With the onset of September comes the offset of the the garden. I am still planting things that have a hope to give us a bit of return before the frosts – basil, peas, leaf lettuces – but the fact is it’s now about starting the long process of taking down the pole beans, filling … Continue reading "Now That I Have My Back To School Corduroys Here’s The Thursday Beery News Notes"| A Good Beer Blog
August planting is underway. With any luck there will be peas in late September and October. And maybe baby carrots. You always think that the plantin’ is done once you are in full pickin’ mode… but no. No way. Still ten weeks to a frost that kills. Or more. Plenty of time for peas. By the way, I learned something through the month and a half of drought, humidity and heat that now seem to have finally broken. Tomatoes do not turn colour until it cools a bit. So while the peas are doing ...| A Good Beer Blog
What does that headline mean? More BrewDog financial disclosures? Another exposé of some distasteful behavious be a well known brewer. Nope. Not this week. No, the real news is it’s my regular quinquennial colonoscopy day! Today!! When I got the call I laughed “YES!” into the phone much to the clinics receptionist’s surprise. This’ll be … Continue reading "Your Beery News Notes For A Thursday When The Deep Dark Recesses Get Examined"| A Good Beer Blog
Welcome to August. No rain to speak of. Not for weeks. Lawns look like Nabisco Shredded Wheat testing plots. I’ve spent days and days schlepping the garden hose and watering can all over the estate. Which has reminded me of how wise it was to buy 6,500 square feet of land back in 2006. Once upon a time I had four acres to take care. Now? No mow no mo… practically speaking. As a result, I have barely looked at the beer news which is good as there is barely any beer news these days. That ...| A Good Beer Blog
As you know, in Canada we like a politician who drinks a beer. It’s practically mandatory of you are going to win an election to show that you know how to pour, how to drink and how to sit in a tavern as time trips along. So it was good this week to see recently elected Canadian PM Carney put less recently elected British PM Starmer to the test in an Ottawa tavern:| A Good Beer Blog
Took a trip east to Gan on Monday. Yup. I was out there day-tripping as I decided a few years ago that the first work day after the clocks change is gonna be a day off from here on out. And what did I see in wonderful Gananoque aka Gan? Well, I observed the law, that’s what I did. Meaning I saw this nice municipally financed and authorized and even installed sign that says you can drink in public in a nice park with a lovely view. I’m bringing a foldy chair and a few tins next time. Becau...| A Good Beer Blog
Is it me? It’s not you… is it? No, it’s beer. When beer sales peak, the news gets a bit sleepy or at least played out as expected. LCBO strike got settled. Beer in Canada is still expensive. Biden stepped aside. The French fascists were humilated… again. Sure, the back channel comments about the winding up of GBH continue to flow in – but nothing I would share to you lot. Some write for pay. Me, I write for gossip. I think Martin captured the zeitgeist of the week perfectly with thi...| A Good Beer Blog
Remember a month ago? Before “the” debate? Before France went right then went left faster than Gretzky ever could? Before Britain finally ditched the Tories? Before some dumb kid decided to murder Trump and just murdered someone’s Dad? Remember before everything went sideways? Well, except for England losing in fitba… again. Thank God somethings never change. Like bees. Bees don’t care. As I witnessed the other day in the zucchini patch. They just undertake some sort of death battle...| A Good Beer Blog
Jumping right into it, last Friday’s cartoon strip, a snippet of which site above, in Pellicle by Dave Bailey mocking craft brewery culture was something of a milestone, a bookending of sorts finally… finally confirming those inside the bubble understand what the greater world knew in 2014 when that New Yorker cover of the hipster craft beer bar was published.* The details of all the embarassing characteristics that Bailey notes as he roasts craft culture were not so publicly discussed ba...| A Good Beer Blog
Here we are. Scape pesto to the left of me. Scape pesto to the right. OK, fine. Not really. But the mid-June plucking of the 435 or so scapes and zipping them into a small bucket of goo with a litre of olive oil is a good thing. Martha Stewart circa 1998 good. Free food. And there’s more. I’ll lift the whole plants in three or four weeks to be bundled and dried in the shed before they are sorted and replanted in October. You get the 450 seed cloves for planting in the fall for next year...| A Good Beer Blog
Well, well, well. I entered the first day of my 62nd year today. No trauma. No big plans. Not like when you hit 25 or 40. Those were panicky birthdays. Feeling like middle age is coming too fast. Now that it is here… who cares? All one has to do is consider the alternative and sliding that bit closer to two-thirds of a century is mighty fine by me. Change is everything. Even the bird feeders are put away now. Winter is not coming. Not quite yet. So have one for me if you are having any at a...| A Good Beer Blog
Did you know that there are five Thursdays this February? FIVE!! I thought I was done for the month today – but I am not. It’s leapday Thursday next week. This will be only the third one in my lifetime, now in my 61st year having lived through this experience in 1968 and 1996. The fifth since the 1800s. The responsibilities for next week’s update have suddenly loomed ominously. Am I up to this rich and rare Thursdayness? The very first leap day Thursday since beer blogging began? Better...| A Good Beer Blog
Well that was exciting. Trick plays and roller skates. And there was a football game too. I heard the overtime on the radio. Sports on the radio is an excellent way to fall asleep. Far less exciting. Someone had a word with Ms. Swift’s potential Bro-I-L to keep the hairy nudie fat lad stuff to a minimum as was on display a few (playoff) rounds ago … but did you see this above? Apparently, on Sunday afternoon the Cleveland Guardians baseball team for some reason decided to edit out the ori...| A Good Beer Blog