OGAle?

I've been looking for alternate employment, with varying degrees of intensity, for a year now. Up to this point, I haven't even been able to land an interview with anyone! It's quite possible that I'm barking up the wrong trees, and that I am a hard-headed baffoon that needs to greatly expand my horizontal options. It's also quite likely that God's providential Hand has not desired to guide me onward, at least not just yet.

On another sphere of cerebellum, I have witnessed a small handful of youngsters (late 20s) feeling quite burdened by a lack of once-and-for-all peace as it relates to either ending or committing to a serious relationship. I have offerred counsel to these friends, of course, in hopes of getting their poor arses off the proverbial fence, but over time it seems that the fencetop has a tractor beaming energy which eventually pulls said arses back atop the the accustomed perch. Why I am not surprised?

Because I've got my own saddle sores. I like having the idea that someday I will begin a miniscule brewing business, but I don't want to take the necessary risks to make it a reality. I swoon over the romantic ideal of creating something beautiful and life-affirming with my own hands and heart and brain, something that I link so concretely with my own path along Christ's Way; and yet I get frozen feet when it comes to putting a real business plan together, talking with other young entrepreneurs, doing cost analyses, calculating loans, etc. Would this ale-making enterprise be a great source of joy or a black hole of woes? What dualistic folly we've created. Like love and soul mates, there is no such thing as one without the other...

Oktoberfest Review

In Munich, Oktoberfest 2006 is already over -- being celebrated during the 16 days leading up to the first Sunday in October. But us 'mericans tend to postpone such festivities until later in the month. As the "bier specialist," please allow me to give a quick review of the Oktoberfest lagers that I have sampled this year:

The American versions I have tried, Sam Adams and Saint Arnold's, are far sweeter than the authentic German versions. I find the U.S.-types cloying and far too reminiscent of caramel corn. The exception is The Kaiser, which is an "imperial" version made by Avery in Colorado, intensifying the malt effect with a whallopping 9.3% alcohol that is well-balanced with just enough hops to keep some needed structure.

As for the Germanic biers, Texas carries 4 labels that have tents at the Munich event: Spaten, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, and Hofbrau. Spaten is the darkest and sweetest, Hofbrau is the lightest, and Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr are the most interesting. The last two may, in fact, be the same beer, as they are now brewed in the same brewery. In our store, the Hacker-Pschorr is showing cleaner flavors, as it has the most recent born-on date. The real winner, though, is Ayinger. Not old enough to have a reserved place at the festival, this brewery concentrates on making world-class beauties. Their Oktoberfest is remarkably nuanced, offering the pallette several distinct aromas and flavors from a handful of varying specialty malts. It finishes dry and clean, leaving you curious and aptly motivated for your next sip (gulp).

So, while you're enjoying the falling leaves and crisper air, and before you get haunted by the retail assault of everything-Halloween (too late), take a moment to drink in some malty German goodness and toast the God of the harvest. Prost!