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Late October 2023
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Is it really October? I had really intended to have an update in May, but something happened to me along the way. Things went a little off the rails when Tears of the Kingdom was released on May 12. Zelda's not going to just save herself, people! I probably put solid 3 months into this game (my completion was something like 40%—I unlocked every lightroot and shrine, but whiny Koroks can kiss my ass), which didn't leave a lot of spare time for blogging.
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Then we transitioned from the virtual adventure and embarked on an IRL one, rafting the Grand Canyon in July. This was a truly awe-inspiring, bucket-list experience that totally messed with my sense of scale. Then a whole lot of life stuff kept me off my game for the rest of the summer and early fall. I'll try to be better with the updates, but maybe it would be best not to promise anything in particular.
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I should acknowledge that the world's a tough place right now and I have complicated feelings about everything that's going on. Blog posts and soundbites can't capture them—what we need is conversation rooted in mutual respect. This newsletter will instead focus on the things that create sparks of joy amongst the darkness that threatens to overwhelm.
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What's going on culturally? We did the Barbenheimer thing way back in the summer—I heard the Pavement reference in Barbie and felt seen. It's been a decent stretch for live music. Notably:
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- boygenius at the Re:Set festival in Pasadena in June with daughter Allison. Allison has her own taste in music, and it's good. boygenius' The Record is a really great one, and the joy and cameraderie that these three women shared on stage—even in the service of elevated sad-girl indie rock—was fantastic. We're seeing them again at the Hollywood Bowl on Halloween, this time with 100 Gecs, which promises to be a kick in the head.
- King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizzard at the Hollywood Bowl in June. Their name is ridiculous. They release an album every 10 minutes. They do death metal, Krautrock, electronica, microtones, spaghetti western soundtrack music. They have no fear. The concert went on for over 3 hours and "The Dripping Tap" melted my brain.
- Sparks & They Might Be Giants at the Hollywood Bowl in July. Ecstatic double bill for me - we saw TMBG at the Wiltern in April on the long-delayed Flood 30th anniversary tour, but this abbreviated set still hit home, and Sparks is really on a roll with Annette and The Girl is Crying in Her Latte. The Maels are LA boys who decided they wanted to become rock stars when their mom took them to the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl; this homecoming 60 years later was touching.
- Sir Richard Bishop at Zebulon in August. A panoply of modal acoustic guitar virtuosity with a few Charlie Goucher's songs from the Sun City Girls days thrown in as a tribute.
- The Eras Tour at SoFi in August. Yep, I was there with Allison. I got a friendship bracelet.
- Six Organs of Admittance at 2220 Arts + Archives in September. Also doing sets were Shelley Burgon on harp, Arian Shafiee on laptop, and Chuck Johnson on various kinds of steel guitar. A whole lot of lovely drone.
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Despite the side trip into Hyrule, we maintained a reasonable brewing schedule and there is a big backlog to share with you: Cloud Prayer, our dog-toy inspired Irish Red; Monkey Machine, which makes generous use of blood oranges; Crash Blossom, an exploration of alternative metabolic pathways to saccharification; and Eric's Brett Imperial Turmeric Dark Ale, fan service for my Mozilla peeps. You can read about all of them below.
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A couple of new projects sit in their fermenters right now—an attempt to pump up a classic Czech Pils into something unreasonable, and an obscure Polish variety I read about in one of my brewing books. On deck: I read about a potential method to make a porter without using heavily roasted malt and I'd like to try it; and Henry is interested in exploring a kōji based beverage when he's in town over Thanksgiving so we're going to give that a world. There's also a need for a Jigokudani rebrew and the peaches have been prepared.
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Next time I'll tell you about my new electric brew kettle. In other news, I'm looking forward to the Over-Nite Sensation deluxe reissue next week—get your Zappa quad on, people. I'll be settling down with Jenny from Thebes when it arrives in my mailbox and you should as well. The days are getting shorter and colder. Hold your loved ones close to you and be kind to each other until we talk again.
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- Your friend in brewing, Eric.
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A malty red tribute to the Celtic thunder god!
Ingredients
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- Grain bill: Marris Otter, Light Crystal Malt, Dark Crystal Malt, Chocolate Rye
- Hops: Magnum, Crystal, Willamette
- Yeast: Wyeast Irish Ale 1084
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Monkey Machine Blood Orange IPA
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A citrusy Belgian IPA with a hint of sage!
Ingredients
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- Grain bill: Pilsner, White Winter Wheat
- Hops: Magnum, Centennial, Sorachi Ace, Mandarina Bavaria
- Yeast: Imperial Yeast B44 - Whiteout
- Secret Ingredients: Blood orange simple syrup, blood orange zest, cardamom, sage
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For beer's sake.
Ingredients
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- Grain bill: Pilsner malt, Forbidden rice, Pale 2-row malt
- Hops: Magnum, Azacca, Amarillo, Ekuanot
- Yeast: Omega OYL-044 Kolsch II
- Secret Ingredient: Koji rice
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Eric's Brett Imperial Turmeric Dark Ale
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Making financial metrics tasty again.
Ingredients
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- Grain bill: Maris Otter, Manuka Smoked Malt, Carafa III, Munich malt extract
- Hops: Magnum, Amarillo, Nelson Sauvin
- Yeast: Safale American Ale Yeast US-o5, Omega All The Bretts OYL-218
- Secret Ingredients: Pomegranate molasses, Ginger, Turmeric, Medium Roast French Oak Cubes
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