Beer: Pipeworks Galaxy Unicorn

While I am admittedly a beer novice compared to many other drinkers out there, I've had a enough world class IPAs and double IPAs that I'm starting to gain a keener sense for how their differentiated. Last night, I had the privilege to enjoy Galaxy Unicorn by Pipeworks Brewing Company. This beer completely floored me. I wouldn't hesitate to say that it is, in my opinion, the best double IPA that I've ever had. The flavor was absolutely incredible. Each sip contained an explosion of citrusy fruity goodness followed be a wonderful hops bitterness. There were no gaps in the flavor profile. The I think the flavoring could best be described as a more concentrated version of a pale ale such as Half Acre Daisy Cutter, FFF Gumballhead, or FFF Zombie Dust. While I initially felt the carbonation was a little bit on the low side, I think that it helped from obscuring the flavor profile. Anyways, if you have the opportunity, do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle of Pipeworks Unicorn Galaxy. I certainly plan on buying more and keeping an eye out for other galaxy hops beers.

An Opinion on Problems with the University System: Hard Science and Mental Health

At the university I attend, there has recently been a huge push push to increase counselling services for people who are having problems with coping with stress, depression, etc. While I think that this is good, I feel as though it's the bureaucratic solution to a problem that needs and engineering solution: root cause analysis. Rather than funding a retroactive fix to the problem, which has questionable 

efficacy, I think that this university and others are fail to address the problem itself: in many if not most cases, THEY are the causes of the stress. I remember as a freshman referring to the weed out engineering classes as hazing. The accuracy of calling them hazing is almost disturbing. They required students to stay up to unreasonable times of night regularly, forced students to do excessive amounts of work that had no real point, attempt to solve mathematically impossible problems, and more. This workload caused me to develop a caffeine addiction for which I went through noticeable withdrawal symptoms during school break. I had friends for whom this work led to use of and/or dependence on more serious drugs. 

Is this really justified? I don't see how it possibly could be. Sure, it's not good to graduate under qualified students, but there must be a better way of weeding out. But under the current system, students transfer out of challenging programs with low average GPAs into easier programs with higher average GPAs. Once there, they have existing grades which were already bad in relation to the low GPA of the challenging program, make them unable to be as competitive in the easier program as people who didn't want to or weren't willing to pursue a more challenging degree. So the university system will now be graduating competent students who won't be able to compete in the job market as well as confirming the decision of people who shy away from a harder major. While this isn't so much the topic of this post, this is a major contributing factor to America's lack of engineers and scientists.

So how can we fix this? Here are some of my ideas

1. Standardize GPAs across all majors. People will be able to freely move between majors without having to worry about being competitive. If the university still wants to weed people out, create a benchmark for students to reach in order to continue rather than forcing them to drop out through failure. This also will allow students to pursue classes based on value of material rather than how easy or challenging it is to do well. 

2. Standardize GPAs across all universities. The same argument for the harder vs. easier majors applies for harder vs. easier universities. This is especially true when companies use cutoff GPAs to evaluate students from schools of diverse difficulties.

3. Reduce busy work. It occupies time that could be spent doing better things, ranging from more valuable work to socializing to sleeping. I think that many professors forget the importance of college beyond the classroom.

4. Make professors more accountable. When a professor assigns a bad problem, provides faulty lab materials, or anything of this nature, it's frequently because they didn't properly check over the assignment etc. For a mistake that a professor could have fixed with ten minutes more effort, hundreds of hours of students combined time may be wasted.

If universities can make the investment to fix the way the system works, they can graduate more people where they belong, the students will be happier, and schools will probably even be able to save money that they're putting towards metal health budgets to compensate for their bureaucratic decisions. 

Song of the Week

The Clash - Hateful

While London Calling by The Clash is a highly acclaimed album and always ranks highly in greatest album of all time lists, you don't hear it come up that much in conversation. When I first set out on a quest to listen too all of the classics in high school, I took my Dad's advice and gave London Calling a lot of attention. I really liked it, and moved about 6 songs from the album into a playlist of songs that I shuffle through when I can't figure out what I want to listen to. I've heavily enjoyed them since then.
Anyways, about a week ago I was walking down the road, and for a reason I can't remember, wanted to listen through London Calling. While only those several songs in the playlist were at my disposal at the moment, I listened through the album when I got back to my apartment later that day. It didn't disappoint, and one song that really jumped out at me as a lost gem was Hateful. I'm not entirely sure what made it stick in my mind, but I haven't been able to stop listening to it since then.
At under three minutes in length, there are a lot of different sounds crammed in, particularly for punk. I especially like the use of congas and clapping in the chorus. I feel like it gives the song much more dimensional than I'm used to for such an otherwise simple song.

Pizano's Pizza and Pasta

          This past Saturday I had the opportunity to visit Pizano's Pizza and Pasta, continuing my exploration of pizzerias in the Chicagoland area. As I live in the suburbs, I visited the Glenview location.
          The first thing that was very nice about Pizano's, or at least the Glenview location, was that there was no wait. From what I've heard, this is typical, and contrasts greatly with the upwards of two hours I've had to wait to get into other pizzerias, particularly in Chicago. As for pizza, Pizano's serves a highly acclaimed deep dish/pan pizza as well as a thin crust pizza that's been rated the best in Chicago. Both take 30 minutes to prepare.
          My friend and I ordered a small pan sausage and a large thin half sausage half pepperoni (leftovers were anticipated). Both were a little pricey, with the pan pizza running a little over $14 and the thin crust running over $20, due to Pizano's policy of charging the full price for each half topping, which my friend and I found ridiculous, but we'd already eaten most of it and couldn't really argue.
          Given that I was in the Chicago area, I focused on eating the pan pizza. It was top notch. Of other similar pizzas I've had, I'd say it's most comparable to Uno's pan sausage, making it pretty typical in my book. The crust was buttery and had a nice crunch, the cheese was rich and stringy, and the sauce had a pleasant tang that didn't overwhelm any of the other flavors and wasn't too chunky. The sausage was savory. The exterior crust had a nice body that contrasts it with pizza from Lou Malnati's, for one. I'd put it in the top tier of deep dish pizzas I've had.
          As Pizano's totes their number one thin crust rating righ on the menu, I needed to try at least a slice of it. I tried the pepperoni. The square cut pizza didn't disappoint, and was unsurprisingly similar in flavor to the deep dish. The pizza was quite thin, and felt as though it was just on the boundary of folding over on itself when you picked up a slice. The crust didn't have quite the same crunch as the deep dish, but was by no means mushy. Similar to Giordano's thin crust, the pepperoni was layered beneath the cheese. I don't really see the point of this personally, as it can cause the cheese to slide off, but it's by no means a deciding factor. Overall, I though the thin crust was extremely good. However, I wouldn't say it's the best I've had in Chicago - I'm reserving that status for Barnaby's of Northbrook - but if you like a good thin crust, it's worth trying.
          I thoroughly enjoyed my experience dining at Pizano's, and hope I have the opportunity to return in the near future.

The Art Of Pizza

  

        I've been looking forward for the last couple of days to go to Piece, a New Haven style pizza restaurant and brewery in the deep dish land of Chicago. However, upon arrival, I was informed by one of the most stereotypical hipsters I've ever seen that the wait was an hour and a half, which my friends and I weren't willing to deal with. Also, for anybody interested in having a growler filled at Piece, we learned that they don't fill other brewery's growlers. 

          Luckily, I'd anticipated this as a potential issue, and knew that The Art Of Pizza wasn't too far away. As I'd been meaning to try The Art Of Pizza for an extremely long time, I was more than happy to make the ten or so minute drive over and start anew. Arriving, it wasn't at all what I expected. Unlike the table service deep dish pizzerias that I was used to, this was a more grungy restaurant similar to most non-deep dish places I've been. As someone who's really only concerned with taste, not decorum, I was unfazed. We entered with high hopes.

          The Art Of Pizza serves thin crust, stuffed crust, and pan pizzas. You can purchase either an entire pie or pizza by the slice. I ordered two slices, which were conveniently priced such that they were $4 each post-tax. I got a slice of cheese stuffed pizza, to try the style, and a slice of sausage pan pizza, to compare against other deep dish establishments I've eaten at on a more even playing ground. 

          I started with the sausage. Overall, I was surprised to be unimpressed. I thought that the sausage was less savory than other deep dish sausages, and was more reminiscent of the sausage used elsewhere in the country. The sauce was good and well proportioned, but I felt there wasn't quite enough cheese for my liking. The crust beneath the cheese was relatively thin an didn't play a huge part in the flavor. I thought the strongest component of the pizza was the (end) crust. It had a crunchy exterior with a firm interior, and had enough delicious greasy flavor that I'd be happy eating it on its own.

          I then moved on to the cheese stuffed pizza slice. I enjoyed this one a lot more. The slice was significantly thicker, and I think most of that came from the addition of cheese, making it better proportioned than the pan slice. In what I consider good stuffed style, the top of the slice held its shape while the cheese in the middle stretched out with every bite. I found the crust similar to the pan pizza. Though it was thicker, particularly at the extremities, I found the additional volume welcome.

          Conclusively, while I thoroughly enjoyed The Art Of Pizza and would happily return, I would not include it in the top tier of Chicago pizza restaurants. 

Proper Beer Care, Episode I: IPAs and Other Hoppy Beers

So I love beer. Not the stuff that you pour into a red solo cup shortly before crushing the can on your forehead (WARNING: I have done this, and lets just say the results don't couple well with a hangover). I'm talking about craft beer. The stuff with flavor that isn't most commonly associated with various substances that come out of your body. As my taste buds have matured, I, along with many other beer drinkers, have moved towards stronger flavored beers. A very common way of brewing a beer with a strong flavor is through the addition of hops. They create a wonderful bitter flavor that makes first time tries cringe while picking at the brains of more experienced drinkers who are considering what to drink. Anyways, I fear that anybody who is actually going to bother reading a post with a title such as this one already knows this, and I apologizing for your wasted time. Onto storage!

About eight months ago, I was just starting to get really into craft beer. I got a bottle of Goose Island Big John, an imperial (high alcohol content) stout (dark beer). While I was all excited to drink it, I noticed that Goose Island printed on the bottle that the beer would develop for up to a year in the bottle. I'd never heard of anything like this before. After a first round of research yielded little, I ended up putting it in a paper bag under my bed - one of the few things I did learn was to prevent the bottle from being exposed to the light. 

As time progressed, I started actively reading Beer Advocate, a great resource for learning about beer. I learned more about beer storage, and am now, in a time of self criticism for not following my own knowledge, am here to help teach you.

SKIP TO HERE IF YOU'RE IN IT FOR THE FACTS

Among the many things I've learned is that hoppy beers, particularly IPAs, should always be drunk fresh. If you only remember one thing from reading this, remember that. As time goes on, the characteristic hoppy flavor of such beers fades, leaving the beer a mere skeleton of what it should be. This occurs at different rates for different beers. Some beers, such as a Three Floyd's Alpha King Pale Ale that I recently enjoyed, have a hoppy flavor that fades rapidly, in a matter of weeks. In general, all IPAs and hoppy beers should be drunk within about 3 months of the date brewed. Most respectable beers should have either the date brewed, though it may be in a code, or a drink by date. If you see a hoppy beer that doesn't meet that criteria, it's probably not worth buying. 

Another key factor in storing all beers is, as mentioned earlier, to keep them in the dark. When light shines of beer over an extended period of time, the beer can become "skunked". If you cannot tell by the name, this is a bad thing that will leave the beer ruined. This is an especially big problem with beers that have lighter (ie green, clear) bottles. It is a problem that can be avoided by just buying cans (which I, in most cases, recommend).

Temperature. For most cases*, keeping beer at a constant temperature isn't that important. If you buy refrigerated beer, leave it in your car for a couple hours, put it back in your fridge at home, etc. it'll be ok. Don't boil it or let it freeze, but that should be obvious enough. Ideally, any beer should be stored at the temperature at which it is meant to be drunk (also frequently listed on bottles). About 50 degrees is probably good. But this isn't critical, especially if you're not holding onto IPAs beyond the period of freshness. 

That's mostly it. If you want more information on storing beer, I'd recommend http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/store. 

*Certain beers are meant to be kept constantly cold from the point that they are bottled. They are not particularly common, and anybody who's buying one will probably know what it is and how to deal with it.

Beginning With An Ending

       Sunset over Blackfish Creek in Wellfleet, MA

It's my final day in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. What a spectacular place. Fantastic beaches, crystalline glacial ponds, delicious seafood, friends, and family contribute to my many fond memories of this place. As with any vacation, time has slipped by me and I'm saying goodbyes all to shortly after saying hellos. At any rate, I've done my best to soak in what is to me the essence of summer over the past week. I hope that it isn't too long before I'm able to return.