Just a quick note to all 2 or 3 readers that I'll be putting this sucker on hold for a while. Who knew a baby would take up so much time? I'll fire this blog back up again when I have more time and maybe have something profound to say. Thanks for reading, I'll let you know when I'll be back.
Jeff
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
A Quick Thought on St. Patrick's Day
Ok, no links or anything here, just a quick write up. St. Patrick's Day has come and gone since I last posted. I always watch in fascination at how the local media covers it. Most of it of course is the standard green beer, let's all promote a day of getting hammered sort of variety, blah, blah, blah. This year did little to change that opinion, but it did seem that a few articles tried to write something decent, whether it was profiling the new Irish Heritage House in Scarborough (today's Toronto Star)
What did I do? My buddy and I hosted our annual house party. We had a great turn out, 30+ people, and we went through 80L of Mill St. beer, including their tasty Cobblestone Stout. No lining up at pubs, no public vomiting, just a really good time with great friends, some who I had not seen in a while, good beer and the odd old Irish tune in the background. That's a good day.
Je5
What did I do? My buddy and I hosted our annual house party. We had a great turn out, 30+ people, and we went through 80L of Mill St. beer, including their tasty Cobblestone Stout. No lining up at pubs, no public vomiting, just a really good time with great friends, some who I had not seen in a while, good beer and the odd old Irish tune in the background. That's a good day.
Je5
Jeff's Top 102 Beers - #101
Neat looking beer, eh? This is one of those beers I would never have remembered having if it were not for ratebeer.com. I've only had it once - after the Spring Cask Beer Festival at Volo last year. I happened to be sitting around after the fest and I started chatting with Stephen Beaumont, Canada's leading beer writer (he is also involved in Beer Bistro's fantastic beer menu), and Nicholas Pashley, author of a very very funny and informative book regarding the quest for the perfect pub and Toronto's beer and pub scene over the years - Notes on a Beermat. Good chaps. Anyway, Stephen had brought along a bottle to share with Ralph, owner of Volo, and they were nice enough to share it with me. This was it. My notes from ratebeer:
Bottle. Dark purple, no head - very still looking. Incredible aroma of grape, black currants and plum. Wow. Complex fruity taste - lots of fruit noted in aroma plus vanilla and a big alcohol punch. I have no idea how else to describe this beer except that it was immense and complex and very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing!
This is one of those beers I could never have imagined myself trying say 6 years ago, yet alone liking. But there you go, know I can dig a gigantic 10% Fruity Belgian Quadrupel as interpreted by a good American Micro Brewery.
Availability? Not here, not even at the beer bars; maybe down in Buffalo at the good beer shops. And speaking of good beer shops, we now have a little less distance to cover, as Niagara Falls, NY, now features a Consumers Beverage Store, which has a great beer selection and even fills up Growlers of good micro beer. Now to get it over the border....
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Hockey: A Je5's History
The NHL Trade deadline madness (man I love following along with that!) has inspired me to finally make a post about hockey, since I seem to be a little too beer focused lately (and well, I cannot be beer focused anymore for a bit since I have drastically reduced my intake of the lovely stuff for Lent).
I can hear the goal horn when the Leafs score. With all the windows shut. I love it.
It seems easy enough: I live in Toronto, I am a Leaf fan. But my relationship with the good old hockey game is much more complicated than that.
I grew up playing hockey from about 5 years old until 13 (Brighton, Ontario House League Rules!). I was a big D man, pretty average at best (7 Esso Medals of Achievement though, 1 most improved, 6 most sportsmanlike). I supported the Leafs from as early as I can remember, my Grade 1 class photo is a Leaf shirt can prove that, but I was never a die-hard young fan or anything like that. I had much more of an attachment to the local OHL team, the Belleville Bulls, than any NHL Team. I can theorize that it is because I lived in small town Eastern Ontario, and we did not think too highly of Hogtown (or at least held a great deal of suspicion about it), or maybe because my folks were not diehards themselves (Saturday Night CBC aside), or maybe because I had close relatives in Edmonton who would ship us signed memorabilia of those Dynasty teams. I dunno, I’ve never really thought about it until now. But the point is I was a Leaf fan by default and that, I’m not afraid to admit, changed when I became a little older and started developing my obsessive side.
When I started figuring out what a Defenseman was, I looked to emulate and follow along with real life superstars in that position. And for a big guy (at the time, everyone has since grown up much bigger than me) like me, during that period, the best there was was Larry Robinson. That’s right, a Hab!!!! Since judged one of the Montreal Canadians two best D Men of all time, “Big Bird” seemed solid, calm, quiet and a leader, all things I wanted to be, or saw in myself. I followed his career, even out to LA and his coaching days, and, yep, I’ll admit it, became a bit of a Hab fan. Again, not enough to buy a sweater or anything, but the History of the Franchise, the winning mentality (”The Most Successful Pro Sports Franchise” books would proclaim) fascinated me. So there ya go, this Bud was a Hab for a bit in my confused adolescence.
A funny thing happened as I got older and went off to University. I stopped caring about hockey. I still followed it throughout High School, although videogames, school work and later girlfriends started to attract my obsessive tendencies by that point (probably in that order) , but once I hit University, I just did not care. I followed the school’s teams, but the sheer workload and the sheer force of that crazy, crazy new exciting scary awesome time in my life left little other time for anything at all. It was around that time that the league expanded way too quickly, with more and more U.S. based teams coming in and more and more Canadian ones dropping out. I honestly went through 3 or 4 years where I could not even name the previous year’s Cup Champ. I just did not care. Sure, I still kept up on the game, but it was clear Hockey and I had fallen out. The low point coming when I almost, I repeat almost, started supporting the Sens.
Ok, take a deep breathe, here goes: I got Ottawa newstations growing up, not Toronto, so I always had followed along the expansion dream for that city through the late Sportscaster at CJOH, Brian Smith, and those that followed him. Plus, my girlfriend (now wife) went to Carleton, so there were plenty of VIA visits to the Capital. But when I finished University in ’98, and before I could actually start supporting a team (I was a free agent), I went off to England, and that killed any blossoming relationship I might have with the Sens. When I got back in ’99, I moved to T.O and within months a new passion was born and I hated the Sens (cultivated by many road trips to Ottawa since where Sens fans treated me like shit b/c I was a Leaf fan – and fair play to them, that’s what a rivalry is all about, but I’ve had much different experiences in Buffalo where there seems to be a little respect, that’s all – I guess other Canadian cities always have a thing in for T.O.).
So here I am now back in love with the sport that seems to define us as a country. Living abroad gave me a new appreciation for what it means to live in Canada and be a Canadian, and getting back into Hockey was certainly a side effect of that. Even the Lockout and Gary Bettman and a horribly managed Leaf Team have not been able to stop that. To me there is nothing better than getting together on a Saturday night with good friends (not just guys, but the spouses too – my wife and friends at the very least seem to tolerate the sport, and some even enjoy it!) and watching the game while catching up, shootin’ the shit, and maybe playing some poker if the Leafs start to get trounced.
This seems like a good place to end a lengthy post. I’ll finish with a couple of thoughts that will turn into future posts. 1) The Leafs need to be blown up, not unlike what they’re trying to do in Philly and maybe St. Louis right now. It is so frustrating living in a city that not only tolerates mediocrity (at best right now) but encourages it. 2) The grind of a 82 game schedule is starting to wear me down. Not to mention the format of the League. Listen, I’ve had my eyes opened living in the UK and now following Celtic (and Spurs to a lesser extend – we lived near White Hart Lane for a while). Here’s a sport that plays 40-55 games a year with passionate fans that put NHL, Nascar, and NFL fans combined to shame in leagues that are 100 years old where the League title itself is the most important prize. Sure there are Cup competitions which are very prestigious, but the league itself, the thing you spend 8 months trying to win, is the ultimate prize and that makes a lot of sense to me. Not to devalue the Cup, but to play 82 games only for playoff positioning in what has become the NHL’s Hottest Goalie 1 month competition seems to be very silly to me. More on this hot topic another time. 3) If you ever find yourself losing interest in Hockey, join a pool. A well run, full season long, proper pool. Man, is it ever fun. By good buddy Rich has been running one for 10 years now and I credit it immensely with getting me back into hockey. I suck at it, always have, but now that we have switched over to a keeper format, where I can blow up my team and build with young prospects (Leafs take note), I think I can finally win. Starting next season I’ll run weekly blog updates on my pool progress.
Oh, this is probably the best reason I’m currently so into hockey and the Leafs: my view from my condo:
I can hear the goal horn when the Leafs score. With all the windows shut. I love it.
Thanks for reading! Share your own Hockey thoughts and stories if you have got them.
That's a good lad.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Jeff's Top 102 Beers - #102b
Hello again. I'm back with some brief filler material, so that means a beer review as part of my ongoing countdown!
Why 102b you ask? Well, I had some decent beer over the past couple of weeks, and a couple have made their way into my top 100. So now we're going with ties as well; or, another way to look at it, I'm counting down all of the beers I have rated 4.2/5 or higher.
So, this week's beer is....
Flying Dog Imperial Porter
Check out that link. Now. There's one creative beer and one creative brewery at work here.
The link will tell you everything you need to know about Flying Dog in Colorado. They make some kick ass beers and they have some of the best labels I have ever seen. This particular beer was really neat - it was a porter kicked up more than a few notches. Here's my ratebeer review:
Nice very dark brown, small beige head. Lovely unique aroma, lots of roast, coffee, and a nice malt sweetness - lovely! Very very unique strong sweet porter taste. Very nice and dry afterwards. A little sharp. A perfect example of a porter kicked up a bit - lovely!
Big thanks to Harry for the bottle.
Flying Dog is pretty hard to come by in these parts, as they have never formally distributed in Canada to my knowledge. But close by in Buffalo at Premier Gourmet they usually keep a pretty good selection of their beers - this one is a seasonal though, so it is a little more rare. A perfect winter treat.
Je5
Why 102b you ask? Well, I had some decent beer over the past couple of weeks, and a couple have made their way into my top 100. So now we're going with ties as well; or, another way to look at it, I'm counting down all of the beers I have rated 4.2/5 or higher.
So, this week's beer is....
Flying Dog Imperial Porter
Check out that link. Now. There's one creative beer and one creative brewery at work here.
The link will tell you everything you need to know about Flying Dog in Colorado. They make some kick ass beers and they have some of the best labels I have ever seen. This particular beer was really neat - it was a porter kicked up more than a few notches. Here's my ratebeer review:
Nice very dark brown, small beige head. Lovely unique aroma, lots of roast, coffee, and a nice malt sweetness - lovely! Very very unique strong sweet porter taste. Very nice and dry afterwards. A little sharp. A perfect example of a porter kicked up a bit - lovely!
Big thanks to Harry for the bottle.
Flying Dog is pretty hard to come by in these parts, as they have never formally distributed in Canada to my knowledge. But close by in Buffalo at Premier Gourmet they usually keep a pretty good selection of their beers - this one is a seasonal though, so it is a little more rare. A perfect winter treat.
Je5
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Jeff's Top 102 Beers - #102
As a way of enticing you all (all - ha!) to come back and visit me more often, and as an easy way for me to feed content into this bloggerific empty webspace, I am going to work my through my top 100 Beers that I have ever tried. I'll provide some background, impressions (hint: I think they are all really good and taste awesome), and even info on where you might be able to find it. This should be fun, I've never really taken a look at my list before like this (all info coming from my ratebeer.com profile.
Oh, and why 102? Well, I had some ties at 100, according to my stats. And 102 seems more interesting than 100 for some reason.
#102
Church Key Riot Act Imperial Stout
Note: That's Church Key Northumberland pictured; I needed an image
Cool! I love this beer! And since it is from Church Key, I have lots of stuff I can write about. Let me explain. Church Key Brewing is a small micro brewer in Eastern Ontario, just outside of Campbellford, ON. I grew up in the Quinte area, and have tons of family back in the area and visit frequently, so when these guys opened their doors in 2000, I was pretty excited. You can read all about them at their site. They produce a number of interesting year round and seasonal brews, and can be found on tap at finer establishment in between Toronto and Ottawa. They do bottle, but you can only get them from the brewery direct or again, at finer beer establishment.
And they are really in an old church. No really. Here's a picture.
If you're ever looking for a diversion between Toronto and Ottawa (like say in the Spring, when they hold an annual open house, which I have been dragging people to for years), check it out, the place just overflows with character. And the owner, John, is a character himself.
Anyway, about this beer. This is not a usual Church Key offering. It made its first appearance at last year's open house (Spring Revival). The story is John basically homebrewed it himself in a very tiny quantity. We drank many plastic glasses of this beauty at the Revival, and again when it popped up in a couple of kegs at Volo in Toronto. And it hasn't been seen since, oooh, makes you want it more now, doesn't it?
So what is it like? Have you ever had an Imperial Stout before? I'm going to assume you have (novices: Imperial Stouts are like Stouts - think Guinness, if you have to - only kicked up way higher in flavour, alcohol, bitterness and everything else- they can be bitter, chocolaty, strong, but most often formidable - you sip a good one, believe me). This one is the finest I have tasted from an Ontario brewer. To summarize my ratebeer notes: it was pitch black, it looked oily and slick. It smelled like chocolate, molasses, and had tons of roast and coffee. These followed in the taste along with a good amount of bitterness. This was complex formidable stuff - a true after dinner treat. If you are ever fortunate enough to find this on tap somewhere, get one. And call me.
I hope you enjoyed the first of my top 102 beers! Feel free to list off some of your top beers, or impressions of this holy Church.
That's a good lad.
Je5
Oh, and why 102? Well, I had some ties at 100, according to my stats. And 102 seems more interesting than 100 for some reason.
#102
Church Key Riot Act Imperial Stout
Note: That's Church Key Northumberland pictured; I needed an image
Cool! I love this beer! And since it is from Church Key, I have lots of stuff I can write about. Let me explain. Church Key Brewing is a small micro brewer in Eastern Ontario, just outside of Campbellford, ON. I grew up in the Quinte area, and have tons of family back in the area and visit frequently, so when these guys opened their doors in 2000, I was pretty excited. You can read all about them at their site. They produce a number of interesting year round and seasonal brews, and can be found on tap at finer establishment in between Toronto and Ottawa. They do bottle, but you can only get them from the brewery direct or again, at finer beer establishment.
And they are really in an old church. No really. Here's a picture.
If you're ever looking for a diversion between Toronto and Ottawa (like say in the Spring, when they hold an annual open house, which I have been dragging people to for years), check it out, the place just overflows with character. And the owner, John, is a character himself.
Anyway, about this beer. This is not a usual Church Key offering. It made its first appearance at last year's open house (Spring Revival). The story is John basically homebrewed it himself in a very tiny quantity. We drank many plastic glasses of this beauty at the Revival, and again when it popped up in a couple of kegs at Volo in Toronto. And it hasn't been seen since, oooh, makes you want it more now, doesn't it?
So what is it like? Have you ever had an Imperial Stout before? I'm going to assume you have (novices: Imperial Stouts are like Stouts - think Guinness, if you have to - only kicked up way higher in flavour, alcohol, bitterness and everything else- they can be bitter, chocolaty, strong, but most often formidable - you sip a good one, believe me). This one is the finest I have tasted from an Ontario brewer. To summarize my ratebeer notes: it was pitch black, it looked oily and slick. It smelled like chocolate, molasses, and had tons of roast and coffee. These followed in the taste along with a good amount of bitterness. This was complex formidable stuff - a true after dinner treat. If you are ever fortunate enough to find this on tap somewhere, get one. And call me.
I hope you enjoyed the first of my top 102 beers! Feel free to list off some of your top beers, or impressions of this holy Church.
That's a good lad.
Je5
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Perhaps This Internet Thing Can Be Useful
Sorry I haven't posted in a while - sometimes life gets in the way of things, even blogs! But I'm back with a timely discussion on my experience with online dvd rentals.
As always, some background. I've always loved movies - I like most genres (my taste can go from Hollywood Blockbuster to obscure Foreign film, usually no Horror flicks though) and I enjoy tracking movies I have seen and figuring out which were the best ones of the year (imdb is one of the first and certainly the best movie resource on the 'net - it now has some pretty cool features that let you vote and keep track of your movies with customizable categories - I divide mine by year and in which format - Watched on DVD 2007, Watched in Theatre 2007 for example - this is awesome for someone like me who cannot remember which previews I just saw at the beginning of a movie, let alone which movies I have seen in a past year). I'm probably a lot like the Cusack character in High Fidelity that way, Top 5, Top 10 lists and all.
Heck, I used to even manage movie theatres for a living (did I just say heck?)! I used to really enjoy tracking Box Office stats too, but as of late, in an Entertainment Tonight, E! Television, People magazine saturated world, I'm sick to death of celebrity culture and that has translated for me to not seeing movies as often. Not to mention I was used to seeing movies for free, and usually in a private screening(with a *cough* beverage or two as well). So I should also point out seeing movies with the masses, especially with cell phones, chatter, and everything else in between, does not appeal to me at all. So I find myself watching DVD's more and more. And that's where I finally get to my point.
When we moved last Spring, our new place did not have a name video store around the corner from it (I think our nearest such store the Rogers Video at the Skydome!). So I didn't rent over the summer and when I went back to doing so this past Fall (I found a Blockbuster near my work), I was appalled at the prices (what is it, $5, $6 for a rental?) and I found could never follow the restrictions (even without late fees, I always forgot to bring movies back on time).
Luckily, I remembered reading about online DVD rental services so I started to check them out to see if that would make things an better.
In short, it has. Tremendously. After doing some investigation (this was the first article I read) and visiting a very helpful site (go to the forums as well- weed out the extreme cult-ish like people such forums usually attract - you know - bitchin' why the service isn't faster, forgetting to mention they live in Yellowknife - and go to the informative and honest customer experiences), I settled on Zip.ca. After a two week free trial, I pay $25/month. I can have 3 DVD's out at any time, and I can rent as many as I want in a month. All DVD's ship (quickly so far 1-2 days!) prepaid in handy little envelopes and when you return them (again, prepaid envelopes supplied) more DVD's are sent. Simple, quick, and easy.
What DVD's get sent you? Well, one of the reasons I went with zip is because of their huge catalogue - you can read the site lest I start to sound like marketing material (over 20,000 titles I think). Basically, you can browse through all titles (sorted a million different ways - best of lists, genres, actors, you name it) and "zip" or pick which ones you are interested in seeing. These go on your "zip" list. From there, you can rank them in order of importance to you, so theoretically, you get sent ones higher up on your list first (you can have 2 account settings: speed over priority or priority over speed - pretty self explanatory). Then, based on availability, they get sent out to you, and then taken off your list when returned. I love this set up, as usually when I go to the video store, apart from New Releases, I can never remember those titles I always mean to see. Plus, they have tons of TV titles, which saves me buying a bunch of shows I always mean to watch but didn't find the time to watch (24 for example). They also have a ton of obscure titles I had never heard of but have interest in (I found a bunch if Irish documentaries and even that Canada : A People's History - Something I have been meaning to watch, in order). And I kind of like the surprise element of seeing random titles show up at my door. So far, I love the service and at $25/month, I am at pace to easily rent 12-15 movies this month, which is damn cheap.
Any complaints, or warnings? Well, if you are totally in to New Releases only, this may not be the service for you. Sure, I've got tons on my Zip List, but so do thousands of other customers, so do not expect them right away - there are other Online DVD rental services that specialize in that market. Zip offers "book the next available copy" service for an extra charge if your desperate I guess. But with the size of their collection, I hardly need the new David Arquette movie right away, so it is not an issue for me. I also like the feature that lets you add movies to your list currently in theatres but not available on DVD yet - when they become available, they go on your list - cool, especially around this time of year when there are so many good movies out - Oscar season anyone?)
If you like watching movies on DVD and do it frequently enough, and like a assortment of titles, then I encourage you to give Zip or one of the other services a try (and let me know how it goes - actually, if I was smarter, I'd probably find some sort of referral program or something - and no, I'm not shamelessly linking to it). Or just keep downloading the stuff like you do now you thieving bastards :)
As always, some background. I've always loved movies - I like most genres (my taste can go from Hollywood Blockbuster to obscure Foreign film, usually no Horror flicks though) and I enjoy tracking movies I have seen and figuring out which were the best ones of the year (imdb is one of the first and certainly the best movie resource on the 'net - it now has some pretty cool features that let you vote and keep track of your movies with customizable categories - I divide mine by year and in which format - Watched on DVD 2007, Watched in Theatre 2007 for example - this is awesome for someone like me who cannot remember which previews I just saw at the beginning of a movie, let alone which movies I have seen in a past year). I'm probably a lot like the Cusack character in High Fidelity that way, Top 5, Top 10 lists and all.
Heck, I used to even manage movie theatres for a living (did I just say heck?)! I used to really enjoy tracking Box Office stats too, but as of late, in an Entertainment Tonight, E! Television, People magazine saturated world, I'm sick to death of celebrity culture and that has translated for me to not seeing movies as often. Not to mention I was used to seeing movies for free, and usually in a private screening(with a *cough* beverage or two as well). So I should also point out seeing movies with the masses, especially with cell phones, chatter, and everything else in between, does not appeal to me at all. So I find myself watching DVD's more and more. And that's where I finally get to my point.
When we moved last Spring, our new place did not have a name video store around the corner from it (I think our nearest such store the Rogers Video at the Skydome!). So I didn't rent over the summer and when I went back to doing so this past Fall (I found a Blockbuster near my work), I was appalled at the prices (what is it, $5, $6 for a rental?) and I found could never follow the restrictions (even without late fees, I always forgot to bring movies back on time).
Luckily, I remembered reading about online DVD rental services so I started to check them out to see if that would make things an better.
In short, it has. Tremendously. After doing some investigation (this was the first article I read) and visiting a very helpful site (go to the forums as well- weed out the extreme cult-ish like people such forums usually attract - you know - bitchin' why the service isn't faster, forgetting to mention they live in Yellowknife - and go to the informative and honest customer experiences), I settled on Zip.ca. After a two week free trial, I pay $25/month. I can have 3 DVD's out at any time, and I can rent as many as I want in a month. All DVD's ship (quickly so far 1-2 days!) prepaid in handy little envelopes and when you return them (again, prepaid envelopes supplied) more DVD's are sent. Simple, quick, and easy.
What DVD's get sent you? Well, one of the reasons I went with zip is because of their huge catalogue - you can read the site lest I start to sound like marketing material (over 20,000 titles I think). Basically, you can browse through all titles (sorted a million different ways - best of lists, genres, actors, you name it) and "zip" or pick which ones you are interested in seeing. These go on your "zip" list. From there, you can rank them in order of importance to you, so theoretically, you get sent ones higher up on your list first (you can have 2 account settings: speed over priority or priority over speed - pretty self explanatory). Then, based on availability, they get sent out to you, and then taken off your list when returned. I love this set up, as usually when I go to the video store, apart from New Releases, I can never remember those titles I always mean to see. Plus, they have tons of TV titles, which saves me buying a bunch of shows I always mean to watch but didn't find the time to watch (24 for example). They also have a ton of obscure titles I had never heard of but have interest in (I found a bunch if Irish documentaries and even that Canada : A People's History - Something I have been meaning to watch, in order). And I kind of like the surprise element of seeing random titles show up at my door. So far, I love the service and at $25/month, I am at pace to easily rent 12-15 movies this month, which is damn cheap.
Any complaints, or warnings? Well, if you are totally in to New Releases only, this may not be the service for you. Sure, I've got tons on my Zip List, but so do thousands of other customers, so do not expect them right away - there are other Online DVD rental services that specialize in that market. Zip offers "book the next available copy" service for an extra charge if your desperate I guess. But with the size of their collection, I hardly need the new David Arquette movie right away, so it is not an issue for me. I also like the feature that lets you add movies to your list currently in theatres but not available on DVD yet - when they become available, they go on your list - cool, especially around this time of year when there are so many good movies out - Oscar season anyone?)
If you like watching movies on DVD and do it frequently enough, and like a assortment of titles, then I encourage you to give Zip or one of the other services a try (and let me know how it goes - actually, if I was smarter, I'd probably find some sort of referral program or something - and no, I'm not shamelessly linking to it). Or just keep downloading the stuff like you do now you thieving bastards :)
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