I didn’t exactly try this one, but I wanted to write about it anyway. I had Saranac Imperial Stout at a tasting at Nikki’s a couple weeks ago. We bought a bottle because Susan really liked it and she had that bottle last night (and I helped). The reason I wanted to write about it is because Saranac is usually looked down upon by most beer geeks snobs (real beer geeks would understand that Saranac has a real place in the craft beer scene).
The beer pours a thick opaque black with a small tan head. It smells nice and roasty with a hint of sweetness. The flavor is great - mostly roasted malts with a hint of dark fruit/berries. There’s some bitter chocolate and coffee notes as well. This is one really tasty beer from Saranac. It’s full bodied but not to the point that it’s super heavy. This is one very drinkable beer.
If you’ve snubbed your nose at Saranac in the past, you need to try this. It’s not your average Saranac beer.
Being the hop head that I am, I tried Ballast Point’s Big Eye IPA the other night. The beer poured a deep amber with a moderate white head. It smelled immediately of piny hops and some sweet malts as well. The beer is a very balanced IPA. The hops were nicely balanced by the malt. However, the beer is a bit heavier and fuller bodied than most IPA’s. It was drinkable, but not as drinkable as most because it was heavier. I did like this one and it was a nice change from the IPA’s I usually drink. I don’t think there are too many IPA’s available in RI that I have yet to try now.
I tried Dogfish Head’s Burton Baton a couple nights ago. The beer is called an oak aged imperial IPA, and that’s exactly how it tasted. But there was one problem… the alcohol.
The beer poured a brown amber color with almost no head. I could smell the vanilla from the oak barrel and the hops. The flavor was good. Lots of vanilla and malty sweetness up front, followed by the bitter hops. Unfortunately, the hops were followed by a pretty hot alcoholic burn. At 10%, it’s not overly surprising, but I was hoping this would hide it more. Because of the heat, I wouldn’t call this overly drinkable.
It was worth trying, and I might buy another bottle to age a few months, but I don’t know about this one. IPA’s generally don’t age overly well because they lose their hops character. While the hops weren’t overly prominent in this one, they were a big part of the flavor profile. So I’m on the limb with this one. Maybe I’ll just try it next year or wait a month or 2 and see if I can still buy it and try it again.
Too many downloads? Need more bandwidth? Buy an Internet Refill Cartridge.
Susan and I went out to dinner with some friends last night. We decided to try Nick’s on Broadway, a restaurant I have heard nothing but praise. I have to say that I was not overly impressed. The last thing I had heard about it was how affordable it was. Our experience was anything but affordable (almost $150, pre-tip, for 4 of us, which included 3 beers and 2 glasses of wine). There were only 2 entrees for under $20 (one was $19). The beer was a bit on the pricey side (and they didn’t even bring us their beer list at first, and they only had bottles).
I ordered the leg of lamb and Susan got the risotto grilled chicken. Mine was tasty, though a little on the tough side. It had a pine nut and onion cous cous with it that was really good. My portion was tiny, though. I wasn’t hungry when I left, but I felt like there should’ve been more. Susan’s meal was large. The risotto was really good and the chicken was perfect. However, the whole dish had this overwhelming lemon flavor to it that ruined it. You couldn’t taste anything else in it except the lemon.
Aside from the prices and the quality of the meal, the service was excellent. The waiter was very helpful and knowledgeable. They sat us right away even though we didn’t have a reservation. The only other complaint is that the space is kind of cramped. I’m not sure I’ll be going back right away. I have to wait for my wallet to recover. I really could not believe the cost consider I have heard that it was really reasonable in the past.
My favorite IM client for Windows and Linux, Pidgin, has been forked. Reading through Slashdot, I came across an article stating this. I found it quite odd that Pidgin would fork. Anyway, I actually took issue with the “feature” that caused the fork.
Upon upgrading to version 2.4.0, I found that the text input box was set at 1 line, and I could not resize it. Apparently, this is a new feature. The input box is supposed to grow automatically as you enter more text. Personally, I would find that extremely distracting. However, instead of giving in to the actual users of Pidgin, the developer, Sean Egan, simply argued why this feature is important and the good it will bring. He and only a couple others went on to explain that IM is meant for small messages, yet people who write code use it to send code back and forth quickly rather than use email (which is something I have used it for). In what could have been an easy fix with version 2.4.1 and a user-selectable option to allow resizing of the text input, the developers allowed it to be forked to FunPidgin (as of this writing, that site is also not working, so here’s a link to the project page), which is simply what my idea for 2.4.1 should be - Pidgin 2.4.0 with a re-sizable text input area.
It seems that this fork was completely unnecessary and the developers (aside from the one who forked off) are being stubborn and arrogant in telling people how they should and should not be using IM. I find it quite annoying, actually, that the developers chose to go down this path rather than simply giving in and making it an option. But the beauty of open source software is that you can easily fork off when the developers pull this kind of crap.
Anyway, here’s a link to the actual discussion (which was posted to their bug tracking system) and to the Google cache of that in case it’s still Slashdotted.
Tonight, I had Rogue’s Shakespeare Stout. The beer poured a dark black with a creamy head. It smelled of dark roasted malts. The taste was nice and roasted with some bitter chocolate, coffee, and hops flavors. It tasted and had a mouthfeel similar to an oatmeal stout, though it was a bit more bitter than an oatmeal stout. The chocolate came out more as the beer warmed and was tasted on the swallow. It had a nice body and was a very tasty beer. This is one I’d try again, though Susan found it too bitter, which was surprising because she loves stouts.
Last night, I had Southampton’s Biere de Garde. The beer pours a pale amber/brown color with a huge white head. Lots of tiny carbonation are present. The beer smells kind of dry and grassy with a little fruit. The beer has a dry mouthfeel and the carbonation is very noticeable. The flavor is slightly fruity and grassy with a touch of yeastiness. I found it quite drinkable, though I will admit that it’s not my favorite style (though this was the first of the style I’ve tried).
Bière de Garde is a French farmhouse ale. I’m familiar with Saisons, a Belgian farmhouse ale, but this was quite different from a Saison. I have another Bière de Garde stocked away, Russian River Perdition. I’ll have to try that soon.
I came across this “review” of Ubuntu Linux 8.04 Hardy Heron this morning. The reviewer doesn’t go and review it as a Linux user. Instead, he sits his girlfriend in front of it and has her perform a series of twelve tasks. He didn’t tweak the install at all. He only created an account for her. He added no software. This is simply a base install. Basically, he wanted to rate the usability of the new version. The article made for a great read.
Now, the comments are split about 50-50 with half saying that this was a great read and a great experiment in the usability of the “most usable” Linux distribution. The other half weren’t so kind. They went on saying that if she wasn’t used to Windows, she’d be able to use it just fine or that if she wants a usable *nix, she should use MacOS X. It’s the stuff you hear over and over from the zealots. It’s stuff that just doesn’t need to be said. The fact remains, however, that the vast majority of people who would care have used a computer before (very few people in the civilized world have not) and the vast majority of those came from Windows. It’s a good test, if you ask me. His conclusion is that it’s not ready for mainstream desktop use. I agree with him, though I’ll take it a step farther and say that it’ll never be ready for mainstream desktop use. That’s not a bad thing. I like Linux for what it is and what it does, but because there are so many different distributions and so many different window managers and desktop environments, without a lot of tweaking, it’s just not for the average computer user. Sure, distributions like Ubuntu do most of the tweaking for you, but you get only the tweaks they deem necessary. Without a nice budget like Microsoft of Apple have, it’s not an easy task. The best suggestion the author makes is having an initial window open up (much like in Windows and I think MacOS X) that asks you what you want to do. It’d be a nice welcome screen that lists various tasks and helps new users find what they want.
I originally found the article on Slashdot.
It seems I have yet to write about a new (to me) beer bar right down the street from where I live. Julian’s has always been a hipster bar/hangout to me. Apparently, I was very wrong. The place is a restaurant with a bar. It’s not very big and because I’ve only gone late at night (10:30 on a couple of Thursdays), not crowded. The beer selection is awesome. Last night, their taps were Duchesse, Maredsous 8, Lindeman’s Framboise, Great Divide Denver Pale Ale, Old Speckled Hen, Siberian Night, 90 Minute IPA and 2 others I don’t remember. Their bottle selection is just as good, though they can tend to be a bit pricey. I got the Siberian Night. It was absolutely awesome on tap.
The food is just as good. The first time I went, I just got dessert. It was a white chocolate cheesecake, that paired perfectly with the Framboise. Last night, I had their Hindenburger, which was a burger with apples and some other fruit spread on it. It was good, though quite messy.
Anyway, this place is totally worth it. It’s near the corner of Broadway and Vinton St. in Providence. I might be going again tonight for a full meal and more awesome beer.
Update: I think I now have a new favorite restaurant in Providence. The menu here is very unique and creative. The beer is to die for. I figured out the rest of the taps… Sea Dog Blueberry and La Chouffe. Tonight they had the Smuttynose Imperial Stout on tap rather than Siberian Night. I got the Smutty and a Duchesse. Both are amazing on tap. I had their gnocchi for dinner. It was fabulous with some currant and red pepper. The sauce was amazing. One of the best gnocchi dishes I’ve had. Susan got the Thai peanut shrimp with purple sticky rice. That was also really good. Having an awesome restaurant and a great beer bar right down the street from me could prove to be dangerous to my belly. 
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