December 11, 2010

Great special tonight on HBO about the life of Vince Lombardi.



Monument up at Fordham University for the Seven Blocks of Granite.



The Knicks are on fire. Amare Stoudemire is the Real Deal.



Door Wreath.



The local distributor had Sam Adams Old Fezziwig on tap. Delightful and quite tasty. Nothing like fresh tap beer.

From the Sam Adams Web Site:

A classic brown ale, Old Fezziwig is brewed using generous amounts of cinnamon, ginger and orange peel.

Samuel Adams® Old Fezziwig® Ale is bursting with spices of the season. With a remarkably full body and flavor it helps those long winter nights pass more quickly. The rich taste hits the palate with a depth of malt character ranging from sweet toffee and caramel notes to dark, roasty chocolate notes. Then the spices come in full force. Cinnamon, ginger and orange peel dance on the tongue bringing with them the celebratory spirit of the season.



Fezziwig was a character in Dickens' A Christmas Carol:

Stave Two
Old Fezziwig laid down his pen, and looked up at the clock, which pointed to the hour of seven. He rubbed his hands; adjusted his capacious waistcoat; laughed all over himself, from his shows to his organ of benevolence; and called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice:
"Yo ho, there! Ebenezer! Dick!" ....

There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and there was negus, and there was a great piece of Cold Roast, and there was a great piece of Cold Boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of beer. But the great effect of the evening came after the Roast and Boiled, when the fiddler (an artful dog, mind! The sort of man who knew his business better than you or I could have told it him!) struck up "Sir Roger de Coverley." Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs Fezziwig. Top couple too; with a good stiff piece of work cut out for them; three or four and twenty pair of partners; people who were not to be trifled with; people who would dance, and had no notion of walking.



I picked up some Weihenstephaner Dunkel, not realizing their recent collaboration with Sam Adams described below.



A Christmas gift for some beer loving relatives.

Weihenstephan Sam Adams Infinium : A collaboration between Weihenstephan and Sam Adams. Available for a limited time only, this innovative new beer style adheres to the rigorous standards of the Reinheitsgebot, the historic German beer purity law that states all beer must be brewed using only four ingredients: malt, hops, water and yeast. Infinium pours out a deep golden color with fine bubbles and has a fruity, elegant aroma. Its crisp acidity gives it a dryness and tartness on the palate that is balanced with a smooth malt body. Infinium is packaged in 750mL cork-finished bottles and contains 10.3 percent alcohol by volume, twice the amount of an average beer.



Roach's Packing for Mars devotes a chapter to Animals in Space. Fascinating stuff.