Some random observations
In addition to running a fine bar, Dave Wilby of Dawson Street Pub (Dawson & Cresson, Manayunk) makes a helluva chicken noodle soup. He cooks his own stock and it’s loaded with plenty of chicken and veggies with just enough noodles to sop up all the brothy goodness. One bowl is a meal, for less than the price of a beer, paired beautifully with a glass of Lagunitas Ruben & the Jets.
I’ve finally figured out Victory Hop Wallop - assuming that’s what they were actually serving on cask at the Boathouse/Conshy last weekend.The ale has always struck me as a bit blunt, too obvious even for a double IPA. On cask, though, the hops seemed a bit softer, but here’s the big thing I noticed: a slight twinge of horseblanket funk. Was the cask turning? Did Victory suffer some cross contamination with its WildDevil? Was this actually a cask of WildDevil? I dunno, but I’d like to think this is what I’d been missing on the many other occasions I’ve tasted Hop Wallop, because here’s what I was what came to mind while enjoying that pint: Imperial Orval.
Cycling fans (I count myself among them) finally have a place to catch international races: Local 44 (44 & Spruce, West Philly). They’ll be showing Dauphine Libere (June 7, and 14) and Le Tour de Suisse (June 14 and June 21). Now, I realize cycling doesn’t quite pack the punch of Monday Night Football (or even boring English Premier League Soccer), but anyone who’s ever spent an afternoon in a Belgian cafe will appreciate the supreme enjoyment of sucking down a cold one while watching the greatest athletes in the world rip down a mountainside.
And finally…
The Marin Institute of California, which publishes one-sided studies bashing alcohol, recently produced something called “The Annual Catastrophe of Alcohol in California.” Among other claims:
“…Alcohol is responsible for severe reductions in individuals’ quality of life in California. We estimate that the disability caused by injury, the personal anguish of violent crime victims, and the life years lost to fatality are the largest costs imposed by alcohol. The total value for this reduced quality of life in California is between $30.3 billion and $60.0 billion.”
Of course, the study doesn’t mention the benefits of booze. According to stats compiled by David J. Hanson, who runs the excellent Alcohol Problems & Solutions web site, beer alone is responsible or about 212,000 jobs and over $8 billion in wages each year in California, plus over $2.5 billion in state and local taxes. And there’s something else. Noting that Marin somehow included the cost of “personal anguish” in its estimates, Hanson asks:
How is ‘personal anguish’ an economic cost? If personal anguish has an economic value, shouldn’t the pleasure provided by consuming alcoholic beverages also have an economic value?”
In my estimation, that pleasure is priceless.
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