Belgium Toasts a Beer Knight
According to U.S. based National Public Radio, a.ka. 'NPR', the impact of the Knights [direct audio link to story] are now being felt worldwide:
World Belgium Toasts a Beer Knight
Weekend Edition Saturday, September 1, 2007 · Beer is among Belgium's top exports and a source of cultural pride. Belgians take the subject of suds seriously enough to bestow knighthood on those who are particularly knowledgeable about the nation's 700-plus beer varieties. American Bill Catron became Sir Bill this weekend at a ceremony in Brussels. He tells Scott Simon about the honor.
More soon, this corner, where I have already drafted most of two of these planned posts--one on 'real chess' (BDK meter=1.7), and one more 'idiosyncratic' (BDK meter 11.2).
[For those not already in the know, in our 'chess improvement' blogging circle, the term "Knight Errant" indicates a group of bloggers in chess, who seek to improve their chess, in using copious if not exhaustive repetition in subjecting their results to the scrutiny of fellow bloggers, for comparison or utility.]
warmly, dk
posted by transformation at 11:59 PM
13 Comments:
Saturday knight, drinking a beer after just finishing a new post, I ask myself why is Heineken so popular worldwide? The normal beer from Germany (5%)or the strong beers from Belgium (>5%) are much better! Leffe is my favorite.
thank you. i knew youd appreciate this post! Heineken = read 'marketing'. marketing creates perception of superiority (an aspect of supposed rarety or scarcity) amidst mediocrity.
im affraid to say, i already am quite familiar with Belgian beer or similar monkishly crafty delectible liquids to imbibe, whereby, as Gurjieff spoke of those 'old Calvattos', at the end of Meetings With Remarkable Men, 'put aside by monks who knew the true significance of life...'
me? 'in the day', my penchant was for those 9.2% beers, the malty heavy beers, which, along with red wine, i sometimes miss.
im on the back deck, in the intense sun now, eating steel cut oatmeal, after eating an organic apple and orange, after low sodium vegetable juice,
with position number 823 and 824 on a board, from CT-Art 3.0, so am 'started again',
before leaving in minutes to pick up my oldest friend, come down from the last leg of the Pacific Crest Trail off the saddle of Mount Rainier, at 7000' feet, or Chinook Pass...
Makes me thirsty.
I have a favourite Irish pub nearby which has a very high variety of beers. Indian Pale Ale spiced with coriander is a favourite. Meed is good for invading neighbouring countries...
I just noticed you finished that game on rhp. it got quite explosive nearing the end. you mopped the board with that poor guy. well played! :)
heineken is okay I think, but nothing special. it's all marketing like dk already said. I'd go as far as to say the guinness draught has a similar problem. everybody knows guinness, even those who never drink beer, but it really tastes quite miserable. a matter of taste, of course, but in my opinion guinness tastes exactly like someone had used your beer for an ashtray. and I mean that literally. take any lager, put out a couple of cigarettes into, let it 'age' an hour or two, make the error of tasting it, and you'll be hard pressed to tell it apart from guinness.
maybe the secret ingredient actually is cigarette stubs? :)
Hi David - two thoughts:
1. I am growing fond of light Belgian beers - Hoogarden e.g.
2. What's the machine in the photo? I love old heavy industry monstrosities like that.
ds
reassembler.com
BDK: three years next week, no alcohol. very good for me! Exactly what i dont need right now...
samurai;
good to have you back, fine young man. hope wife, baby, and nursing education back in Sweeden goes well.
wormwood:
when i finally graduated college (a five year professional degree, but took a year off in the middle, to do construction, and read the classics undesturbed), at that time i just yearned to be able to afford a Heinikken. of course, not long thereafter, that stopped--both the limit of money and the desire for it.
when i got to seattle, beer was everywhere here. then, a man who had a boutique grocery approached me, to help him with his money, of which i made him a large windfall in deft stock selection, and he walked me through his tiny but well appointed store, and he started selecting malty, 9% beers, from germany and belgium, and so began my love for those heavy, almost sweet beers, that stir the brain.
blow him off the board? it turns out, the game is almost lost once black takes the poisen pawn e3xf2... and it just keeps getting worse. i will try two games next, and see if i can use my same technique of move analysis with two games, then latter three, not sure if i can, as it takes a LOT of time.
CTS is wearing out for me, and i started back at CT-Art 3.0 level five yesterday, which continues late this morning. very, very hard!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsidez/tags/belgium/
dear Derek, while spelling is not my forte, i am otherwise a carefull observer in many areas, not least of which in the sociology of knowledge, mapping if not physically then at least mentally who is who in our area, so of course came to understand in the last week or two that derek was the ReAssembler, who i enjoy very greatly.
like me, you range widely, and bear the mark of a true educated human. for me, to call someone a human, is one of my highest compliments.
link to photo, which doesnt have specifics on location or type, but a carefull reading of comments at nearby similar brown toned photos of belgium might bear fruit.
as a registered architect (i now gladly am done after 25+ years, starting full on at age ten, then practicing the ten years up to age thirty five) im not much on what is called urban archaelogy, but the images are better than the facts, thereof.
summer is ending, after which, i can start taking carefully nurtured vegetable or chicken stock alike, and make my own heart soups, broths, stews, the kind of constructs that could hold a timber vertical… shallots, ginger, rosemarie, 18 bean and beef, or lentals…
three years next week no alcohol, very bad for depression, in this case, but i do keep malty beer in the refrigerator, just to prove to myself i dont need or want it…
photo above kinda of like Jules Vern or such.
i see you are a big wheel in security, and editor, and have your own fine voice.
thank you for being.
please feel free to email me directly at any time, with appropriate subject identified as not viagra or such–they found me last month, and now it wont stop. :)
warm regards, dk
:-)
very true what you said about
drinking and depression. when you run out of mental energy, drinking should be the first thing to go. I've seen people who get problems with drinking, and although I don't think alcohol (usually) is the reason for the problems, saying goodbye to it will solve a great number of them. as will getting in good physical shape, which you obviously have nailed down as well.
and congrats for the three years, it takes a great deal of dicipline to pull that off. as the urge never really goes away, does it? it's in our blood, our making. the tempting darkness within. there's no escape, we just have to live with it.
thank you wormwood.
eager as i am to respond, one or two posts removed from tomorrow
...
(when i will be putting out part I of a comprehensive post on the state of my chess, my chess study, chess play, chess future plans, in clean no 'frills format', large enough that it will need at least a part II and probably a part III)
...
id like to please differ that till when i put out a more wild post, my answers to my own outrageous questions, far beyond the kin of what are constituted 'normal things that are discussed in public' about my own psychie, my family history, my habits, etc.
like part I, this wild post is also already substantially written, and over coffee each morning on vacation, adumbrate the content some more each day variously...
stay tuned.
i can only note, for now, that i am half German, and a quarter Scott, so we dont tend to F_ck around with Sh_t. and, i suspect, my DNA is therefore already predisposed towards excessive behavior. :)
Rarely would this be on topic at a chess blog, but I'll take this opportunity to recommend any Jamaican Red beer. They're not as popular as they should be.
WW said:
I've seen people who get problems with drinking, and although I don't think alcohol (usually) is the reason for the problems, saying goodbye to it will solve a great number of them.
That's strange. My problems disappear when I drink:)
Well my Kraut Mc friend, its seems we have something in common after all. Thier was once a chess blogger who is long since gone from the known blogosphere. We had some very good discussions on addiction and chess. Im not nor ever have been an addict but have much experience with it. Chess is a nice world, neatly packaged and easy to control. Great for the extreme personality of the addict.
On a lighter note. Im from Milwaukee so Ive had just about every beer ever made. Some of the best is from Lake Front Brewery. http://www.lakefrontbrewery.com/
If you get the chance you wont be disappointed.
Post a Comment
<< Home