66jzmstr

Originally Posted By: spacefrog Yeah the one in Germany is Mariawald and the Dutch one is Koningshoeven that brews La trappe. Not a bad beer either. Never tried Mariawald but they make up the 8 breweries that are allowed to carry the trapist mark. Ah, maybe that's why the two books I've come across mentioned five and not eight. It sounds like those others are Trappist Ales but they are not brewed on the monastery grounds, I'm guessing.

Originally Posted By: spacefrog Originally Posted By: 66jzmstr are one of only five remaining Trappist Ale-producing monasteries, advertising is not necessary. De achelse Kluis is number 6 and La trappe in the south of Holland is number 7 and there is one in Germany. Leffe is an abbey beer. There are a lot of other monasteries in Belgium, you can tour them, stay a night for free with and their beer, in return you have to help in the monastery for the day. Duvel, Westmalle tripel, Hoegaarden grand cru, hoegaarden Verboden Vrucht, Hoegaarden Wit bier, Kwak, Timmermans Peach

Fruit in beer (during the fermentation process) has been around for centuries, going back to the lambics and old farmhouse ale styles. Not everyone's cup of tea, but certainly respectable. Dropping a lemon or lime in your beer though?? The beer has problems if it needs a slice of citrus to make it palatable.

Originally Posted By: spook so how many monks brew these trappist ales? now they are major commercial operations, how do they get time to do religous monk stuff? of those beers you listed 66jzmstr , i really like rochefort I'm not sure of the number of brewing, but from what I've read (even from mere snippets in Garrett Oliver's book), it takes at least a few, although I'm sure there are singly-appointed brewmasters for each monastic brewery. I do agree in that they are to some extent 'commercial.' Hell, I can find Chimay Grand Reserve at my local supermarket. (To be fair though

Originally Posted By: spook are those monastery brews really still brewed by a couple of monks? lots of labels have pictures of monks on them, but they have such massive production levels i think think the only connection they have to the original makers is in name only i'm not knocking the quality of the beer (i think it's great), i just a bit cynical about the way it's marketed It takes for more than a couple. Of the five remaining Trappist Ale producers - meaning made by monks at actual monasteries (Chimay, Westmalle, Orval, Rochefort and Westvleteren), none of their labels hav

Chimay is actually a monastery, and one of only five actual Trappist ale producers in the world. (All Trappist-style ales from secular breweries are called "Abbey style" ales.) Beautiful beer nevertheless though. I've only had Chimay Blue (aka Grand Reserve), but I'll pick up the Red (which is a dubbel) and the White (more of a tripel or golden strong ale) when my current stash is depleted. Grand Reserve is supposed to be brilliant when cellared for a year or more, but I've never had the willpower to let a 750ml bottle sit more than a week. Duvel is brilliant. It's so smooth, light

Originally Posted By: Ocean11 Quote: Originally posted by 2pints,mate: Beer country being...? England being one. (Germany is the other one) Touche! Belgium must be in that list as well: Duvel, Chimay, Orval, d'Achouffe? There's too much beautiful beer in Belgium to deny. The US would be in that list with all the absolutely incredible things small craft breweries are doing over here, but it's all in the shadow of the horrid BMC (Bud/Miller/Coors), so I understand its omission.

I hope EA Big makes a full-fledged, original content SSX for the Wii using the new Wii Fit balance board. It senses your weight and where you apply pressure. Even Miyamoto for Nintendo mentioned snowboarding first when asked about the Wii Fit balance board's application outside of the Wii Fit health game. E (Even the skiing in SSX would work, just turning the Wii Fit board 90 degrees.)

Oops - I forgot: Nintendo also announced at E3 (just a few days ago) US release dates for Metroid for the Wii and Super Mario Galaxy. There is a ton of gameplay footage and info up at http://www.ign.com if anyone is interested. Both games looking phenomenal.

Nintendo announced Mario Kart for the Wii. Hopefully it kicks asp. It would be really cool if they incorporated the newly announced Wii balance board (which is weight/pressure sensing). You could put that in front of you and use each side as the gas and break pedal. Just wishful thinking though, as Mario Kart Wii will probably come out before WiiFit and the balance board will. But when asked about other, 'non-fitness' gaming applications of the Wii balance board, he immediately said a snowboarding game. STOKED

I heard fried bees are/were all the rage in the Fujian province of China.

-> muikabochi Yeah, it took a lot longer than I would've liked. Hopefully your car's malodorous emanations dissipate faster than mine! -> soubriquet Have you heard about the new Subaru hybrids coming out (next year, I think it is)? We're still not in the market for a new car, but they'll be on top of our list when we do.

Originally Posted By: ShinyDiscoBall The last time I went to the cinema was Superman Returns. It was boring. The next time I go to the cinema will be The Simpsons Movie. The Simpsons trailer before Transformers had everyone in stitches. I seldom watch the show, but it film looks absolutely hilarious.

I've seen that before. Kinda funny. My wife ordered this hair removal thing from Japan, which pulls out your hairs and she was amazed by it. Her arms and legs were silky smooth with absolutely no pain or discomfort. I think it only works on Japanese follicles and not big white guy follicles though, as she tried it on me for shits and giggles and nearly sent me through the roof as I felt each hair being yanked out of my skin on my stomach. iie, kekkou desu!

Originally Posted By: spook this years winner is american, with 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes! http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=27&ContentID=33394 i particularly like this quote "Competitive eating is a popular pastime in America, particularly at holidays." HA! There's so much truth in that quotation that it's sad! Classic though.

Spilled milk turned hot in the sun far 'outreeks' dog pop, although both are foul. The wife thought she got all the groceries out of the car after shopping, but three scorching-hot summer days later, we found a container of exploded milk in the back of our Ford Focus. I'm not sure if I've ever smelled something so rank in my life. I don't remember what we used, but it took everything stopping short of a $150 professional cleaning to get the smell out, which took months. Even a year later, I could still detect tinges of the funk sometimes, but now (three years later), it's completely

Yeah, I actually heard good things about Die Hard 4 also. That was a surprise, but it's good to hear.

Do you guys actually believe it? I know it makes for fun forum fodder, but if I remember correctly, isn't the Mainichi Daily site the official smut/National Enquirer/tabloid BS site of Japan?

I haven't seen a single movie this summer until July 4th - which surprised me because although I seldom go to the movies, I'd at least usually catch the latest Spiderman flick. Anyhow, I saw Transformers with my cousins on July 4th here in Seattle. I went in expecting nothing more than a brainless popcorn flick with cool CG. I got that, but there was also a fair deal of comedy in it, and the more surprising part was that most of it worked, which I would NEVER expect from a Michael Bay movie. The CG was ridiculous. If I had seen this movie 20 years ago in my Transformer toys glory da

Originally Posted By: klingon That is a great game. Especially for someone who hasn't played it before on Gamecube or PS2, a must buy. Yeah, it's ridiculous. It just gets better the further I get into the game. Watching my wife play it is hilarious. She's a decent gamer, but she just screams and jumps as I as I wish she would ollie when she gets slain by something offscreen. Classic. I couldn't agree more: For anyone who hasn't played this game on the PS2 or Gamecube, this Wii version is the definitive version and is a must-buy, especially at the lower price it retails for.

Wow. You are guys offer insight that I would have a hard time finding any other place. A big thanks to all, especially Creek Boy and ger. It's so much give and take for me. I'm teaching at a couple of community colleges outside of Seattle to highly motivated ESL students (immigrants and refugees, no int'l students) at the moment and love it. I don't get paid squat, but my benefits are incredible and I live 50 minutes from my home resort (Snoqualmie/Alpental) where I taught snowboarding last season for the first time. My schedule is great: I teach ESL about 20 hours a week, but no n

Thanks, Creek Boy. Yeah, Kumamoto was incredible. With my snow obsession, it wouldn't fly during the winter months, but I need to get back there (lived there a year during university). That plan for Hokkaido sounds good, as I've heard job searching there is quite a bit more difficult than near Tokyo. Another question, if you don't mind: How do high school jobs differ from university/college positions in terms of schedule, workload and pay?

Not to derail the thread, but how hard is it to find a university teaching job in Hokkaido? Is it 100% certain to be a short-term, terminating contract position? I've got a Master's in TESOL and would like to go back, but I'll be damned if I go to Kumamoto again, even if locals claim Mt. Aso has a ski lift on it!

I just picked up the new Wii version of Resident Evil 4 for $30 (retail!). I've concluded that the Wii was made for blowing heads off of zombies and brainwashed villagers with the Wiimote. Absolutely incredible.

Originally Posted By: 2pints,mate Some of those earlier ones really should be dirt cheap... you can get emulations of them for much cheaper than that. But you know if people will buy them.... I remember Super Mario World when it was first out. It looked so amazing. Does it still play good then? Yeah, it does. I found in some levels I would play with the Classic Controller's D-pad, and in other areas with the analog stick. And regarding the emulators, I got a $10 Dreamcast a couple years back just to play a CDR of 200 emulated, old NES games that was compatible for it. Almost