cellio | short takes

Cats versus Roomba, from several people on my friends list. Very funny!

Seen at the entrance to an automated car-wash: "Do not enter car wash on foot". Um, yeah. I think I'd be happier living in a world where that's obvious.

I've been listening to Roundworm, a collection of Bob Kanefsky's filk parodies, in the car recently. (The linked page includes some MP3s; I particularly commend "Eternal Flame".) There's a lot of fun stuff on that album, and it's making me think upgrade thoughts about my Kanefsky cassettes. (Oh, drat -- it looks like this is his only CD so far. Oops.) He is particularly good at writing parodies that stand on their own but are even funnier if you know the songs he's parodying. A lot of parodies out there require knowledge of the original; his usually don't. Another nice touch is that he generally gets the original performers to sing the parodies on the recordings.

In January I sent in the rebate coupons for my new computer. Today I got email from HP telling me they'd received them and I should get my rebate in 2-4 weeks. Took long enough -- and I have yet to hear from CompUSA about the one they owe me. I begin to see how this works; not only do they make money from the people who forget to send the coupons in, but they make money on the float (as compared to just lowering the price in the first place).

The last beer buy included a side buy of Belgian lambics. Linedmann's has something new -- a "naked" lambic without any of the fruit additives they're known for. It's called Gueuze (no, I won't hazard a guess on pronunciation) and it's really good. My favorite fruit flavor is Peche (peach) and I didn't expect to like the plain version as much, but I do. For those of you who like beer that doesn't taste strongly of hops, and who can buy single bottles, check it out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thanks for the link to the Cats vs. Roomba. That was hilarious!

Geuze (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pvosta/pcrbier1.htm) I believe, if you'd rather try pronouncing it with fewer vowels conspiring against you.

That would be easier to pronounce, yes. However, the spelling I used is what I copied from the label. :-) (I wonder what's going on -- could there be a 72-point typo on the label?)

Oh well.

Ah. Gueuze is the French spelling, while geuze is the Flemish spelling. (http://www.hotv.org/styles/20B.html)

Ah. Leave it to the French to sprinkle in some extra vowels. :-)

Ah, lambic. The first time I heard about it, I thought, "Ewwww." Walt convinced me to try some (I picked out a currant-flavored variety), and it was delicious.

The currant one is pretty good, as is the raspberry. The peach is very good. The cherry tastes like cough syrup (IMO).

The currant tastes undrinkably of cough syrup to me. Maybe it's a question of which cough syrup one developed a reaction to as a child.

hmm. do beer stores sell lambics or cider now?

I got spoiled in MA - I could get everything in one place. last time I lived in PA, you couldn't get cider at beer stores.

what beer store do you frequent? I don't even know where the closest one is to me...

hmm. do beer stores sell lambics or cider now?

Yes, though in the case of lambics the requirement that you buy by the case can cause some economic distress. I'm part of a group of people who get together every now and then to buy mixed cases so we can sample things we wouldn't otherwise buy a case of. We organize in multiples of 8 and get 3 bottles each of 8 different beers.

what beer store do you frequent?

I get all my beer by proxy. :-) But the store Tim uses (and speaks highly of) is Mellinger's in Oakland.

Doesn't D's Six Packs sell single bottles of the lambics?

I don't know. Where's D's? I've never been there. (That would be useful.)

D's is on the main street of Edgewood (name escapes me at the moment) somewhat close to the Square Cafe.

I never had lambics before so I got one of each in this last buy. I really liked the peach and the plain lambic. I tried one of the other three (I think it was the currant) and it didn't do much for me. I'm not a huge fan of rasberry and cherry flavorings to start with so I haven't been looking forward to trying the next 2 but I will sooner or later. I'm guessing that it's just peach and plain for me next time.

Peach and plain are going to be my standards, too.

The first time I had the currant I wasn't too happy with it, but the second time I liked it better. Since I don't know which of those two data points was anomolous, I don't know what would happen with #3. :-)

I read it Friday morning before going to work... G was dozing on the couch at the time and my laughter freaked him awake 'cause I was laughing so hard he thought I was crying.

Lindemans and Bellevue aren't real lambics - they are just beers with fruit juice added!

Real lambics are produced by spontaneous fermentation - so not really amenable to huge productions, consistent taste and process engineering. Unfortunately the appellation of lambic isn't protected so it's being used detrimentally in my opinion. I wish they could name the fruity beers something else than lambic!

Cantillon (www.cantillon.be) makes a great lambic - the plain stuff is gueuze, the ones with fruit flavours start off with the gueuze. i.e. Kriek is cherry flavoured. Cantillon has a raspberry one too I believe. I'm really partial to the gueuze flavour. Something about 2 years of aging in an oak casket and well knowing the beer was fermented by that Brussels air! If you are ever in Brussels - the tour of their brewery is worth the detour!

Thanks. I didn't realize -- I just assumed that Lindemans and Bellevue did in fact have huge vats sitting outside catching the native yeasts.

Thanks for the pointer to Cantillon.

There are other real lambics out there. My husband found a British one now.

It's kinda like the difference between Abbey beers and Trappist beers. The trappist ones still involve monks (although sometimes only in quality control as in the case of Chimay...)

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thanks for the link

Being a beer snob

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