beer

For some reason known only to the BBC News website gnomes, the story "Guinness good for you - official" is #1 in their lists of most popular stories today. Which wouldn't be that interesting, except that it's a story from 2003.

It momentarily confused me as I remembered what I thought was a similar BBC story from a few years ago, linked to here at Celsius1414 in the story "Guinness good for you. And the Pope is Catholic.", wherein I said:

Since I always feel better after having a pint of Guinness, this seems to confirm my findings.

Indeed. So, turns out it isn't a similar but the same story, popular again six and a half years later. The salient point being, of course, that Guinness is good for you. Still.

Very strange earthquake frenzy this past week in Redlands. The latest about half an hour ago was a series of four within five minutes of each other:

PRELIM: M3.4 19:53 2/19 34.0N 117.2W 5 km SSW of Redlands, CA GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIF. Z=4km CI 10544893 33f06

PRELIM: M3.3 19:54 2/19 34.0N 117.2W 4 km SSW of Redlands, CA GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIF. Z=6km CI 10544901 33f06

PRELIM: M3.3 19:57 2/19 34.0N 117.2W 6 km SSW of Redlands, CA GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIF. Z=8km CI 10544925 33f06

PRELIM: M2.5 19:58 2/19 34.0N 117.2W 5 km SSW of Redlands, CA GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIF. Z=9km CI 10544933 33f06

Even before these four, there had been over 100 quakes along the San Jacinto Fault south of Redlands since the 4.1 quake on February 13th -- more than 20 of those 100 were bigger than 2.0. (See Daily Facts (2/18): "Tremors rattle Redlands".)

Disconcerting, to say the least.

UPDATE:

@Hangar24Brewery: 22 Earthquakes based in Redlands so far today! Time for a beer. http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/117-34.html

UPDATE 2:

From PE.com:

Since [the 4.1 quake on Feb. 13th], six minor quakes and more than 115 micro quakes — magnitude 2.5 or smaller — have struck in the same region.

Hangar 24 Craft Brewery CEO Ben Cook won "emerging entrepreneur of the year" at an Inland Empire awards event last week. Congratulations, Ben and brewery! :) Absolutely well deserved.

"Inland brewer builds customer base, wins top entrepreneurial award"

Riverside native Ben Cook is not only a master brewer -- and that's official, after he completed a specialized course at UC Davis -- but he can now add master businessman to his resume.

Cook, 29, was named emerging entrepreneur of the year at last week's Spirit of the Entrepreneur Awards. The annual honors, presented by Cal State San Bernardino, recognize the Inland region's top business leaders in eight categories, picked from more than 100 nominees.

Hangar 24 is @Hangar24Brewery on Twitter.

I've been catching up on the weekly Working Class Foodies video podcast lately. Hosted by siblings Max and Rebecca Lando (along with Humphrey the dog), the show is an entertaining combination of frugal cooking, fresh ingredients, informative techniques, humor. Cool camera work as well. Definitely recommended.

The latest video is all about Beeramisu, a no-bake Thanksgiving dessert.

One of the brewers at our local brewery, Hangar 24, has just won top honors in the world for the prestigious JS Ford Award. And given how good their beer is, I am not surprised. :)

Kevin Wright was a passionate home brewer a few years ago, then went through the UC Davis master brewer program. Afterwards, he took the test held by the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London:

The test is 12 hours long and is taken in three parts over two days - eight hours on the first day.

"It's an extremely difficult test - I took it myself," said Hangar 24 owner Ben Cook. "It really tests your knowledge. Only a small fraction of brewers take that test and you go through accreditation just to take (it).

"You sit in the exam with people from all over world. He scored best in the world for that exam."

Read the whole story at the H24 website, "Hangar 24 brewer earns top industry honor", or in the Daily Facts: "Redlands man wins top brewing award". I was excited to learn from the latter that Stater Bros. was going to start carrying Hangar 24. Whoo hoo!

Congratulations, Kevin! And thanks for the beer! :)

DJ Ruby Rhod:

What was that honey? It was BAD! It had no fire, no energy, no nothing! So tomorrow from 5 to 7 will you PLEASE act like you have more than a two word vocabulary. It must be green.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all. Here are a few related Celsius1414 posts of yesteryear:

"Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!"

You might surmise from the surname, and you’d be correct, that today is a special day for yours truly. As fellow Irishman Vin Scully said prior to this morning’s first televised Dodger spring training game, “Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all, especially if it applies.” :)

"Irish and Jewish cuisine exchanges?"

Naomi over at Will Tell Stories For Food posted earlier today on a curious culinary coincidence, “Ethnic Food”, prompted by the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day.

The story starts out with the odd corned beef tradition on the holiday, which apparently started in the States, a dish which the Irish didn’t have back in Ireland. A cuisine that does have corned beef (or brined brisket at least) is Jewish.[...]

The plot thickens, too. Guess who likes lox.

"Guinness good for you. And the Pope is Catholic."

Drink a Guinness for your health! The BBC is reporting on a study that shows a Guinness a day keeps the heart doctor away.[...]

Since I always feel better after having a pint of Guinness, this seems to confirm my findings. ;)

"Bearded drinkers lose out"

Almost £500,000 worth of Ireland’s world famous stout is lost each year in the moustaches and beards of imbibers of the creamy headed black stuff.

Research carried out in the UK by Guinness reveals that an estimated 92,370 moustachioed drinkers of the Irish brew lose up to 162,719 pints each year.

And from Grown Diaries over the weekend, "Ode to the Potato"

Being of Irish and German extraction, I am, as you might expect, enamored of the humble potato.[...]

It is thus with great pleasure that I point to today's poetry entry from the ongoing and endlessly entertaining Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor, "Ode to the Potato" by Barbara Hamby:

"They eat a lot of French fries here," my mother
   announces after a week in Paris, and she's right,
not only about les pommes frites but the celestial tuber
   in all its forms: rotie, purée, not to mention
au gratin or boiled and oiled in la salade niçoise.[...]

Continue...

Check out this awesome bicycle chain bottle opener my friend Gregg got for me. Works great.