Post from: EveryJoe

Have a Safe New Years Eve!

Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin made news when she decided to make an appearance at a Philadelphia bar just before tonight’s presidential debate. The bar she chose? The Irish Pub, located off of posh Rittenhouse Square. In Philly, you’d probably know the bar – as we do – as a hang out for grad students. Interesting choice, if you ask me.

But the point was not so much the actual venue as the idea of the venue: a bar. Much like the attempts made by prior presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee, showing up at a bar is somehow supposed to make you feel like a candidate is “one of us.” But does it work? Of course it does. In the last presidential election, George W. Bush consistently topped the polls over John Kerry when asked, “Who would you rather have a beer with?”

Why does it matter? While it’s true that you may not want your drinking buddy to run the country, many voters do vote on personality, not issues. We want a “common man” (or woman) – someone that we can feel comfortable with. The question is then, who will that be? Which candidate would you rather have a beer with?

(Author’s note: The inclusion of Obama, above, was not meant to imply an endorsement. I was unable to find a single, legal image of McCain drinking, or in proximity to, a beer.)

Post from: EveryJoe

Forget About the Debates: Which Candidate Would You Rather Share a Beer With?

Ok, so I’m not actually getting tired of hops per se, but I am quite tired of the idea that every beer, of every style, must be hopped to the hilt in order to be of any worth. In fact, I have to admit that I was almost thankful for the hop shortage, hoping it would lead to a somewhat more discriminate use by brewers. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t. In fact, the other day I picked up a variety pack of Flying Fish, a fine local brewery, only to find that they too have jumped on the Hop head bandwagon, replacing one of the four beers with HopFish. As you can guess, it’s a hoppy IPA.

Nothing against HopFish, which is a good beer, but it seems to me that hoppy IPAs are going the way of heavily-oaked Chardonnays. Too much of a good thing can be, well, simply too much.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tired of Hops