The Video You Should Have Watched Last Night

Beer #153 Pater Dubbel Ale / Brouwerij Corsendonk, Oud-Turnhout, Belgium

It's been a long week for many of us, and I certainly don't need to bother you with any of the boring details.  I will say it ended on a high note, as I managed to escape the dungeon a bit early and head to a happy hour in honor of a co-worker and friend moving to a new position in a new department.  I'm lucky in the sense I get to work with great people - it makes going to work much, much easier.  I now work with one less great person, but our company has the habit of bringing things full circle, so I'm sure we'll run into each other again.  I do worry that the work happy hour is starting to stretch far beyond the typical "happy hours" and is moving into the evening hours.  Hopefully I at least get to hear the stories - occasionally, being in charge isn't great when it comes to hearing the stories.

What is great, is beer.  Specifically, tonight's beer is the Dubbel from Brouwerij Corsendonk.  It pours a dark brown in the glass with a thin white head.  When you take the scent in, you get aromas of malt, dark fruits, and chocolate.  The taste is quite nice - a balance of malt, spice, stone fruits, a hint of smoke, and a sweet chocolate finish.  Not a beer I'd drink every day, but certainly a very tasty Belgian double.  If you find it, drink it.

As best I can put it together, Corsendonk is a brand name that references a religious order that dated back to 1398 and brewed beers until 1784.  It doesn't appear they still have a bricks & mortar brewery, but instead it seems to be brewed at Brasserie Du Bocq through a contract brewing relationship.  I think.  If you know more about this, feel free to correct me.

Thing to Think About Today:
Last night, I blogged about Cisco Brewers.  Cisco, you say?  After sleeping on it, I realized if I was drinking a Cisco, I should have thrown in a reference to early 00's rapper Sisqo, not the Dead Milkmen.  But don't fret - we're talking about (Corsen) Donk tonight, so I think the Thong Song still makes a tremendous amount of sense.  If you don't get the donk reference, you may be too old to read this blog.  And so, let's close out our Friday in grand style:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oai1V7kaFBk

Does anyone know what Sisqo is doing these days?  I mean, is he working at a telemarketing job with his hair dyed silver?  If you know the answer or have seen him lately, please let me know.  I worry about him.

Beer 138: Corsendonk Pater and Geniuses

Tonight The Franklin Institute is honoring nine men and women with the uber-prestigious Franklin Institute Medals.  These nine pioneers of science, technology and business are joining the ranks of past Franklin Institute Medalists.  That list is anyone and everyone worth a damn in science and technology.  Marie and Pierre Curie, Thomas Edison, Stephen Hawking, Orville Wright, Bill Gates, Paul MacCready, Fred Smith, Herb Kelleher.

This year’s winners run the gamut from science I couldn’t even begin to pretend to understand (black holes, anyone?) to paleoclimatologists who are leading the conversation about global warming, from the man who figured out how to make super huge telescopes that allow us to see millions and billions of years into the universe’s past to the man who runs Cisco.  Oh yeah, him. I read recently Cisco impacts something like 90% of all Internet communication.  These individuals have vision, fortitude, intelligence and curiosity that is awe-inspiring.

It’s every year around this time that I feel a strange mix of emotions.  It starts with feeling incredibly dumb because when you’re hanging around with people who figured out how to take the twinkle out of stars for a clearer understanding of the universe, it’s hard not to feel inadequate.  But then inspiration strikes.  No, I’m not going back to school to get an astrophysics degree or jumping ship to the next up-and-coming tech start up.  It’s inspiration to be goddamn good at what I do.  (The funny thing is that I’m writing that as I pick tree pollen out of my beer.)

There’s no sense in living if you’re not passionate about something.  Be passionate about your work, your hobby, your second career.  Don’t settle.  Don’t be happy with average.  Don’t miss out on opportunities to be different, to do differently.  Of course you should also always pick the tree pollen out of your beer.

What beer am I picking tree pollen out of?  A Corsendonk Pater dubbel ale.  Corsendonk is brewed and bottled in Belgium.  The Pater poured a deep, dark ruby in my glass.  It had a thick, fluffy head that slowly faded.  It smells of roasted grains and raisins.  The flavor is dark fruit, just slightly roasted/smoky.  It is refreshing, quenching and satisfying.  Good stuff.

Cheers!