Wednesday, January 09, 2008

The New Kids (no, not those new kids)

I busted out The New Kids from the VHS selection last night and this is one crazy 80's teen movie. It's like a mix between Pretty In Pink (Spader, Stolz, Lori Loughlin) and Straw Dogs (pitbull attacks, multiple shotgun murders, script by Harry Crews).
Spader, as soulless killer with fake southern accent, is hot as fuck. And there is an out-of-nowhere, S&M-ey scene between him and the male lead, in which he's in little blue speedo things.



This video clip pretty much sums it up. You can catch Loughlin (Aunty Becky from full house) and Stolz, and then Spader struts in. There's a weird scene in which Loughlin is showering with some kind of paste-on breast coverings, I bet it's because she wasn't 18 when this was filmed.

If that's not your cup of tea, here's an article about ridiculously hopped american beers from the nytimes. Eww-even just reading this makes me feel like I can taste that gross bitter hops taste that you get from beers like these. Why does America always get everything wrong? Even when Americans get into something cool (craft beers) they fuck it up (making extreme hopped beers with 20% alcohol).

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to disagree with you that "America always gets everything wrong" and that making extremely hopped beers with 20% abv is "fucking it up."
In my opinion it is this kind of experimentation and subsequent exposure that actually enables delicious brews to come into fruition. The awareness piques people's interest and gets some of them to try beers that might otherwise steer clear of. This leads to discovering "other" beers, and for brewers to start coming up with a whole range of beers - not just the basic, ubiquitous few. It's good for the whole industry.
You may not want to drink these beers, nor will you ever be forced to do so, but the fact that brewers are trying new things and not being held back by rules and tradition, at least at this point in America, I believe is good.
Part of the reason that Belgium has such a diverse array and tradition of brews is because they weren't held back laws like the reinheitsgebot - the German purity law. I'm sure that many Germans at that time (500 years ago) thought that using sugar, wild yeasts, fruit, and other adjuncts was gross (maybe some still do)...

-Marie

beckler said...

That's a good point, but don't you think that some peoples palates can become kind of stuck on that extreme taste? Those super hoppy beers seem to be taste-bud deadening. I don't think that the natural move is often from unsubtle to subtle things. I am obviously projecting this issue onto the other issue that bugs me much more, which is people being stoked on super strong, jammy wines like Ravenswood (slogan: no wimpy wines). Sometimes it seems like there are small stirrings towards more subtle wines, but sometimes I fear it's just totally entrenched at this point and won't change. Like if you get so used to that fruity, jammy, hot kind of flavor for wine, then that is what you think all wine should taste like and you can't get away with that. It seems like it could be the same with hops, but maybe not.

But we can agree about Spader being hot, right?

Liv Moe said...

speaking of your wine pet peeve have you heard of this?

"Now Ray's Station is positioned as a big, bold, in-your-face wine for guys, packaged in a he-man-heavy glass bottle and with a black label embossed with a stallion."

http://tiny.cc/ntwo7

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I don't know. I think tastes definitely change over time. Right now the trend is "extreme" not just in drinks, but in everything else: sports, wealth, luxury goods, etc...

It's all cyclical. Just like how rosés became all of the rage once people started catching on that white was the new red. Although now maybe red is the new rosé again? It's like trying to catch up with roshambo.

But back to brew - look at Russian River brewery (which I know you are forced to often) - Vinnie Ciriluzo pretty much invented the concept of a Double IPA, and while he still makes a lot of high abv and other "extreme" wild yeast and other bacteria brews, a lot of them are getting more subtle, nuanced, and the abvs are getting lower.

It's all cyclical - which is why it's extra super cool to get into table beers (3.5% abv) right now.

I will agree, however that Spader is hot.

-Marie

Anonymous said...

I forgot to add also that I think just being exposed to beer (or whatever) and getting interested in it from any angle can help develop one's palate. For example, when I was five my favorite musical group was Huey Lewis and the News. I have since developed (slightly) better taste in music, but I had to start somewhere.

You could do much worse in beer then to start getting into craft brews from a hoppy perspective (actually though I think most people do - then they get sick of hops after a while).

I will now stop "commenting."

-Marie

Anonymous said...

Back to the movie... who cares about Spader in a speedo-- that International Harvester pickup in the background is SO fucking hot!

-omf

beckler said...

wow, two super annoying yelps just got posted in a row.

2 star rating
Flame Club
Sacramento, CA

Ok, so this was in a pretty sketchy area. And it has no windows. It's not so horrible from the inside, but it's not really somewhere I would ever look at and say "Wow, that might be a cool place". True, drinks are cheap, but the $2 vodka-cran did not do my tummy good. I guess it's an ok place to start the evening out (if you're used to drinking cheap liquor), but it's not somewhere I would go again without lots of convincing.


Jeff L.
Sacramento, CA
1 star rating
Pho Bac Hoa Viet
Sacramento, CA

There is a new Hoa Viet that opened on Pocket Road so I'll write a review on that one. As far as the broadway one the servers are kinda rude but that's expected from Asians. I am asian myself, haha. Atleast the service is fast. The one on pocket rd had very slow service and took a long time for them to take my order, get me a fork, napkins, and my drink. The Pho was also warm instead of hot and the broth did not have much flavor. The servers were these 2 young guys, one with a mohawk and the other with funky sideburns. I'd rather have the rude 40 years old asian ladies at the broadway one.

sketchy area? at least she didn't call it the ghetto. yelpers seem to have a pretty broad definition of what qualifies as a ghetto. and for the record, I ate at pho bac for about the millionth time last week and they again were not in the least rude. they do seem to have a new policy of dropping your check off at the table, so maybe they caught on to the fact that people cannot stop tripping on that.

Unknown said...

Are you kidding, I bet im the only person in this whole city with a bottle of Dogfish 120 minute in his kitchen. I had to order the shit from Connecticut. I talked to dogfish and they should have a distro in california by April they hope.

Dont be all hating on us hopheads just becuase you got malt brain. hehe

beckler said...

I'm not hating on the hopheads! I even went to the hop festival at the Rubicon. And talked to a guy that had been wearing a hop hat at one point. It's a matter of selection. Everyone's free to drink whatever they want and get into whatever aspect of it they're stoked on, I just would like to have a more well-rounded selection at stores and restaurants. Of wine and beer. Especially wine.

Unknown said...

True enough, We are lagging far behind most as far as variety in libations. Blame it on that fridge filled with coors or kendall jackson in the suburbs thing we have going on. Like father, like son.

It slowly changing though.

But you should try any type of dogfish if you have the chance.

Anonymous said...

Lori Loughlin was so rad in rad.

beckler said...

let the record show: yesterday I bought a Deschutes hop trip and drank an Avery IPA at home=hop lover

leon said...

I used to not like IPA at all. I still hate some of the extremely hopped beers, like the stuff you get from Stone Brewing Co. But when done right, an IPA or double IPA can be amazing. During the brewing process, hops are added into the mix at s certain point for flavor, and at a second time for aroma. When there is a good balance of both, a strong IPA can't be beat.

One of my favorite IPA that can be found at BevMo is made by the Marin Brewing Co. Laguanitas seems to be hit or miss, but every now and then you will get a good batch with that perfect blend.

I think it's cool that America is defining it's own beer that isn't bud or Coors!

Unknown said...

Hops are introduces for bitter first, then flavor, then for aroma. You can also wet hop beer which is using fresh hops cut off the vine, an example of that is at corti brothers right now via a very limited edition of sierra nevada special wethop ale at only like $3.69 or so. Also dry hopping is a process of adding hops while the brew is in secondary fermentation. The 120 minute IPA listed in this article, is freshly dry hopped every single day for a month, this is in addition to the vast amounts and additions when mashing the wort. Pliny the elder, from russian river brewing, also does this but too a slightly lesser extent. Were talking 4 to 6 different hops, and several different introductions during the wort boil. Its not exactly easy to make a fine IPA and with a damn near hop crisis on hand stemming from a warehoue fire, mixed with farmers switching to ethonal, they are getting harder to find and more expensive all the time. What really gets me is this fawking new yorkers and their old american style ales talking crap about IPA's while sucking down a freaking yuengling and chit.

wow, I really like hops. LOL

Anonymous said...

On the German purity law: yeast was not mentioned (it wasn't a known ingredient). The only ingredients allowed were water, barley, and hops. That means that practically nobody in Germany now is making beer in accordance with that law---almost everyone adds yeast. I bet the all-wild-yeast German brews before the advent of cultured yeast were fucking delicious.

Ben

Anonymous said...

Ben - You are right that yeast was not included in the original law. However, the law was amended to include yeast after Pasteur (amongst others) "discovered" it in the late 1800s.
Back in the day though, before they knew what it was, when it was dubbed "godisgood," they had their German means of keeping it consistent. -Marie

Anonymous said...

Hey Marie, do you know of any brews (German or otherwise) that are still kept consistent in this way? Do they taste the same as brews with added yeast cultures? I'd love to try them.

Ben

Anonymous said...

Ben, I am not aware of any brewery that doesn't rely on added yeast cultures to at least some extent. Before yeast was discovered brewers would use "magic" brewing "sticks" or "wands" that were used to stir the un-fermented beer. (We know now, of course, that the "magic" was the yeast that lived in the sticks which would lie dormant until being dipped into the wort again.) Since Germany stays pretty cold throughout the year and these brews were mostly produced in cavernous locales, the yeasts that survived could thrive in cold temperatures that other bacteria and "wild yeasts" could not. Thusly, clean tasting (since the cold forced the yeast and additional proteins to the bottom of the barrel) lagers were born.

This same idea is somewhat similar to lambic production in Belgium, where they at least partially rely on the yeasts and bacteria living in their brewery buildings and oak casks to do some work. However, even they use yeast cultures to some extent. You might just have to experiment at home.. -m

beckler said...

sometimes smiller sticks his magic brewing wand in his brew

Anonymous said...

I'm not going to touch that one with a ten foot brewing stick.

Especially with the obvious "wild yeast" innuendo.

-m

Anonymous said...

I mean I wouldn't touch that one with a ten foot brewing stick.

Anonymous said...

Boo I just left a really long eloquent comment and it disappeared. Lame
-Dillon

Anonymous said...

I dont think these folks went to mixed fermentation

http://www.cantillon.be/

Anonymous said...

Couchdive - they do use mixed fermentation to some extent - they're just not boring people with details via their website... although that's no slight to Cantillon - they're about as close to "natural spontaneous fermentation" as you can get. Not to mention that they consistently produce some of the most delicious brews in the world.

Anonymous said...

OK, but it seems to me like the lambics are the furthest thing in the world from, like, Spaten lager. It's hard to believe that natural yeast in Germany wouldn't give a little bit of the tartness and funk that the Cantillons get. Would Cantillon taste like Spaten if they lagered it? And what are wild yeasts if they're not the ones living in the caves? Are you talking about Bret? I bet Dillon's eloquent post had the answers to all these questions.

Ben

Anonymous said...

Ben - "wild" yeasts are everywhere. The wild yeasts that are prevalent in Belgium vary from those found in Germany or California, or anywhere else in the world. I've heard that the cherry orchards near the lambic producers are a big source of the delicious yeast. Yeasts like BRETT! like fruit like cherries and wine grapes, for example. Because of this Cantillon would not taste like Spaten if it was lagered. I don't want to get into full technical detail - but the mashing process and various malts that are used also have a lot to do with what flavors various yeasts and bacteria will give to a beer. I am happy to have an extended conversation about this over a Cantillon sometime after I get back from vacation. Pencil in a beer discussion date with me and Smiller sometime in early February. AT that time I can also direct you to some books on the subject of beer production, yeasts, etc if you are interested.

Marie

Anonymous said...

That sounds great! My early Feb is wide open. I'll be expecting an e-vite.

Ben

Anonymous said...

hmmm, Im rather sure they have a whole line of spont. ferment lambics and even a beer I think.

Hell I dont know, I havent had the luxury of going their and asking them yet :-(


http://www.allaboutbeer.com/features/182belg.html

I have a batch of asain pear lambic aged 3 months still in the secondary in my closet. Ive pitched White labs 3278 in the primary and followed up in the secondary with WLP653 and 3526. If its worth a damn in another 9 months or so I can share some. I grabbed a couple recipes off the internets and just did it with pears since they were all over the farmers market at the time. The pears and some oak chips sat in the primary for only a month and a half. I have tons of woulda coulda shouldas, but oh well, tis life.

PS. Its so neat to see a beer geek!

Cheers,
couchy

Anonymous said...

Ben - expect that E-vite in a couple of weeks! I love me an E-vite! I'll try to bring back some chicha ("wild brew" made from corn meal) from Peru, although I don't know if they bottle it...

Couchy - I want to try your lambic! I have a variety of weird beers I can trade you. heckasac can coordinate this. In fact, I'm sure she would love to.

-m

Anonymous said...

Hells Yess!

I would so love to have some kind of special brew tasting event, and then have Joshua Plague cook at it if hes still around town at that point.

Cheers

beckler said...

couchy, i think it's time for you to reveal your true identity. do i know you? i think this joshau plague cooking, homebrew, lambic fest thing sounds like a great idea.

Unknown said...

Sorta,


Im Shawn Wombat on the bad banana rising 7inch. LOL