Less than an hour after I posted news of the new direct wine shipping bill being considered by the Maryland legislature, I come across this:
I have nothing to add to Chris O’Brien’s analysis, except to say that I agree with him. And I’m angry.
We’re usually about the beer here, but applaud any effort to create more sane alcohol legislation. And since this is for my adopted home state…
From Marylanders for Better Beer & Wine Laws:
Wine Direct Shipping Bill to be Introduced this Week
Urge Your State Senator and Delegates to Co-sponsor Raskin/Hucker Bill
A wine direct shipping bill is going to be introduced this week in the Maryland General Assembly. Now we need Marylanders to take action!
Please take a few minutes to contact your state Senator and Delegates. Ask them to co-sponsor Sen. Jamie Raskin’s and Del. Tom Hucker’s wine direct shipping bill. This legislation will allow Marylanders to receive fine wines direct-mailed from Maryland wineries, out-of-state wineries, and retailers like wine.com. Find out who your elected officials are and how to contact them here.
In the coming weeks we will be asking you and your friends to write and meet your legislators, testify at committee hearings, and write letters-to-the-editor to support wine direct shipping in Maryland. We also need your donations for our grassroots lobbying efforts. It won’t be easy taking on the powerful interest groups opposed to modernizing Maryland’s wine laws, but we know our members are up to the task. We look forward to working with all of you in making wine direct shipping a reality in Maryland in 2008.
11-Mar-2008 Update: Unfortunately, while proponents were testifying before the Senate, a House committee was voting to quash the bill. From an e-mail distributed by Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws:
Unfortunately, while we were making our case in the Senate for direct-to-consumer wine shipping, the House Economic Matters Committee was secretly voting to kill our bill. We left the hearing room only to receive the crushing news that the House committee had killed our bill. Needless to say, we were furious. Here’s the Baltimore Sun article about the House committee vote.
Let’s “Spank” the House Committee for Defying the Will of the People
We know that over 700 people have written over 2,600 letters to Maryland legislators in support of HB 1260/SB 616. According to Free the Grapes, Marylanders have sent more faxes to legislators in this campaign than possibly any other campaign they have been involved in. We have to assume that hundreds more people have written thousands of more emails directly to the legislators without our knowledge.
Just a quick reminder that February’s Session is this Friday, February 1.
The Brew Site: Announcing the Session #12: Barleywine
Jon over at The Brew Site has just wrapped up a week (and a half) of reviewing American macrobrewed lagers.
Here’s how he kicked off the series:
Why? I haven’t seen any real comparative, comprehensive tasting comparison of all of these. Plus, as much as I seek out new beers to try, I’m woefully under-educated when it comes to the macros. Plus, it sounded kind of fun. Plus, well, just because.
Start: American Macro Week
Conclusion: American Macro Week: One Final Shot
Is it morning, afternoon, or evening? Anytime is good for some oatmeal.
I just thought I’d interupt your Friday to give you something to look forward to later. (or now) Cheers!
moar funny pictures
(I don’t know why, but I find an awful lot of lolcats just absolutely hilarious.)
It seldom gets much below freezing near Washington, D.C. When it does, it doesn’t stay that way for long. Over the weekend, though, temperatures struggled to get into the high twenties. Not that the fans at either of the NFL Conference Championship games think I really have anything to complain about. (Go Giants! Woo-hoo!)
It did serve to remind me that it is still winter, though.
So I cracked open my single Black Dog Winter Cheer from Spanish Peaks, a “Hearty Winter Ale”. (This is one of the beers that Ron sent to me.)
Here’s what they say:
Black Dog’s Winter Cheer is a very hearty ale made from five different malts and three hop varieties. It has a deep copper color and its flavor balances the sweet malt with significant hop spiciness. The perfect beer to cheer up a Winter’s evening.
I’d say it’s more a deep brown than copper, but that might just be the fact that it’s night and the room I’m in. An off-white head that settles into half an inch of foam. A good bit of hop aroma. After warming a bit, I can smell some spice. Medium- to full-bodied but not overly sweet. In fact, it’s a bit hoppier than I expected, though not in a bad way.
I’d have this again.
6.3% ABV, 55 IBU
I’ve become a huge fan of Southern Tier. I absolutely love their Phin & Matt’s Extraordinary Ale. Their IPA, porter and harvest are also fantastic. So when I saw a Mystery 12 pack for sale at my local “candy store”, I couldn’t pass it up.
On the box, three of the four beer styles are listed; the fourth being the mystery beer. I don’t know if they make different mixes, but this box was labeled as containing Phin & Matt’s Extraordinary Ale, the IPA and a raspberry wheat. Now, you may know by now my feelings on fruity beers, but I was feeling lucky and I really wanted to know what the mystery beer was. I was hoping for something I’ve never tried before. I was wishing for the imperial coffee stout called Jah*va.
It turned out that the mystery beer was their dark porter. I like that porter, so I wasn’t that disappointed despite that I was hoping for something new. I then chilled a pair of each for the weekend.
I decided to start off with the raspberry wheat. I wanted to get them out of the way clearing the path for some Extraordinary and IPA bliss.
Here comes the big surprise… the raspberry wheat was fantastic! No, I’m not kidding. I had my second one the next day to make sure I wasn’t just incredibly thirsty the day before. (plus I wanted to photograph it for Hop-Talk)
This beer poured a light amber color, with a short, fine bubbled head. It tasted like beer. By this, I mean that it tasted primarily like beer with hints of raspberry tartness in the background. It was incredibly thirst quenching. As I finished the beer, the raspberry tartness seemed to turn to a raspberry sweetness. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer on an unusually hot afternoon back in October.
Southern Tier has done it again; they continue to impress me.
When I saw River Horse Hop haZARD, dry hopped, pale ale at my local candy store, I just had to pick it up. I love hops, especially a beer with a nice hop bouquet.
Here is what the brewers in New Jersey have to say about it…
Brewing the perfect ale is truly a balancing act … Hazardous work you might say. With Hop Hazard our challenge was to hand craft a malt rich base that could counterbalance a combustible five-hop blend and still leave your taste buds with enough room to enjoy a unique, dry-hopped finish.
What is dry hopping? Dry hopping is when a brewer adds hops after the boiling of the wort, either while it is fermenting, or at the end of fermentation in a secondary or aging stage. Hops in beer at this stage only add to the hop aroma, not to the bitterness of the beer which comes from boiling the hops.
Mmm… hops…
Anyway, Hop Hazard poured with a billowing head of foam and a cloudy amber color. (my photo does not show the true color of this beer) It had a nice hop aroma. Though I expected it to be stronger, it still was not a disappointment. The hops were more floral than citrus, nicely bitter, which lingered after sipping. There was some natural sediment so I was more careful the next time I poured.
Hop Hazard was a drinkable and very good pale ale altogether.
