I guess you’re just gonna have to come by and try one of these Chico Ales in a few weeks to try out the tangerine flavor.

I didn’t see tangerine on the list for hop flavors and I find tangerine quite different that citrus.

Unfortunately, the little yeasties ate a large portion of the chico corn flavor but they did leave behind some of the earthy, barky, gritty, rustic, smokey flavors.

I’d like to hear how many descriptors you can find in this NM hops/Chico Ale.

You’re correct on FWtBT as being the Spanish Civil War story — if I can get past some of the deep rhetoric of every characters’ lives (except the 2 I care most about — at least to this point in the story) to the end, I’ll keep your thought in mind. As is, Ernie seems to be doing all he can to keep the attention levels near comatose range — IIRC, I felt similarly about Farewell to Arms when I read it in HS — guess I should have stuck with my original instincts after that one.

Of course, the Absinthe passages have kept me interested, along with pitchers of beer in Valencia!

On a “For Whom The Bell Tolls” tangent (as long as I recall correctly and that is the Spanish Civil War book) read the first and last sentences of the book. He expected a certain level of paying attention.

Funny coincidence, I’m reading “For Whom the Bell Tolls” right now and I think Papa could have learned by his own words. I’ll stick with Chandler as my favorite, his descriptions may be just as involved, but he knows the right spot for a paragraph!

S.

Glad I pretty much stopped taking notes on beer. Now it’s as easy as “MMM! Good!” or “Um…yuck!”.

Something I’ve seen in many brewers and homebrew judges. And something I wholeheartedly and earnestly wish to avoid. I’ll stick with adequate descriptions.

And yes, “The Wheat Cream Incident” was good-natured!

I think that this is a great idea for a beginner. This is not to be snobby but it is a great start out on the path of exploring taste and that takes a while. What is of no interest to me, however, is to give up my personal lexicon which is created as I go along by how taste is evocative to me. [There is an incredible tangential but interesting point to be made here about how differnt languages work as exemplified by the Mi'kmaq language of eastern Canada but I will refrain.] Let it suffice to say that I would not care to give up that personal relationship to my own words and thoughts a standard table of acceptable words.

It reminds me, too, of a point Hemingway made in, I think, the preface to “Death in the Afternoon” about being an aficianado of anything. There is a bit in there about the skills of observation and reporting on the observative being quite distinct skills each of which each have to be present for good writing to be created. Refinding and trusting your own perception (his first stage) is a worth goal in itself and if you ever hope to have your reporting being uniquely your own you will have to find your own lexicon based on your own perceptions to report those perceptions. If you are lucky, the lexicon will make sense to another though, as Lew recently exemplified in his good natured (I hope) balking at my reference to “wheat cream” in relation to Girardin Gueuze, that is not necessarily something that can be taken for granted. My usage made perfect sense to me [and I will not be moved from it] but was gobblety-gook to him which I take as a quite honest response.

Also interestingly, I think Hemingway also pointed out that the pursuit of this excellence of description also will destroy your ability to experience the pleasure itself. A useful warning.

A couple weeks ago in brewpub I was discussing “catty” with a brewer and Daria (my wife) turned out daughter and explained we meant the smell of cat urine. Much laughter followed.