Rick Lippincott recently posted this to a STC leadership listserv (subject line and all). I am reproducing it here with his permission as it contains info that the general public interested in the STC Summit should be aware of. Thanks to Rick for the heads-up!

STC Summit Chicago Thoughts and Pass-Along

Something that might be worth noting and passing on to anyone who is planning to attend the Summit in Chicago in May.

It turns out that the dates of the Summit (May 20-23) overlap with a pair of huge Summits (i.e. as in “international heads of state) that will be taking place in Chicago at the same time:

• The G8 Summit (eight largest economic nation’s heads of state) will be taking place in Chicago on May 19 & 20
• The NATO Summit (up to 28 nation’s heads of state, plus military leaders) will be taking place May 15-22.

US President Barack Obama will be attending both events.

(By the way, so far as I can tell these events and dates were not announced until long after the STC selected Chicago for 2012. There’s no way anyone could have foreseen this coincidence.)

We will be some distance away from all of this, but I think one could reasonably expect the following:

• Chicago will be full of politicians, administrative staff, military leaders, and news media.
• There will be extremely high levels of security which will tie up traffic and cause some restrictions of movement.
• This time period will be a magnet for protesters.
• Hotels will fill up quickly. (While the STC has a block at the Hyatt, there may not be many openings left once that block runs out.)
• Flights in and out of Chicago will book up faster than might be expected.
• Foreign dignitaries will likely be coming in and out of O’Hare.

I would recommend that persons planning to attend the Summit consider doing the following:

• Make hotel and airline reservations as soon as possible.
• Make every effort to fly into O’Hare Airport (symbol: ORD) and avoid Midway Airport (symbol: MDW). Midway is located very close to downtown, and travel from there to and from the conference site (at O’Hare, after all…) may be difficult and have delays.
• Give serious thought before planning activity in downtown Chicago. There are a couple of activities that look interesting and fun, but it doesn’t take much tear gas to spoil an outing.

I’m sure that out at the O’Hare Hyatt things will be fine and we won’t see much of it beyond what we see on the news. I’m also hopeful that the almost inevitable protests don’t get out of control. But even under the best of circumstances, the downtown area promises to be a congested mess.

I hope this helps somebody…

–Rick Lippincott

PS I’m not ruling out the theory that the G8 and NATO selected this location and date because they knew we would be there. Maybe they just wanna hang out where the cool kids are, y’know?

Related articles

• Downtown Streets To Be Shut Down During NATO, G8 Summits (chicago.cbslocal.com)
• Economist: NATO/G8 Summits Could Be A Disaster (chicago.cbslocal.com)
• Chicago grants 1st permit ahead of G-8, NATO (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Walter’s Perspective: Summits Putting Heat On The Mayor (chicago.cbslocal.com)
• Chicago Protesters Filing Applications In Advance Of G8, NATO Summits (chicago.cbslocal.com)
• Police Officers To Work 12-Hour Shifts During NATO/G8 Summits (chicago.cbslocal.com)

Image linked from RateBeer.com

This beer is an exclusive brew for Julio’s Liquors in Westborough MA, made by Smuttynose Brewing Company.

I was finally able to make a run to Julio’s when visiting family over the holidays, and grabbed a bottle of this along with quite a few other beers I can’t get or haven’t seen in NY. I was particularly interested in Ry(e)an as apparently you can only get it at Julio’s. Of note, this was from batch 2 (purchased December 31, 2011).

Appearance is solid. Nice dark copper beer with a dense shallow head that sticks around a while.

This beer, to be honest, smells like a caramel apple. None of your typical floral or citrus notes on the nose in this beer. I had caramel apple on the nose, and orchards on the brain when smelling this.

What can I say, I wasn’t happy with how this beer tasted. I found it to be overwhelmingly sweet (and I’m a big beer lover) and off balance. If there are hops in this beer, I’ll be damned if I could taste them. I got a heavy onslaught of caramel sweetness and some tartness on the back with a bit of a lingering boozy aftertaste. I don’t know why they bothered making this a rye, as I couldn’t find any of it in the flavor at all. I love a good rye beer, and this was just disappointing.

Mouthfeel was very heavy and thick, like a thin syrup. No carbonation on the tongue at all, though it’s lightly present in the glass. I felt like there was a film left in my mouth, on my teeth, on my tongue, upon finish. The boozy aftertaste did nothing to dry things up between sips.

Overall I was very disappointed in this beer. I know and enjoy Smuttynose, and this is just not one of their better batches. Maybe I got a bum bottle, or maybe batch 2 just wasn’t up to snuff. I don’t know, but I was shocked that this beer rated so well on RateBeer and BeerAdvocate given my disappointment with it. I’d split it with my father on New Year’s Eve, and he passed his glass over to me to finish. It’s just not an enjoyable beer, unfortunately.

I’ve been catching tweets from people lately raving about mixed drinks made with beer. Intrigued, I began looking into recipes and (preferably) reviews on those recipes. While I could certainly experiment on my own, I’d like to try a few tried and true recipes before I potentially destroy a few fantastic brews with a poorly chosen addition of spirits.

Now there’s a social online resource for all your beer cocktail needs…

Announcing BeerMixology.Com!

A Collaborative Website Dedicated to Crafting Cocktails with Beer

Berkeley, CA – After months of research & development, a team of craft beer and mixology experts across the U.S. has finally unveiled its new and exciting project,BeerMixology.com – the Internet’s most comprehensive and collaborative resource for beer cocktails.

In its most basic definition, beer mixology is defined as the art or skill of crafting and mixing cocktails that use beer as an ingredient. One of the newest and most innovative trends in both the spirits and beer industries, beer cocktails have begun to appear on the most prestigious of bar menus, and some unexpected places, in many of the major metropolises — especially in the cities boasting the largest craft beer cultures (San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Denver, etc.).

“Beer Cocktails are taking the country by storm! Whether you’re into craft beer or your simply a fan of a good mixed drink, I think this trend touches people from all over the board. I’m excited to see where this takes us!” Tatiana Peavey, founder of FugglyBrew.com

Although mixing cocktails with beer is an emerging trend, it is slow to grow. Most mixologists and bartenders are hesitant to experiment with beer as an ingredient. Beer Mixology’s cross-drinking founder, Ashley Routson, attributes this problem to lack of resources on the subject, “Most traditional cocktail books and classes train people how to manipulate spirits with the use of bitters, syrups, juice, herbs, spices and even other spirits. Virtually none of them talk about using beer as an ingredient.”

It is also possible that the large spectrum of beer styles is also intimidating to the non-expert. Perhaps the real issue is not the lack of talent, but the lack of education. Routson notes, “Expecting a mixologist to know everything about beer would be like expecting a beer expert to know everything about wine. Not all alcohol is created equal, and it is extremely hard to be an expert at them all. This is why I think it is crucial for beer experts and professional mixologists to work together in crafting beer cocktails. A confluence of the minds, if you will. Beer mixology is what I consider to be a beautiful hybrid of both beverages and their cultures.”

With the goal of answering the need for a beer mixology resource, Routson sought the help of friends who were already successfully developing and executing beer cocktail recipes and events. She roped in some of the most talented mixologists and beer connoisseurs, all from major food & beverage capitals in the U.S. The founding team, all whose bios can be found on the BeerMixology.com website, includes Ryan Conklin, Jess Hunter, Tatiana Peavey, Rocky Yeh, Angelo De Ieso, Bradford Knutson, Justin Lloyd, Nat Harry, andRoutson.

The team of beverage misfits expects to hit some road bumps with the launch of its innovative website. Many beer purists argue that beer is already, in itself, a perfectly crafted cocktail of barley, hops, yeast, and water. And why would anyone want to upset that balance?

Although already loaded with talent, BeerMixology.com is still seeking additional talent to join the team. BeerMixology.com will post and credit any bar or spirits brand that wants to feature their own beer cocktails on the site, and will gladly promote all beer cocktail events. Send all contributor requests and media inquiries to beermixologist@gmail.com.

About Beer Mixology

Beer Mixology was founded by a group of craft beer and cocktail experts from all over the United States, all with different backgrounds in the wonderful world of booze. Some are renowned and experienced mixologists, others brewers and craft beer aficionados, some come from both worlds, but all share a common passion for the art and science of beer mixology.

Media Contact: 

Ashley Routson

routson@gmail.com

407.756.7292

A few weekends ago Angelos and I dusted off our brewing equipment after a long unplanned break and brewed up three batches of beer. We bottled them today, and we’re very pleased with the results. We should have some solid entries into this year’s Knickerbocker Battle of the Brews, but more than that, we’ll have some tasty homebrew to enjoy for a while!

We brewed up a pumpkin ale, a mocha stout, and what we’ve named a Fränkenbier which was a mix of spare grains from the pumpkin and stout with some additions to bring it to a full batch.

The pumpkin ale was a recipe I put together. It’s a partial mash of Vienna malt, Crystal malt 40L and torrified wheat combined with amber dry malt extract, canned unspiced pumpkin, brown sugar and honey. The pumpkin was spread thinly on a baking sheet and baked at 325 degrees for an hour, which caramelized it nicely. Into the last 15 minutes of the boil we added vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, cloves, ground ginger and ground nutmeg. We used a light amount of Mt. Hood and Hallertauer hops, and fermented using Safale US-05 yeast.

The mocha stout was Angelos’s creation. While I don’t have the notes, it was an all-grain batch. The base recipe was for a strong stout, and to it he added coffee grounds and dark chocolate powder. We used a Wyeast smack pack to ferment. I’ll try to update with the details.

The Fränkenbier was something we both threw together. We started with a partial mash of black patent, roasted barley, Crystal 40L, cara pils, torrified wheat and flaked oats. To it we added extra light dry malt extract, and used a mix of amarillo, centennial, simcoe, Kent Golding and Citra hops. We fermented with Safale US-05 yeast.

All three taste and smell wonderful. The pumpkin (8.3% ABV) has a solid pumpkin pie flavor and aroma with a silky finish. The mocha stout (6.7% ABV) has a solid chocolate nose with a nice coffee flavor to it. The Fränkenbier (7.3% ABV) was better than we’d hoped, and fits nicely into the Black IPA style profile; it has a beautiful citrus nose with lots of toasted malts and bittering going on in it.

Can’t wait to try these after a couple weeks of bottle conditioning!

Yesterday MindTouch announced integration with many popular desktop publishing and user assistance development tools, bringing the power of the user experience-based platform to a wider spectrum of content authors. This is huge for companies that want to make that leap to stronger customer engagement and study/improve the user experience with their provided content, but have many authors or authoring teams too invested in an existing toolset.

They write:

In just a few clicks, content authors can publish to MindTouch from their existing tools. Hierarchies, cross-link references, image and page formats are maintained. Content is automatically and dynamically organized by tags and the site hierarchy. All content is indexed by a powerful search tool. Moreover, end user behavior can be analyzed to inform content, support and product strategy.

This enhanced offering brings content authors and product management teams closer together and helps paint a clearer image of how their target audiences use provided content and the products and services that content supports. Further, it brings the power of MindTouch analytics to deployment of compiled Help systems, allowing deeper insight into user behavior that was previously difficult to obtain.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

This shouldn’t be news to anyone who has found themselves job hunting over the past 3 years, but the New York Times recently posted an article highlighting the issue of what I like to call “employment discrimination”. Yes, companies will ignore or set aside unemployed applicants in favor of employed applicants. It was troubling during my own job hunt in 2009 and 2010, particularly as I was following the very sage advice of not jumping on just any opportunity that presented itself. But instead of remaining unemployed, I chose a proactive route of self employment through consulting. True, this placed me in the sorely overlooked “underemployed” bucket, but it showed that I was proactive about work, and did pay off well in the end.

Question to readers: Had you found yourselves in a similar situation, finding job postings and employers screening for employed candidates only? what, if anything, did you do to try getting around this qualification, and did it work?

Related articles

• Employers Still Ruling Out Jobless Applicants: Report (huffingtonpost.com)
• Discriminating Against the Unemployed (economix.blogs.nytimes.com)
• You: The Help-Wanted Sign Comes With a Frustrating Asterisk (nytimes.com)

The Minne-Ha-Ha

(OK, yes, this is more about the beer and less about the boat, but truth be told I really enjoyed the boat tour.)

For Father’s Day my kids thought it would be fun to take a boat tour of Lake George on the Minne-Ha-Ha, an old steam-driven paddle ferry. They were right. We had a beautiful day for the cruise. Bright and sunny, a slight breeze off the water, and just enough people around to make the whole area seem lively but not overcrowded. We sat on the upper deck of the front bow, soaking in the sun, the breeze and the views. It was a great time out on the water.

After the ride we were all hungry, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to check out the Adirondack Pub & Brewery. I’d been meaning to go there for quite some time but hadn’t made my way to Lake George specifically for a visit as of yet.

The brew pub has a very quaint look to it, an old world American charm type of feel. They have a large covered deck with seating which was perfect for the late afternoon. We could hear music from a band playing at a nearby barbecue joint, which added to the vibe. The staff was very pleasant and courteous, and very attentive to ensure we had a pleasant visit.

When it was time to place our drink orders, I’d asked for a flight so I could sample several of their beers. I was a bit thrown off, as our waitress had never heard the term before. When I explained it, she said, “Oh, a sampler! Sure, I’ll bring one right out.” Not exactly what I’d expect from brewery staff, but given the area is a major tourist draw I chalked it up to her being new seasonal help and perhaps not yet acclimated to the vocabulary of beer geeks like me.

My flight, um, I  mean sampler, came in an understated but simply elegant iron ring containing six small tapered pilsner glasses. The six beers included were Adirondack IPA, Headwaters Hef, Beaver Tail Brown, Bear Naked Ale, Dirty Blonde, and Café Vero Coffee Stout. Each glass contained about 4 ounces of beer, which was the perfect amount for tasting through the meal. I’ll get into a quick review of these beers a bit later in this blog, but for now on to the food!

There were five in our party, and we each were hungry for something different. My younger daughter ordered her staple of mac & cheese with fries. The mac & cheese (from the kids’ menu) was your typical Kraft style mac & cheese, which I found disappointing, but she ate it up happily. The fries were a battered pub fry which seemed to be double-fried (a fantastic way of preparing fries) and were delicious and crunchy. Other meals  ordered (off the regular menu) were a pulled pork sandwich, grilled chicken sandwich, bacon Gorgonzola burger, and a chicken walnut salad. All items were prepared well and were quite tasty, though the salad only used iceberg lettuce instead of leafy lettuce or field greens, which would have been preferable to iceberg. All in all we were happy with the food, but would avoid the salads in the future unless they used heartier greens.

Now for the beer…

Adirondack IPA: Nice golden color, clear, with strong lacing on the glass. Aroma of mild citrus rind and fresh cur grass. Body was thin with little malt for a backbone. Strong taste of grassy hops and citrus. Thin mouth feel but clean finish. Not the best IPA I’ve had but not bad.

Headwaters Hef: Light, mild cloudiness. Solid aroma of citrus with mild banana notes. Very juicy citrus flavor but not overpowering, quite refreshing. The citrus flavor lingered a bit on finish, which kept me coming back for more. Highly drinkable and enjoyable.

Beaver Tail Brown: Nice light brown color. Not much of a nose to speak of. Thin body but solid balance of bitterness and malt. This is a solid brown ale, and would make a great session beer.

Bear Naked Ale: Light golden in color with a very mild hint of hops on the nose. Thin body, and a bit lacking in any real flavor. Mild bitterness and very thin malt flavor. Nothing on the finish to speak of. I was a bit disappointed with this one as it really lacked any kind of character.

Dirty Blonde: Thick haze to this otherwise light blonde ale. Nose was a bit of a mix between white bread toast and wet lawn clippings. Again, a very thin body with an overwhelmingly funky grassy flavor. I had trouble finishing this one. Sorry to say this was not a beer of my liking at all. I would not order this again.

Café Vero Coffee Stout: I was surprised this was a stout, to be honest. The color was more that of what you’d expect of a rich nut brown ale or perhaps a lighter porter. Light completely penetrated this beer, giving off some crimson hues when held up to the light. This is not what I’d expect from a stout. There was no nose to this beer at all. I was expecting some coffee notes, but nothing on the nose at all. The beer was exceptionally thin both in mouth feel and in flavor. There was no real malt flavor to speak of, and a very faint combination of bitterness and coffee notes. It was thin in every possible way, almost like a cup of watered down diner coffee. This was not enjoyable at all and left a dry, tacky feeling in my mouth which I had to wash away with plenty of water. I would not order this again.

Overall, it was a good meal out. The service, atmosphere and food are all great, but the beer is very hit or miss with only one or two beers worth coming back for (in my opinion and from my sampling of six). I do have to note that there were other stronger beers on the menu but they were not included in the flight and I was driving, so no more beer for me that afternoon. I’d like to go back sometime with either more time to kill or a driver to try some of their heavier beers.

Here’s a recording of the Lightning Talk I gave on building online communities at the 2011 STC Summit. For those unfamiliar with the presentation format, it’s 5 minutes total presentation time, 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide, and zero control over timing and transitions. Thanks to Ben Woelk for the recording!

Link: Advice from the Trenches on Building Online Communities

Other Lightning Talks:

Ben Woelk, Ten Ways to Shockproof Your Use of Social Networking
Brenda Huettner, Lighting Design, Terminology and Audience Analysis: Succeeding without Winning
Alan Houser, Myths, Fallacies, and Lies in Technical Communications
Robert Armstrong, Don’t Suck at Social Media

A bit of old news now (almost 24 hours old) but last night the STC membership voted to approve the proposed amendment to the bylaws allowing students an equal vote in STC elections and decisions. You can read the official announcement on STC Notebook.

I’d just like to personally thank the 100+ members who attended the business meeting, making the vote possible. And of course I’d like to thank the overwhelming majority of voters for helping this amendment pass.

The folks at Craftproducers coordinating Albany Beer Fest have been busy! The beer list is growing, and rumor has it there may even be a firkin of J.W. Lee’s Harvest Ale there as well as Sam Adams Rustic Saison! Food will be provided by Dinosaur BBQ and Bayou Café, and entertainment will also be provided. Buy your tickets now!