There was a flurry of New Day Job productivity here, but the ramp-up to Beervana evidently derailed that somewhat. It’s an awesome time of year to be a beer geek, and I’ve got a brilliantly-enjoyable new gig in the beer business, but my best writing hours have always been from midnight to four — it’s probably genetic, for all I know — and I just haven’t found the time. That should begin to swing back, on the far side of this weekend.

So, with apologies for the delay, we here present an unintentionally-apt reintroduction and recap podcast episode, with less of a Topic For Discussion and more just two guys sitting down over a few beers. George and I hadn’t caught up for a while, and now — collectively — we haven’t seen you lot in some time, either. But nevermind that; welcome back and hello again. In his travels, George picked up a seriously neat new little recording gizmo, and it here makes its début. One immediate effect is that we suddenly go all stereo. We kind of like the effect, but if it drives you all mad — or just annoys some statistically-significant subset of you — we can smoosh it back to mono. We’ll also soon première some on-location footage that the New Gizmo gave us the opportunity to record, out and about. Feedback is always welcome — but even moreso when we go changing things a little.

As always, a direct download is available, there’s a podcast-specific RSS feed, and you should be able to get us on iTunes. George and myself can also both be reached on the Twitterthing, or you can leave comments here or on the Bookface.

Show notes:

• (0.45) Just to give them some top-of-the-list credit, the music is from the Split! EP by The Coconut Monkeyrocket and Martinibomb.
• (1.05) It has been a long time, for which I repeat my apology (above).
• (1.20) Fun fact: Magellan didn’t circumnagivate the globe. He only made it just past half way — only (some of) his expedition (eventually) got all the way home. I think the “wonders” in Civilization confused my younger self.
• (1.30) Full disclosure is always good.
• (4.20) See? (Above.)
• (5.00) Beer of the Week #1: Tribute. Which didn’t even have to come all this way; I’ve seen it on the shelves at Thorndon New World. (Referring to the band as The Motherfuckin’ D is something George and I have done since reading Y: The Last Man.)
• (8.50) No photos yet, sorry. I’ll hassle George.
• (10.50) I was nervous that I was being confused by Cedric the Sparkly Vampire, but no, he really is Ron Pattinson — and his blog is wonderfully wonk-tastic reading.
• (12.15) That’s how topical this one isn’t; the Olympics have mercifully ended.
• (13.30) Yep. That’s about right: the output of the Boston Beer Company (usually known just as Sam Adams) roughly equals the entire beer production of New Zealand — something in the order of 300M litres.
• (14.00) I was being inadvertently high-brow, there: McSorley’s is a famous pub, for historical and painterly reasons. (To double up on the comic book references, it’s possible it’s in my brain thanks to Preacher.)
• (15.00) Indeed; it seems the Americans seized the clean-slate provided by the repeal of Prohibition, and basically prevented tied houses from re-appearing.
• (16.00) This is my distorted view from the Pacific, I think; Sierra Nevada is only about a third the size of Sam Adams / Boston Beer, in production terms.
• (18.20) Not even remotely kidding. Yerk.
• (19.00) George’s U.S. Recommendations: Cape Cod Beer and Carolina Brewery. Plus, the Warren Tavern and the Pony Bar, Hell’s Kitchen.
• (23.10) Beer of the Week #2: Long Trail Coffee Stout. Vermont does indeed have needlessly-weird terminology for such things, as seems to be U.S. tradition. Also, just as a note to marketers and label designers: if I’m already holding the bottle, you don’t need to tell me how to find it. I forgot to get a photo of it, but The Google can be relied upon to come to the rescue.
• (27.50) Unrecommendation: Croucher Coffee Stout / Ethiopean Pale Ale.
• (31.00) Captain Parker’s Pub’s website is worth visiting…
• (34.50) I have a very involved anti-tipping rant, if anyone’s keen to hear it.
• (35.30) “Sleeped”? Getting up in the mornings really has broken me.
• (36.30) Listener demographics. Because the internet will drown you in statistics, if you let it. And bonjour, our Mysterious Listener(s) in Poitou-Charentes. Also, I’m not kidding: I totally support D.C. Statehood; no taxation without representation, amirite?
• (38.50) “News” will largely be “olds”, since I’m so far behind in posting this. Sorry about that (again, again). Though, fittingly, I’m drinking a Deep Creek ‘Dusty Gringo’ as I type up these notes. Alice did finish the 365 and ring in her own personal new year — and mark its extra day with a homebrew named “Stickler”, just for good form. Although, surprisingly topically, Liberty 365 will get it’s Wellington launch at Hashigo this Thursday (i.e., the 16th).
• (42.50) This is a busy time of year. Hence the delay (sorry; again, again, again). IPA Challenge and Matariki have been and gone — but we recorded footage at both, which we’ll post soon. And the “Matariki” trademark is pretty freakin’ bogus, but it seems that the winery does own the marks in the relevant classes — which just means a) they’re over-registering bastards, and b) the Trademark Office dropped the ball, again.
• (43.30) Beervana’s now less than a week away, of course. We’ll have the new recording gizmo with us there, too, and will hopefully get some interviews and such.
• (45.20) Recommendation: Three Boys Best Bitter. Seriously; have some. And Dale’s Doppelbock, which was delightful winter fuel. And I do love the Thirsty Boys’ haiku.
• (50.10) On the Beer List: Ben (“Yahtzee”) Crowshaw. His ‘Zero Punctuation’ is an absolute thing of genius. The “grumpy ones” I refer to here were D.B Export Beer and Hofbrau Maibock ones — my Day Job Productivity Increase was de-railed shortly thereafter by said day job getting busy to ramp up toward Beervana. (And there we go: three comic book references. You should seriously read Transmetropolitan. And incidentally, the author just put up a mournful rant about the Olympics Closing Ceremony which gets just the tone I mean.)
• (54.30) Go to Beervana! (There will still be — some — tickets available.)
• (55.30) Cue the music: ‘Shopping for Explosives’, by The Coconut Monkeyrocket. Audio editing done in Audacity. Habitual thanks to both. And I still have Tenacious D’s ‘Tribute’ stuck in my head, by the way.