Buddhism teaches that our thoughts are like waves on the ocean, rising and falling back into the expanse, and that our true nature is the ocean itself—vast, spacious, and placid. Freud has a different take, describing an “oceanic experience” as a feeling of an indissoluble bond, of being one with the external world as a... View Article
When the news broke that Anheuser-Busch had agreed to market its Czech rival’s Budweiser Budvar brand in the United States, one grizzled observer of the beer scene in Britain observed: “This is the Hitler-Stalin pact of the 21st century.” A tad over the top, perhaps: beer is unlikely to be the catalyst for World War... View Article
It’s hard to believe but it’s been 15 years since I’ve celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. Sure, I’ve hoisted a pint of Guinness Stout and dined on corned beef and cabbage on March 17 this past decade and a half—as any gal blessed with the surname Finnegan is required to. But I mean, really celebrate, the... View Article
Not quite two years ago, I found myself hosting a seven course beer dinner at a country club in the charming Alpine-style town of Blumenau in the south of Brazil. I was the guest of the Mendes family, brewers of the Eisenbahn line of beers, authentic German-style beers harking back to Blumenau’s German immigrant roots.... View Article
Prior to the spring of 2001, my experience with beer was limited to days long gone: downing entirely too many plastic cups of whatever was on tap during “dime beer” hour in the mid-1970s at the Vine in downtown Iowa City (the original Vine, not that ersatz joint in business today).
Among those of us who value the exploration of new terrains above such modern conceits as penthouse condos and SUVs, there exist two distinct types: the Adventurer and the Urban Explorer. Into the first class fall people like my dear cousin Karen, whose idea of an ideal summer vacation is to begin in a near-Arctic... View Article
One of my favorite bars burned to the ground yesterday: Schnitzel’s Tavern, in the little upstate Pennsylvania town of Bellefonte. It was a German restaurant with authentic atmosphere, a nice little bar and stone-patio seating along Spring Creek. Now it’s a heap of smoldering, stinking bricks and rubble… and I’m diminished by its passing.
I got into beer in college, hardly an uncommon experience. Less common was the fact that I didn’t drink American beers, but lots of European beers-beers with more color and flavor. Even more unusual, I had begun making some of the very beer that I was drinking. An English friend had introduced me to the... View Article
I’ve sipped beer on mountaintops, drunk it while straddling a surfboard and enjoyed it at ballparks. I also like a big, beefy stout while sitting around the fireplace in the winter. But still, at the end of the day, the place I really like to drink my beer is in a good, old-fashioned neighborhood beer... View Article
