Off Topic The Snark Thread

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bearfacedkiller said:
It gets crazy. I worked in the beer industry for many years. Inbev is the devil. They want to consolidate all the beer in the world. Inbev already owned most of the small breweries around the globe. In 2008 Inbev purchased Anheuser-Busch solidifying them as the largest beer company in the world. Last year Inbev purchased MillerCoors (Miller and Molsen Coors merged just US operations about 5 years ago and and before that Molsen and Coors merged about 12 years ago) giving them control of almost the entire US beer market. They paid $107 billion for SABMiller! The main point of this was actually to acquire SAB Miller, the parent company of Miller. They wanted SABMiller (which stands for South African Breweries Miller) because Miller had also been consolidating breweries from around the globe. We have anti monopoly laws but much of the world does not. The US governement is at the moment forcing Inbev to divest part of their US operations and Molsen has stated that they are prepared to buy just Coors from them and it will again return to being MolsenCoors instead of MillerCoors.

After all that shakes down I believe Heineken is actually the second largest brewing company int he world. They have somehow managed to stay out of the crazy consolidation.

My point is just that while it seems as though craft beers are being bought up by the big brewers the truth is that all beer has rapidly been consolidated over the past decade or more. Inbev is behind the wheel at Miller and Budweiser so it is actually a global beer conglomerate that is buying the craft brewers. Support the little guys!!!!!
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Wow! I did not realize the industry had become so consolidated. Thanks for the insider info!
 
Yes the big breweries are buying up the little ones left right and centre. It's part of their strategy to deal with the developing awareness amongst consumers that buying from MEGA businesses is probably not the best place to get your food. This is particularly true among the younger generations.

So the large companies want to buy these smaller firms so they can masquarade as wholesome companies that care about their product, health and customers.

I don't know if it is true but I have heard some giant beer companies are now producing beer with the following recepie: Carbonated water, beer concentrate, ethanol. Not sure how true this is but some of the worse beers sure taste like it.

For all you Ontarians who have your summer camping trips ruined by the black fly scourge I feel your pain. By August they do usually mostly clear up. They are definitely the most dangerous predator in Ontario. I've been messed up by deer flies on canoe trips too.
 
Lapedog said:
For all you Ontarians who have your summer camping trips ruined by the black fly scourge I feel your pain. By August they do usually mostly clear up. They are definitely the most dangerous predator in Ontario. I've been messed up by deer flies on canoe trips too.
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Agreed. We stayed home this weekend exactly for that reason.
 
tjswarbrick said:
Drove by Lagunitas today. Had no idea - that place is huge!
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Lagunitas makes one of my favorite beers: The Lucky 13 "A Mondo Large Red Ale" (Their description, not mine). But really, it is a magnificent example of one of my favorite styles of ale and is the bar by which I measure most other Reds. It tends to be seasonal release though where I am at which really bums me out for most of the year....
 
Pàdruig said:
Lagunitas makes one of my favorite beers: The Lucky 13 "A Mondo Large Red Ale" (Their description, not mine). But really, it is a magnificent example of one of my favorite styles of ale and is the bar by which I measure most other Reds. It tends to be seasonal release though where I am at which really bums me out for most of the year....
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I don't remember ever seeing that particular red ale, although I'll be sure to try it if I do. My current favorite red ale is Silver City's Ridgetop Red, not sure if they've managed to start selling outside of WA, though.
 
KingMC said:
I don't remember ever seeing that particular red ale, although I'll be sure to try it if I do. My current favorite red ale is Silver City's Ridgetop Red, not sure if they've managed to start selling outside of WA, though.
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I'll keep a look out for that Ridgetop you mentioned. We have a local "beer mecca" where the owner somehow manages to bring in an enormous variety from all over the states and the world.

I think one of the biggest challenges with making a good Red, especially here in the PNW, is making it well balanced. We have a tendency to over hop stuff over here, so often our reds tend to mimic our IPA's. A good red achieves a nice balance between toasty warm maltiness and citrusy, yet subtle, hoppiness. The Lucky 13, when chilled, has that nice hoppy flavor on the front, but it doesn't overpower. As the ale warms, it sweetens and the malts come out, making it a beer truly worth savoring since the flavor profile changes throughout drinking it.

Not my pic, but here is what the bottle looks like:

xQIZTaN.jpg
 
Thanks for the tips - I do love a good red, but they are becoming difficult to find. 2 different taprooms told me they're kinda outta favor right now. Menawhile, IPA's, which I generally find too hoppy, are everywhere.

Had an Alesmith Porter yesterday - just doing my part to support the little guys.
 
Here's a pic of the Ridgetop, the brewery's out of Bremerton and while they're pretty much everywhere across western WA I'm not sure how far south they get. The beer's not as hoppy as Ninkasi's Dawn of the Red for example, but it's got some depth to its flavor that I find quite nice.

maxresdefault.jpg
 
Good day, fellow 'Heads!

I'm woefully behind on all my internet wasting of time! Been really busy at work, so no slack there... Also busy at home... So, I'm not dead or injured, just a bit tied up with life.

Speaking of alcohol, I hope ZZ is proud of me...I finally got off the dime and made some mead. I used a recipe for 1 gallon batches that my wife found on the Book of Faces. Nothing fancy, just water, honey, champagne yeast, 10 raisins (food for the yeast), half an orange (also yeast food), then fruits and stuff. One batch is strawberry-vanilla (with a whole vanilla bean and the seeds added), and the other is ginger-lime-rosemary. My son and I bottled most of it, but kept one pint mason jar for immediate consumption. It's not terrible, but the raw alcohol taste was a bit much for my wife. Looking forward to letting it age for a few months to mellow. Hydrometer measurements indicated we managed to get about a 14% ABV during the 6-week ferment.
gAw9Zo3.jpg

bJeS5wp.jpg

Also had a 7 liter Harsch crock of sauerkraut going at the same time.
vJg2638.jpg

The finished product! One wine bottle, three 500 ml grolsch-style bottles, and a pint mason (this is the ginger-lime-rosemary). Didn't get the extra pint from the strawberry-vanilla since the lees (sludge) was a little thicker along with the dead fruit floating on top.
1pU9ijV.jpg
 
tjswarbrick said:
Thanks for the tips - I do love a good red, but they are becoming difficult to find. 2 different taprooms told me they're kinda outta favor right now. Menawhile, IPA's, which I generally find too hoppy, are everywhere.

Had an Alesmith Porter yesterday - just doing my part to support the little guys.
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Yeah, IPA's are indeed everywhere. I kind of hope that bubble will burst eventually though. As much as I like a good IPA, there are way too many out there and it is becoming harder to find a truly exceptional one. So I have largely shunned IPA's and am trying to focus on harder to find styles like Reds and Browns. Stouts and Porters are good standbys, but can be a wee bit heavy for regular drinking. I certainly have been enjoying European styles more lately and have been experiencing some fantastic Doppelbocks.

KingMC said:
Here's a pic of the Ridgetop, the brewery's out of Bremerton and while they're pretty much everywhere across western WA I'm not sure how far south they get. The beer's not as hoppy as Ninkasi's Dawn of the Red for example, but it's got some depth to its flavor that I find quite nice.

maxresdefault.jpg
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I like the Dawn of the Red, but I think it is simply a "Red" IPA. I think the depth and balance one finds in a Red is what ultimately defines a good one. Ambers tend to be too bland for me and IPA's just can be over the top hoppy, if one can find that place in between, that's the stuff right there.... I will be looking for that Ridgetop. If I can't find it, I might see if I can convince you to bring some to the next Gathering.

GSO1962 said:
Good day, fellow 'Heads!

I'm woefully behind on all my internet wasting of time! Been really busy at work, so no slack there... Also busy at home... So, I'm not dead or injured, just a bit tied up with life.

Speaking of alcohol, I hope ZZ is proud of me...I finally got off the dime and made some mead. I used a recipe for 1 gallon batches that my wife found on the Book of Faces. Nothing fancy, just water, honey, champagne yeast, 10 raisins (food for the yeast), half an orange (also yeast food), then fruits and stuff. One batch is strawberry-vanilla (with a whole vanilla bean and the seeds added), and the other is ginger-lime-rosemary. My son and I bottled most of it, but kept one pint mason jar for immediate consumption. It's not terrible, but the raw alcohol taste was a bit much for my wife. Looking forward to letting it age for a few months to mellow. Hydrometer measurements indicated we managed to get about a 14% ABV during the 6-week ferment.
gAw9Zo3.jpg

bJeS5wp.jpg

Also had a 7 liter Harsch crock of sauerkraut going at the same time.
vJg2638.jpg

The finished product! One wine bottle, three 500 ml grolsch-style bottles, and a pint mason (this is the ginger-lime-rosemary). Didn't get the extra pint from the strawberry-vanilla since the lees (sludge) was a little thicker along with the dead fruit floating on top.
1pU9ijV.jpg
Click to expand...

LOVE mead! It is actually one of the only sweet wines I care for. I have aspired to make some for years and just have never taken the plunge.... Your concoctions sound tasty.
 
Very cool GSO. I always wanted to give that a go.

On a side note, hand sanding sucks. That is all.
 
91bravo said:
That's what sandblasters are for!
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Sanding the rust off my BK1 Brute....again. Going to slap a mustard patina on it when I get done sanding. Kind of tired tonight. I got up at 3:15 this morning, as I had to go into work an hour early.
 
I like the vinegar baths myself, they sort of "coat" the whole blade. The oil afterwards is important too. If you do a vinegar bath, rinse with hot water and neglect the oil part, you'll have a rusty blade. I figured that out the hard way!
 
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