Monday, February 14, 2011

Founders Nemesis 2009: Maple Bourbon Barrel Aged Wheat Wine


This is an Anti-Establishment Ale which is right up my alley. "Every batch diabolically brewed to decimate ordinary-average-run-of-the-mill tasting beer."

Maple bourbon barrels... I drool just looking at the label. I had one of these back in April of 2010 and I've been eying one in the back of my fridge ever since. It's easy to get excited about beer when it comes from Founders and I'm curious about how this aged. My valentine this year is a beer and I'm okay with that.

This pours a beautiful dried apricot-rusted yellow with a brilliant, yet hazy orange glow, with flakes of yeast, potential calcium flakes, and proteins swirling around lightly like a snow globe. The head is tight and protein dense, eggshell white and slowly fades to a film coating the top of the surface. This beer looks stunning.

There is a very nice caramel sweetness that tingles the nose at first, followed by that oak, bourbon and earthy maple notes just perfuming through the wheat bite. Wheat sometimes has a way of being grainy, bready and fruity. Banana break and maple glazed walnuts are a predominate aroma in this beer that weaves between the boozy 12% alcohol. I'd be lying if I said you couldn't sense the alcohol from a few whiffs of this brew. Granted, bourbon barrels have a way of adding to this boozy, dried apricots and berry warmth. I'd like to stress that this is a warm dried berry warmth not a cherry hotness. Like any good Canadian, I love maple syrup and this just has such a gentle, earthy maple character. It's woody and adding to a little hop balance to all of the wheat and malts. The barrel gives it a little oxidized aroma that simply gives this beer depth amongst the easily depicted aromas.

The flavours of this beer seem to start on the back of the palate with a lovely bitterness and sparged wheat astringency. This light tingle slowly sinks into the pocket of the tongue with apricots, peaches stewed in caramel. The caramel turns to an oaky, woody dry-sweet and watery glaze on the tip of the tongue. For the most part those tingles of maple in the nose are lost in the depth of this brew. The banana is lost but that lovely wheat and nut bread just glazes over the tongue and pinches the cheeks with the splintered-barrel flavours. The bourbon is the over all lingering expression of this beer that finishes very clean and slightly sweet. The finish is not much different than a nice bourbon that just lays nicely on the back of the tongue.


The carbonation is very moderate and the body is fairly thin considering this looks like a chunky beer and at 12% it's surprising me. Trust me that it's full bodied, but I love the bourbon characteristics that it holds in the mouthfeel. Maybe "full" is wrong to describe this, as it reminds me more of a fluffy marshmallow that is simply dissolving in my mouth. Bourbon has a sweetness that dominates the back pocket of the tongue, there are enough hops to leave that bitter coating on the very back of the tongue, and the roof of my mouth and tip of my tongue just splash in the light watery residues left over. This is something you just have to sense in the mouth all the flavours are spiked by where the sugars, wood, or lack of sugars tend to remain after every mouthful.


This is a great style of beer that isn't over done not to mention the creativity of the brewers to have it aged in maple bourbon barrels is this reason why Founders rule. I drink this and I think of an outstanding weissenbier blended with a dunkel on steroids with a marshmallow mouthfeel and sweetness that just tickles the palate.

As for food pairings, this beer needs an arugula salad with a cilantro & yogurt salad dressing topped with pinenuts, walnuts and golden raisins. The arugula has such a grassy, earthy flavour that would just be perfect for the oaky flavours that linger from the beer. Cilantro also has that green flavour that will cut the beer flavour yet compliment the light hopping of the beer and the bourbon finish. I think salad due to the residual water left in the front of the mouth. This pairing could happen with either beer or salad coming first. You can break this flavour orgy in the mouth with an artisanal wheat bread made with grated beets. A nice dry bread and sweet soil beets with a light olive oil dip will simply cleanse the palate without disrupting the flavours that can blend. Keep in mind, wheat is dry and astringent. This beer has a slight astringency from the wheat and a nice bread with a little oil can go with almost any beer of this depth. (I'd also recommend this with salmon sashimi and a little wasabi.)


For those craving a little more sugar, I wouldn't judge you for popping a big fluffy-white-anti-establisment marshmallow in your gob while drinking this sucker.

Dig in. Indulge. Enjoy.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Alley Kat: 15th Anniversary Cascadian Dark Ale


*Before we start I'd like to make a note about my feelings on "Cascadian Dark Ales" or "Black IPA's"... I just don't like them! The label, the genre, the style, the flavours, etc. "Why are you a hater?" Well, when you consider that in the early 1700's Porters or "Stout Butt Porters" were around 6-9% ABV and 65-85 IBU's this seems to fit these Black IPA's pretty well. This sort of recipe carried on into the early 1900's with a few speed bumps along the way. Rock n' Roll had similar experiences. I do understand the idea of the carafa(de-bittered/de-husked black malt) but some are not using this. Also, "Black IPA" doesn't make sense. I-India... this beer has nothing to do with voyages or trades to India or whatever myth/legend/fact/history you want to believe. P-pale, well dude, Black ain't pale. A-ale, well 1 out of 3 ain't bad. As for "Cascadian" I see that as being lame. Everyone makes a pale ale and they use whatever hops they want. Good for them. Don't make a style as complex as this and base it on the one and only hop you can/should use. You don't see single hop IPA's being labeled as SPA (Simcoe Pae Ale) or CIPA (Centennial India Pale Ale). Okay! Yeah! I totally get the idea of what the beer should be when you get the name, but I still see this just as much as a bastardization as Keith's calling their sugary-beer (most likely a lager) an IPA. Just sayin'. If the B-A or BJCP needs another style call it a Black Bitter or X-TREME ROBUST PORTER. Now I'm being foolish, and I am not trying to take away from the quality of the beer.




This is apart of the 15th Anniversary series that Alley Kat has put out along with a Belgian Tripel, Apple Wit (Cider?), Smoked Porter, and Ginger Beer. A great idea and a lot of work for the brewers. This particular Cascadian Dark Ale is a salute to Cascade hops and the brewers of Cascadia.




I'm guilty of a heavy pour that flowed pure, opaque, jet-black, with a rocky-eggshell white head. The head was a little large (due to my aggressive pour) but great retention none-the-less. The head is similar to when you pour a rootbeer float.




The aroma is very interesting off the top. I've been sticking my nose in this for a while and it keeps getting more and more interesting, yet less and less complex every time (Tip for tasters: The olfactory system has a limit for senses and will become fatigued very quickly. So when you are not sure what you are smelling in your glass anymore, smell the skin of your sleeve, and it kind of resets everything). First on the nose, I get a cola like sensation that reminds me of Crush Birchbeer (only available in Nfld and some Sobey's across Canada where Nfld'ers are abundant...think: Fort Mac). Now, that quickly changes to roasted barley, sweetened coffee, chicory (think smelling a Tim Hortans cup that used to be full of black coffee w/o sugar and has time to cool down), then citrus and tobacco. More tobacco than citrus, it comes across like flavoured rolling papers, where the paper part is leaning towards light oxidation followed quickly by licorice root or star anise and as it warms it takes on characteristics of spiced rum. The citrus is lemon-lime and CO2. Overall I perceive the nose to be very simple despite how "loud" it is.




The flavour hits roasty right off the tip of the tongue, flows to a milk chocolate, molasses, licorice sweetness in the centre of the tongue, and finishes with that dry tobacco, mint, and light lemon-lime citrus bitterness on the finish. The finish is surprisingly dry and kind of makes me grin despite the acidity of this beer. There is a sourness (which is in every beer, hopefully) that makes the middle-back of my tongue tingle in good ways. Overall there is a big Coca-Cola flavour going on with lots of root-like qualities, roasty bits, and a long lingering sweetened licorice that remains closer to the front of the tongue. The bitterness is there as a sheet that coats the back half of the tongue but it is not as powerful as I'd like it to be. The sweetness never covers the back of the tongue or palate. Think of oil on a hot pan that moves away from the heat, well the sugar is moving away from the bitterness and flows to the front of the tongue yet remains pocketed in the bucket of the tongue.




A lot of what I described in the later half of flavour contributes to the mouthfeel, which is a nice carbonation, which I'd consider quite high for the style. The body is full, but not rich. It is really dry, but not astringent other than a little roast kicking around. This beer puts a test to the palate to wonder if you are sensing bitterness or astringency due to roasted grain or hop bitterness. This is a dry beer, but even so it's slightly watery on the finish, which aids in drinking this beer quickly.





This beer as a whole was very well done. I really dig it for what it is. It says exactly what it says it is. If this were a regular offering at a reasonable price I'd buy this in 6 packs of 12-packs. Seriously, great beer and bravo to the brewers. I look forward to sampling the other 15th Anniversary beers from Alley Kat. again, bravo on a well crafted brew!




As for food pairings: I'd put this with a bag of Doritos Sweet Chili Heat or Hawkins Cheezies, put the feet up and watch the game. Life is simple sometimes, no matter how complicated a label may seem.

My First

* I'm going to give the warning that I'll throw out names without description or any previous mention. Why? Because I can.


For any of you who know much about St. John's, Newfoundland, the music industry, University living or life in general, drinking alcohol can be hard to thwart off. Whether you care to give in to pressures of circumstance or not- it was everywhere when I went to University. Going to socials, meet and greets, concerts, parties, the pool hall, or just waiting for the next class at the campus pub. It is indeed a social lubricant and helps people overcome or indulge in social awkwardness.


I'll admit I saw far more awkwardness than anything else, perhaps leading me down the path of just saying "No thanks, I'll pass." when it came to having a beer. Looking back I saved a whole hell-of-a-lot of money that way, which was good considering I didn't have any to begin with. I used to work two or three jobs during summers putting every penny away for tuition. I lucked into cheap/damn near free rent by living with my sister and lived off of cans of zoodles (until I became a vegan, then things got weird) and processed white-bread. It helped meeting a girl who lived at home and had a mother that loved it when I ate her food. (What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend? - Homeless.) Wokka wokka!

Money issues got a little better when I started making a few (and I mean a few) bucks pulling off the singer/song writer deal downtown. I actually made more money doing that than as a drummer playing for every other band within the city. That was about the time I started "indulging" in the vegan lifestyle. As I made the switch from Zoodles to cans of beans, hummus, and lots of noodley type dishes. It forced me to learn how to cook and bake or I would have starved even more so.


Vegetarian was one thing that I started at the age of 16 with the exception of that one night when I was 17(?) when Clayton convinced me to eat one of Harold's balls... They were the most epic-meat balls ever! Vegan...what was I thinking? I've recently learned that some people just can't handle that kind of lifestyle and expect to maintain that thing people call life. I'll openly admit there were a lot of things that aided in how unhealthy I had become over the years of living a vegan lifestyle.



Back to the topic: When accepted into the Music Program at MUN, the percussionists seemed to have a way of socializing that generally revolved around pints after a concert. I always just sat around drinking water until I finally cracked at that one party at my prof/mentor's house. I was asked if I wanted a beer and I just figured "why not!" There was no reason for me to refuse and something about the whole event seemed right. When someone you really look up to and trust offers you something, you generally accept. This is the same person that really opened up and changed my views about music. He had suggested I listen to John Abercrombie - Cat n' Mouse, and he really gave me the insight of what it is to improvise without letting go of technique or vision. It may sound a little radical, but Rob was the kind of guy who made me value life through music. Lessons and rehearsals always seemed to reach beyond technique and simply playing the written music.


A beer called 1982 Traditional Ale from the Quidi Vidi Brewery was put in my hand. At this point I had no idea that the brewery used to be called "Northern" the beloved brewery that my Uncle used to drink gallons of every time he visited. I didn't pour it into a glass like I figured I should have, just drank from the bottle. I remember it kind of hitting my tongue and filling my mouth with flavours that were bitter, still kind of sweet, grainy, and at the time it felt like it was full bodied. The bitterness is something I really remember due to being a coffee junkie and loving that sensation. I nursed that beer for the better half of the social gathering. I nursed it because I really enjoyed the flavour, the sensation, and the surroundings. What better vibe than to be in a room full of peers, mentors, and friends dorking out on drum talk and listening to Tom Waits. What had I been missing out on my entire life? This substance called beer, so rich, fulfilling, bitter, pleasing both cold and warm leaving residual sugars on my tongue and a little gas in my gullet.



How was I supposed to know one beer could spark this sort of passion for beer and everything it has to stand for? To this day I still have a soft spot for that beer and drink a fair bit of it every time I visit my family back home. Recently I did have it and unfortunately it didn't have the bitter beings of the nice English style amber ale it used to be but more of a sweet cream ale (heavily oxidized as well). Complete transformation happened to that beer, but it still holds a place in my heart.


That was the first beer, so I might as well respect it.


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A Vegetarian Walks into A Steak House

Seems like the beginning of a really terrible joke. However, once upon a time this situation occurred to me. It was after a season of Dinner Theatre shows in Grand Falls-Windsor, in which I had acted and preformed in the live band and it was time for the cast/staff year end dinner/party at the Mount Peyton Steak House.

Yeah! I know, I acted?! Go figure. Seems strange.


Dude, there is nothing more awkward than a vegetarian in a restaurant that specializes in selling meat on sizzling hot plates. It's like being the kid on holidays in Florida with a broken arm. Yeah, you know the kid; the one with the garbage bag tied around his arm sticking out of the swimming pool like a large blackish-brownish-green flag. Did I mention that happened to me? Childhood... isn't it fantastic.



Well it seemed like a good enough reason for a drink or two considering it was all going to be paid for by the boss. It was like the summer end bonus for a good season of performances. Well, the restaurant was about as fancy as it gets in GF-W so most people were going for fancy drinks and I was still curious about the substance called "beer." The establishment didn't seem to carry any Northern Lager or Northern Light, so what now?
-"I'll have a Heineken, please."

WHAT?! Even to this day I know it was a better choice than Canadian, Blue, or Coors Light. Keeping in mind Northern was the only thing anyone could even consider "craft" or truly local in Newfoundland at the time.



I was thinking to myself: "Well, here we go. My first beer, I should pour it into a glass the way I was told to respect a beer. I bet people will think I'm lame for that, oh well, I'm already a skateboarder and play drums in a ska-band; it's not like it can get any harder to pick up chicks."



...and as I go to pour it into a glass someone decides to back up from the table, elbows out and knock the glass of beer over on the table. Strike two for the vegetarian.



-"Waitress, let me get out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini!"


So, there it was...my first drink. It wasn't beer, but it may have sparked my interested for big "piny" double IPAs.


You may be wondering by now: "When did you have your first beer?"


Stay tuned sports fans.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

New Belgium: Fat Tire





First off, I really have to say how awesome New Belgium is as a brewery in terms of it's energy conservation. It has water recycling, using natural gas, it is greatly wind powered and damn near self-generating power. The brewery really cares about the earth. That alone is worth checking out this brewery.





Secondly, the packaging is great. The Belgian style brown bottle with a ring around the neck, neatly labeled "New Belgium."





What can I say about the Fat Tire Amber Ale? It was named after Jeff Lebesch's (The founder and brew master) mountain bike trip through Europe, traveling from brewery to brewery. This was his original homebrew recipe, and his claim to fame. From basement brewery to a "mass" produced commercial beer, it has kept it's integrity and original recipe. Props!







This pours a crystal clear rusted orange that shimmers in the light, topped with a tight bubbled eggshell head, two fingers deep from the rim of the glass. It has wonderful retention as it dissipates to a fuzzy film over the beer and lacing rings down the glass with every sip. Well, I'm impressed. This isn't the kind of head you expect on an amber ale, Belgian inspired or not.





The nose is soft and very delicate with many subtleties. The spicy yeast sparks the nose and opens up for the rest of aromas to waft in. When I say "spicy", think of the essence of cloves or pepper wrapped in aromas of freshly baked rye bread and hints of sulfur. This is followed by lovely caramel notes, and almost buttery (not diacetyl). There are low levels of apple and an earthy pear skimming across the beer that finishes on the nose as a grassy hop finish for balance. The yeast and the munich malt sweetness are so crucial for this beers bouquet. Toasty, caramel, apple, and just the right amount of earthiness from the hops. It almost has a bit of shiitake mushroom note hidden in there. I will note the beginnings of oxidation present in the aroma, though it's not offensive, simply present.







As soon as this hits the tongue all of those very interesting characteristics in the nose are amplified. Not to 11, but they become fuller and round on the palate. There is a nutty flavour that dominates the back of the tongue and the upper part of my mouth and the tip of my tongue. The middle is holding that nice toasty sweetness of caramel, the pear and apple are not present, though that earthy, grassy hop simply tickles the tongue cutting the sweetness. The munich malt is giving this a lovely biscuit flavour. This is a semi-dry finish, a sweet balanced beer that cuts and leaves very little residual sugars on the tongue. The sweetness is there just long enough before you crave another sip.





The carbonation is moderate, a nice round body, slick and slightly filmy. Just balanced in the way it dances sweetly over the tongue.






This beer may not be mind blowing, but I think this is the kind of beer that defines "balance" when all the big shot critics talk about beer. I think round. I think of the way that Sibelius uses timpini parts in his Symphonies (particularly Symphony No. 1 in E Minor) so interwoven within the orchestra with an even known presence of moving things forward. A delicate touch of "wow... I'm impressed."






This is a beer I could party with...respectfully.





This is a beer I would love to pair with portobello mushrooms sauteed lightly in olive oil and rosemary on a bed of aromatic rice. I love the texture of mushrooms when they just get a little soft, the earthiness of the fungi, and the oil and rosemary would just blend beautifully with the sweet and toast of this beer.





Also, think Thai eggplant. The kind of sloppy, soft, buttery eggplant with spices to defy the sweetness. The beer then becomes a little over powered, but the beer will instantly seem a little sharper in the finish. This isn't a very acidic or bitter beer, so it will not cleans the palate, simply add some sugar in the mouth.



Also think lamb,a bit of black pepper and rosemary would do just fine to garnish the flavours within.


I picked up some semi-soft surfaced ripened Oka cheese with mushrooms and it's got a buttery, yet slightly soft chew that is very nice compliment. Not too sharp... balanced.






I'd ride this bike again.






Thanks to Lackey for the brew!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Studded Leather Jackets at The Symphony Orchestra

Mr. Beaumont wrote a post on linking musical composition and beer. Here is a little bit of stuff that leaked out of my cluttered brain while there seems to be a trend in posting about art and beer.





Beer had a starting point much like rock n' roll. You can link metal or noise rock back to Tin-Pan Alley. From there you can link it to baroque, the romantic era, etc. Western culture is run by trends. These trends are stolen, imitated, expanded and end up evolving. It's those with popularity or a fresh new spin on appearance that give these trends roots in history. The mainstream states one thing is "in" and for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction... punk rock.





The one thing that I feel is missing from most peoples perception of music is attitude. Punk rock isn't a genre. Argue if you wish, but it's not. It's attitude, it's a lifestyle, it's heart, it's soul, and it is the fire that burns within the creator. Yet, punk rock in it's earliest form isn't that different from rock n' roll in it's composition. All the basic ingredients are there (also, note even symphonic pieces of music are known to have I-V-I progressions...just like rock). Don't think jazz never had it's sub-genres either or attitude placement on similar concepts. Just follow Miles Davis and his progression of albums from start to finish. The same? nope.





My link to beer is keeping in mind why styles are even noted. Labels are placed for marketing, consumers or for writers. It's easier to write about something when you give it a name, a face, or a personality that you can link to something, such as I.P.A. or Light Lager. Rolling Stone Magazine was wretched for trying to classify everything in music, but they also had image to uphold and trends to set on covers of magazines and billboards. Beer is doing the same thing.





This is where I look at BJCP and respect it's loyalty to it's contents. It rarely gets updated and the classics remain the same. However, it doesn't leave room for much more than "classics." What a boring world we'd live in if music stopped at The Clash. I love The Clash, but they just opened up some gates for newer, exciting, more experimental musics. The BJCP disregards this as if new means renegade and simply give them a category 23 and say "duke it out you bunch of punks. Your wild, out-landish, improvisational beers will never be classics."





This gives reasons to why I enjoy the BA(Brewers Association). They embrace the idea of new and old. They don't want to slap the hands of creativity. Why put a barrel aged imperial gratzer up against an abbey spruce beer by just calling it a "specialty beer/other." In competition it would be just to narrow focus outside of personal preference. The BA allows for such things. For example, they have a Mild Ale category and a Session Beer category. I'll agree a mild ale is a fantastic session ale. But a 3-4% North American hoppy blonde lager might drink pretty smooth as well. The BA is taking a very non-institutional approach and not creating standards, just helping describe to people what attitude and personality they should find in the beer.





It saves competitions running like the CBA's where a dunkel should compete against a kellierbier. Hmmmm... try as hard as you want to link them similar, they are different! Apples to oranges, but at least they are both unfiltered beers. Try being a judge on that particular panel and debate merits of beer styles and judging guidelines.





It also works for writers. Writers love to write, just not that much. Some specialty beers would take a paragraph to write to actually name the ingredients or conditions that make it special. It also allows writers the hope that they can place a label on something and later in history be known for coining the phrase. Maybe not, but it happened in music magazines all the time.





Which will also bring me to the point that most critics and writers love to harp on the qualities and flaws of others. They like to classify and pick apart every little thing. They will make comments on composition of things they have never composed. Some people are creators; Some people are critics. The artists, they are the ones bound by labels created by others. The artists that create their own label are trying too hard. The ones that create and let a classic take its course, they are legit. The artist educates themselves on the world that surrounds them. They know the in and out of every brush stroke. They build a vocabulary and knowledge through education then work with it or against it to create.





Consider the actual composition of music and what a "note" is. A notated note is just a black dot on lines and spaces. It represents something in music. No matter how many times you see "A" or "C#" sonically they are a one time deal. Music is notated for different reasons, either because recordings didn't exist, or it was to be played for others. Beethoven had a terrible time trying to write his improvisations down, but he tried. Brewers bottle beer and write ingredients, mashing regimes, etc. Yet, even the weather outside will change that beer. It may always be close, but not always the same. Beer is art. It's playful. Good beer can be improvised and it doesn't have to be made over and over.





Someone tried to tell me a great brewer can make one beer the same over and over. One part of me agrees. But, the real brewer is okay with improvising with what is around to make a good beer. It may vary from time to time and may never be made a second time, but it doesn't discount the quality. You will discount the work of Van Gogh because he didn't duplicate the same thing every time?






Genres and labels also educate. People learn from reference points. Think of a dog, it has a Class, Family, Genus, Species, then it has different breeds, and on top of that pet dogs have a name given to distinguish. A dog is a dog, but try saying that to a dog lover with a prize winning dog.






A beer is a beer. Some beer deserves respect or distinction and sometimes no matter how much respect it deserves you should just put on your best (worst) leather jacket, pop the crown, slam it back (or shotgun it!) and start a mosh pit.


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Good Haircut Never Goes Out of Style

I never had a lot of money growing up and any coin I collected ended up being spent on drums, cymbals, skateboards, gas or fast food. All were pretty limited due to minimum wage jobs and attending University at the age of 17. It was the same year I sold the chick magnet of a mini-van, a 1992 Voyager so I could afford to go to University.




Even on my 19th birthday I didn't have a drink. I remember being quite proud that I made it through 19 years without a drink in a small town where there wasn't much else to do with your time. I ended up playing a lot of music or driving around. Some (idiot) kids would claim to be "straight-edge" or refuse to use drugs of any kind and stamp that pride on their bodies with ink: "XXX". I never bothered with this claim, as I was always taught: "never say never." Great advice!





Plans were made to break my sober streak on that 19th birthday, however things didn't work out that way. There was a death in the family a day or so before it would have been legally acceptable for me to drink in an establishment. The death really took every desire away from me discovering booze. Instead I was the designated driver for the night and played pool with some friends. I don't think I missed out on much that night.





I had been playing music in bars while underage. It was unknown to those allowing me into the establishment, or the entertainment was worth a blind-eye, or no-one cared. Small towns. I understand those concepts. Being a non-drinker in a bar is like being a vegetarian at a steak house.





Sometimes it is just expected that the band gets free drinks. Even after turning legal age, I passed them up. To be honest, I had bad nerves and I just assumed drinking would aid to worse nerves and terrible playing (…how perspective changes). Also, as the drummer, I often got shafted being the guy having to drive to and from the gig. I didn't mind so much. At least I always knew my gear was safe, smelling of cigarette smoke and alcohol. When leaving Jimi Jak's, the local tavern everything, especially the microphones smelt like O'Riley's Barber Shop… the barber was hungover before 11am and drunk again shortly after lunch giving you roughly 2 hours of getting a decent haircut. Who am I kidding?! He only knew how to give buzz-cuts.



"Give me a mullet, they are in style!"
-buzz-cut.
"Just a little off the top."
-buzz-cut.
"Just a straight razor shave."
-buzz-cut.
"Flock of seagulls!"
-…buzz-cut.

-"that'll be 7 dollars, and here's a lolli!"






(Maybe that is where my fear of haircuts came from? It might explain always having long hair and for a few years massive dreadlocks. White man dreads. I'll never understand.)





Oh! Speaking of a vegetarian in a steak house…(to be continued)