It finally came to pass. Upon receipt of a Glibās name and address, I boxed up the promised Grand Canyon Shaggy Bock along with a few others I thought would be of interest. Unfortunately, Stouts tend to fall out of favor earlier in the year in Arizona than other parts of the country so I did the best I could.
On the flip side, a little under a week later I received a message from UPS and the Glib who drew my name both confirming there was a package at my door.
This is my review of Big Ditch Excavator Rye Brown Ale. Hat Tip: Lackadaisical
I donāt know about you, but when I think of Buffalo, ditches are not what come to mind. Normally, itās hot wings, the Goo Goo Dolls, Jim Kelly and lemon scent heavy starch.
According to the handwritten note (nice touch, BTW) I also received, the big ditch refers to the Erie Canal. Ā For those of us that were fans of the NFL and/or Chris Berman in the 90ās, this is not a reference to the formerĀ starting quarterback of NY (football) Giants: Danny (Erie)Ā Kanell.
The Erie Canal was one of the first infrastructure projects in the United States. Its purpose was to connect the northeast with the rest of the country by digging a waterway starting from Troy, NY to Rome, Syracuse, Rochester and finally ending in Buffalo at Lake Erie. From there, ships could travel via the Great Lakes to ports in the midwest. Congress easily passed an appropriation for the project but interestingly enough it was vetoed by president James Monroe because, get thisāhe thought the idea was unconstitutional.
Jefferson didnt much care for it either (emphasis mine).
1817 June 16. (Jefferson to Albert Gallatin). “You will have learned that an act for internal improvement, after passing both Houses, was negatived by the President. The act was founded, avowedly, on the principle that the phrase in the Constitution which authorizes Congress ‘to lay taxes to pay the debts and provide for the general welfare,’ was an extension of the powers specifically enumerated to whatever would promote the general welfare…it was never meant they should provide for that welfare but by the exercise of the enumerated powers, so it could not have been meant they should raise money for purposes which the enumeration did not place under their action…I think the passage and rejection of this bill a fortunate incident…[it] will settle forever the meaning of this phrase, which, by a mere grammatical quibble, has countenanced the General Government in a claim of universal power.”
How quaint. Ā Iām getting another beer.
Nevertheless, the project was eventually funded by the state of New York and construction began on July 4, 1817. Given the time, construction was done the hard wayāwith picks and shovels. Yes, the work was done mostly by immigrants.
The canal is viewed by many historians as a success. Within 15 years of construction New York City became the largest port in the country by tonnage processed, exceeding Boston, Baltimore and New Orleansācombined. Nearly 80% of the population of Upstate New York lives within 25 miles of the canal because many cities grew around the canal, much like people later settled around railways and major highways.
Is this beer any good? If you have been following my weekly beer review you might know that I happen to fancy brown ale as well as rye beer. Naturally the combination of the two I found most enjoyable. Big Ditch Excavator Rye Brown Ale: 4.2/5
Also included was the Hayburner IPA.
This isnāt as overpowering as most IPA, so if you happen to be the type that is in search of the most horrifying, tear inducing IPA possibleākeep looking. If you happen to be more of a traditionalist as far as IPA is concerned, you may like this. If you happen to find the idea of IPA to be in poor taste, stick to what you like. Big Ditch Hayburner IPA: 3.5/5
More to come on the Spring Beer it Forward…stay tuned.
Comments
80 responses to “Spring Beer it Forward Part 1”
That statistic depends on how you define upstate.
It’s the part where 80% live within 25 miles of the canal. Duh.
Given the link is from ny.gov, I can only assume its how the State of New York defines āUpstate.ā
That line makes me want to cry. Imagine how he’d react to the notion of a dormant commerce clause that amounts to a catchall FYTW.
Also, growing up in Buffalo, pretty much everyone goes on a field trip through the canal where you get to hear about the virtues of public works. And it being public school, any hint of fun is snuffed out before it starts. Want to buy some pop rocks? Some disgusting middle age hag who disgustingly spreads peanut butter on her rice wafers while ‘teaching’ and calls it a diet will cut your nuts off.
We get a similar line out here. Its hard to argue with it though, considering thr population here couldnāt be supported without several dams controlling the rivers in the northern part of the state that were built in the early 20th centry.
Imagine how heād react to the notion of a dormant commerce clause that amounts to a catchall FYTW
The dormant Commerce Clause acts as a restriction on the power of the states, preventing them from passing protectionist laws burdening interstate commerce.
If the Commerce Clause itself is interpreted narrowly, to restrict the power of the federal government only to standardizing (the original meaning of “regulate”) commerce crossing state lines (as opposed to, say, controlling all economic activity), then I suppose the dormant Commerce Clause would also be narrower. Unfortunately, the dormant Commerce Clause is now applied as the reciprocal of the Commerce Clause itself, otherwise all state regulation of economic activity would be prohibited unless specifically authorized by Congress. What we have now is the worst of both worlds – a Commerce Clause giving the federal government plenary authority over the economy, and a narrow dormant Commerce Clause restricting state regulation of the economy only at the margins.
Dammit.
Unfortunately, the dormant Commerce Clause is
nownot appliedSaw your comment on my Bunyan comment. A friend and I ended up in a competition to see who could take the most selfies with Paul Bunyan statues around the country. The bit where I was in Reno was a road trip from Sacramento to Portland. The crown of that trip was supposed to be grabbing a picture with the Kenton Bunyan with my friend’s ex, who lives up that way.
So the whole way up, I’m posting pics on social media as we go, taunting my friend who was on an island without internet for a retreat. She gets off the island, her phone blows up and she drives four hours to nab the Kenton Bunyan 20 minutes before we got there because we stopped for coffee. We posted a bunch of really bitter jibes at each other on FB, while we knocked back a few beers and lunch and then continued on with our pre-planned trips.
Is it just me, or does the 6th paragraph in that link read like Trump is giving a pep-talk?
Also, why is the guy pictured holding a drone wearing a helmet? I’ll plead ignorance- I know absolutely nothing about that lifestyle.
That’s much more . . . benign that I thought it would be.
Not everything I do is debauched.
Nothing you do is debauched; you just make stories up like the rest of us.
I was drinking Cigar City Tocobaga Red IPA last night. Another solid offering from a pretty damn good brewery. I’m working my way through their offerings since Cigar City Brewing will be the only thing I miss after leaving this hellish malarial swamp.
If you like a nice malty backbone to balance your hops then this is an excellent IPA choice.
Hey Messican Sharpshooter. Did you drink a little too much buddy? That “Haymaker” IPA clearly says Hayburner on the can….
So it does. I’m not changing it.
Fine. You win. I changed it.
Thank you for exposing our layers, and layers of fact checkers.
VICTORY IS MINE. I demand tribute in the form of beer.
If you can find where it’s been geocached before the summer heat destroys it, the beer’s all yours.
I’m glad my wife got tired of that. Driving around ravines in Colorado got really old.
That Rye Brown looks good.
I look forward to the rest of the Beer It Forward posts.
I am not normally a beer drinker but a really cold one would be nice right now. Goddamn, it’s hot outside.
I thought you southerners were used to the heat.
We are, but complaining about it is tradition.
In sharing the beers from Troegs I dragged all around the country, the friend who I was with also tapped into his beer collection. I determined one thing – Hops is not the Major ingredient preventing me from drinking normal beer. Also, Hops smells and tastes like crap. The IPA smelled like the Hops fridge at Troegs, and tasted as bad as that smelled.
I’m still annoyed that we drank up all the Scratch 328, that stuff was actually drinkable.
I agree with you regarding overuse of hops. The Hayburner is the least offensive IPA I’ve had.
Had a few beers with dad last night. Durango Brewing had a girl handing out samples at the bar. Damn, was she cute. The beer was meh, but she was adorkable.
Big Ditch story. So, many a year ago I was working on launching my own Brewery, Nickle City Brewing. Had our first investor, so we decided to throw a party. We had six or seven kegs of our beer and a good time was had by all. I was hitting on this chick when these guys walk in, carrying a six pack of homebrew. They mentioned that they were also thinking of starting a brewery. Their beer was….well, we wished them luck.
Six years later, they’re doing incredible bushiness, and my brewery never launched.
So, yeah. All their beers taste a little bitter to me now.
Sorry to hear that. Any plans to try again?
I have no idea what the hell I’m doing now. There’s a distillery job I could probably get, but I don’t want to live in NYC. Around Buffalo? Not much. As for starting the brewery again, I got pretty badly burnt by an investor, and I’m not keen on that. Plus I would be stuck doing all the parts of the biz I hated instead of what I like, which is making tasty beverages.
I wish the state would allow for pot sales in an open market (they won’t). It’s a business I wouldn’t mind jumping into.
Damn. I like to keep most of my great ideas only in thinking stage thus never being disappointed like that. I am also an underachiever so that helps. I know I have told this idea I had years ago when I lived in Oklahoma, but I wanted to start a brewery called OK Beer. It would be canned in the old generic theme and labeled:
OK Beer
We Excel at Mediocrity
and beeradvocate.com consistently rates it a 2.5/5 ?
I fucking love that idea.
If you ever need a mediocre brewer, I’m pretty average at being mediocre.
I mean, how many great beers need to be out there? I honestly think a reasonably priced (less than 10 bucks a six pack) OK tasting boutique brew would sell. There is also so many other avenues such a brewer could go down.
Taint Beer it’s a Wine Cooler
It’s Not Shit, butt it shares skin.
Being from rural Upstate NY, we did indeed take field trips to the Big Ditch. Later, the park at Lock 32 was a favored destination for picnics with my Mom’s folks, who lived in Rochester.
Oh Pittsford.
I wonder if my grandmother has her old touring bike still. I bet she purged it. I’ll be in Victor in early October for a few days.
Oh god, my sister and her first husband were living in Victor when they got divorced.
It’s a cute enough spot.
Also there are two local breweries and with all of the craziness of my last visits I never got a chance to visit either.
Hey! I’m planning on being back around then, too. Autumn picnic at Letchworth with Webdom?
I should have free use of my grandmother’s car during that time. I’ll get you my itinerary off-board.
Nice place – been there soooo many times. A brother got married at one of the overlooks too.
Point of interest: BEER!
Glad you enjoyed the rye ale. Cheers!
Nice write up Messy,I always learn new trivia while reading your reviews,
/Tall Cans in the Air!
Agreed! MS always puts out an interesting educational piece. I like the Jefferson quote… it was never meant they should provide for that welfare but by the exercise of the enumerated powers, so it could not have been meant they should raise money for purposes which the enumeration did not place under their action since I was told by a Bernie Broette that providing for the general welfare included free schooling. Where is that in the enumerated powers again? Assholes need hit in the head with that every damn day.
Yeah, if you bother to actually read the Tax and Spend Clause and the General Welfare Clause, its clear that the General Welfare Clause is a limitation on the Tax and Spend Clause.
That is, the government can only raise and spend money on things that are both (a) within its enumerated powers and (b) benefit the general welfare (as opposed to spending for the benefit of particular groups or people where a benefit to the general welfare cannot be demonstrated). This was the interpretation that the Founders clearly had, as at one point Madison(?) wrote that spending money on charity (that is, to help poor people) was outside the scope of the government’s authority.
This is the rock upon which libertarianism may well die. The tax farmers have established their base, and they’re encamped. They are well aware of the “limited pain, concentrated gain” tax method, which ‘works’ too well as it stands. How do we defeat this? The benefactors are quite well organized, while the unconsenting donors (generally) remain oblivious.
Constitutionality is largely considered a laughable, ancient, pointless standard that has no meaning today (unless it applies to one of the lefties’ pet projects). Can we affect a change of thinking on this? Is it at least possible to find a way to explain to US taxpayers how they are being fucked?
Fuck it. Is the World Cup still on?
Yup. Portugal just tied it up. 1-1
Nevermind. Uruguay up 2-1.
Woohoo!
That is exactly what I was blithering last night in my dark mood but you said it better probably because you finished college which should be free.
Nice work, Sharpie.
I always enjoy reading about exotic beers I likely wont ever buy- I just nabbed 2 30-packs of Keystone Light at Meijer this morning. along with 4 double-deuces to get that train rolling.
/Tall Cans!
HEY YUFUS
I’m Back! from the car wash and the Beer store,
4x25oz Cobra!=5$
1x 22 oz SN Torpedo=4$
Awesome Burgers for the Grille, today featuring Avocado and Colby Jack Cheese, tasty!
SUP TRES!
Its going to be in the mid-90s here for the foreseeable future, and I informed “Jugsy” that my oven is only to be used in the even of a crisis. Therefore, its gonna be lots of grilling for me. Tonight its Mighty Spark burgers since I had a ill af coupon.
Last night was the teriyaky-soy glazed pork loin.
Slab ‘O Pork right there, Looks yummy š
Those look delicious.
The burgers? They really are. However, MSRP runs something like $7.49/2 which isnt realistic to me for pre-packaged meat. But around the holidays my Kroger generally knocks em down to $4.99, which is better, but I had $1 coupon. So for $2/ea? They’re damn good.
/apologies if I sound like Rick Moranis’s character from ‘Ghostbusters’.
The Confederate Constitution specifically prohibited spending money on “internal improvements” except in certain cases. A canal wasn’t one of them, but improvements to river navigation were:
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes; but neither this, nor any other clause contained in the constitution, shall ever be construed to delegate the power to Congress to appropriate money for any internal improvement intended to facilitate commerce; except for the purpose of furnishing lights, beacons, and buoys, and other aids to navigation upon the coasts, and the improvement of harbors and the removing of obstructions in river navigation, in all which cases, such duties shall be laid on the navigation facilitated thereby, as may be necessary to pay the costs and expenses thereof.
World’s ugliest dog named.
This explains much. The only English Bulldog I have ever known was hilarious. Full of personality.
The GF-unit has 2 boxers, and they’re pretty entertaining at times. When they’re not stinking, slobbering, and farting all over the palatial 2X-wide.
That statistic depends on how you define upstate.
From my vantage point (Lake George area), that part of the state was “that wasteland on the left”.
Lake George area is beautiful.
Too bad the village itself is a tourist trap.
I’m not upstate, but there are people in NYC who think Yonkers is upstate.
I’ve known a few of those people.
That was my thought too. I have friends in NYC when they ask where I’m going to be in NYS and I say “upstate” they say “so not in the city, but where?”
Exactly.
I would guess the consensus is that it starts around Poughkeepsie i.e. the last gasp of NYC influence. I’ve never met anyone who claims that Yonkers is “upstate”.
I’ve always thought of it as starting with the 518 area code. The Albany TV stations don’t really cover us, and most of the cable systems offer the New York channels instead. Not that the New York channels ever mention our news.
OT: Vamos arriba Uruguay!
Portugal tears are yummy.
I’m pretty stoked. I was pretty sure Portugal would win. All around a pretty good game.
Anyone want to come over and finish staining my deck? I’ll pay in cheap beer.
Clouds burned off and it’s just a giant fireball in the sky now taunting my efforts to spread stain before it dries. Too late to quit now.
Toss in some shitty delivery pizza and you got a deal.
Just came in and mopping off from being outside. Not again.
The worst is yet to come. Hello triple digits.
And it’s not even very humid – less than 50% which is a rare break. Wunderground is calling for 98 here tomorrow. I think I’m indoors until I leave for work Monday.
Iām drunk at the pool bar
Love your bio MS.