LT Saloon

Beer Profile: Hitachino Espresso Stout

Image courtesy corebrewing.com

Kiuchi Brewery, Ibaraki, Japan

Profile by Ken Carman

An over abundance of head greeted the glass and lasted a while. There was a distinct coffee/espresso aroma which follows through to the mouthfeel and the taste. Pitch black, as one would expect.

Espresso rules the roost here; in fact so much it’s just too one-dimensional. There is just a bit of sweet that clings to the roof of the mouth, but not much else. Needs to have more depth, malt-wise. Carbonated espresso is simply not that interesting. Pull back on the espresso and add malt complexity would be my advice.

Hops? What hops? Of course, style-wise, not necessary, but a tad might add to the complexity.

Millie, my wife, thought at first it was not that espresso-y, but as it warmed she said it started to dominate along with a dark chocolate-sense. I would agree but the dark, bitter, almost sugarless stuff one uses in cooking, doesn’t eat straight, and dare not feed to the dog because it will kill him. The taste buds tend to not like it straight either.

Discover the Industry’s Hidden Gems: Nanobreweries

Written by Joe Sixpack/For the Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, CA

Megabreweries churn out millions of barrels of beer every year. Microbreweries make thousands. So what do you call a company that brews just 100 or so barrels of beer each year?

A nanobrewery.

A couple dozen have cropped up across the country in the past two years, operating quietly out of basements, garages and even storage units. They brew as little as a barrel (the equivalent of 13 cases) a week and distribute extremely limited supplies to, perhaps, 10 or 12 area bars.

It’s an under-the-radar trend that’s part of the growing local food movement and, frequently, the result of career dissatisfaction.

At Healdsburg Beer Co. in Northern California’s Sonoma wine region, owner Kevin McGee takes weekend breaks from his job as an attorney to brew a single barrel, which he sells to a handful of restaurants.
Read on -- There is more »« Okay, fold it up now

Hurt by Remote Control

Written by Ken Carman

Why did I go away?
How can I explain?
Living with hurt
By remote control
Would have drained
My sane

Hurt
Without a single touch

Hurt
With just a look

Hurt
By being there
Yet hardly there at all

You could not hear
Though your ears
Had been told
All that was left
For me
Was hurt
By remote control…

Some ways
Too easy I’d say
To use my mind
And replay
The more marvelous days
But also ponder
Days seemed cursed
Yet I will never
Ever
Miss the worst
Of the worst

When your laughter became
A blood stained razor
Each knowing smile
Each sarcastic smirk
A hammer claw
Intended
To rip me apart

I couldn’t even start
To drain my life down
Misery’s black hole again
So since I couldn’t even start
To protect my own heart
Or silence my head
I killed us instead

Such a suicide
Still leaves ghosts
But they do my bidding
Not yours
Though I hope
If told
You’d say you had no intent
To hurt
By remote control

Does it matter?
What was once warm
Had turned
So damn cold
You
Held all the cards
I
Decided to fold
And then
Never again
Be hurt
By remote control

Though
I sense
You might
Some nights
Wish you owned
Some device
To torment this heart
Just so then
Once again
You could
Push my buttons
Flip those old
Painful
Levers
I severed
So very long ago

Hurt…
By remote control
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©Copyright 2010
Ken Carman
all rights reserved

Anniversary’s Slender Thread

Author’s note: published on the 36th anniversary of when I met my husband

Written by Millie Jenny C.

Anniversaries pass by year after year
Sometimes it seems we joined hands only days ago

Others… a lifetime ago.

We’ve spent so much time together…
seems I’ve known you all my life.
Now our time together…

is not together all the time.

Gaps between time spent walking hand in hand…
distances between us in miles…

not in the love we feel.

Distances to travel to reconnect…

spend time together.

Stresses that occur from time to time…

in any relationship.

Let us remember always…
they are only minor stresses.
As time is stretched and reshaped…

as we grow together…
sometimes grow separately…
when we are apart.

But the connection, the tether, between us…
is there always… times together… times apart.
Love goes on along the slender thread
we started weaving nineteen years ago
and we will continue weaving… patching it when needed.
As the years and anniversaries…

pass into tomorrow.
__________________________________
©Copyright 1996
Millie Jenny C.
all rights reserved

The Retcher in the Sky