Brown Ale #1

I realize that I never got around to finishing my review of the Republican Debate... but I feel like the moment has passed. The Debate didn't produce anything worth reviewing. I'm happy to hear that a month later and both Romney and Ron Paul are leading strong challenges to President Obama.

I voted for Obama, so don't get me wrong when I say this, I think he isn't very good at his job. Very much in the same way that Rachel Maddow claims that Rep. Boehner isn't very good at his job. We have a group of politicians in charge that developed their political skills at the height of Hardball Politics (1994 Republican Take Over - Lewinsky - Bush/Rove). It's a shame.

I've developed my political sensibilities, as a young man, through the same period, but I had the additional influence of seeing it through the eyes of an idealistic spectator; a young man who watched shows like the West Wing and movies like the American President.

I thought, when voting for Obama, that he would, as a younger man, have some of the same idealistic principles and have the grit and team to help him push it through. He hasn't. Thus, a strong challenge to his administration should either knock some sense into him, or it should remove him from office.

/end politics; onto beer

This is my newest recipe. I've always had a soft spot for Brown Ales. They seem to be a throw-away style, much like amber ales and American lagers. What a shame. All beers have developed for the same reason. They taste good and they have nuances that set them apart. If we let the average of every BJCP guidline dictate how our beers taste, we will have a really boring existence as enthusiasts.

Brown #1 - Southern English Brown

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Batch Size: 5.000 gal

Boil Size: 5.750 gal

Boil Time: 0.000 s

Efficiency: 65%

OG: 1.047

FG: 1.011

ABV: 4.7%

Bitterness: 21.9 IBUs (Tinseth)

Color: 32 SRM (Mosher)

Fermentables

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Name Type Amount Mashed Color

Biscuit Malt Grain 8.000 oz Yes 23 L

Black Barley (Stout) Grain 8.000 oz No 500 L

Melanoiden Malt Grain 12.000 oz Yes 20 L

Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L Grain 1.000 lb No 80 L

Caramel/Crystal Malt - 120L Grain 8.000 oz No 120 L

Dark Dry Extract Dry Extract 1.000 lb No 18 L

Oats, Flaked Grain 4.000 oz Yes 1 L

Pale Liquid Extract Extract 3.000 lb No 8 L

Crisp Marris Otter Grain 4.000 oz Yes 4 L

Hops

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Name Alpha Amount Use Time IBU

Fuggles 4.5% 1.000 oz Boil 1.000 hr 16.4

Styrian Goldings 4.5% 0.500 oz First Wort 1.000 hr 5.5

Yeast

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Wyeast - Thames Valley Ale

(Wyeast 1275)

or

Wyeast - Ringwood

(Wyeast 1187)

Bachman and Bacchus Part One: June 13th's GOP/CNN Debate

The CNN 2012 GOP NH Debate:

Going into last night's pre-primary debate spectacular in New Hampshire, my mood was... equanimous... ambivalent... agnostic?

In attempting to behave as all good citizens should, I've attempted over the past eight years to be a well-informed member of the electorate-- keeping an open mind about all things, weighing the objective evidence, and filtering through the detritus and pathos that clog the news-cycle. All in all, you could say that I've been burned and burned out. However, we all must tend to our Gardens. If you don't remember your Voltaire, don't worry about it; it's probably for the best.

Generally, debates are one of the few instances where the body politic can see and hear their potential commanders-in-chief challenged by either learned experts who aggregate and pass-on policy oriented questions to the host/moderator or from the eponymous "average-joe" who ask heart-felt, incisive questions which are more if not most-likely to reverberate with the party-base or the electorate-at-large. What I mean by this is that debates are one of the few times that I, as a voter, can actually (or hopefully) learn something useful about the people I'm supposed to put in the White House.

First off, without Ambassador Huntsman there, this debate was much much less useful for me. I know the least about him already, and I'd really like to learn a whole lot more. The man that the POTUS sends to deal with PRC as the top diplomat has to have major credentials, especially as a Republican. Unfortunately all I know about him is that he's a mormon, former Governor of Utah, worked under Reagan, GW Bush, and Obama, he helped ascend both the PRC and Singapore into the WTO, and finally, he is against cap-and-trade-- all commendable resume points, but not enough to earn the nomination. What I really need from him is, "Boxers or Briefs?"