Townes van Zandt.

It'll be playing at the Barrymore here in Madison next Wednesday night. Tickets are $10

This is the trailer for The Congress, a movie about an aging actress or model who sells her image and then things get all Phildickian. Looks interesting at the very least. It's based (loosely by the sounds of it) on a book by Polish sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem.

I made the mistake of reading Business Unusual at the same time as I was listening to The Wrong Doctors by Big Finish which meant that I was consuming two stories at the same time both of which attempted to explain how Mel ended up traveling with The Doctor. It was confusing for a stretch as I kept thinking about Mel going to a play rehearsal while reading the book and wondering when The Doctor was going to head to SenéNet whilst listening to the audio drama.

Business Unusual begins with the rather gruesome death of Robert McLaughlin at the maw of a mutant dog of some kind which drools green saliva and has green eyes. McLaughlin was a member of C19, a Torchwood-like outfit, and his assignment was to investigate the technology company SenéNet. Next thing we know The Brigadier is doing the same thing. While spared the fate of being eaten by a mutant dog, he is taken prisoner.

Meanwhile The Doctor is helping out the Brighton constabulary by mopping up a mess that The Master had made in their computer system. While out and about he sees Mel from afar and does all he can to avoid her lest she become his traveling companion. If this is allowed to happen, he would move ever closer towards his own fate as The Valeyard. Time has a way of smoothing out changes made to it and of course our hero ends up meeting Mel. The Doctor runs into Trey Korte, an exchange student staying with Mel's family. Trey has some latent psychic powers which are discovered by the villains and this catches the attention of The Doctor. He is unable to avoid Mel at this point.

Together they take on SenéNet which is headed by a man named Townsend. He has stolen various bits of alien technology from C19 and appropriating them for his own ends. He had previously augmented his body with that technology but it is now showing its age and he seeks to upgrade his mortal coil. In Townsend's employ are the Irish twins Cellian and Ciara. I read afterwards that all three appeared in Russell's The Scales of Injustice, a Third Doctor novel but, not having read it, I cannot judge how well or interesting these characters develop.

The story here is reminiscent of The Green Death with the mysterious corporation and its equally mysterious CEO. But what makes Business Unusual different is how Russell gets into the heads of the supporting cast. Erskine is a former member of UNIT under Lethbridge-Stewart who was left for dead in one of the group's battles with invading aliens. As he seeks revenge against those who abandoned him and took his life away, The Brigadier contemplates the responsibilities of his job as well as the drastic consequences his decisions have at the human level. Cellian and Ciara had their minds manipulated by Townsend and are ruthless killers for most of the book but they eventually find what's left of their humanity.

In the books introduction Russell notes that he wanted to write a story that he "thought Colin Baker would have liked to be in". To this end I think he was mostly successful. While Mel and The Doctor bicker at first, they do settle in fairly quickly and develop a warm relationship. This is the kinder, gentler Doctor we saw in The Mysterious Planet and later in the Big Finish audios. His gaudy attire is remarked upon more than once plus it is revealed that he's a Pink Floyd fan:

Alan switched on the car stereo system, which included a CD player, and Mel automatically selected her father’s favourite Pink Floyd album.
‘Ah, Piper,’ murmured the Doctor. ‘Syd’s greatest hour.’

There is, however, a scene out of character for The Doctor. Part of Townsend's plan has a couple dozen or so kids turned into zombies attached to computers. In one scene as his scheme is being foiled by The Doctor, our hero seems to care little about their horrible fate. Indeed, other children also have horrendous things happen to them which Russell describes in heartbreaking detail.

A lot of Business Unusual is boilerplate Doctor Who but it is a very fun story. The Doctor-Brigadier combination was nice but it they are separated for most of the book so it was a bit of a letdown. What sets it apart is the way Russell treats the minor characters and gets into their heads and fleshes out their motivations and has them gradually change.

Rich folks hire handicapped people so their rich kids can get into Disney World rides sooner.

They are 1 percenters who are 100 percent despicable.

Some wealthy Manhattan moms have figured out a way to cut the long lines at Disney World — by hiring disabled people to pose as family members so they and their kids can jump to the front, The Post has learned.

Rich moms shamelessly hire disabled tour guides so their kids can cut long lines.

The “black-market Disney guides” run $130 an hour, or $1,040 for an eight-hour day.

“My daughter waited one minute to get on ‘It’s a Small World’ — the other kids had to wait 2 1/2 hours,” crowed one mom, who hired a disabled guide through Dream Tours Florida.
Dr. Wednesday Martin, social anthropologist who discovered scheme.

“You can’t go to Disney without a tour concierge,’’ she sniffed. “This is how the 1 percent does Disney.”

The woman said she hired a Dream Tours guide to escort her, her husband and their 1-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter through the park in a motorized scooter with a “handicapped” sign on it. The group was sent straight to an auxiliary entrance at the front of each attraction.

Alfonso Cuarón finally returns with Gravity. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney star as two astronauts who survive the destruction of their space shuttle and are trapped in orbit. Presumably gravity gets a hold of them and they are slowly pulled towards the Earth. Emmanuel Lubezki is the DP here. He shot Children of Men for Cuarón and he's been Terrence Malick's cinematographer since 2005 so it should be pretty.

I am not sure I can watch this much less on 3D IMAX. I'd probably get vertigo.

Brat und Brau opened in Madison in 1969 moved to Mazomanie at some point but is now returning to Madison. It will be in the Northside TownCenter on north Sherman Avenue in the spot former occupied by Hamann Charcuterie.

Here's what Nichole and JM had to say about their former iteration.