I have always operated under the assumption that it's far easier to throw together an "extreme" brew than it is to create a balanced and interesting common beer. This is an underlying philosophical point I've discussed before and will likely revisit. Suffice to say that when I'm attempting to determine whether a brewer has a handle on the craft I'm far more likely to look to their pale ale instead of their bourbon-oak aged coffee stout or their 200 minute boil triple imperial IPA . It's not that I'm against big, experimental beer. It's just that I think that they tend to be more forgiving since you can reliably assume that the palate will be sufficiently overwhelmed that almost any taster who generally likes the style will leave with a warm fuzzy feeling. A lot of offerings have started to feel seriously gimmicky.

On the other hand, there are enough commercial brewers that are cutting corners to boost profits or save work that I've no concept why a hobbyist who is brewing his own would skimp on quality ingredients for a big beer because they're "a waste of money." Given that we're not able to duplicate the economy of scale that even a small brewpub can muster, the entire craft is arguably "a waste of money" even before our time is factored in. In for a penny and all.

Incidentally, I'm overtired and cranky today. If people keep honking me off, I'm going to start posting gratuitous pics of my stitches.

On the upside, we got a call about some alleged voodoo practitioners. Talk of chickens and curses seriously trumps the call from the Hollywood production assistant who was conducting research. I mean seriously... CHICKENS!

The weekend has turned out to be pretty full, and I'm happy for it. This is the last weekend before the roommate moves, and I'm anticipating that the house will be relatively chaotic, especially since we're going into the weekend with virtually no prep on his part. He's effectively packing up his life at this apartment in the course of seven days. My suspicion is that unwanted things will just be abandoned where they lie and any sort of cleaning will be the stuff of fables and lore. If that's the case, next weekend will be incredibly busy as well. Truth be known, I've things of my own that I need to get in order.

(CHICKENS!)