So we haven’t written anything in a while (what else is new?). I figured I gotta write about something, and it has to be beer related. I could always do a half assed review, Clubby or Dave could always post something while drunk, but that’s what we always do. So while I was at work, to avoid actually helping people, I was browsing the internet and came across an interesting article in the New York Times. And it just so happened to be about beer. It involved Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head (one of my heroes, along with Garrett Oliver, Charlie Papazian, Homer Simpson, and pretty much anyone who does something beer related).

What Mr. Calagione was doing was brewing a new crazy beer. Gasp! Almost unheard of, I know. Anyways, it involves a process which I have seen before on 2 of the greatest shows on the Travel Channel, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, and No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. Basically, some tribal people in different parts of the world create a supposedly tasty beverage by chewing corn, and spitting it out and letting it ferment. That’s right, these people pretty much regurgitate corn into a barrel, seal it up, let it ferment, then drink it. They drink saliva beer. Gross. Or is it?

According to the article, the process would be like making a normal beer, so the corn would go in the boil for at least an hour, thusly sterilizing it. Whether they actually do this in South America and those other countries, I don’t know. But boil or no boil, the fact that somebody was spitting in the beer would probably prohibit me from drinking it. Seriously, if the 3 of us were standing around spitting up in the mash tun, I think we would all probably throw up. And make everyone else in the vicinity throw up. Instead of creating an interesting beer we would probably recreate the scene of Lardass and the pie eating contest.

So I ask everyone, would you either make this beer or drink it given the chance? Leave a comment, let us know. Maybe we will try it sometime.

In case you didn’t notice, we changed the color scheme to the blog, and made a new logo. We made the new logo to make shirts and stuff with, and decided to keep almost everything uniform with it. If you would like to purchase any merchandise, head to our “store”. Selling crap with our names on it will hopefully give us a few extra bucks to pay for the homebrewing addiction we have. Maybe it will pay for Clubby and Dave’s tuition at the Culinary Institute. Highly doubtful. So buy some stuff from the world’s greatest imaginary brewery. And if anything on the site is too hard to read, or if the colors I picked make you want to scoop your eyeballs out with a spoon, let me know. I’m colorblind, so everything looks OK to me. Seriously, I have trouble distinguishing colors. Stop laughing. It’s a serious condition. Comment on any changes you wish to see. Thanks for looking.

The French Culinary Institute, located in the SoHo section of downtown Manhattan has accepted Chris and Dave into their Classic Culinary Arts program.  These two knuckleheads will start their culinary education May 4th of this year and hopefully learn a thing or two.

The CCA  program consists of nine consecutive months of “Total Immersion” training.  What this means is that it is 100% hands on beginning on the first day.  I recommend that you take a look at their website for any other information you may be curious about.  www.frenchculinary.com

Chris and Dave, along with Greg, have high hopes of one day opening their restaurant and in-house brewery.  I guess this is just one part of the puzzle that needs to be completed.  With Chris and Dave graduating from Culinary school it is sure to add to their credentials when applying for that million dollar loan in the future.

I want to go on record now and say this.  Beer in the food industry will soon be what wine is in the food industry now, and in years passed.  I believe that in the past ten years the growth of the homebrewing industry has increased beyond measure.  Not only hombrewing hounds like us and others like us have evolved, but it has had an influence on the mass producers of the world as well.  Beer is the new wine!  Here’s  just a little piece of fascinating information. A year ago  I took my girlfriend out to a pretty nice and well established restaurant.  I of course, along with my partners,  are always curious about the beer list in any new place we go to for dinner.  When the server came and asked us what kind of wine we would like, I asked for the beer list.  The server said, “We have Budweiser, Bud Light, Heineken, Amstel Light, and Guinness.”  I had a Guinness.  About two weeks ago we were at the restaurant again.  We were seated and the server came to us right away with two lists.  One was for wine, one was for beer.  The selection of beer had greatly improved and I ordered a local pale ale.  To my amazement that wasn’t the only change for this place.  I began reading the menu and it had recommendations of beer and wine for a select set of dishes on their menu.  How amazing is that?  Beer is no longer wine’s ugly cousin.  It is not just the drink of the hardworking construction men of any-town USA.  It is rapidly earning it’s respect in the food industry.

Our goal is to exploit this opportunity.  Bring it to the forefront and run with it.  We are beer and food lovers.  What could be wrong about our goals?  We are definitely going in the right direction and there will be no turning back.  Little baby steps and a whole lot of hope.  Soon, maybe you might be asking for the beer list in our restaurant.