Updates

Some updates to recent posts:

Autumn Beers drew a comment from Peter in Peachland about Pumpkineater, a strong, spiced beer from B.C. Check out his full comment at the bottom of the post.

And by one of those strange coincidences, Pumpkineater is just one of dozens of amazing beers on tap at this Sunday's Cask Days 7^th Annual Cask Beer Festival at Hart House on the U. of T. campus. For those of you in the Toronto area, all the details are here.

A visit to Guelph last weekend enabled me to visit the Wellington Brewery where I purchased Wellington Imperial Russian Stout. Imperial Russian Stout is an extra strong (in this case 8% abv.) beer style originally brewed for export to the Russian market to keep the czars warm on long winter nights. Wellington Imperial Russian Stout is black, with a brown head and tastes of coffee and dark chocolate. It has a nice balance between sweetness and roasted grain bitterness. A wonderful sipping beer for the cold evenings ahead.

And if you're interested in following up on some further aspects of the radical redistribution of income by the 1% that has blighted the lives of the 99%, check out a piece by U. of T. prof J. David Hulchanski that appeared in yesterday's Toronto Star. In it, he points out that in the 1970's, two-thirds (66%) of Toronto neighbourhoods were middle class. By 2005, even before the Great Recession that began in 2008, that number had fallen to less than a third (29%), while the proportion of poor and very poor neighbourhoods had skyrocketed from 19% to 53%. It's the realization by the middle class that many of them really aren't middle class anymore that is behind the growing movement for fundamental economic reform.

Yet another piece, appearing in today's Star, highlights the economic damage done to older workers, who now have to spend 3.5 more years working in order to afford retirement than they did 10 years ago. This, in turn, impacts young workers, who can't find employment or move up in their jobs because older workers are hanging in there into their late 60's.

The mess we're in is the result of decades of misguided economic policies that favoured the elites. We're beginning to understand the nature of the problem, and appreciate the dangers of economic inequality. We need to keep up the pressure on leaders to act quickly in order to head off social upheaval and political violence.

You can follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

A Week in Boston -- Part 1

Nothing turns out exactly the way you plan.

I'm just back from a week in Boston. Some of the things I did, I hadn't planned on, and I didn't do some of the things I was looking forward to, but it was an interesting and enjoyable time anyway.

For example, I hadn't planned on being hit by a cyclist while crossing the street (he was running a red light on the curb side of a van). No serious damage, just shaken up and a bruised forearm.

I didn't get to the Boston Brewing Company, home of Sam Adams Boston Lager. Sam Adams brews were available everywhere -- the Sam's Summer Ale was especially tasty as a lunch-time beer -- so a long subway ride to the brewery just didn't seem worth it. I've seen plenty of breweries. I didn't eat at Cheers either, but I did make it to the gift shop in the Quincy Market for a few souvenirs.

I did get to Watch City Brewing in Waltham, though. No bacon-flavoured beer, but plenty of other weird and wonderfully flavoured brews made on site and great food. Recommended. And everywhere we ate, there were locally brewed beers of high quality. I tried as many as I could.

For me, the most memorable parts of a holiday are often the things you didn't know about until you stumbled upon them. Most memorable taste was the scallops at Legal Seafood in Boston. Grilled simply, they were still the slightest bit translucent on the inside -- perfection. And most memorable meal was lunch on the rooftop deck at 7th Wave in Rockport on Cape Ann, an hour north of Boston. A breeze off the ocean on a hot day, a view of the harbour, and a new sandwich discovery -- how come no one thought of this before? -- the smoked salmon BLT.

Most over-rated restaurant was Giacomo's on Hanover Street in the North End's Little Italy. TripAdvisor rates it #4 of nearly 2,000 Boston restaurants and #1 for Italian food. It's small and crowded and the line forms before the doors open at 5:00. The prices are reasonable, especially for wine, and while the food is good (not great), the atmosphere is more fast food than fine dining. Cash only, no desserts. Go across the street to Mike's Pastries.

There was also a Red Sox game, a day-long bus tour of the city, the Common, Freedom Trail, the Aquarium, the Market, and Harvard. Probably my favourite day, the day spent touring the campus and some of the museums reminded me that learning and scholarship still do matter in a world that sometimes seems dominated by reality TV and Shakespalin.

Next post, I'll write about our accommodations, getting around Boston, and some ways we found to make our holiday more affordable.

What Do They Drink in Boston?

We're on our way to Boston in a few days for a week's holiday. I've never been there before, and I have one burning question: what do you suppose they drink there?

Boston, of course, is home to the original tea partiers. But they didn't drink the tea. Quite the opposite: they threw it into the harbour, and I like to think their revolutionary zeal was primed with a libation or two before they headed out for the evening's festivities.

I suspect they know a thing or two about cocktails in Boston, because the two-piece glass and metal shaker preferred by professional bartenders is known as a Boston Shaker (the other style of shaker you frequently see with the screw-on cap and strainer is called a cobbler shaker).

Consulting a few cocktail books produces a good omen: there are several cocktails with Boston in their names. The Boston Cocktail (gin, apricot brandy, lemon juice, and grenadine) is perhaps a bit sweet for the heat of July. The Boston Cooler sounds more like it though: white rum, lemon juice, simple syrup, and club soda in a tall glass with lots of ice. And there are Boston versions of those old classics the Sidecar and the Sour. But like the Boston Cocktail, perhaps better saved for cooler days or evenings.

They obviously know their beer in Boston: Samuel Adams Boston Lager was one of the beers that began the American craft beer renaissance a quarter century ago. Named for a signer of the American Declaration of Independence, it's on my Top 10 Great Beers of the World list. The company that brews it, the Boston Beer Company, makes a range of seasonal and specialty brews. And a trivia note: Pawtucket Patriot Ale, the beer quaffed by Peter Griffin and his pals on Family Guy is said to have been inspired by Samuel Adams, though an episode of the show features a Willie Wonka-like Pawtucket Pat and a brewery run by Chumbawumbas.

We're not actually staying in Boston, but rather in Waltham, about 20 kilometres up the Charles River. Known as the "Watch City", it was a centre of clock and watch making for a century beginning in the mid-1800's. Like me, you may have a vague memory of having seen the name Waltham on a clock somewhere. Today, Waltham boasts the Watch City Brewing Company, a brewpub with an adventurous streak. The latest video on their website features a tasting of their Bacon Cask Beer. You can click on the link to find out how they make it and how it tastes. Needless to say, Watch City Brewing is on my "must do" list in Waltham.

And of course, no trip to Boston would be complete without a visit to that iconic saloon where everybody knows your name, Cheers. Actually the Bull and Finch, it's on all the tours, so I'm looking forward to bellying up to the bar just like Norm and Cliff did. And just like Norm, when asked what I'd say to a beer, I'll reply, "Daddy wuvs you!"