LT Saloon

“Aye. And still ask-in da ladies for der bras so aye may add dem them to my collection.”

“So still the life of the party?”

“That I is. But der ave been some troubles here…”

You walk into your favorite brewpub and find the beer just isn’t what it used to be. Something has changed; for the good… or not. Then you notice the professional brewer you have been getting yeast from; sharing brewing secrets with, maybe even learned more about the art of brewing from, is gone. The brewer at your local brewpub is often the first, and foremost, professional brewer that you have direct; personal, access too as a homebrewer. So you ask around and maybe people are oddly quiet; or you hear a lot of conflicting reasons. But you also find out he has simply stopped brewing. What happened? Well, could be many reasons. This edition of Brew Biz started as a rave re-review, but wound up explaining one reason “why.”

Lady quaffers and gentledrinkers! We will get to that reason in a few paras. But first, for those less in the know about the amazing McGuires phenomenon…

Anyone who goes to McGuires and isn’t entertained, says they weren’t over fed and claims they don’t have fresh beer brewed on the premise, either went to the wrong damn place or is lying.

There are two McGuires, one in Destin, Florida, one in Pensacola. The Pensacola is the oldest, and hence has more stuff hanging from the ceilings and the walls. Where do they put it all; seems to be a physical impossibility. Dollar bills: everywhere: signed by patrons. Bras collected by “Nathan,” the fictional cousin of Mr. McGuire: owner. His fictional exploits are mentioned many places throughout the restaurant. Signed pictures of stars everywhere. Collectibles. Always at least one moose you’re supposed to kiss before you leave. A sea hag with tap handles lovingly attached to her breasts. In Pensacola alone I counted at least ten serving rooms: each with their own intriguing motif… a souvenir section, an elevated bar… The bathrooms have in large letters “Men’s Room”/”Women’s Room” with an arrow pointing the other way and in small letters telling the patron that the other bathroom is the one they really want. There’s been at least one lawsuit regarding this joke.

Most of this is similar to, but not the same as, in Destin. So no need to worry; even if you could possibly read and see everything in Pensacola in one day, drive over to Destin. Each location is that unique.

Millie and I have so many fond memories of McGuires. One year when I was on tour she came to see me Christmas time. There was an ice storm so, for a while, I didn’t know what had happened. Steve invited me over to his home for Christmas Eve until I found out she was OK. As big eaters, for the first time ever we both had to bring the rest of our nacho order home. Imagine a plate the size of a big hubcap piled at least a hand and a half high with a tasty mix of chips cheese, meat… you know: NACHOS. Later that week we planned on going to a movie but after one too many we continued to plot like teenagers in love who had just found each other. Eventually we agreed; rather than possibly attracting the attention of Pensacola’s finest, we’d stay and continue to plot ways to annoy Nathan.

Like Maxwell Smart attempting to eliminate Chaos, we failed.

He’s so damn hard to annoy.

That’s his job.

I have a few special memories all my own. Let’s just say that If after you walk up to the bar you and you don’t get into a few fascinating conversations you must be so introverted you’re walking around inside out.

YUCK. Tuck that liver back in please. Bad liver. Must punish.

But like all stories they tend to take a life of their own. Their first and long time brewer who started in 1988; Steve Fried, left a few years ago… came back… and left again. This cloud has, thankfully, not continue to hang too heavily or dark over McGuire’s. Their beer is still good and the “new” brewers in Pensacola: Mike Helf, Jeff Lampley; Tom Anderson and ex-Buckhead brewer Gary Essex in Destin, have done a great job bringing unique, and pleasing, changes to their standard on tap ales… plus some different one offs and seasonals into both breweries that weren’t there before. Bourbon Soaked Vanilla Bean Imperial Stout anyone? Damn! I had to leave before it came on tap.

Things are still booming. The breweries are pretty small even for the brewpub biz. Destin’s brewery was designed for 700 barrels, but did 800 last year: probably more this year. The same is true of Pensacola, only both figures are larger: 1,000 barrels produced was mentioned. Still, despite the brewer’s ability to go beyond designs; they do have limited capacity and demand is constant: high. This limits what they can brew and still have on tap on a regular basis.

McGuire’s “real” name is William Martin, but you may notice I just refer to him as “McGuire.” That’s more than common practice here. It’s considered a sign of respect for a great marketeer who obviously has the ability to bring people together to operate one of the best restaurants I have ever been to. Scratch that. Two of the best… I’m adding Destin.

If only Steve Fried had left under better circumstances. The problem: butting heads with the owner. McGuire wanted a Bud clone; or perhaps more accurately close to clone. McGuires really doesn’t have the tank capacity to do a lager as a regular brew: takes up too much space and time. Demand is that high. Plus, the owner himself demands “no fillers.” A good thing, but that more than messes up an actual lager-based Bud clone ever being poured on a regular basis.

The first time Steve left he had brewed a light beer, but Mr. McGuire was never totally happy with it. It was an off and on discussion and disagreement. Nothing he did seemed to resolve the situation so eventually they mutually agreed he would leave. He came back when McGuires had been through a few brewers in a short time and they realized: oh damn… no brewer, St Patty’s Day coming up fast. Not enough beer? Double damn. We’re a Irish brewpub! HELP!”

Yes, I just made those quotes up, but I’m sure the angst must have been similar.

After that the issue seemed to be settled: Steve came back, they finally had an approved recipe for McGuires Lite. Steve was told several times by managers and such that it was just right. But nothing was really “settled.”

If you have ever judged beer, consider it this way. Managers and such tell you, “It’s fine.” These are the closest to BJCP judges you have deciding whether it was close enough to the profile; which doesn’t assure it’s “close” at all. And the main: most important judge, was McGuire himself who is no judge at all: BJCP-wise. But this was a business decision… not beer judging.

Then, once again, Mr. McGuire told Steve it wasn’t quite enough like Bud. And, according to Steve, he was accused of changing the recipe. In reality Destin had changed the recipe. 9 Plato, 9 IBU, according to the brewers in Destin the major difference is the use of Casco Glucose Solvent, and Gary said when McGuire tasted it he said, “Oh, hell, yeah!” To my palate it was a bit more “bubbly” and even a tad “corny.” Seems to suit the profile somewhat; just a little bit closer than Steve’s Light, except I can still tell it’s an ale. But… not bad; if that’s what you like.

Finally Steve had had enough. McGuire had had enough. All those years. Steve was the first brewer: 1988. He resigned December 2000 when the Bud clone controversy came to a head. He was asked to come back in March 2003. He finally left again in April 2006 for much the same reason. The formerly light beer cloud he had left under the first time had turned darker and far more stormy, to the point of him deciding be didn’t want to brew at all anymore.

The good news is since the fledgling days of McGuires being the only brewery until Jacksonville to the east, and Abita Springs to the west: hence a lack of professional brewers; Steve had trained many, many brewers. And more brewers were attracted to the Emerald Coast. McGuires, in large part due to Steve, had acquired a great reputation, and many awards, that made attracting talented brewers easier. How to meet goals, have some level of consistency and use the equipment in the best ways to supply a thriving, always growing business… the way to achieve all this as it specifically applies to McGuires: all pioneered by Steve Fried.

To be honest, Steve admits his own stubbornness contributed to losing the job…

“It was a case of the irresistible force (him) against an immovable object (me).”

To be honest again: it’s McGuire’s business. He can hire, fire whomever, and demand whatever, he wishes. But since that we’re doing “honesty,” it’s obvious that the restaurant owner, McGuire should count himself damn lucky that he found Steve and he stayed there so long. That’s not that frequent in the brew biz/brewpub scene.

Look at it another way: as a homebrewer people judge you for your beer who don’t have the credentials or the experience to judge; and really don’t know much about beer. Imagine for a moment that your very livelihood is reliant on these “judges.” As much as it can annoy some, it makes one thankful that there are experienced judges who rely on more on style guidelines than less informed opinions.

I left the Emerald Coast at the mid-January with a McGuires glass, still savoring both the lamb stew and their slightly Belgian-ish Millennium Ale that Steve first created, but Tom, Mike, Jeff and Gary have continued with class.

“Well Ken, how did we do?”

“Loved it as always Nathan.”

“Come back when you can: we always have extra lampshades.”

“I know Nathan, I’ve worn one too many myself.”
__________________________________________________
Brew Biz is a column by Ken Carman that covers all aspects of the beer, and beer related, business. Portions of this column may be reproduced for the purposes of quotes or to publish the column, but only if credited to Ken Carman as the sole author.

© Copyright 2009
Ken Carman and Cartentual Productions
All rights reserved.

campaign. Knowing that Coleman would not concede defeat, even after he got his recount in the state appeals court that put Franken further ahead with a 312-vote lead, Franken’s lawyers outflanked Norm’s wrecking crew by filing papers with the Minnesota Supreme Court asking for an expedited decision to be made in five days. Coleman’s legal beagles, par for the course, want it extended for ten days, because that’s just how petty they are. Even most Republicans know Norm’s lost this thing and his legal affairs are in the hands of the same sort of pissy-nasty parasites who masterminded the equally futile Paula Jones civil-suit farce in an attempt to get Bill Clinton. Well, perhaps the out-of-work, disgraced Coleman needs the money from the big-bucks funders of the neocon Weltanschung, just as Jones did, so he’s allowing himself to be manipulated by Bushite Ben Ginsberg and the other rightie extremists so far out in the ozone they’re willing to pursue a losing case all the way to the US Supreme Court just to deny MN voters the right to have two senators representing their interests. But there is another dimension to this: (1) Washington Republicans are fearful of Franken on a national stage – he’s funny, smart, sincere, and he won’t hesitate to use his wit and sharp tongue to puncture their self-righteous balloons; (2) Al deeply insulted Rush Limbaugh, the de facto head of the GOP, going so far as to call him a ‘big, fat idiot’ in a book title. He also wouldn’t take crap from Bill O’Reilly in public. Such honesty and courage must be punished – after all, he might rally the Dems to slay the GOP dragon once and for all! Watch for this to stumble on through the summer, unless Harry Reid seats Franken over Republican objections. Once in the Senate, Coleman’s attack dogs would finally be toothless as I doubt the moneybags backing this folly would keep wasting loot on a lost cause.

Currently Flying Over at the Cuckoo’s Nest: Since I can’t stomach watching Roger Ailes’ cable TV mess I haven’t confirmed this, but reports say Fox News was the only major US news media outlet that did not carry Obama’s press conference last night. We Report, You Decide, unless, of course, we refuse to report on it at all. (But you can bet selected Obama quotes will be plucked out of context and twisted by Fox hosts as they bang the doom drum for ratings.) Since Fox has carried previous Obama speeches and press conferences, this can only mean the terrified twits at Fox are so scared of Obama that they are censoring him – yes, I suppose it would be pretty hard to make the case that he’s some kind of crazed left-wing fascist dictator out to steal your guns and freedom when he appears so affable and calm and speaks so rationally. But won’t even some Fox News viewers, who may occasionally stray to another channel, spot Fox’s stunning bias here? Ailes is so contemptuous of what remains of his viewership he probably thinks they won’t. The audience for the paranoid-right malarkey spewed by Fox News and it’s handmaidens in the rest of the anti-Obama organ grinder is dwindling or dying off – the average age of a Fox News viewer is over 60; right-wing media across the board is tumbling in the ratings; Fox’s parent News Corporation, owned by Rupert Murdoch, is posting record losses; and Rupe’s flagship US fishwrapper (until he bought The Wall Street Journal), the money-losing New York Post, has lost 1 out of 5 readers, the highest decline by far among all major newspapers. You Heard It Here First: Even billionaire Murdoch can’t continue to hemorrhage money like this – watch for him to dump Fox News and the NY Post within the next 18 months and concentrate on building the WSJ and acquiring the New York Times. Oh, and Ailes himself has one foot on a banana peel over at FN – watch for him to be swept out in any major housecleaning this year.

Finally, The Incredible Shrinking GOP: Three separate polls in a week show the number of people willing to admit they’re Republicans at about 20 percent, down from 25 percent. Watch for more crossovers to the Dems – Sen. Olympia Snowe is a good possibility, along with some Republican Congress-creatures to be named later. The writing’s on the wall: Get a new game or good-bye GOP. I don’t think they can do it – it’s not in their political DNA.

Contact the author at editor@ltsaloon.org.

Copyright 2009 R.S. Janes. LTSaloon.org.

The only good thing about this is that he gives the Senate one more possible vote against a Republican filibuster.   Other than that, I don’t expect too much out of him except to water down a lot of legislation.

I have to agree with Republican Chair Michael Steele:

“Let’s be honest –Sen. Specter didn’t leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record.”

Okay, I almost agree.  It isn’t that Spector had a “left-wing” voting record, it is just that the Party of No is trying to move further to the Right and it left Spector and a few others without a home.

The voters haven’t really changed all that much — the Parties have.  Both Parties have moved to the Right.  Today’s Democrats are yesterday’s Republicans, and today’s Republicans are tomorrow’s Taliban.

If Arlen Specter thinks that simply changing labels he can just continue on mouthing one thing and voting another, he is going to find a real Democrat coming to challenge him in the Democratic Primary.  The drubbing he receives in THAT primary will make any defeat he suffers in a GOP primary look like a handshake.

The top two things that are on people’s minds are single-payer health care and the Employee Free Choice Act — both of which he has first mouth support for, only to change his mind later.

Simply changing your identity isn’t going to make the growing numbers of Democrats in Pennsylvania support him if he isn’t going to support those two positions.  He might as well have stayed a Republican — at least he won’t get beat up so bad in the primary.

So I don’t feel so joyous at seeing Arlen Spector cross the aisle to the Democratic side.  It means very little if he isn’t going to change his positions.

We already have to contend with a group of “Blue Dog Democrats” each with an infestation of red fleas, now we have to suck up to another Joe Liebermann?

So a 6000 cow dairy would produce about the same waste as a city of 120, 000 people, with no sewage treatment. That’s about the size of Syracuse NY. Can you imagine if all the sewage from a city of that size was simply dumped into an unlined open air lagoon (pond) and then thickly spread on top of the ground around your town? Do you suppose that the town where this dairy is located, with a population of 1800, could get away with handling its human waste that way?

Of all environmental impacts created by mega-dairies, air pollution generally imposes the most immediate problem for the community. Dairy workers and those living near dairies frequently report adverse health effects from exposure to animal waste. People who experience prolonged exposure to dairy-related pollutants are vulnerable to respiratory illness, lung inflammation, and asthma, according to the EPA. The agency also states that “odorous and potentially toxic gases, such as sulfur dioxide, produced by the decomposition of animal wastes, may also cause nausea, headaches, and throat and eye irritation.” Recently, three men at two different dairies in California died when they were overcome by toxic fumes from liquefied manure, fell into manure holding tanks, and drowned.

One big difference in the waste from a CAFO dairy and that from a traditional dairy is the amount of water in it. A traditional dairy uses bedding which absorbs the liquid portion of the waste. The manure spread then is more solid, less likely to run off and easier to incorporate into the soil. The larger systems use less bedding (hard to pump) and more water, sometimes even using flush systems to wash the manure out of the barn. This manure is more likely to run off or to seep through the soil producing groundwater contamination.

There is a difference in odor also. A liquid system is much more offensive because the chemicals are more volatile. Think about a cat box without litter in it to absorb the urine. The large systems of course have a larger amount of air pollution in one place. Think about the difference between washing your windows with an ammonia solution, or holding your nose directly over the open bottle.

People and watersheds are being hurt. Those who live next door are being hurt on an immediate daily basis. The rest of us get the affects as the sh%* runs down hill.

U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section I: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” [Emphasis mine.]

Oath Taken by the VP and Other Senior US Government Officers: “I … do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” [Emphasis mine.]

US Constitution, Article 6: “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.” [Emphasis mine.]

It’s time to impeach Jay Bybee and remove him from the bench, and then prosecute the rest of these criminals for failing to uphold the law.

Copyright 2009 R.S. Janes. LTSaloon.