East End Brewery beer in London

When I was in London at the beginning of December of this year, I made it a point to have a pint of beer from the East End Brewery in Pittsburgh, Pa. The oddity of this is the fact that I am from Pittsburgh and drink the beers often, as the beers coming from Scott Smith's kettles are wonderful. So why would I travel to London at considerable cost to drink a beer I get down the street? Because it was there!

When I first started my travels to the land of fish and chips and pork pies I was not yet a beer drinker. Good thing too as there was not a lot of what we would call craft beer back in the 1970’s. As I got my training in good beer at Chiodo’s Tavern in Homestead I discovered that there was more than one beer style. Unfortunately nobody told London. I was drinking porter in Pittsburgh but no bartender in London ever heard of such a drink. “Do you have any porter?” “No, he went home early today”.

Finding good beer in London is pretty easy now. The Brits are finding that they can make interesting beers and so many are finding their way to London. European beers are as popular in the UK as they are here. American beers have been firmly planted on British soil and Sierra Nevada, Rough, Victory, Southern Tier and Duck Rabbit are as easy to come by as Young’s and Fullers.

Thanks to a rotating distribution system Scott was able to send 30 combined kegs of Black Strap Stout and Big Hop IPA to England and Europe. Two pubs in London had them on and the reviews that came back were positive. A long time buddy from London had a Black Strap and found it eye opening. One chap on twitter sent Scott a tweet with the word “blimey” in his review of the IPA. When a review incorporates the word blimey in it you have arrived. To stand next to a tap in a London pub sporting a beer from Pittsburgh is one that I am happy to stand next to. I support Pittsburgh brewers and will do so 4000 miles from home.

Photos are of the Craft Beer Company on Leather Lane, Clerkenwell EC1

Blue Barrels

The question was asked recently as to why the name barrel is abbreviated as bbl. There have been a few answers and I found a few more in the Internet as well. Some are almost right but a bit off the mark and some are just pure bunk.

It is widely believed that the abbreviation of barrel is bl and the bbl for blue barrels. Both of these are bunk. Yes, there were blue barrels but at the same time there were red barrels. Barrels (also known as casks) have been around for centuries and not until recently have they been standardized. Beer and wine barrels were standardized for a number of reasons. First and foremost that coopers (barrel makers) need a way to mass produce them. Although made by hand they cut staves to a uniform length so that the barrels would hold the same quantity of material. Beer barrels were made different that ale barrels so one produce could be distinguished from the other. This is where the blue barrels debut. It was not until western Pennsylvania became the oil capital of the world that color came to be applied. As the country was involved with a civil war, the northern government needed a way to tax oil to fund the war. It took some doing and industry basically came up with the standard size of 42 gallons. Thi sisze was in use during the 1700’s. Bunk 1: Standard Oil did not standardize the barrel, the industry as a whole did. Bunk 2: The barrel was not open topped and companies would not pay for spillage. Only an idiot would ship a valuable commodity this way. Bunk 3: A 42 gallon barrel was not used to guarantee anything to a buyer. It is just what the oil producers came to agree on.

Why was the barrel painted blue? Because it was not red. When the oil was refined there were a number of products derived. One was gasoline that nobody wanted. What did you need it for? It was also dangerous. The most important commodity derived from oil in the 1800’s was kerosene. This was the money maker for oil companies. As barrels were pretty much the same size (unlike beer and ale) another way was need to tell one from the other. Hence, kerosene was in blue painted barrels and gas was in red painted barrels. Even though kerosene was the more important product all barrels were still abbreviated bbl and not rbl. As shown in the link below, the abbreviation was used before the birth of “big oil” in 1859. Any further investigation will have to involve Ben Franklin.

See: http://sites.google.com/site/petroleumhistoryresources/Home/42-gallon-oil-barrel This story also tells of the birth of the Heisman Trophy.

South Side, Pittsburgh NID 1

Transparency and Disclosure

I have many issues with the SS NID and what they are attempting to market. They are supposed to be business owners so one would think they know how to sell. Yes, that was a purposeful dig by me. Their website is nice and green with warm and fuzzy fluff nut no real business plan. If they wish to sell me they need to answer some questions.

What do you want to do?

You want to clean sidewalks that owners are required to keep clean (by law) yet they refuse so you want my money to pay somebody else to clean it for them. Is that right? Many owners do clean their sidewalks. If you don’t like dirty walks then complain to the owners. If you take money to pay people to clean sidewalks, will everyone who pays have their walks cleaned? Will some not be? Will you keep an eye on my property at 2 AM when drunks are breaking mirrors and up-rooting plants? Who decides this?

What area does the NID propose to incorporate?

Before you can have a Neighborhood Improvement District you need to where it is. Do you have a map or descriptive outline of its boundaries? Will all properties within the area have to pay? Will all owners within the area get clean sidewalks and security? Will people outside the area have anything to say about this?

None of this is debatable. Tell me your plan and the area it encompasses. Put it on your website and facebook page and make it clear. If you want to get off to a good start (with me) do not call me a stakeholder. I am a citizen

Pa Clubs and Nudity

I received comments concerning my webpage, Pennsylvania Drinking Laws, from a reader who brought to my attention an error on my part with respect to nudity in licensed establishments. I was aware that establishments in Pennsylvania that have a liquor license were prohibited from having nudity within the place. What I was unaware of that this prohibition has been rescinded.

The US 3^rd Circuit Court of Appeals struck down (in 2006) Pennsylvania’s law on lewd behavior in licensed establishments. It did uphold New Jersey’s law on lewdness. The rulings were based on interpretations on the First Amendment of the US Constitution. In Pennsylvania, clubs (not bars) can permit nude dancing. As a club, they are private and everyone entering must be a member (40 Pa Code 5.72). Bars are open to the public. Clubs may allow dancing whereas bars have restrictions disallowing entertainment such as dancing. These are two clauses that distinguish a club from a bar.

So, in as much as a club can serve alcohol and have nude dancing, don’t look for an influx of booze and babes clubs to open soon. There are several reasons it is to a clubs advantage to not have a liquor license. Having another government bureaucracy control their activity seems like a good reason not to have a license.

In doing a bit more research on this I stumbled on Title 17 of the Pennsylvania Code. Apparently the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has something to say about booze and babes. Somehow my mind is working with the combination of nude dancing and natural resources, but let’s not take this further.

Section 23.12 prohibits possession and consumption of alcohol on state forest picnic areas. Disorderly conduct, indecent exposure, and obscene or lewd acts or dress is prohibited in section 23.24.

I will be updating my page (http://pubnetwork.com/pennsylvaniadrinkinglaws.html) soon but I wanted to get this posted to address my reader’s comments. He also gave me some other feedback that I am reviewing for my update. I always enjoy positive feedback as it helps get the information corrected.

Smoking Bars

In Pennsylvania, a bar can be open on Sunday if they have a Sunday license issued by the LCB. To get one the bar has to have food and non-alcohol drink sales of 30% (was 40%). The state Department of Health says that if the bar wants an exemption to permit smoking, the food and non-alcohol drink sales cannot exceed 20%. They also have to show the State Health people their records. This tells me that smoking bars cannot be open on Sunday. Do I have it wrong? Anybody?

I see some bars open on Sunday with smoking permitted. I have to think that they are ignoring the law. And who can blame them? I was once told that some bars do this until they get caught. They just pay the fine and keep doing it/ So much for government protecting us.

The real law are the patrons. It is their choice to enter a smoking bar and the state seems limp in enforcement. A law with no teeth is no law. I am posting a new page on www.pubnetwork.com on Pa Drinking Law and getting my information together. As for smoking bars and the law, I am just trying to see thru the smoke.

Cows on Carson Street

I have seen cows on Carson St. in the South Side for many years but I thought that they were just passing through. Little did I realize that they settled down and started to breed. They seem to be everywhere now and much like the beer stains on my shirts, they are here to stay.

I saw my first one late one evening in the 80's when I came home form an outing. I saw a female sitting on my steps. I though she just had too much to drink and wanted to rest. Being kind to animals then I was going to leave her stay. As the number of bars on Carson was fewer than today there were few cattle running about. But as I got closer I noticed that she had her pants to her ankles. She was all set to do a No.2 pie drop on my steps. Well, you should have seen what it took to get her to move. Yet she fought with me like I was being mean. Why are cattle prods illegal I ask?

Today they have taken over the South Side like teenage boys at a wet tee-shit contest. Most of the cattle seem to know to stick to the pathways but crossing streets seems to mystify them. They will get to a corner and look at the colored light on the other side and go into a trance. They will walk towards the lights slowly and without preference to the lights being red, amber or green. I think they are drawn to the red lights more. An effective method of making them move faster is to point the front of your car towards then and give it a go. That seems to take them out of their trance.

And it is not just crossing from one path to another. Very often they stop and gather in the middle of the street or crosswalk to collectively chew their cud. Pigeons do this as well but seem to know that cars are coming for them. Maybe the cows like the middle of the street because it reminds them of open pasture? As they don’t start moving about until mid-day they stay up late at night, which seems to be the preferred time for personal tasks. Many of them seek the farmer’s house to let free the day’s liquid intake. Never mind that they have barns of their own for this. Male and female cattle have been observed doing this. The females seem at ease with the outdoors, as they will, without hesitation, perform hygienic maintenance activity. Watching them in groups can be most disturbing. I think the sociology people at the nearby universities should look in this. Better still, video bloggers.

Some cattle actually know how to operate cars. Not well, but who can when ones tail is pushed up ones butt? Should they ever be required to have a license like the rest of humanity they could be instructed on proper parking, turning when permitted and the meaning of colored lights hanging down in front of them. I wonder what Darwin would have written had the H.M.S. Beagle landed on the South Side boat launch?

Tripped Advisor

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette published this Trip Advisor entry on Sunday, August 21, 2011. In a response to a refused cab ride from Manhattan to LaGuardia, Lesley Carlin made reference to LaGuardia's location. She wrote: …but because LaGuardia's in Queens...

God did this gyrate me. I’m not too smart and I have the records to prove it. But if one were writing professionally I would expect proper sentence construction. Used in the above manner, an apostrophize shows ownership. Example 1: Ed’s beer is pale ale. Example 2: Did you find it in paragraph 1? What should have been written was that LaGuardia is in Queens. I don’t think this was a typo and maybe just a tad lazy. Maybe I am being overly picky but I was at the store yesterday when I listened to a husband ask his wife “is you got the money?” I may need several pale ales to settle down after all of this.