In one of yesterday’s front page New York Times headline stories Hillary Clinton is quoted, “I won the states that we have to win – Ohio and now Pennsylvania.  It’s very hard to imagine a Democrat getting to the White House without winning those states.”

            Southern magnolias in Pennsylvania?  Kiwis in St. Louis?  On the front page of yesterday’s USA Today a headline story starts:  “Warming shifts gardeners' maps” 

            Tacked to my bulletin board I have a commentary I clipped from the International Herald Tribune.  Peter Bernstein a financial consultant and economic historian headlines, “How to botch a business forecast: Rely on past experience.”  The quote pulled, “The best lesson from the past is to forget it before it leads you into trouble.”

            I didn’t have to read the USA Today story to know the reason why I’ve been planting my tomatoes and beans earlier each year.   I’m undecided on the presidential election.  And no matter how hard I try I seem to never be able to predict what the stock market is going to do based on past experience. 

Not long ago a brewpub owner on the west coast was making the rounds and welcoming some of his regular customers.  He noticed a heavy set biker dude with leather jacket, long black and gray hair, and an air about him that suggests he had a one ton hog parked outside.   Expecting the biker dude to be drinking one of the lighter offerings, the brewpub owner is pleasantly surprised to see huge hands wrapped around a delicately stemmed globed glass holding one of the unique barrel aged and delicate sour ales.  He sips, savors, dwells and it is quite evident he really is appreciating the beer he is drinking.  This is today.

Somewhere in Washington, DC area a heavy set, biker with a leather jacket goes into a bar, sits down and orders a beer.  A nearby beer enthusiast related to me that he was enjoying his Imperial IPA or Abbey brown or perhaps it was a Fresh Hopped Ale.  The beer enthusiast was thinking, “What a pity, this typical biker dude has probably ordered a tasteless light lager.”   The waitress returns and serves up the biker dude a bottle of Lindemann’s Framboise (a raspberry soured beer from Belgium) with a special glass.   The beer enthusiast while passing the biker on his way to the restroom, asked, “Howse the beer?”  “This is good s**t!” he replied.  This is today.

             In case you hadn’t noticed it’s past tense already.  The times are not changing.  They’ve already changed.   Old assumptions and models for living life are history.    Yesterday is great for gathering around your favorite beer and telling stories. There’s comfort in this.   But there is less comfort in yesterday’s beer.   

What’s in my glass?

Homebrewed “Kloster-Pils” modeled after the rice adjunct and German influenced pilsener that used to be brewed in Thailand.  I say “used to be” because the hop character has recently been reduced to appeal to the masses and not the beer lover.  Today’s version is not as thirst quenching as the original.   No worry, I made my own version.  10% rice with plenty of barley malt with old world German crisp hop flavor and aroma to enhance the end of any day.   Secret ingredient:  late hopping (steeping hops in the cooled and aging beer results in beautiful hop aromas)  with French Strisselspalt hops, contributing a fascinating apricot aroma.  Now I’m getting my brewers yeast ready to brew this weekend a German style Helles (light) Lager.  My current stash is diminished and if the past is any indication of the future I’ll be thirsty in June.  Whoops.  Maybe I’ll be in the mood for Oatmeal Stout in June.  One never knows and shouldn’t rely on past experience.  Right?