Beer of the Week: Populuxe Cask Beer Snob Brown

By Iron Chef Leftovers

If you are free on Thursday nights, you should head down to Populuxe Brewing for their cask night. Yes, you will see a number of pale ales and IPA’s on tap with a variety of different dry hops (and they are fantastic), but the guys at Populuxe aren’t afraid to give the cask treatment to their other style of beers. A few months back, the Beer Snob Brown was the candidate – not too many NW breweries do a brown and even fewer do it on cask (this one was done with Crystal hops), so this was definitely a must try beer.

The beer pours a nice solid brown in color with really nice chocolate on the nose and just a hint of citrus from the hops (think a chocolate bar with orange peel). The beer starts out with a pretty heavy dose of coffee and chocolate before yielding into the addition of hops – slightly floral and citrusy/orange. The beer then fades quickly in a burst of chocolate, coffee and malt before disappearing completely off the palate. Giving the Beer Snob Brown the cask treatment highlights the deeper roast flavors in the beer, almost turning it into a liquid chocolate confection without the sweetness. My only complaint about this beer is that the hop character starts to disappear the deeper you get into your pint and is overpowered by the darker flavors in the beer – it does not cause the beer to become unbalanced at all, but it does lose that layer of the flavor.

If Beer Snob Brown makes another appearance in the cask rotation, you should drop what you are doing and head down to Populuxe.

Populuxe Beer Snob Brown on cask thumbs its nose at you with a solid 3 silly English Kn-iggits out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Anacortes Galaxy Pale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

The final beer in the DNA project is another pale ale, this time by Anacortes Brewing using Galaxy hops. Galaxy hops are described as “Australian high alpha dual purpose triploid cultivar with a marked and unique hop aroma, described as a combination of citrus and passionfruit. The initial aromas and flavors are quite intense, but these moderate as the beer matures.” The beer clocked in at 5.5% ABV.

The beer pours hazy yellow in color with strong notes of passion fruit and grain on the nose, reminding me a bit of Sam Adams Summer Ale without the lemon notes. Lots of citrus up front on the palate of this beer, dominated by lemon and passion fruit. The hops show well and linger for a long time before yielding to a slight malt sweetness as the beer fades on the palate with very little bitterness. Easy drinking, a beer that is perfect for the back deck on a warm summer day.

Anacortes Galaxy Pale jets in with a solid 4 Milky Ways out of 5.

A Couple Of Ancient Mariner Emails, Or, Ichiro Then And Now

by A.J. Coltrane

Before the CSE I’d bulk email friends with thoughts about sports. Here are two Ichiro-centric emails from the early oughts. (Ichiro’s rookie year was 2001.) The first email is dated April 1, 2002:

There’s a cool website that uses Bill James’ similarity scores to compare players. Basically the more statistically similar two players are, the higher the score. Max is 1000, anything over 900 is high.

For fun, I ran I similarity score lookup on Ichiro. The interesting thing that came up was that the most 10 similar players to Ichiro had careers that started between 1884 and 1924. Very odd. Most of them had short careers too, although I don’t think that means anything.

These are almost all players of the “dead ball” era. The baseballs of the time were soggy and gray, and they never put a new one in play. Guys would spit tobacco juice on the ball to make it harder to see. Pitchers weren’t afraid to walk anyone, because the ball wasn’t going far anyway.

Now look at what Ichiro does offensively: great batting average (.350), great speed (56 SB), no power (8 HR), no walks (692 AB, about 20 unintentional walks).

The 10 most similar players:
Roy Carlyle (944)
Fred Nicholson (934)
Showboat Fisher (934)
Pete Scott (927)
Dick Cox (927)
John Sullivan (923)
Harry Moore (922)
Joe Knight (919)
Maurice Archdeacon (915)
Juan Pierre (914)

A bunch of nobodies. Personally, Ichiro reminds me most of Rod Carew… a career .328 hitter, who has Hall of Famers for 7 of his 10 “comps”, along with Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn, who aren’t eligible yet. We’ll see how it plays out.

The “cool website” was baseball-reference.com, back when that was a new thing. The text above looks maybe I had a clue. Ichiro’s current career batting average is .319, and his top four comps are Kenny Lofton, Lloyd Waner, Richie Ashburn, and Willie McGee. Two HOFers, a fringe HOF, and another guy who had a high peak but falls short of the Hall.

Maybe I should have stopped when I was ahead (May 4, 2003):

He hit .350 as a rookie, establishing himself as a superstar (American League average is .275, meaning that on average 27.5% of At Bats result in hits). He hit .321 last season, including .281 after the All-Star break (which is loosely the halfway point of the season). Ichiro is currently hitting .250 this season.

There have finally been a number of articles over the last few days about his lack of hitting. The local media seems to be pretty evenly split between:

a) “Something’s wrong, he’s in a slump, he’ll snap out of it.” and

b) “The league finally caught up to him.”

I’m taking “b”. When he came into the league conventional wisdom was that he’d be a career .270 hitter or so. He has no power and never takes a walk, so his batting average is very “empty”. If he hits .270 the only thing that will keep him in the league is his defense, as he doesn’t do anything else well.

I’m figuring career .285, tops.

Whiff! Good defense + great speed resulting in a bunch of infield hits = long career. Really, right now he’s about where I figured he’d be for the bulk of his career — he just had to turn 40 to get there.

I should have stuck with the first impression.

Because I Am Lazy

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Enjoy my favorite cat quotes from eater.com and the Bloomberg.com review of Tao in NYC:

My personal favorite. That is exactly what I would look like if someone ruined a $41 lobster dish and served it to me.

Obvioulsy this cat had much higher expectations of the dish.

Oh, what could have been. Perhaps this cat should have just ordered the fish.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Grapefruit IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

One of my favorite things about IPA’s is the grapefruit/citrus character that the hops bring to the party. I absolutely love the balance that it brings to the beer and delivers an extra layer of flavor. A few months back, Reuben’s did a grapefruit infused IPA. I was a bit skeptical about the beer since most of the other grapefruit based beers were a bit disappointing to say the least. Given Reuben’s track record with IPAs, I figured that this one was worth a shot. The beer was based on their Wheat IPA and then double dry hopped.

The beer pours hazy yellow in color with lots of wheat character on the nose supported by light hop and grapefruit notes. The beer drinks milder than you would expect, starting out very light up front with a grain forward flavor before moving into some pleasant bitterness with notes of light grapefruit that build into a stronger bitter citrus peel flavor. The beer finishes with a tinge of harsh, acidic bitterness on the first couple of sips before mellowing out the further into the beer you get. It isn’t overpoweringly bitter, and it is more acidic bitterness of grapefruit than hop bitterness and it takes a few sips for your palate to adjust to that before you don’t notice it, making the beer feel slightly out of balance at first, before it corrects itself. Despite that fact, this beer was probably the best grapefruit based beer I have had and shows much more depth than previous ones I have consumed.

Reuben’s Grapefruit IPA firmly plants itself with 3 citrus orchards out of 5.

Beers of the Week: Dick’s/Harmon Pineapple and Macadamia

By Iron chef Leftovers

Pineapple and Macadamia are two flavors that are more reminiscent of Hawaii than things you would find in beer, but that is what Dick’s and Harmon Brewing drew for the Iron Brewer competition. The challenge here is how do you get a fairly mild flavored nut to pair with a very sweet fruit and still find balance in the beer.

Dick’s – the beer pours hazy golden, almost orange in color with strong notes of pineapple and just a hint of nuts in the background on the nose – it reminded me of a pina colada. The beer does the complete opposite when you taste it – the nuts dominate almost right from the start. The pineapple starts to appear on the back end of the beer, but more as a background flavor to the grain rather than a dominant flavor. The beer finishes with light grain and hints of pineapple and sweetness. It had pretty good balance considering the ingredients and I would have thought nut brown ale if I had tasted it blind.

Dick’s Pineapple and Macadamia greets you with 3 leis out of 5.

Harmon – The beer is unexpectedly jet black in color, which seemed strange for the ingredients, with strong notes of molasses and chocolate with notes of nuts and pineapple in the background on the nose. The first sip of this beer tastes like a chocolate bar – toffee, chocolate, roasted grain, nuts, sugar and pineapple, and possible hints of coconut are all there in various degrees progressing through all of the flavors and producing a long, consistent finish. This is a bold and daring beer which is not short on flavor. It does an excellent job of showcasing the flavors of the ingredients and I would love to order this one again.

Harmon Pineapple and Macadamia says hello and goodbye with 4 alohas out of 5.

I thought that Harmon was the better beer and the crowd agreed with me on that, declaring it the winner.

More on the Mariners…Now With Expert Opionions

By Blaidd Drwg

The Mrs. accuses me of being too negative about the Mariners. Yet, every year I make a prediction about their win total, I am either pretty much spot on or slightly optimistic about the team in hindsight. Since I don’t really care about the team, my predictions are analytical based on stats rather than emotions, so when I say that the Mariners are a 75 win team, that is what the stats tell me, not what my gut does.

My wife probably hated this post last week where I thought that the Mariners prospects for making moves and signing someone like Cano were not as optimistic as some people. I wrote it before the rumors about David Price came up. I still don’t think that getting Cano and Price makes them a playoff team and I am not the only one. Here are some comments from 3 diehard Mariners fans who I absolutely respect the opinion of:

Scott Weber of Lookout Landing:

It’s that the Mariners simply are not in a position to make this kind of a splash, this many games out of a playoff spot. Especially when two other teams in their division are much stronger, and are also fortifying their clubs with moves that help them win now.

Dave Cameron of USS Mariner:

And I’m not convinced that David Price is the right guy, nor am I convinced that the 2014 Mariners are the right team, for this kind of trade to be worth doing.

David Schoenfield of ESPN.com:

You can’t trade Walker for Price and then not sign Cano. But that’s no guarantee. You could trade for Price tomorrow and then see Cano sign with another team in January. And how good would they make the Mariners? Maybe Price pushes this team to 75 wins. Maybe Cano pushes it to 80. Maybe the young guys play a little better and you win 85.

All 3 quotes came from Schoenfield’s piece last week on espn.com, it is worth the complete read. These 3 guys know a heck of a lot more about the Mariners than I do and they all feel the same way I do. What does that tell you about this team?

10 Recommended Gateway Boardgames For The Holidays

by A.J. Coltrane

Since we’re now in the holiday season, I thought it would be fun to compile a list of the top 10 games that we use as “gateway” games — games that are not found on the Fred Meyer Wall Of Games, but are not too hugely strange, complicated, or time consuming. Stuff that’s a little bit different but seems to be fairly universally enjoyed, even among people with limited boardgame experience.

There are no original thoughts, especially on the internet. Here’s boardgamegeek’s top 100 gateway games.

My top 10 is below, with boardgamegeek rank, approximate price, and a *very* brief explanation of the mechanic. For additional information, the links lead back to earlier “Recommended Game” posts on this website:

1. Ticket To Ride Europe (BGG #1 & #5, $45, 2-5 players) — Build railways across Europe by creating card sets of similar colors. Ticket to Ride easily won #1 on the BGG site. Ticket to Ride Europe got #5.

2. Gardens of Alhambra (BGG #26, $40, 2-4 players) — Place “plant” tokens around valuable buildings to block out the competition and win points. Somehow this hasn’t gotten a Recommended Game post yet — I’ll have to fix that. BGG link here.

3. Fluxx (BGG N/R, $15, 2+ players) — A somewhat wacky card game with continually changing rules and win conditions. Very fast to play.

4. Forbidden Island (BGG #11, $25, 2-4 players) — Work cooperatively to save four treasures from an island that is rapidly sinking.

5. Lost Cities (BGG #16, $22, 2 players) — Do you remember Rack-O? It’s sort of like that, but more interesting and better all around… Two players plan expeditions to one of five continents. The winner has the most valuable expeditions.

6. Guillotine (BGG #59, $18, 2+ players) — Off with her head! The nobles are all lined up to be beheaded. Manipulate the line so that you get to behead the most famous.

7. Dominion (BGG #25, $42, 2-4 players, up to 6 with expansions) — Card game where you create your deck as you go. If I had to pick one, it’s probably my favorite game on this list. It’s kind of hard to describe in just a few words, check out the link.

8. Mr. Jack Pocket (BGG #64, $22, 2 players) — Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper. Jack is one of nine suspects and it’s up to Holmes to figure out who. Players take turns moving the inspectors and changing sightlines down alleyways to try to hide and/or reveal suspects. A two player game that transports well and generally takes less than 30 minutes.

9. Citadels (BGG #52, $25, 2-8 players) — Each turn a player takes the role of one of eight midieval characters. The characters have different benefits and turn priorities. Collect gold and be the first to build eight buildings. The player with the most valuable buildings wins.

10. Rocketville (BGG N/R, $25, 3-5 players) — BGG hates this game. We like it. The board is divided into multiple neighborhoods. Win the majority of a neighborhood and receive points as a reward. The player with the most points wins. There’s some luck involved, but we always have fun.

It’s not a complete list, but it’s a good start. What else would you add to the list?

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Spickard Spiced Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

The Mountain Beers from NW Peaks in November had a decidedly seasonal tone to them – Thanksgiving dinner. There was a pecan pie beer (review forthcoming) and a beer that invokes the flavors of stuffing – the Spickard Spice Ale. You don’t see too many beers that use savory (herbs) rather than sweet (nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.) spices, so I was really excited for this one.

From the NW Peaks Website:

The name. The mountain. Spickard is juxtaposed to Mt Redoubt (the namesake for our red ale) and is a great alpine destination, although accessibility is limited to put it mildly. To get to Ouzel lake located at the base of Spickard, you have to travel through Canada and then hike back into the US to Depot cirque. The waterfall en route is one that might not be matched by another in the N cascades. Truly a splendid location.

The Beer. While many breweries are doing pumpkin spice beers in October, we decided to wait until November. And instead of using Halloween spices (pumpkin), we went towards Thanksgiving spices/ingredients. We started with a base that includes more than 25% maize giving the beer a thicker, sweeter flavor. We then added some spruce, rosemary, and thyme that give the beer a flavor reminiscent of thanksgiving stuffing. A great beer on its own and a perfect accompaniment to Thanksgiving dinner.

The beer pours and amber reddish brown with a cream colored head. The nose is dominated by strong notes of rosemary and sage with hints of corn and grain supporting the herbal character. The beer leads off with solid herb flavors of sage and thyme with supporting notes of wood (not oak – think tree branch) and rosemary (probably the spruce in the beer), before moving into a slightly sweet middle, supported by grain and a mild corn character before finishing long with notes of yeast joining the herbs and corn. The finish is long and all of the flavors integrate perfectly, forming a liquid cornbread stuffing beer. The beer drinks well on its own but it truly shined with a traditional thanksgiving meal where its depth of flavor truly stood out when paired with turkey and stuffing.

NW Peaks Spickard Spiced Ale makes a glutton out of itself, rolling in at 4 turkey induced comas out of 5.

Beer of the Week: North Sound Vanguard Lager

By Iron Chef Leftover

The second of the 3 DNA project beers comes from the guys at North Sound Brewing in Mt. Vernon. If by chance you have never heard of them, you should make a stop by their brewery next time you are up north – they make some of the most under the radar beers in Washington. They drew Vanguard hops for their beer, which are “Slightly flowery, mild. Similar to Hallertau Mittlefruh and saaz in aroma. A gentle hop for subtle bitterness, aroma, and flavor.”

The beer pours pale yellow in color with a slightly hoppy, almost pilsner like character on the nose. The initial sip is surprisingly hoppy with a slight sweetness before yielding to a long floral hop backbone with notes of resin and grain before moving to a place with a light grapefruit and bitterness and finally finishing off with a pilsner like finish. The beer drinks like a hoppy pilsner, but is described as a lager with very littler lager character. The beer allows the hops to shine and has enough layers of flavor to please any discriminating palate.

The North Sound Vanguard Lager sends out an advanced force with 4 beach heads out of 5.