thecarwreck

still look down every time I'm out...

Taste, Memory--forgotten foods, lost flavors, and why they matter --David Buchanan This after a steady diet of Mark Twain and Herman Melville.

It's good to be back on the east coast. (Also, it only took me 10.3 years to reach 1000 posts.)

http://www.yogapantsarchive.com/ bam.

been a minute... as usual. nothing wild as of late, more reactionary cheapies (high life tallboys all day) to the northwest hopfest stuff. But I've been drinking a bunch of the Deschutes seasonal for a good 2 months now: and finally had the Sam Smith Organic Lager, on a whim, and would drink it all day

I get hooked on genre/subject and go a little crazy with it. I've been teaching enviro lit stuff for a while now so it's always something I'm into and working with in some way. I always seem to read something and then go into another that was either "influential" to that book/author or referenced in the text I just read. Still, as an english prof. I'm reading a bunch of shit at the same time...

it's been a minute... some stuff from the last few months: Barry Lopez memoir-ish stuff. Read "Apologia" if nothing else. better than your average attempt at corralling "zen" see above, then reverse it smart smart. the first half (i'm being generous) is tolerable. shit is TERRIBLE after that... he's better at walking than writing. buddy's book... definitely not my style but he's got it locked currently. lots of "fuck. yes!" moments in there. and re: Thoreau. I just (literally yesterday morning) taught some chunks of Journals and Walden, and all of "Huckleberries" to my English students... they weren't having it either. Thoreau requires very slow reading and the acceptance that you will be bored by a fair amount of what he says. But there are these gems in there, buried in all the rambling and self-indulgent (yeah, it is) crap. The Thoreau perspective, that philosophy if you want to call it that, reverberates through pretty much every bit of "nature" writing and environmental lit to this day. The stuff he has to say on history alone is valuable...

^^^ This. Had Dogfish Head's Chicory Stout tonight... REALLY good. Full like a solid OG European stout but well balanced with a light finish. Rich but not heavy. Makes me want a legit winter meal to go with.

been sleeping on just about everything lately. end of the semester so now it's catch-up time. a few from the past weeks: Leavenworth Dunkelweizen NB Snow Day DFH Olde School Barleywine (with bonus Xmas tree background) 21st Back In Black (meh) Great Divide Oak-Aged Yeti... /nohipster Pike's Auld Acquaintance Pike's XXXXX Stout Pike's has been impressing me left and right. I always figured them as some tourist trap joint but they put out some solid beers.

man, i'm like an accidental hipster. goddamn it. i should have known when the ironic mustache & cycling cap cashier at whole foods in portland was telling me how rad the brewery is. fuck it, i'm drinking it when i can. tonight it's back to the east coast: Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine. Never had barleywine so this will be interesting.

crooked: for real?! damn. I've been stoked on just about everything from Great Divide. Is this all recent trouble you've had? maybe i've just been lucky with the quality, i'll keep my fingers crossed though. just goes to show you how everyone's palate is different. i like their stuff because it's (1) different from everything i grew up on back east and (2) not entirely about hops like a large majority of NW beers seem to be (understandably).

drinking it right now. honestly one of the best beers I've EVER had. take everything good about stouts (back-of-the-mouth bitterness [/nohomo?], richness) and mix it with vanilla oakiness and a ridiculous silky texture and a 9.5 ABV. not an everyday beer (esp at $11/22oz) but if you can get it, GET IT.

Funny, I just got Firestone Union Jack on a whim last night... trying it when I get home today. Said I was off the west coast IPAs but I can't get away from the fuckers. And if I could get Yuengling right now (even the light shit), I'd be drinking a million of them... so /nosnob all day.

no way duder... that pumking is waaaaaaaaay far from fireside. maybe i just got a wonky bottle but, ugh. on another note, I had the Pike Monk's Uncle Triple. Belgians and I don't get along too well--I don't know if it's the strain of yeast or what but they wreck me instantly. Drunker than I've been in a while plus a weird headache to make it unfun. Anyway, Pike's is weird in general. I'm not going back.

Canned... (they make bottles?). So good. Can't find much from those guys out my way so I'm going to cop whatever I can get once I cross the Cascades. PS: old cans FTW. meant to say that earlier.