cdh

Great idea indeed, V. Very interesting idea.

Must say that I agree with V. I'd be quite displeased if we adopted an "if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all" policy. If anybody has anything nice to say, then a thread like this will certainly bring them out of the woodwork. Let all opinions be aired and let the criticism be constructive.

I think Imperial is a fine descriptive adjective... it is evolving into the language like lots of words do. It went from being solely associated with Russian Imperial Stout (which was brewed really big for shipping and market demand reasons), to then being applied to beers that are brewed similarly big compared to the the base style. That works just fine for me. My issues, however, are the compulsive drive to invent whole new style guidelines to accommodate this convenient adjective, and the stylistic confusion that happens when people don't think about what they're brewing, but rather what they're calling it. I have never been a style brewer. I brew beers that I like, and if they're not within the lines that the BJCP wants me to color inside, then too bad. If you want to brew a great big example of a particular style, go right ahead... just don't invent a new style definition so that you can claim that you've "brewed to style". You haven't, but your beer may still be really good.

Great scoop, Rich! That was a great explanation of the situation. I hope our elected representatives choose to do something about it. I'll have to look up my representatives and send them a copy of that testimony along with a note urging action.

Perfect analysis, Katie. MSRPs are bunk in every industry. And value, particularly in something like wine, is subjective. I still feel had for getting suckered into paying like $20 for a tasting pour of Opus One at the winery last time I was in Napa. Don't like it, not worth what they're asking for it. If the PLCB landed a truckload of Opus and flogged it for $20 I'd still not buy it depsite the ungodly MSRP. I don't like it. That doesn't make the PLCB fraudsters for selling a bottle of wine I'd value as worthess for $20.

First the Chattanooga Beluga, now Tennessee truffles. Maybe it's time to move down there and get close to the good stuff... Truffles and caviar from TN... who'da thunk it? Anybody down there got duck and goose farms going yet?

That sodaclub equipment does look good. It does, however, appear to be a proprietary system, so you're dependent upon their future wellbeing in order to keep using the equipment. If they stop selling CO2 refills, you'd be out of luck. (A situation I found myself in when I bought a metal soda bottle from Williams Sonoma that requires Kisag charges... and then WS stopped stocking them and I couldn't find them anywhere else.... it made awful metallic soda, so not much loss... but frustrating nonetheless.)

If you've got $100-200 to spend, and figure you'll get a couple of glasses of fizzy a day's use out of it, I'd have to recommend going with something like what I've got: 1 5 gallon soda keg - ~$20 at Adventures in Homebrewing 1 CO2 regulator and connection kit - ~$60 at the Beverage Factory 1 5 lb CO2 tank ~$57 also at the Bev Factory (and you'll need someplace local to fill it for you... ~$10-20) With all of that, you will be able to make 5 gallons of fizzy at a time, and the 5lb tank should last you about a year. And you could save counter space by getting a longer tap connector hose and stowing the keg and tank somewhere out of the way. Mine is down in the basement, and the hose is fed up through the hole in the floor that the fridge's ice maker line goes through. The only thing you see in the kitchen is a thin vinyl hose with a tap on it on the side of the fridge. When your fizzy runs out, you throw a bunch of ice and water into the keg, turn up the gas pressure, and give it a shaking to dissolve the CO2 into solution. Once enough gas is in there, you can turn down the pressure and enjoy. That setup will be much more easy and economical than a countertop setup. The ISI costs you $60 upfront, and then $.75 per quart... the keg way costs $150 upfront, but that cost covers the first 100+ gallons.

I've not been in the seltzer bottle market for a while, but I can tell you a few things I learned a while back. 1. Some metal bottles will leave a metalic taste in your fizzy water. Not very tasty. If you feel the urge to buy a metal one, do it from someplace that has a satisfaction guarantee. 2. There are at least two different and incompatible types of CO2 chargers. There are the ordinary metal capsules, and there are metal capsules with little plastic widgets on top. The latter, called Kisag chargers, are tough to find and expensive. Avoid products that use them. 3. The ordinary chargers can be quite expensive some places. Best deal I've run across, thanks to somebody here on eG who pointed it out, is at www.bestwhip.com. Some crazy DIYers have modified 2L PET soda bottles with tire valve stems and use a regulated CO2 tank... google around and a how-to will come up. I use 5 gallon stainless steek soda kegs to keg my homebrewed beer, and have one of them dedicated to seltzer... also gassed by a regulated CO2 tank. What's your budget, and what sort of space restrictions have you got?

A ham isn't a ham without more chemicals than salt.. the saltpeter is what keeps it pink, isn't it? Don't recall whether it is a nitrate or a nitrite, but I know it is necessary. Country hams don't go grey when you cook them, do they? If it stays pink, there must be some saltpeter in there.

If you really wanted the roasted flavor, roasted barley (unmalted) is where it comes from in stouts. That is the stuff that some real caffeine-phobic folks and faux food afficionados brew and serve as a coffee replacement. A staple on macrobiotic menus and such... but also the key to a roasty delicious stout as well.

So their publicly available info was ambiguous, but in correspondence about the ambiguity, somebody at the LCB took it upon themself to lie to you in a letter. I can see why you'd be seething about it, but the public would not. Is that what is going on here?

Must say thanks to the cogniscenti here for the excellent recommendation of Mama's on the Halfshell for dinner in Baltimore. I found myself down there to hear a talk at the Aquarium yesterday and made the detour over to Canton for some excellent food indeed. Made a meal out of appetizers, and everything was very well executed. Thanks all, and keep 'em in business for the next time I'm coming through town.

Aren't people growing them in Hawaii and Puerto Rico now? I'd heard they were in the pipeline to be available legally sometime soon.

Monin makes a very strong violet syrup that does that job. You could dilute some with vodka to get a creme de violet sort of thing... or you could just use a dropper and add all the violet character you want to your cocktail with a few drops. I've got one bottle that will last at least a lifetime.

Should be fine. How fizzy do you want it? You could look into carbonation calculators to figure what fizzyness you'll get from how much sugar. See http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html for one.

Thinking about this from a descriptive point of view rather than a normative one explains a lot about Bryan's state of mind when the original event occurred. It was a "I'm shocked and disturbed because the sun rose in the West, unlike every other day when the sun rose in the East" kind of experience, rather than a "OMG, they had the audacity to enforce the law against ME!" experience. (Though the original description was easily able to be read both ways.)

I have to differ on the E&J VSOP... I picked up a bottle of that for $8 a while back with the idea of trying it for brandy cocktails. It was horrible in sidecars and stingers. Too woody, too sweet, no structure at all. I'd avoid the E&J.

Hmmm... perhaps I've been reading sentences meant to be declarative as normative. I don't think the language is clear. I've been speaking normatively.

Don't worry about the airlock water getting into the beer. It has happened before, and hasn't caused any problems for me. As to the time before bottling, I'd suggest giving it at least 10 days... stuff is still going on in there beyond the initial fermentation. And a 24 hour full ferment is unlikely... It may have gotten 80 or 90% done, but will require some time to finish off.

I do have to ask the "other side" of this debate: Would a beer pairing merit a similar waiver of enforcement that you advocate for wine? If not, then why not? Is wine special in a way that martinis, bourbon-and-sodas, or other boozy bevs are not?

That's exactly the way I'm reading it. Maybe we're speaking different languages here. Or maybe you'd just like to meet in an alley someplace and you can try to kick somebody or other's ___ like you offered over in the Ssam Bar thread. That would settle it.

What is the difference between PLCB "profits" and taxes? Both are money paid in to the government's coffers. While in any non-state-owned business there is a huge difference, in this case, I can't see one unless there is some sort of statutory accounting rule that allocates profits back to the Board and makes taxes part of the general fund or some such. It is all money going into the hands of the government. While we hear that revenues are up and profits are down, doesn't increased revenues translate into increased taxes? What is the bottom line figure here? That's what matters.

Now we're getting back to statutory construction again. Is the NY State booze law a law of general applicability, intended as such by the legislature, or is it a troubleshooting law meant to be applied only to solve a particular problem? Is compliance with this law compulsory or optional? In the old common law days, this sort of absolutist silliness would have been tempered by a judge who would have carved out an exception that the general rule does not appear to have. Are you suggesting that everybody today is qualified to take that judicial role and carve out exceptions cutting the old judicial wisdom out of the picture? Judges are still doing it today... why not leave it to them? You'd not have a VCR today if the Supreme court hadn't carved a common sense shaped hole into the middle of the Copyright Act... and that was only 20ish years ago.

Euphemisms are not helpful here. Discretion to do what?