here be dragons

 It's still time for stout!  Who am I kidding, it's always time for stout at my house.  Ratpenat's Imperial Stout had the look of a beer not to be ignored.  With bouncing temperatures, it's hard to predict what the best beer for the weekend will be, but this time I really nailed it.  Icy showers and frigid winds mean strong dark beers are welcome, and more so if there's a dragon ready to light a bonfire.  This one looks like it might have already by accident.  Is it just me?

It's not, right?

No strong odor, but very black pouring out.  Practically headless, though.  Maybe I'm not hitting the angle tonight.  A barrage of different flavors spills over the tongue; it's mostly on the bitter end, but the coffee is there, like a coffee candy, and so is a little dark chocolate.  I'm also getting something tart, a little bit plummy.  I was promised a medley of coffee related flavors on the label, and I can say I am it's coming through.  There are high sweet notes and low bitter ones, like Starbucks shots falling over each other.  There's a weighty quality to it, although it remains an easy drink to swallow.  I wouldn't call Retpenat the smoothest stout I've ever had, but it's quite satisfactory and nothing to be shied away from.

Supplier: La Birratorium
Price: ~€4

smoking gun

At first I thought the label had a typo - but then I saw it was a Polish beer, so I guess there isn't an "a" misplaced.

Honest mistake, right?

Imperial Red definitely shows the image we have in Europe even today, which we don't do much to change, to be honest.  Everybody remembers the Old West, and trigger-happy cowboys and sheriffs.  It seems like even in Central and Eastern Europe the romance of the era was strongly felt, even of it was used for a little parody.

Not implying a single thing here

The distinct odor of ale is noticeable when opening the bottle, orangey, lightly spicy.  It's a bubbly beer, although not particularly heady, with a warm cidery color.  It has a fine taste for a red ale, coming in bitter at first but with hints of sweetness that grow in your mouth.  It remains unobtrusive and perky, giving it the quality of a conversation beer, one you drink while earnestly discussing the merits of original language reading.  Or even imaginary language reading.

Ah, there it is

Supplier: La Birratorium
Price: ~€4

some suggestions

Caldera Brewing seems to be following the line of thought that cans are better for export than bottles, being lighter and all.  They're also said to be good for fast chilling of the beverage inside, although it's also true that they'll let it warm up faster too.  I was running out of time to pick a beer for the week, so the convenience was key this time around.  It's also a nice, restful design on the can, both reminiscent of the West and Japan.  It's the mountain, I think.

It's strongly hoppy in smell, more than I expect from an amber ale.  It has good color, though, vaguely rusty and cloudy.  Also, quite heady.  The taste is what I expect from ambers, with little to no bitterness at all.  It's not entirely sweet, but does remind me of summer and sitting in a backyard somewhere.  Although I'm aware that plenty of German beers have flavors along these lines, it seems to fall right into place as a "Western" beer for me, something you just know has to come from the Rockies or farther west. 

Oh, and those suggestions: Go skiing; go fishing; go snowboarding; go biking; go rafting; go home.  A little irony to see the last one, as I was listening to 311 at the time.

Supplier: La Birratorium
Price: ~€4 (lost my receipt; good thing I never have to return beer)

drink of the night

On a black night, after a black-and-white movie, with a black-and-white story, who doesn't love a good black beer?  It's not just me, is it?  Can't be.  Temperatures have dipped lately, so the stouts call more than ever.  Blackblock had not only the style of beer but also the style of label that shouts at you from the shelf.

The tingly tangy smell tantalizes the taste buds, although somewhat light.  The beer itself is a good, dark color, beige head, also on the light side.  A touch of bitter first, then a little dark chocolate.  The aftertaste is smoky yet slightly fruity.  It maintains a good balance of tastes, being a relaxing beverage for a chilly evening. 

Supplier: The Beer Garden
Price: €4

The Meaning of -ism

The suffix -ism is used to name a concept or school of thought, often with either a scientific sense behind it, or a dogmatic one.  We often attach lofty ideology to words with this suffix, due to their prevalence in religion and philosophy, although there are more trivial uses as well.  When a word or phrase can be identified as representing a particular person's thoughts or manner of speaking, that person's name can become an -ism.  This is the case with malapropisms, spoonerisms, and more recently, Bushisms.  These uses of language are obviously not used to promote the misunderstandings, arrogance, or possible disability of the speaker, but simply identifying the mannerism, often in a humorous way.  In medicine too we find the suffix at work, in terms such as autism, coined to refer to "morbid self-admiration".  While the Source had the feeling that -ism words have developed a distinctly negative tone over the last century, it seems to me that the people attached to those -isms, the -ists, are the ones who are labeled as being negative.  When calling somebody a solipsist, a socialist, or a misanthropist, we are pointing out an assumed, or demonstrated allegiance to the philosophies or ideologies of the corresponding -isms.  While we do have some examples of positive -ists, philanthropist for one, when looking for an insult that dumps the target into a group of unthinking clods, -ist is the go-to suffix.  One might wonder if this is because of the religious connection, as most religions well know to us are -isms, with Christianity and Islam being notable exceptions.  There, too, we see the abstract concept as, at least more or less, neutral, while the Christianist or Islamist is a rabid ideologue, incapable of rational analysis and only acting on some emotional drive to commit violence and subdue others.  The blind allegiance is also referenced by those who speak of evolutionists, saying that the evidence for this particular process is either unconvincing or fraudulent, so those who believe it must be religiously faithful to it.  In general, the -ism has a noble ring about it, calling to other words in high registers of language.  I would argue that its meaning is merely that, giving a formal term for a set of ideas, without passing value judgements on it.  -Ist, on the other hand...

The Source gave the definition as generally being a suffix to indicate a school of thought.  It can be found to label social movements and political philosophies, historical concepts somewhat solidified.  However, in his opinion, the concepts of the last century have been increasingly negative, with perhaps too much assertiveness.  The use of the -ism suffix has fallen into a habit of denoting a powerful idea, which necessarily preys on weaker ideas, just as powerful people use the idea to prey on the weak.

The Leader saw another opportunity to attack the manipulation of information through the language used.  It is a topic he finds hidden in quite a few subjects.  He noted that there was some sort of boom in -isms in the mid 20th century, most likely because more people had access to higher learning and information than ever before, and more discoveries were being made and lines of thought being plumbed, necessitating new terminology.  Any modern negativity attached to an -ism comes from a select few examples and in no way reflects the group as a whole.  He lamented the need for labeling extreme ideologies, or at least their importance in the general lives of people, saying it is a sign that the middle ground has been defiled and worn away.  Finally, he repeated the opinion that the suffix does not in itself transmit negativity, it is only the association with oft repeated terms that taints it, and this repetition can be part of the manipulation of the public carried out by the authority.  The very abstractness of the -ism makes it easy to theorize over without considering human costs.  The term can easily be found in a library or google searches, but the real lives taking part in it are harder to see, or even actively hidden.

It was not the best meeting, there being very little participation and few contributors to the discussion.  The group is definitely at a low point.