Half Acre, All Wisconsin

I was in Chicago this week and I finally tried one of the beers from Half Acre Beer Company that I wrote about in September.

It was good, but that's probably because it's made in Black River Falls, Wisconsin by the Sand Creek Brewing Company (contract beers account for 30% of their production).

They only make one beer so far - Half Acre Lager - and it was tasty. My 3 choices at the hotel were only Half Acre, Heineken, and Miller Lite, so I think I made the right selection. It was a pretty light beer but it had good malt and hop taste to it - much more taste than tradition light beers. I'd have it again.

I also went to Goose Island Brewery in Wrigleyville. While there I had a $10 glass of their Imperial IPA which was great (9% alcohol but come on, $10?). I also sampled 8 more of their beers, many of which I had before but the good ones were Matilda, 312 Urban Wheat, and their Christmas Ale. The brew pub is a nice place with decent food too.

Eastern Promises & Futurama

Two more movie recommendations from this week:

Eastern Promises
The film follows the mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), who is tied to one of London's most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is jarred when he crosses paths with Anna (Naomi Watts), an innocent midwife trying to right a wrong, who accidentally uncovers potential evidence against the family. Now Nikolai must put into motion a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution.

I could tell this was going to be a pretty violent movie just by reading the plot keywords from IMDB for this film: Stabbed In The Eye, Nude Fight Scene, Frozen Corpse, Severed Finger. Surprisingly, there are 39 movies listed as having nude fight scenes, and most of them I haven't seen yet. I guess I have some catching up to do.

If you enjoyed A History of Violence, you'll enjoy this film, especially because it's from the same director (David Cronenberg) and again stars Viggo Mortensen. The story is fairly simple and told in an unusually straightforward manner, but the characters are complex and interesting, and they're the focus of the movie.


Futurama: Bender's Big Score!
Planet Express sees a hostile takeover and Bender falls into the hands of criminals where he is used to fulfill their schemes.

I've been excitedly anticipating this direct-to-DVD movie since I read about it this summer. It's a very satisfying movie for Futurama fans as they address the show's cancellation from FOX two years ago and tie up other loose ends.

All your favorite Futurama characters are back, including Robot Santa, KwanzaBot, Chanukah Zombie, and Al Gore.

They are planning to release 3 more DVD movies and then they will chop them all up into 16 episodes to air on Comedy Central along with new episodes.


I also watched a bad movie called I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry which I assume is offensive to gay people everywhere. It's also offensive to straight people everywhere, since the story is so stupid. I don't think it contains a single joke that you haven't heard elsewhere, like every gay joke you heard in 6th grade.

Jessica Biel is pretty though.

Nod to Bob

I'm going to this. 2 blocks from my house. 3rd year in a row. For a good cause.




Update: We really enjoyed the show. One of the definite standouts was Victoria Vox, who sang great versions of You Ain't Goin’ Nowhere, I'll be Your Baby Tonight, and Not Dark Yet. She played ukulele and a really cool mouth trumpet, which I had never heard before. Quite impressive.

Here's a video of her performing Uking at the Wheel, while she is uking at the wheel.


We also really liked Amy Rohan (who we've heard and enjoyed before) and Dan Hanson & The X-Rays.

Duff Man can't breathe! Oh, no!

I would have guessed that Duff Beer would be the first alcoholic beverage inspired by a cartoon, but Family Guy beat The Simpsons to the punch.

Family Guy will soon be the first animated show ever to have a beer licensee.

In an example of reverse product placement, Pawtucket Patriot Ale will appear in liquor stores and specialty outlets next year.

Family Guy is also being used to advertise Subway restaurants, starting this month. In one ad, an animated Peter Griffin presents an "ode to a Subway feast" in which he makes fun of Subway spokesman Jared.

I want to be a pirate

I saw this boat sitting in the shallow waters near Bradford Beach off of Lincoln Memorial Drive. I even got out of my car and took a picture on my cell phone (although this isn't my cell phone picture).

I thought there was a law that said if you found an abandoned boat at sea, you could claim it as your own. But the article below implies that isn't true in the Great Lakes.

Here's the article about the boat and what it's doing there:

Dream boat came to rest on the rocks

The $15 drink

Last Friday night Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro sold me a $15 drink. They also sold me two $7.50 drinks, but I'm not worried about those.


The $15 drink wasn't an expensive glass of wine or a 10 year old scotch - this was a cocktail - a cosmopolitan. The same type of drink that City Lounge in Cudahy sells for $5 on Monday nights. The same type of drink that the bar at Hotel Metro in downtown Milwaukee charges only $5 for during their happy hour.



Here's the standard recipe for a cosmo:

1 oz vodka
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz cranberry juice

Shake vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry juice vigorously in a shaker with ice. Strain into a martini glass, garnish with a lime wedge on the rim, and serve.


I'm not trying to be a cheap-ass here, but $15 is too much for a cosmo. I can understand $8 or $9, but $15 is crazy. I can buy an entire bottle of Absolut Vodka for $20 and make many cosmos. Next time I will.

Movies

I recently saw two movies that I recommend.



King of California

Michael Douglas and Evan Rachel Wood

An unstable dad who after getting out of a mental institution tries to convince his daughter that there's Spanish gold buried somewhere under suburbia.






American Gangster

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe

In 1970s America, a detective works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas, a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling the drug into the country in the coffins of soldiers returning from the Vietnam War.

Here are the ones I saw that I don't recommend:

Sam Adams backs down, Sam Adams victorious

Here's an update to the Sam Adams vs. Sam Adams case I wrote about last month.

Sam Adams the beer was suing Sam Adams the guy running for mayor of Portland because some radio station registered some Sam Adams related websites on behalf of him.

Initially, the beer company said it would infringe on a trademark for their product and confuse beer customers. But after a short legal battle, the company backed off.

"They say they've been using this trademark since 1984," Sam Adams the man said. "I've been using it since 1963."

Boston Beer's Helen Bornemann said she didn't know there was a real Sam Adams running for mayor when she sent the letter.

The radio station planned to officially give the domain names to Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams this week.

Budweiser says Miller is mean

From JSOnline:
Miller Brewing Co. is ratcheting up its attack on rival Anheuser-Busch Cos. with a new TV spot that features some of Anheuser-Busch's most famous mascots: Clydesdale horses and a Dalmatian dog. The ad, which began running this week, shows a Dalmatian on a beer wagon pulled by Clydesdales. The dog, however, jumps into the open window of Miller beer truck - presumably enticed by Miller Lite having more taste and fewer carbs than Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch responded today with full-page ads in the Journal Sentinel, USA Today and other newspapers. The newspaper ads characterize the TV spot as "negative" and say Anheuser-Busch is responding by donating money to animal rescue groups.

Ha ha ha ha. How is that a negative ad, and who cares? Most dogs I know are exclusively Bud Light drinkers. On a related note, many of those same dogs enjoy eating their own poop.

There, I said it. Drinking Bud Light is just as bad as eating your own poop.

Point Brewery Winter Ale

Point is continuing to make new seasonal beers. Last August, I mentioned that they were making an Oktoberfest - now it's a Winter Ale.

According to JSOnline, Stevens Point Brewery is launching a new seasonal specialty beer, called St. Benedict's Winter Ale, the brewery announced today.

Stevens Point Brewery is introducing St. Benedict's Winter Ale in early November in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota. It is the first winter seasonal specialty beer for the Stevens Point Brewery, which brews Point Oktoberfest for the fall and a Point bock beer in the spring. A summer seasonal is also planned.

Samuel Adams Utopias

Just in time for Christmas, the Boston Beer Company has announced the 2007 batch of Samuel Adams Utopias. If you were planning on wasting $120-$140 on me anyway, consider buying me one bottle of this stuff.

According to their press release, Samuel Adams Utopias is a strong, rich, dark beer that is uncarbonated and is served not pint by frosty pint, but at room temperature in a two-ounce pour, to be savored like a vintage port or a fine cognac. Breaking the record for commercially brewed beers held by the 2005 batch of Samuel Adams Utopias, the 2007 batch of Samuel Adams Utopias weighs in at 27% alcohol by volume. The average beer is about 5%.

It also comes in a cool golden bottle!

The 2007 batch of Samuel Adams Utopias is a blend of liquids, some of which have been aged in a variety of woods at the Boston Brewery for up to 13 years. A portion of the beer was aged in hand-selected, single-use bourbon casks from the Buffalo Trace Distillery. The extended aging process enhances the distinct cinnamon, vanilla, and maple notes in the beer’s flavor. The beer is then finished in sherry and madeira casks from Portugal. The sherry casks add nutty, oak, and honey notes, while the madeira casks contribute slightly more elegant, creamy fudge-toffee aromas and flavors.

I tasted the 2005 batch at the Great Taste of the Midwest beer festival in Madison. It was good, but the entire bottle would have probably lasted me until this year. It's best enjoyed in small doses.