Bottling DunkelweiZenGuy and Comment on The Sapes Beer Ad in the UK

So  there comes a time when bottling is in order, right.  Here's bottling day for the 5 Hop DunkelweiZenGuy I brewed for Christmas. 

Bottling amounted to recycling the bottles of a lot of different, great commercial beers we've had in 2013, as well as a little experimenting with fruit juice, just to see if we can't carbonate using Black Current rather than honey or dex-corn sugar in those corked 22oz Abbey Ale bottles.  Well, not just to see, but also in the hope we can get all Belgium and shit, with some of this batch too, if you will.  

Should be interesting to see how fermented sweet Black Current juice juice squares off with 5 varieties of hops in a bottle.  I'm guessing more bitter sweet, like seeing your girlfriend from college check into your nursing home, than confusing, like the mixed message you might expect from eating salt brine pickled cabbage with jelly donuts.










It's important to remain clean in all this, as caramel grains make a sticky mess if left unchecked, boys and girls.  And so a bottle of Alcohol stands ready to sterilize and clean up as needed.That Hop Devil was an epic beer... still recall drinking it after painting rooms all day. 

As you can see labeling is an art form, and sometimes not at all. 




















This seems like a good spot to comment about world wide, globe spanning beverage monopoly and card carrying ALEC member, Diageo and their new video advertisement about The Sapes in Congo, a very classy group of gents who dress for every occasion.  See if it doesn't have an inspirational quality, in a place where that's in very short supply.  I was going to say like lighting a candle in space or some other dark place, but no need to evoke the whole "Heart of Darkness", "dark" otherness trope when discussing Africa. 

It's got a nice bit about the stout drinker being a "Master of my fate and captain of my soul," a solid 19th Century philosophical trope, just in case you missed the point that it's possible to overcome the odds in a place where horrible outcomes are as frequent as sunrise if you just party your way out of it (with the right Diageo ammo).  Of course, they are broadcasting this commercial in Ireland and Britain not Africa. Seems like such a long way to go to promote a beer, unless your sales amount to a small nation, upon which the sun never sets. 

I find the music corny in places. 



Guinness 'Sapeurs' from Finger Music on Vimeo.




Here are the same "Sapes" in a video by Bouncy's sister Solange, shot in South Africa, far from Congo.  Not a lot of drinking in this one.



Losing You - Solange from Bresi-Ando consults on Vimeo.