Philadelphia Brewing.

There has been a lot in the news recently about the resurgence of Philadelphia craft breweries, mainly as a lead up to Best Week Ever (a ten day week at that!).  (Here’s a great guide from Philadelphia Daily News.)   I am sorry I’m not there. 

I am looking forward to trying some of the new Philadelphia Brewing Co.’s brews when they become available in either bottles or someplace where my brother can grab me a growler. PBC is run by the former co-owners of Yard’s. The owners of Yard’s went their separate ways last spring after having a difference in vision. One owner got the Yard’s name and recipes, and the other owners got the brewery and equipment at the old Yard’s/Weisbrod & Hess Oriental Brewing Company facility in the Kensington neighborhood. You can read more about the split here, but I agree with the article that this will be a good thing. We get new brews from PBC, AND Yard’s plans to increase capacity and bring back some favorites that were only occasionally available in the past. Plus Dock Street is making in-roads into West Philly too. Woo! Don’t tell my wife, but for this week, a little piece of my heart aches for Philly. Of course, the great local Wisconsin beers help ease those aches!

But this post is not entirely about PA. For today’s WI-PA connection (which may become a somewhat recurring feature), Sprecher will be featured at the Grey Lodge Pub as part of Best Week Ever.

 

Mascot Curses

I saw an article this morning about an EA Sports contest to pick which college mascot it will feature on the cover of its NCAA Football 09 Nintendo Wii game. Immediately, I though of the Madden curse. Basically, the Madden curse is this: the player who is featured on the EA Sports Madden NFL Football cover tends to have a subpar season or have a fairly significant injury that season. The question is whether this curse will extend to the featured mascot. The jury is still out whether a curse exists for EA Sports NCAA Football at all, so I won’t lose sleep over this. But I also might not vote passionately for the Nittany Lion. Unfortunately, there is no Michigan Wolverine to vote for. Sigh.

But vote at your own risk…or the risk of your college mascot.

 

Bringing it together.

Penn State recently launched an environmental stewardship website that compiles information about all the environmental activities the Penn State community is undertaking. Great idea! Like one of my former law school professors always said, the world is a seamless web. The more we bring all these ideas together and collaborate, the better off we will be.

I also recently read that both Penn State and UW-Milwaukee were selected to participate in the 2009 Solar Decathlon. For this competition, teams design and build energy efficient homes that are exclusively powered by solar energy. In addition, the homes must be easy to live in and attractive. That means comfortable temperatures, adequate lighting, hot water and household appliances. In addition, the house must power an electric vehicle to meet the household’s transportation needs. In the 2007 Decathlon, PSU was a first time competitor and came in fourth, a great showing. But, lest I sound cheesy, the real winners are the American public. These houses prove that with some basic design changes, we can really lower our energy usage and not sacrifice all of the comforts of home. The homes are displayed on the National Mall in D.C. for the final competition. I lived in D.C. during the first Decathlon in 2002 and toured the homes. I would have lived in most of them hands down. And the designs have only improved over the past six years. Check it out if you get the chance.

 

My Pryor Post

I don’t typically follow Penn State football recruiting closely, unless there is a Lancaster County, PA, player involved.  The Terrelle Pryor situation has been tough to avoid though.  I thought for sure he would commit to Ohio State, where he would potentially start in a year after Boeckman graduates, and he would have a solid team around him.  He might even get some playing time this year, coming in for goal line or other special plays.  Michigan is an interesting situation for Pryor - he would likely start right away in RichRod’s spread system, but he wouldn’t have many spread-oriented teammates around him.  By the time RichRod recruited those other players and got them developed, Pryor will likely be looking to move on to the NFL.  Penn State snuck in again as a possible choice at the last minute.  Of course, I always think PSU is a great place for a football player, but we don’t have the best track record in developing QBs, unless their ability and will to win overcomes the lack of development (see Michael Robinson).  Will Pryor come to PSU?  I don’t know, and there are a lot of other folks who have more interesting theories on that topic than I do.  You can even waste a lot of time watching (sometimes really lousy) pleas from fans of various schools on You Tube.   

This does lead me to a cool website my friend Eric pointed out to me – a recruiting prediction model developed by Mercer University. This model predicts the school a recruit will choose with 73% accuracy.  The model’s creators made some interesting observations, such as “factors like the school’s graduation rate, the number of Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl appearances, the current roster depth at the recruited player’s position, the number of players from a specific college drafted by the NFL, and even the number of national championships won by a particular program don’t systematically influence the decisions of high school athletes.”  This even surprised the model’s creators.

What does matter?
Whether the athlete made an “official visit” to a specific college
Whether the school is in a BCS conference
The distance from the high school athlete’s hometown to a specific school
Whether the recruit is in the same state as a specific school
The final AP Ranking of a specific school in the previous year of competition
The number of conference titles a school has recorded in recent years
Whether the school is currently under a “bowl ban” for violating NCAA rules
The current number of scholarship reductions a school faces for violating NCAA rules
The size of the team’s stadium (measured in terms of seating capacity)
Whether the school has an on-campus stadium
The current age of the team’s stadium

 I’d like to see how “coaching change” factors in to the model.

According to the model, Pryor has a 35.9% chance of committing to PSU, the top predicted choice. Cool! I have a gut feeling that the accuracy might drop on the model after Pryor announces his decision though…

 

On the other hand…

…a mild winter in PA is throwing craft breweries into a frenzy of cooperation!

PA and WI both have long brewing traditions. And in both states there has been a relatively recent rebirth of fantastic local craft brews. Well, some Pennsylvania craft breweries are getting together to promote a great cause (buy local food!).  I encourage everyone in Philly to check out The 4th Annual Brewer’s Plate on March 9th at the Independence Visitor’s Center.  This event pairs up 21 local restaurants with 21 local craft breweries for some great food and beer combos. Seriously.

I had the privilege of attending the past two years when it was held in Reading Terminal Market, and it was money well spent.  Last year I splurged on VIP tickets for my brother and sister-in-law, and we were able to meet and chat with some brewing legends – Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Carol Stoudt of Stoudt’s.  
It’s all part of Philly Beer Week. Best week ever?

 

Mean Winter

I think this winter weather is making the normally super-friendly Sconnies get a bit mean-spirited (generally folks really are nicer here). I hope it is the weather.

I’m a proud member of the Leinie Lodge. I enjoy beer from Leinenkugel’s, the seventh-oldest brewery in the U.S., and one of the brands of choice in Wisconsin. I enjoyed it before I lived here, especially on numerous Midwest flights back and forth between Wisconsin and Philadelphia. It reminds me of Yuengling in many ways. Both breweries are intertwined with the culture and history of the state. I remember the day I was shocked to discover it was owned by Miller, and then relieved to find out that the Leinenkugel family still had day to day control. If anything, Miller has increased the distribution area immensely, which is generally a good thing for beer drinkers. Sunset Wheat was available at my local distributor in Havertown, PA, and at the corner store on Spruce Street when I lived in Rittenhouse in Center City Philadelphia.

     Today I received an invitation to participate in a Leinie’s survey that asked for feedback on what must be a new marketing strategy for text on the labels or packaging. I’ll save my comments until after the text:

Leinenkugel’s – Made By Passionate Craftsmen

     Everyday a new “craft microbrew” enters the market with new flavors and trendy names. But do they really have brewing credentials? We don’t think so. They haven’t put in the time and effort to learn what a beer drinker really wants in a beer.

     Leinenkugel’s is the true craft beer. Brewed by 73 passionate craftsmen in the small community of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin – the same community where the Leinenkugel founded it in 1867. Unaffected by outside influences, their attention to detail and dedication to making great craft beers is one of the main reasons that Leinenkugel’s continues to define what makes beer great. Meticulously blending the finest hand-selected ingredients and brewing in small batches, Leinenkugel’s has refused to compromise.

Leinenkugel’s – Made By Passionate Craftsmen

     I have no issue with the second paragraph. I think Leinie’s should be proud of its heritage and continued commitment to quality and small batches. They should promote it. Let people know why your beer is great.

     I was extremely disappointed, however, in the first paragraph. I think it is arrogant and somewhat obnoxious. Why does Leinie’s have to put down all other craft brewers by making very generalized statements about the quality of other craft brews and brewers. Leinie’s insinuates that other craft brewers don’t care about their beer, don’t know how to brew, and throw crappy product on the market just to make money. Why? Where is the midwestern congeniality? I don’t know what Leinie’s thinks it will gain from this, other than irritating a lot of beer drinkers who really love local craft brews. If Leinenkugel wants folks to understand that it is a small brewery that makes exciting beers based on over 140 years of experience, then just say so. Don’t insult other breweries for no reason. If anything, Leinie’s should be trying to distinguish itself from the often bland products put out by the big breweries.

     This reminds me of the Minhas Craft Brewery’s Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale television commercials that played incessantly in the Madison market during football bowl season. They featured animated dogs that run around harassing a spotted cow in a thinly-veiled swipe at New Glarus Brewing Company’s popular Spotted Cow brew. I have not sampled Lazy Mutt yet, partly because there are other more seasonal beers I like to drink in subzero weather, but also because initial reviews have not made me want to run out and buy it. Again, I wonder why Minhas felt the need to attack another popular local Wisconsin brewery in promoting its own product. I personally do not think this is the proper spirit for a craft brewery. Why not instead make a great product that is distinguished from the others and promote it on that strength? Leave the “better than you” commercials to Miller and Anheuser-Busch.

     Just annoys me to see this behavior from smaller outfits. I guess one could argue that neither Leinie’s or Minhas are really “craft” breweries anyway and are just using the term as a marketing ploy, so maybe I’m getting worked up for nothing.

 

Frozen Tundra

My wife, a Janesville native, always told me that the winters in southern Wisconsin were the same as they were in south-central Pennsylvania, meaning a few snowstorms in January and February and maybe a couple of stretches of single digit temps, but otherwise manageable.  “Madison is not the same as the Northwoods,” she would say.  So, round about December 1, 2007, it started snowing, and it hasn’t stopped.  It is now officially the snowiest winter on record.  Throw in some subzero temperatures and some -40 wind chills, and I’m beginning to wonder what other friendly fibs my wife has told me about America’s Dairyland… 

I tried to take my BBD (big black dog) outside for a walk while wearing my snowshoes (because the drifts are waist deep in spots), but he was scared of the snowshoes and made a beeline for the porch. Sigh. What a whimp.

 

On (to) Wisconsin.

Welcome to Lion in Badgerland.  I grew up in central Pennsylvania and graduated from Penn State.  After living in Philly for the past three years, I recently relocated to Madison, Wisconsin – the heart of Badger Country and my wife’s homeland.  I’ve been meaning to start up a blog for some time now and finally received a sign I could not ignore:  for the first time in 100 years, a live mountain lion has been sighted in southern Wisconsin.  And only several miles from where my mother-in-law lives!  And on a road that is the same as my last name!  The coincidences are too many to ignore.  I’m positive this guy followed me here from Pennsylvania.

What will I add to the blogosphere?  Probably nothing.  But in spite of that, I plan to post about PSU athletics, especially when the teams come to Madison.  I’ll post some belated thoughts about the women’s soccer match, women’s volleyball match (Yeah, National Champions), and women’s basketball game that I attended over the past few months.  Hopefully I can find tickets to the men’s basketball game in a few weeks.

I also plan to post about some of my other interests – environmental/sustainability issues and beer.  Wisconsin will give me plenty of material on those topics.

Happy faschnacht day!