This has been sitting in my fridge for longer than I’m comfortable with. Before you get freaked out about beers sitting in the door shelf of a refrigerator for years at a time, let me clarify what “longer than I am comfortable” means in my house: about a week. That just won’t stand! So, down it had to go. A cold beer is also a nice way to end a day of weekend working.
At this point you already know the format so let’s just dive in!
From the can:
Sterling Pils is a German style Pilsner brewed with North American ingredients – including Sterling hops from Washington, Premium Pilsner malt from Montana and Idaho and some of the best brewing water in the world from the Pacific Northwest
From my notes:
Looks just how you want your Pilsner’s to look: cloudy straw and lots of carbonation. Smells of some malt and maybe yest. Sweet, but very subtle. Some white, velvety head that quickly dissipates. Crisp and refreshing, very drinkable! Tastes crisp, grassy, with some crackeriness (that’s the light malts and yeast, I think) Nice hop finish that lasts… Complexity in the finish, earthy and herby with some spice.
That book is where I make my beer notes. It is a fancy moleskine beer journal my wife bought me. She is the best wife.
A perfectly serviceable beer! If not the best Pilsner I’ve ever had. And, since it isn’t I don’t see myself drinking very much of it in the future!
I’m trying to recall how I heard about Gunpoint. It wasn’t on any websites that cover video games. I know I never saw an advertisement for the game, or a preview/review. It might have been on twitter or a forum. It reminded me of the recommendations I’d get from classmates and friends on the playground, “Hey! have you heard of Gunpoint? It’s this really cool game that just came out! No! You won’t find it in GamePro! You really need to get it!” It felt like I was discovering something no one else knew about.
And that’s ridiculous, because today someone you know, probably someones, knows something about everything. So, while I was “discovering” Gunpoint so where thousands of other people at the same time. I’m okay with that. Walled gardens never sat well with me. my enjoyment of entertainment isn’t diminished by the number of people enjoying it. That feeling though of finding something out of the way, something a little secret, it probably colors my view of the game. You’ve been warned.
Gunpoint is a puzzle game; you play the role of a freelance spy breaking into corporate offices and stealing/destroying data. Your success depends on your ability to rewire the electronics in each building to work for you and against the people it is supposed to protect. Need to open a door? Rewire it to open when you turn a light switch. Need to eliminate a guard? Rewire the outlet next to him to overcharge and electrocute him whenever someone calls the elevator. No switches by you and you still need to open a door? Is there a camera? Then rewire the camera to open the door instead of triggering an alarm. It’s an interesting and clever concept but it can be a little difficult to explain the video below should help.
I’m not done with Gunpoint yet, I’m taking my time through each of the missions. I like to sit outside of a building and analyze every facet of the job from the layout of the rooms to the movement of the guards, from the electrical wiring to the placement of windows and elevators. I’m always shocked when I complete a mission and the game tells me how quick the record for completing a mission is. Some people take mere seconds for a job that I’ve spent six or seven minutes solving. I suspect that these are smash and grab jobs where I’m meticulously rewiring buildings to ensure that I get in and out without ever being seen. The strength of Gunpoint is that both approaches, and all the variations between, are valid. The engine and design are robust enough to allow for varied styles of game play as well as allowing for more complicated, robust, Rube Goldberg-esque solutions involving multiple rewirings, broken windows, and the tragic deaths of unwary guards.
I know I’m no longer doing the Year of Beer. But, I am still drinking beer on occasion, I’m still reviewing it (not here.) I’ve decided that occasionally reviews will appear here. Though They won’t be part of the original 52. I’ve been a fan of saisons ever since I tried Brasserie Dupont’s Saison Dupont last summer. One of my favorite breweries, North Coast, has a good example: Le Merle. I don’t see them on the shelves often. When I do I always make a point of picking it up and giving it a try.
Cans are not quite a pint!
From the can:
Spring is here! What better way to celebrate than with a fine Belgian inspired Saison. This handcrafted beer was created with our good friends at Lost Abbey. Being a San Diego native, we are connected, we celebrate this friendship with our collaboration. Saison has been brewed for centuries, often for the Spring and Summer months. Brewed with Pilsner, Vienna and Munich malts, Nelson Sauvin hops and locally raised lemongrass. Our Saison is a malty, spicy, refreshing, and carries a beautiful aroma of citrus and fruit esters.
From my notes:
Slightly cloudy straw yellow, short lived large bubbled, foamy head. Mostly yeast and malts on the tongue with hints of citrus, a soft sour finish.
As much as I’d like to recommend this beer; I found it only adequate. There are much better, and even cheaper, Saisons out there… This was really not worth the $15 I spent on the six pack. Look for Dupont’s or Le Merle if you are in the mood for a good Saison. And why wouldn’t you be it’s the perfect beer for a hot summer day!
Congratulations to our second winner, Guildenstern, he’ll have his choice of the remaining books in this year’s giveaway! The giveaway continues this week! Lav your comments below and you’ll entered to win a book of your choice from the list. Below is another short review for one of the books in the giveaway, Going Clear. This review originally appeared in the San Francisco and Sacramento Book Review.
Lawrence Wright, a New Yorker staff writer best known for his study of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attack, The Looming Tower, has just published his latest book, Going Clear. If you thought his previous work was daring and provocative Going Clear is going to shock you. Going Clear is a detailed, exhaustive history of America’s youngest homegrown religion, Scientology, and its founder,science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. Wright’s dive into the enigmatic Hubbard and the religion he created, with it’s seemingly bizarre cosmology and ecclesiastical jargon, leads him to an even more troubling subject: Religion. What is a religion, how do we decide, what does it mean to believers? As Wright attempts to answer these questions for himself and his readers he introduces his readers to the complicated and turbulent history of the Church of Scientology from the internal struggle for power after Hubbard’s death to its recruitment of Hollywood royalty, and it’s decades long fight with various branches of the United States government. Wright does not shy from the controversial aspects of Scientology, but nor does he irrationally attack the church, its leaders, or followers. He presents the information he has in a powerful narrative that is damning all on its own.
Addendum: What I found most sinister about the church of Scientology, as presented in the book, are the numerous disappearances of members to remote locations where they are kept in worse than prison like conditions… All at these members own volition?!
