Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

Category: Opinion

  • Something Something Monocle Something: The Horoscope for April 1, 2018

    Today’s planetary alignment: Sun, Mercury (retrograde), Earth, Moon. With both the full moon and Mercury retrograde, prepare for some craziness. Like really crazy, people-rising-from-the-dead crazy. Furthermore, the full moon is bringing its destabilizing effects to Libra, further disrupting the natural order of things. Expect lots of practical jokes and hoaxes.

    Everything else remains the same as last week, celestial-influencewise.

    Since even I, paragon of laziness, can’t leave a submission at sixty words, I’ve decided to cast a horoscope for Glibertarians.com, the website. Now since this is the first time I’ve done such a thing for a entity that is artificial, electronic, abstract, collective and incorporeal, the interpretations will be a bit… unrefined.

    Since the first post was by OMWC, I’m using the horizon as (would be) seen from Chicago for the reference. So there’s one strike against ol’ Glibby already.

    Some of the standard phrases for this horoscope are pretty damn funny:

    • Conservative (no, goddammit, not conservative! Libertarian! There is a fucking difference!)
    • You get bored with the status quo and are generally open to new things and ideas. An individualist and a free spirit. (Yes, but how does that square with conservative?)
    • When you feel insecure or threatened, you become overly sensitive to criticism. (*koff* *koff* Yeah, not touching that one.)
    • You tend to be very opinionated — you have strongly felt notions about things and are quite vocal about expressing and defending them. Yet you are also an original thinker — you enjoy shocking others with your offbeat, original thoughts. You appreciate and need mental and intellectual stimulation. Your judgment is usually fair and impartial — you can be a good critic because you can remain objective and unemotional about most things. For you, as well as for the rest of your peers, the issue of personal freedom is not just an abstract issue that can be discussed and then forgotten. You feel very deeply the loss or threat of loss of your ability to remain unrestricted and independent. And you will react vigorously and vociferously to defend your right of self-expression, no matter what the cost. (God DAMN but astrology is an exact science.)
    Seize your destiny, Glibs!

    Now that’s all well and good, but you have to look at the chart as a whole. Frankly there’s a lot of aggression and stubbornness in this chart (particularly sexual), and a surprising amount of prudishness. Yeah, I don’t have that figured out, either. Maybe because of Eddie’s presence in the beginning? If Glibertarians.com were a ruler, it would be a fair and just one.

    But what of… Destiny? What fate awaits our happy little home? When will it end? How will it end? Will it fade away as people get bored with it, or will it flame out in an explosion of egos and hurt feelings?

    Well the stars can answer the last one: Glibertarians.com is going out with a bang, not a whimper. Now as to when the spectacular glibocalypse will happen, the chart is empty. Like literally empty. Like there’s not a frigging thing in there about longevity. Sometimes the sky is a bitch that way. There is bad news about the life Glibby is expected to experience: the signs point to collectivism ascending, and freedoms diminishing. A very odd and discomforting alignment indicating destructive change and/or rapid loss. This is another reason why astrologers are alcoholics.

  • Do you know what else is from Austria?

    The fun part about the internet is the ability to review products before you buy.  Which can be nice, but it resulted in a lot of blogs specializing in certain things, like say, hair products.  Then marketing departments start to notice the number of clicks they get and the blogger figures out what their price is.  Then what happens?

    “These all suck, buy brand X hair spooge.”  All of them do it on some level; never saying a negative word about any one of them willing to toss a few bucks their way.  I guess you might say it’s pretty good work to get paid to play with other people’s stuff, then write up something and post something online.  Why mess that up by writing something negative?

    I’m not getting paid, and let’s face it there’s like 80 of you, so I don’t need to worry about that.

    This is my review of Samichlaus Classic Bier.

    If you’ve never heard of it, it’s probably because it’s hard to find due to a small batch of it being brewed once a year.   Officially, it is Austrian in origin but in recent years moved its brewing to Switzerland.  This is a 14% abv beast, that might be the worst beer I’ve ever had. That might be interpreted as hyperbole but I had to think this one over for a bit.  Could it really be that bad?  Let’s compare:

    Stone Stocasticity Project.

    Take everything that Stone has ever made.  Maybe you had no idea why everyone was throwing a chip at the dealer and said, “C & E” but you followed suit and came back with 15x your bet and bought the entire product line.  Whatever the reason you bought everything Stone makes and put it in a blender.  That is what this tastes like.  The only redeeming quality its it’s healthy 7% ABV which quite frankly is a given.  Stone Stocasticity Project: 1.8/5

     

    Crush Cucumber Sour

    This one.  This is a sick joke played on Mexican Hipsters.  Yes, they do exist.  Crush Cucumber Sour. 1.5/5

     At this point you must be wondering what was wrong with Samichlaus.  First, it took me forever to figure out how to pronounce it due to the font.  It makes me think they are trying to hide something.  At one time they identified it on the bottle as the world’s strongest beer, which might have been true at one point but now is not even close.  It was lighter than I anticipated given its ABV.  It is a reddish-brown color.  It smells like something I can only describe as spiked almond milk.  It is sickeningly sweet, like chocolate covered malt balls.  If it was ever hopped, I can’t tell.

     Maybe I got a dud, because people apparently like this.  Samichlaus Classic Bier 1.5/5.

     

    *UPDATE*

    It was brought to my attention the information in the article is incorrect. H/T DEG:

    NEIN!

    Samichlaus kommt aus dem Schweiz! Schloß Eggenberg in Austria purchased the recipe from Feldschlösschen-Hürlimann-Holding. Samichlaus is still listed on the Schloß Eggenberg brewery’s webpage. I did some digging, your source has things backwards.

    The beer is still made in Austria.

  • And the Stars, like Monocles in the Sky: The Horoscope for the week of March 25th

     

    The big astrological news this week is the infamous MERCURY RETROGRADE. So you know, chaos, gremlins, dogs and cats living together, bad made-for-TV-movies, all that sort of thing.

    However, the fortunate thing is that Ceres (in Leo) went station direct by the time you read this, so if you’ve been having difficulties with griddle-cooked breads (pancakes, crepes, tortillas, crumpets etc.), this week you should have better results.

    Jupiter (planet of rulership, happiness and good fortune) has been retrograde for a while and will remain so until July tenth or thenabouts, so expect about four more months of general political wackiness. But this week, we get a Sun-Mars-Jupiter alignment (in Scorpio-Pisces-Capricorn respectively), so expect a military fuckup on a rather grand scale. This relates to an existing war, so don’t misread this as [insert boogeyman here] starting WWIII.

    That Mercury-Venus conjunction in Ares? This week, the sun joins them, energizing everything and making this week the Best. Week. Eva… You know what, this joke has gotten really played out. This is the problem with astrology – the planets move SO GODDAMNED SLOWLY that you’ve got the same fucking thing set up week after week, and it just gets BORING. This is why professional fortune tellers are all alcoholics. You’ve got to constantly come up with new gibberish to keep the suckers clients coming in, and that imagination needs a lot of lubrication.

    Where were we? Oh, yes. Something NEW. This week we do have that. The moon is in Cancer, which–being the ruler of that house–means we get that whole exaltation thing that gives you a +1 stacking bonus to secrets, emotions, variability, and horrible, incurable, terminal diseases.

    A holdover from last week (sigh) is the conjunction of Mars and Saturn in Capricorn. Fighting for stupid reasons leads to loss. Not bad advice generally.

  • A Word on Glass

    Since this question was raised, now is as good a time as any to go over basic glassware.  Like nearly anything else, beer tastes better when served in a glass; preferably a clean one.

    This is my review of–wait I don’t have a beer to review today.  Let me check the archives…

    Stone Xocoveza! Hat Tip: Yusef drives a Kia a.k.a Russian Kia drive Yusef.

    Since the type of beer many brewers put out have been increasingly become more complex, with some styles becoming some sort of arms race to see who can put the weirdest, hoppiest, or highest gravity beer to market, it helps to have a suitable glass.  Much like a pistol needs a proper holster, the right golf club to get the most efficiency from the shot needed, knowing why a mallet exists and why you might want to use it instead of a hammer, or even picking the right pair of socks–you get the best result with a tool built for task.  I will focus on the basics since there many out there that will over-complicate this.

     The Snifter

    If you drink a lot of Barleywine, Imperial Stouts, or if you are one of those people that are obsessed with bourbon barrel aged ales, this is your best bet.  Chances are if you are the type that likes a good cognac, you probably already have one on hand.

    Because of their high ABVs and strong, aggressive flavors, imperial stouts and barleywines are meant to be served in small pours at cellar temperatures (around 55° F). This makes them perfectly suited for a short-stemmed, globe-shaped snifter like the kind you’d use for bourbon, brandy, or cognac. The balloon shape focuses volatile aromas that would otherwise dissipate in an open-topped glass while allowing the beer to unfurl and develop as it warms in the glass.

    If you only occasionally drink this type of beer, the next best thing is a chalice.

    The Chalice

    No, it’s not pretentious to put beer in a wine glass! Especially if you’re drinking a fruity, light-bodied, highly effervescent saison or farmhouse ale like the ones brewed in Belgium and France where wine glasses are de rigueur.

    This is true, it is not pretentious to put beer in a wine glass–but if you do, make sure to wear a Rush Limbaugh brand necktie with your favorite polo.  Preferably in clashing colors, which will likely be a given due to the garishness of the tie. It is this way, everyone around you will assume you are a one of the world’s “special people” and will not pass judgement on you as a courtesy.  Get a chalice.

    This is probably the most versatile glass, being that it will suit also suit IPA, pale ales and nearly any other effervescent beer like many West Coast Amber Ales.  It does not however, do as well for malty beer.

     

    The Pint Glass

    No need to differentiate between English type with that ring near the top, the Irish version with the svelte curve, or even the ubiquitous tumbler, they’re pretty much all the same.

    This does better with malty beers.  Think English ales, stouts, porters, and brown ales. The idea here is your hand is intended to warm the beer slightly over the time you spent with it.  This link has an exhaustive list of suitable varieties.  I will concede the existence of a variant called, “the stout glass” which is really just a pint glass with a wide shoulder.  I have never used one.

    The Stein/Mug

    How I decorate my cubicle.

    Lagers go in a mug.  The thick glass and handle is meant to keep your hand from warming it.  It is also handy for those times when you had too many but are still toasting your friends with too much force or need a handy melee tool.

    Many like these because you can have a lot of fun with them.  These are suitable for all lagers with one exception:

    The Pilsner Glass

    Pilsners go in a Pilsner glass.  Unless it is dirty or all you have is a mug, this is not a polite suggestion.

     

     

    Das Boot

    This has its roots well before the movie Beerfest.  There are a few different versions of how this came to pass:  both versions begin with a Prussian General making a wager to his men prior to a particularly hard battle ahead to drink beer from his boot should they win. Turns out they did.  Here’s where it deviates:  the first is he actually drank from his boot, and the glass was made to commemorate the occasion.  The other is that he chickened out and had commissioned the glass be made.  Either way, the article linked below, says the boot shaped glass actually has its origins in England but eventually became popular in Germany.  So much so that by WW1/WW2 the glasses were sought after as war trophies by allied soldiers.  Personally, I’d take a P-08 Luger.

     

    So how was Stone Xocoveza?  It was actually pretty good.  It’s a chocolate stout that like Mexican hot chocolate contains various spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and red chillies.  It isn’t overwhelming at all, they actually keep everything in balance.  Served of course, in a pint glass.  The only downer, was the price.  Over $12 for a six pack…otherwise, good call, Yusef.  Stone Xocoveza 4.0/5.

  • Through a Monocle Darkly: The Celestial Influences for the Week of March 19

     

    Re: last week’s prediction of a political assassination? Nailed it. I honestly should have made the poisoning prediction, what with Scorpio being involved and all, but it’s been so long since I’ve done this I was pessimistic about my prognositcatory prowess.

    So, we’ve got most of the planets lining up: The Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Venus with Mercury in opposition. This indicates that people with power get the best sexual partners, and that this condition is unlikely to change. No shit? Thanks for the insight, celestial sphere. No really, I can’t wait to see what you have to tell me next. Maybe something about the relationship between water and wetness? Fire and heat? Progs and progging? Honestly, there are times when it just isn’t worth it to drag the star charts out, much less look up.

    That’s no mo–

    The sun is (still) in Pisces, but nothing else is. So all you Pisceses out there, just keep being y’alls double-fishy selves and enjoy it while it lasts.

    We still have Jupiter retrograde in Scorpio, but with Mars moving out of Sagittarius into Capricorn, we don’t have the immediate threat happening. Instead, this is looking less like sabotage and more like Leaders being general rake-stepping fuckups. With extra belligerence, because…

    As I mentioned before, we have Mars in Capricorn. This bodes well for Battlestars, and cautions everyone else that maybe they are the ones being an asshole this week.1 Doubly so because Saturn (exalted) is also in Capricorn. Bad luck, loss, destruction… fighting is bad m’kay? Postpone any planned fights.

    Now, for the one thing that you were all interested in last week’s revelation: yes, this week both Venus and Mercury remain in Aries. But joining it is the moon. Not only does this increase all the influences of the conjuncted planets, but with the Moon’s pull on the heartstrings and emotions, you are much more likely to form a deep, spiritual bond with your wooly lover (though why you would want this, I have no idea since I’m not a dirty kiwi.2,3,4) Also everyone knows: moon means anal.

    1 This week?
    2 Or Scot
    3 Or Welshman
    4 Or a lawyer who’s initials might be A.A.W.

  • Hooray Beer!

    I am going to try to spice things up a bit and tell you about that one time I went to Jamaica.  Turns out, the cruise ship I was on made a stop there and I got to look around a bit as the bus drove us to Montego Bay.  Okay, maybe I just got the Cliff’s Notes version of Jamaica, but the island seemed like a nice place, at least the tourist areas. Something I found kind of odd was when the group transferred from one Jamaican chaperone to the other, they all seemed to fill in the time by telling the group about their country’s tax code.

    No, seriously.

    This is my review of the beer in the short, stubby, ugly bottle:  Red Stripe!

    I have been dying to use that picture.

    First, I got off the ship and hopped on the bus.  The bus driver explained a few things unique to Jamaica, such as their habit of locals letting loose their goats off the side of the road.  It served two purposes:  to feed their goats and to keep the grass trim, that way the government saves money cutting grass along the side of the highways.  Clever.  He also explained that Jamaica had a general consumption tax and a property tax.  That was it.

     Later the guys on the catamaran said the same thing. There’s a general consumption tax, and a property tax, but they also explained there was a tax on some imported goods, like gasoline.  Then a different bus driver again explained their tax code.

    I thought that was pretty cool, if true.  Maybe there are places besides the US where a libertarian can be somewhat welcome.  After all, they had pretty well maintained roads, even by US standards and there was other infrastructure like overhead powerlines and sewers.  They even speak English! Snorkeling with my 3 year old only created more interest; perhaps something rubbed off on this particular former British colony.  This one has some awesome things to do and the people here seemed to be every bit as fun as you want them to be.

     Nope.  I was wrong.

     Here is a basic breakdown of Jamaica by the things that people around here tend to pay attention to.  As always, everyone here is welcome to call bullshit.

    State Legitimized Theft

    • There is a tax on real property, but it is broken down by value as determined by the Jamaican government.  This table below has a breakdown of property values.

    • There is also a tax levied upon the transfer/sale of real property of 5% or 1% for shares–if the capital gains made on the property exceed 37.5%.  There is also a stamp duty for the same transactions of 1% of shares and 4% for real property–there are exemptions on the stamp duty for shares sold on the Jamaican Stock Exchange.
    • General Consumption Tax.  It’s basically a VAT at 16.5%.  Taxes on some imported goods, such as petroleum products and alcohol apply.
    • There is no income tax!…..if you make under 1,500,000 JMD/year.  Over that, its a flat 25% unless you make more than 6,000,000 JMD/year–then it is 30%.  There are also some considerations for Jamaicans living abroad vs. on the island.
    • You’ll like this one.  There is no tax on capital gains or inheritance.
    • Minimum Business Tax:  60,000JMD/year for all corporate bodies.  This also applies to tradesmen, professionals, and businesses exceeding 6,000,000 JMD/year–this tax can be deducted from an individual’s income tax.  Source

    JMD to USD for your reference

     Weed:

    It is well-known that Ganja is illegal.  Culturally, they don’t care.  In fact, I was propositioned twice to purchase Ganja and I was on the island for about 10 hours.

     Buttsecks:

     Apparently, they have some serious cultural issues with the concept.

     Messicans:

     Immigration laws are quite humorous:

    “Prohibited Immigrants:

    4.-(1) The following Commonwealth citizens (not being persons deemed to belong to the Island as defined by subsection (2) of section 2) are   prohibited immigrants-

    (a) any person who is likely if he entered the Island to become a charge on public funds by reason of infirmity of body or mind or of ill-health or who is not in possession of sufficient means to support himself and such of his dependants as he shall bring with him to the Island;

    (b) any idiot or epileptic or any person who is insane or mentally deficient or any person who is deaf and dumb or deaf and blind, or dumb and blind, unless in any such case he or a person accompanying him or some other person gives security to the satisfaction of the Chief Immigration Officer for his permanent support in the Island or for his removal therefrom whenever required by the Chief Immigration Officer;

    (c) any person certified by a Health Officer to be suffering from a communicable disease which makes his entry into the Island dangerous to the community;

    (d) any person over sixteen years of age who by reason of deficient education is unable to fill up the prescribed form of declaration for immigrants in his own handwriting and is likely to become a charge on public funds;

    (e) any prostitute or any person who may be living on or receiving or may have lived on or received the proceeds of prostitution; cf, the children under the age of sixteen years being dependants of a prohibited immigrant;

    (g) any member of a class of persons deemed by the Minister on economic grounds or on account of standard or habit of life to be undesirable immigrants and so declared by order published in the Gazette; […] “

    So no gays, and no idiots.

    Guns:

    On the surface, they look like they are on par with one of the more restrictive states in the US.  In practice?  Forget it.

    I tried. Jamaica is no libertarian paradise, but the goat curry is tasty.

    So is Red Stripe any good?  Not really.  The owner of the $400,000 catamaran generously informed us the Red Stripe was on him at the boat’s mini bar, just tip the nice lady serving you.  So in effect, its cheap enough that even Jamaicans give it away for free.  It’s not without its charms though and certainly something I’d grab out of nostalgia for that time I went snorkeling with my family in Montego Bay.  Red Stripe Jamaican Lager 2.0/5.

  • On Laws

     

    In general, as a libertarian, I’m skeptical of any new laws that people want to propose. Controlling people just goes against my grain. But I’ve noticed lately that people of differing policies seem to be talking past one another. So, I’d like to propose a universal framework for considering laws.

    In general, I think any law should be decided upon as a balance sheet–with benefits weighed against costs. The important thing is to recognize fully all the costs and benefits and reject the things that shouldn’t be included.

    I’ll start with my libertarian observation that any law, of necessity, entails a curtailment of individual freedom. That’s (for me) a big run up in the costs category. But different people are going to assign different weightings to different rights and freedoms. The important thing to recognize here is that people will assign different weightings to the loss of freedom and to understand that a different weighting isn’t the hallmark of stupidity or evil. The one time I think it’s genuinely fair to discount the cost of freedom is when you have a situation where a law is banning an actual violation of individual rights. I think it’s fair to say we shouldn’t mourn the loss of people’s freedom to rape, rob, or kill other people.

    The second consideration is whether the law is going to work. Too often people demand laws because they don’t like something or consider something awful, and assume the legislative process is a magic wand to make the world be the way they want. But it isn’t. And that kind of magical thinking is how we wound up with the wonders of organized crime during Prohibition and the glories of our modern War on Drugs. Generally, trying to ban something that’s wildly popular is a pretty sure recipe for massive flouting of the law. It’s not a perfect guideline, but, if you already have a bunch of laws on the books about something, one more probably isn’t going to do the trick. The benefit you see of a law should be weighted by the probability of the law actually working.

    On a related note, ask yourself what the secondary and tertiary effects of your law will be. Sometimes these can be positive, but, much more often, they fall on the cost side of the ledger. In fact, quite a few of the problems people have that they want to pass new laws for are the result of previous laws that people thought would magically change human nature. Consider whether the law you’re seeking to implement is going have some relatively easy workaround. If it is, ask yourself what will be the consequences of huge numbers of people availing themselves of that workaround. Make an entry in cost or benefit accordingly.

    Now, ask yourself about enforcement. How heavily are you going to have to enforce the law, and, perhaps more importantly, how heavily are you willing to go to enforce the law. Some laws can be implemented with little attention to enforcement. A lot can’t. If the law would be easy to enforce, that probably counts as a benefit. On the other hand, if you’re not willing to go to the extent you’d need to to enforce the law, you should probably count that as a cost. As a libertarian, I tend to implement this standard through what I’ll call the silver-haired, kindly old grandmother rule – if I’m not willing to shoot someone’s silver-haired, kindly old grandmother in the face over it, it probably shouldn’t be a law.

    Finally, we get to motivation and morality. Ask yourself, are you advocating this law as a rational means to achieve a specific policy goal, or are you looking to feel good about yourself without much personal effort or sacrifice? If it’s the latter, you should probably discount your expected benefits of the law accordingly or even throw out the proposal in its entirety. Passing laws doesn’t make you a good person. You don’t get moral credit for what you demand someone else do. If you want to be a good person, just go about doing that in your own life without placing demands on everyone else. The rest of us will respect you a lot more.

    So, there you have it. This is a framework that, I think, will allow conservatives, libertarians, progressives and liberals all to discuss proposed laws and much of the rest of politics, in a common framework. As a libertarian, my calibration of the framework obviously tilts against any proposed law. But, it can be calibrated lots of different ways. And at least acknowledging the calibration might lead to more meaningful engagement between people with different politics.

  • Two in the Pinker; One in the Stinker

    Last week, as part of his latest book-shilling tour, Steven Pinker looked us straight in the eye and threw down the gauntlet with his Big Think rumination “Why libertarianism is a marginal value and not a universal value.” Pinker argues that “the free market has no way to provide for poor children, the elderly, and other members of society who cannot contribute to the marketplace.” Furthermore, Pinker claims a robust social safety net as a necessary characteristic of a “developed” economy.

    Of course, this is argument is even more laughably fallacious than his criticisms of the connectionist model of language acquisition. To support his premise, Pinker indulges in a false choice fallacy, argumentum ad populum, and the beloved ‘Somalia fallacy‘. It truly is a mediocre bit of hackery that exposes the poverty of his arguments in just a little over 4 minutes.

    Split Pinker’s wig and bust his cheeks open in the comments below, and when you are finished, you can wash your ears out with this.

     

     

  • Peering through a Monocle at the Stars: Week of March 11th, 2018

    Peering through a Monocle at the Stars: Week of March 11th, 2018

    As a published authority on bullshit and the most prolific linker of astronomy/cosmology youtube videos, it seems only natural that I should cast the horoscope for the Glibertariat.

    Please note that this is not going to be a table of sun signs. That would take too much effort and bore me too much to find anything interesting to say, as the truth1 is that for most signs, absolutely nothing of interest is happening at any given time. There are only seven heavenly bodies that have regular influence and twelve signs. The fact that people have been able to get away with the tabular format for so long is a tribute to the gullibility and innumeracy of the general public. Therefore, I’ll give you insights2 into the celestial influences at large, and let you make your own freely-arrived-at decisions about how to use the information.

    Obviously, the sun is in Pisces. The interesting thing is that the moon is in Capricorn. Combining these two means that for the next week or so, glitter-related endeavors have a much higher chance of success. So go ahead and craft or enter that drag contest. Do remember that this is Capricorn we’re talking about, so visits to strip clubs will leave evidence that is more resistant to cleaning than usual.

    With Mars in Sagittarius, we have promising signs for bow-hunting. However, since we’re talking Mars and not the Sun (or the moon ascending), this looks more directly related to the Jupiter (retrograde)/Scorpio interaction which means… political assassinations. Yeesh. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you where or who, or if this is a warning or an imperative. 3,4

    The big news this week is that we have a conjunction of Mercury and Venus in Ares, which means this is the very best5 time to try sheep-fucking, or if you are already sheep-fucking, to try fucking the other sex of sheep. I am not making this up6, this is what the heavens say. 7

    1 For a certain value of “truth” which contains astrology
    2 As footnote 1, but for “insights”
    3 No, goddammit, this is not a true threat! Put the subpoena down!
    4 Other reasonable readings of this would be “the stillbirth of a Kennedy” or “Steve Bannon’s corpse exhumed by a necrophiliac.”
    5 “very best” is a relative, not absolute value statement
    6 As footnote 1, but for “making this up”
    7 If you are already a bisexual oviphile, try a different position this week. You’ll like it.

  • Wanna Get Your Kicks?

    So this week, I will try and mix it up a bit.  Since for some of us it feels like spring already, I will try to draw some attention to the second coming of Glibertarians Beer it Forward.  After discussing it with its owner, the gentleman known around here as Nephilium, I decided to turn this into a bit of a contest.  The details of which I will explain later.

    This is my review of Grand Canyon Brewery Shaggy Bock.

    Williams, AZ is not particularly well known.  Most people drive around it, but for a long time they had to drive through it.  Like many towns in the area there is a cheap draw for tourism but this one isn’t as flimsy or as popular as a town a couple hours to the east.

    Roll Tide

    Route 66 is actually a collection of highways that was renamed as a single highway in 1926. It began in Chicago to the east and ended in Los Angeles to the west and routed through 8 states in total.  It is romanticized in American culture by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath as the mother road, a show in the 60’s, and a song first sung by Nat King Cole.  Today it is mostly merged with other active highways, notably Interstates-55, 44, 40, 15, 10.  There are a number of towns that lay claim to the highway, such as Winslow, and others like Flagstaff maintain it as part of their municipal roadways.  It is for this reason I can technically scratch off riding a motorcycle down Route 66 off my bucket list, because it runs through Flagstaff.  Another fun fact, there is a restaurant in Flagstaff called the Dog Haus, that claims the entire scene on the corner in Winslow occurred there when it was a Wienerschnitzel.  “Flagstaff” just didn’t roll off the tongue like “Winslow.”  That is their claim, not mine.  If you choose to investigate this yourself, I suggest ordering the chilli dog, they’re pretty damn good.

    Where does Williams fall into this?  On June 27, 1985 Williams, AZ was the last locality to officially decommission Route 66 as a highway.  Being first gets you in the history books, but sometimes there is some honor in being last.   Williams is also the starting point of the longest portion of the highway that is still drivable.  Williams didn’t die like other towns because of another attraction:  The Grand Canyon Railroad.

    Here you can avoid driving north to the Canyon and avoid what really is a boring drive once you get past the San Francisco Peaks.  It routes north through the mountains and gives you a more scenic ride to the park.  They also convert the train to a Polar Express theme around Christmas and steam up towards a “North Pole,”. They’ll even give your kids a bell as a souvenir.

    This isn’t a straightforward bock.  It is light like all lagers and has a smooth malty character.  The twist is this one contains the byproduct of one of our favorite inventions: the woodchipper.  They call it a “flavor bomb” but it’s a bunch of wood chips secured in a bag.  This gives the beer a similar effect to barrel aging without the added expense of storing it in a barrel.  It is quite enjoyable variety in a style that sometimes gets overlooked; Shiner Bock aside.  Grand Canyon Brewery Shaggy Bock: 4.0/5.

    Here’s where the contest comes in.  This is a limited release from a local brand that doesn’t have much of a footprint outside AZ. Which makes it perfect for the Glibertarian Beer it Forward coming up this spring.  I have purchased a second bottle and stored it appropriately next to the boiler.  Hopefully, I don’t need to turn it on in the next few weeks.  In an attempt to generate interest for this next BIF, I will be sending this to the Glib member whose name I will be randomly assigned.  So if you think you want this, sign up!  This has the added benefit of at least one of you knowing that I’m not crazy.  Well, at least within a respectable spectrum of crazy.