Beer and Hostages Don't Mix

Boy howdy, if'n that ain't my favorite sort of drunk . . .

News of the Weird: According to CBS News, a man in Fort Madison, Iowa, took five people hostage in a motel room. His cunning plan, however, went awry when he sent a couple of them out on a beer run.

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Birthday Wishes

What kind of wine goes with cake and olives? Anteater Albarino? Long-nose Nebbiolo?

Some of my friends are celebrating birthdays: Ace and Chester both live in Austin, and the last time I was there visiting Austin Homebrew and Water to Wine I got a chance to visit with them at a barbecue most graciously hosted by Julie-Beth and Dutcher, and attended by most of my imaginary (read: internet-associated) friends. Folks in Texas in general, and Austin in particular are some of the nicest and most hospitable in the world.

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Drink More Pink, I Think

Dunno about you, but I"m feelin' in the pink

If you're a regular reader of this column, you'll know two things: first, you really need to find more interesting things to do with your leisure time, and second, pink is my favorite colour. For once, it seems that the rest of the world agrees with me!

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Taste the Difference

A healthy breakfast, including juice, toast, cereal and nine glasses of wine!

If you're a wine tasting beginner, trying to sort out all the aromatic descriptors that people use can be very confusing: hints of mulberry? Nuances of tobacco, leather and earth (sounds like my uncle's basement!)? While a lot of the arfy-flarfy descriptors run a gamut between the merely personal and the intentionally obfuscative (jargon is designed to exclude the layman so you can charge him more), many of them are chosen to relate the aromatics in the glass to things you may already have smelled--the idea is to place the aromas in an understandable context.

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Time is Running Out--WIN FREE STUFF!

Hey, it's almost time for lunch! Let's get sushi!

Entries are pouring in for my win an autographed winemaking DVD and varietal poster! Initially it looked like everyone was going to win (thanks to all three of you!) but over the weekend a flood of entries came through--with some really nice stories attached.

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The Wine Spectator's New Clothes

I wonder if that's an honest definition?

My mama always said, 'If you can't say anything nice, come sit by me'. No, wait: I think that was Dorothy Parker. In any case, I've had very little nice to say about the Wine Speculator magazine over the years. In the commercial industry they're often colloquially referred to as 'The Wine Dictator', or worse, and are lumped in with absolutist critics like Robert Parker.

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Changes

Come, my friends,

T'is not too late to seek a newer world

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What the Hail?


The hail you say?

Hail starts out as droplets of rain miles above in the clouds. Updrafts hold them aloft, preventing them from reaching the ground. The droplets freeze as they rise, due to colder temperatures aloft. Drops of supercooled water(liquid water colder than freezing) impact ice these pellets and freeze instantly, increasing the size of the pellet. Pellets can actually fall and rise several times, getting larger and larger as more water freezes on them. When hail pellets become too heavy to be lifted by the updraft they fall to the ground. The stronger the updraft, the larger the hail. Updrafts of 90 km/h (55 mph) create hail the size of golf balls, and updrafts of 145 km/h (90 mph) can create hail the size of baseballs.

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Win Free Stuff!

That mug is supposed to increase consumer acceptance? Maybe by driving them to drink.

It's finally happened! The home winemaking instructional DVD, 'I Made This' is in-stock and shipping now. I've blogged about the process of making the video–it was pretty intense, writing, scripting (two different things, oddly) blocking, directing, narrating and editing were all fascinating, but now I understand why TV people make big money. It's because they earn it. And everything happens in slow motion, at super high-speed.

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High Scores for Washington Wines

Those don't look like Vinifera leaves . . .

Talk about mixed-use agriculture: according the to the Yakima Herald-Republic vineyards in Washington State's Yakima Valley are being used as cover for illegal cannabis plantations. From the Wine Spectator:

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Weekly Wined-Up

Only five? Am I getting old?

This week's wined-up includes some real finds and a few value-priced wines that really emphasise value. From left to right:

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Into the Air, Junior Birdman!

I can see your house from here. Close your drapes or put on a robe!

Ahh, back in the saddle again--I was off last week, celebrating summer at home. We did a couple of Timbiathalons (Bocci and Scrabble) did a little experimental cooking, gardened, walked the beach, visited friends and help my Auntie Stell celebrate her 90th birthday. (I gave her noodles. You can't eat a card and homemade Tjiltje for a Mennonite beats flowers any day).

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The Not-So Invisible Hand

Either he's tooting his own horn, or that's a rather large flagon of Rosè

October 24-26th will mark the first-ever Wine Bloggers conference in Sonoma. It sounds like a pretty cool place (and time) to go for a wine get-together, but I can't see the logic behind this 'bloggers conference'.

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Starbucks Will Not Roll In Clover

Ubiquitous ain't the word, mate. Image by Bernie Hou

Starbucks is doomed.

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Colonel Berlusconi, In a Box, With a Certificate

Tube be or not tube be?

Photo by Lars Klove, NYTimes

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So That's What It Looks Like

Cartoon view of a crystal structure (PDB-1LDY)

of Liver Alcohol Dehydrogenase showing the system consists

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