Friday Linkage 3/31/2017

It is starting to feel like spring in Iowa, which means it has rained for several of the past few days and the temps are holding to a balmy mid-40s range.  Joy.

Despite the less than stellar weather it is time to start thinking about warmer weather projects and the list is long this year.  I cannot wait to get my hands dirty again.

On to the links…

What If They Killed The Clean Power Plan & Nobody Cared?—This is the best case scenario for the next few years.  We can only hope that the cost curve keeps bending in renewable energy’s favor and that coal continues to die a long, slow death.

Top US Coal Boss Robert Murray: Trump ‘Can’t Bring Mining Jobs Back’—Donald Trump lied, no big surprise, because coal jobs are not coming back.  No one is going to reopen old mines in Appalachia and the mines in the western U.S. are all about big machines.

Clean Energy Employs More People than Fossil Fuels in Nearly Every U.S. State—Seems like the jobs argument is pretty simple.  Granted, Exxon Mobil does not give donations to its political cronies to promote solar jobs.

Do Environmental Regulations Reduce Employment? Not Really.—Facts do not matter to the current administration and its Russian stooges, so I imagine that a fact based argument about environmental regulations would be shouted down as fake news or some such bullshit.

Alaska Warms to Solar Power as Prices Fall and Benefits Grow—This is Alaska.  Other than Wyoming fewer states are more associated with fossil fuels than Alaska.  If Alaska goes solar what’s left?

As Energy Mix Becomes Cleaner, Minnesotans Paying Less for It—So a cleaner power grid is a cheaper power grid.  Okay, who wants to argue against cheaper and cleaner?

Tesla Solar in Hawaii is a Sign of Things to Come—The future is now.

Australian Rooftop Solar Installs Are Up 43% In 2017—Australia should be covered in solar panels.  The country is more sun baked than any I can think of outside of the Middle East.

Rescuing Los Angeles—I am beginning to think the future will look a lot like this small patch of Los Angeles.  As institutions are increasingly prevented from being effective by elected leaders beholden to deceitful special interests solutions to livability will be hyper-local and inherently DIY.

Solving Global Dietary Problems is a Bigger Challenge than Climate Change—Meat is bad for the climate.  There is little logical argument against this statement.  Also, western societies eat too much meat.  Again, there is little logical argument against this statement.

Cycling in Minnesota Creates Thousands of Jobs and Cuts Health-Care Spending—Basically, cycling is awesome.

5 Packaging Materials You Didn’t Know are Difficult to Recycle—How many of these packaging materials have you or I blindly thrown in the recycling bin?

Illinois Considers Legalizing Marijuana for a Fiscal Boost—This is the end of prohibition on marijuana in the United States.  Once the first state does it for economic reasons every other non-legalized state will follow.  It’s all about the Benjamins.

U.S. Craft Brewers Up 6% in Volume, 10% in Retail Dollars—Craft beer in the U.S. continues to grow at a rapid clip. However, I am worried about the long term prospects for so many breweries.

Rapidgrass Sings The I-70 Blues—If you have ever thought your ski vacation would begin soon after seeing the mountains poke through Front Range haze on I-76 you have not experienced the I-70 blues.

Friday Linkage 9/11/2015

Winter is coming. At least that is what my daughter thinks now that the air conditioning is off for the summer and the night time temperature is dropping into the 40s. She is constantly asking how many days it is until ski resorts in Colorado open. We might have created a monster here.

On to the links…

US Solar Capacity Now Exceeds 20 GW—Believe it. I am hoping to add my own little bit to this number before the close of the year with an approximately 5 kWh system on a west facing roof. Permits be damned.

Why Solar PV is Unstoppable – and Renewable Targets will Cost Little—Fossil fuels are looking over their shoulder at the ultimate killer app in solar. Once deployed it is cheap because the fuel is free and the lifespan is long because the technology is solid state.

The Default Move For US Oil Is Downward. Here’s Why—An interesting technical analysis of the recent drop in oil prices and why we may be looking at a new normal. I think this price drop is a temporary reprieve that gives our economy some breathing room to start making a real transition away from fossil fuels.

Kauai Utility Signs Deal with SolarCity on Energy System to Provide Power at Night—Hawaii has mad renewable energy potential, but the problem is that peak demand continues after the period of peak production crests. This pilot project aims to level out some of that disparity and pump clean power back into the grid after the sun goes down.

Colorado Invests $1.2M In Low-Income Community Solar Projects—One of the biggest and most poignant critiques of solar is that it is something reserved for people with a large degree of discretionary income. Community solar that is subsidized by some degree may be an answer to this critique.

India’s Installed Solar Power Capacity Tops 4 GW—I am kind of a solar junkie when it comes to news stories. I love hearing/reading about new milestones.

Delhi Eyes 2 GW Rooftop Solar Power Capacity By 2022—Remember, this is rooftop solar so it is going on top of existing buildings instead of taking up ground in greenfield or brownfield sites. What is the potential across the world for such an endeavor.

India’s Wind Energy Potential Upgraded To 302 GW—The interesting thing about this number is that slightly more than half is available in what is considered waste land.

How Australia’s Electricity Demand Is Slashed By Solar PV—Simply put when solar panels are producing the most power is when there is a spike in demand. Point of use solar power generation is knocking down the peak of demand.

From Icky Bugs to Good Grub: Why More People are Eating Insects—I think that I read one or two of these stories each year that claims the boom in eating insects is a year or so away. It feels a lot like nuclear fusion. It’s a ten years away and that was true ten years ago.

In Praise of Cheap Knives—I am always reminded of a woodworker I knew who collected beautiful tools in a manicured shop, but no one could ever recall him actually building anything.

Friday Linkage 10/11/2013

Do you ever have weeks go by where you stop. Look up, and wonder, “Where did the last month or so go?”  Yep, I am having one of those periods of time.

On to the links…

The Huge Chill: Why Are American Refrigerators So Big?—I found this exploration into the gargantuan size of American refrigerators fascinating.  Maybe our fascination with giant sized cooling boxes and Costco sized quantities is a bad thing?  Hmmm….

How America Cultivated a Generation of Obesity—The idea of a hamburger’s pickles being considered a vegetable in terms of a serving is just asinine.  But, someone figured out a way for a few parties to make money so it became law.  I do like how the anti-fat crusade of my childhood is getting some of the blame for our current dietary straits.  When I was a kid no one wanted to eat anything with fat.  If a package said “fat free” it was carte blanche to eat.  Too bad all those carbs made us fat.

Unease in Hawaii’s Cornfields—You do not think about Hawaii having corn or soybean fields, but such fields are very common on Kauai.  There is a growing sentiment on the islands that these fields of GMO crops are not welcome visitors from the mainland.

How to Build a Cider Press and Harvest Apple Juice—After reading this I spend my days walking around the area looking at the apple trees dropping fruit no one wants and daydreaming about making gallon upon gallon of fresh pressed cider.  I am also daydreaming about using my homebrew skills to make some homebrew apple hooch.

Just What is in a Chicken Nugget—I am glad that someone asked the question and did the science, but I am now even more disturbed.  Only 40% meat?  Fat, cartilage, and pieces of bone make up the rest?  Reminds me of the classic John Candy movie The Great Outdoors when the he is challenged to eat the Ol’ 96er.  At the end the cook says he needs to eat what’s left on the plate.  But it’s just fat and gristle.  Part of the weight.

All You Can’t Eat, Pigs Will—This is a great story from a while back about a hog farmer that takes the leftovers from Las Vegas buffets and feeds them to his animals.  I wonder if the animals also wake up in a few days sunburned and full of regret.

The Largest Coal-Fired Power Plant In New England Is Shutting Down—It’s not the dirtiest coal plant in New England, but the Brayton Point Power Station is the largest of six coal fired plants in New England and it will be retired in 2017.  Good riddance!

Illustrating How the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Fails President’s Climate Test—This article is just filled with data and charts that show just how awful the Keystone XL pipeline would be for the environment.  As if most people with half a brain who follow the news did not already know that.  There are three or four such people out there.

New Arizona Solar Plant Uses Salt To Keep Producing Electricity When The Sun Goes Down—It’s electricity derived from solar energy after the sun goes down.  It’s not from a traditional battery, per se, but rather a bank of molten salt that stores heat to create steam to drive turbines later.  Freakin’ cool.

Is Solar Power Facing a Dim Future?—Too often the story about solar power focuses on the panel makers and the trouble that these providers are having.  Panels, however, are turning into a commodity and that business is defined by the race to the bottom in terms of price.  Solar is here to stay!

Could Mexico be at the Start of a Solar Boom—Mexico has some pretty audacious goals.  It wants to generate 35% of its power from renewable sources by 2026, which would be up from ~15% today.  Solar is part of that equation because like the American Southwest a large swath of the country is bathed in excellent solar resources.

How Apps are Helping Us Drive Less—The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG)—an acronym that is almost as convoluted sounding as SHIELD—released a report that finds our mobile technology is helping drive the trend toward less driving.  Anything that gets us out from behind the wheel is a good thing.

Industry Ahead of Schedule on Mileage Goals—According to an official at the EPA, the auto industry is ahead of pace to meet the new mileage goals instituted recently.  It’s amazing how these new targets were going to be catastrophic according to the pundits on the right, but now industry is ahead of the game.  Oh, and how is the auto industry doing right now?  Pretty dang well.

Plastic Waste is Hazardous for Sub-Alpine Lakes as Well—Is there anywhere that our plastic pollution will not soil?  Just asking.

Engine Exhaust May Be Contributing to Bee Colony Collapse—Is there anything that we humans do anymore that is good?  It seems like every action we take has a dark side that harms the environment.  It’s enough to get someone down in the dumps.

Fall of USSR Locked Up World’s Largest Carbon Sink—Apparently, when the USSR fell into disunion millions of acres of farmland went fallow.  Over the years those millions of acres have sucked up carbon to become one of the biggest carbon sinks in the world.

The Scary Truth About Antibiotic Overprescription—Most of the press on this issue relates to the insane amount of antibiotics that we feed farm animals in feedlot operations.  However, humans are over prescribed antibiotics as well.  Great.

Dirtball’s ‘Green’ Jeans Are Made In U.S. From Recycled Water Bottles—It was not the recycled content of the jeans that really caught my eye, but the infographic showing where all of the components were sourced from.  Too often we think of “Made in the USA” to mean assembled here from foreign parts, but the supply chain is critical to creating sustainable industries.

A Coffee Haul

I always have to be careful when travelling to Hawaii.  My checked baggage needs to come in several pounds under the weight limit so that I can bring home coffee.  Why?  I have a love affair with Hawaiian coffee of all kinds.

My visit to the Kauai Coffee Company yielded two bags:

I love the Peaberry, which refers to the type of coffee where only one bean is contained within the cherry.  The more round shape, as opposed to more traditional coffee’s flat side, is said to contribute to more even roasting and better balance.  Whatever, it makes for good coffee.

I tried a sample of the Typica while at the Kauai Coffee Company and liked it a lot.  The proof will be what the flavor is like when I make the first cup at the office.

However, I was not done.  The Costco in Lihue was a treasure trove:

During my visit to the Big Island in 2010 I brought home several bags of Mountain Thunder.  It was a pleasant surprise to see a pallet of the coffee on the floor at a warehouse store, but I was willing to take advantage.

The price on the big bag of Kauai coffee was too good to pass up:

My coffee addiction does not end with just the foodstuffs.  How about soap:

There is nothing quite like the aroma of Hawaiian coffee exfoliating your skin to wake you out of a late winter coma in eastern Iowa.  One of my projects this summer needs to be finding a way to make my own coffee soap.  Hmmm….

A Visit to the Kauai Coffee Company

Hawaii is synonymous with coffee.  Ask a serious coffee drinker about the best coffee in the world and Kona coffee would have to be on the list along with the likes of Jamaican Blue Mountain or Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.  I am partial to coffee from Hawaii’s Ka’u region over Kona coffee, but that is like getting asked to choose between two fine wines.  Both are great, so you cannot lose with either choice.

I have sampled coffee from all four of the major islands and two of the three inhabited minor islands (sorry Nihau, if you grow coffee I would love to try it).  Kauai is less known for its coffee production than the Big Island which is odd considering that the majority of Hawaiian coffee is actually grown on Kauai.  This is due in large part to the small average size of coffee farms on the Big Island versus the large plantation on Kauai.  Like appellations of wine, Kona coffee is also viewed to be an artisan or craft product so any large scale production, in my opinion, would be viewed as cheapening the “brand” of Kona coffee.

When you visit Kauai and if you are a coffee drinker, you have the opportunity to visit a large scale coffee plantation on the south shore of the island not far from the resort area of Poipu.  I think it is always a good thing to see how the food you consume is produced.  Coffee is an oddity because most of us have little idea how it is grown or processed.  We drink the dark liquid without a second thought as long as the label on the package tells us something reassuring.  Given the opportunity, I take the chance to walk among the coffee trees even though this was my second trip to the Kauai Coffee Company.

There is a short, self-guided walk through an area near the visitor’s center that gives you little tidbits of information about coffee production.  Is it a stylized or sanitized version of coffee production?  Sure, but all along the highway leading back to Poipu you can see where the vast quantity of coffee is grown as well.

Coffee trees are odd.  In the wild the trees can grow upwards of 50 feet, but you will rarely see a coffee tree at height greater than 10 to 12 feet on a plantation:

Are these not coffee shrubs or bushes?  Little flowers dot the branches:

These flowers will eventually develop into the red cherries that contain the precious beans we desire so much in the morning.  Heck, even dieters are now keen on compounds in green coffee.

The image of Juan Valdez hand picking coffee with a burro is enduring because it is powerful.  We want our food to be produced in some bucolic or pastoral setting that evokes soft light and fuzzy memories.  Well, coffee is harvested by machine:

It’s actually a big scary machine.  Coffee in more hilly regions or where terraced fields are common is still picked by hand (e.g. Kona) because the quantities do not justify the capital investment and the topography is not conducive to wheeled behemoths.  Incidentally, the Big Island has a population of feral donkeys that are descendants of animals used as beasts of burden on coffee plantations in the earlier part of the 20^th century.  Feral donkeys…cool.

As the climate changes and diseases impact coffee, the importance of basic research into the varieties of coffee is essential.  By their own admission, the Kauai Coffee Company is helping conduct some of this research which is a form of self-preservation.  Several varieties of coffee trees are grown in various plots around the plantation:

Five varieties of coffee are grown on the plantation—Yellow Catuai, Red Catuai, Typica, Blue Mountain, and Mundo Novo.  These varieties are all Arabica beans versus the lower quality Robusta beans, which are typically used to espresso blends and contain a higher level of caffeine.  It will be interesting to see if there is a shift toward more Robusta trees as climate conditions get harsher because that variety is known to be hardier.

In Kauai the wildlife is usually of the poultry sort:

Even at the coffee plantation the local chickens are out in force.  When you have a two-year-old boy on Kauai, nothing is more fascinating than free roaming chickens.  Nothing.

Even the path itself is littered with little coffee details:

A visit to the Kauai Coffee Company is a fun way to spend an hour or so.  If you have curious children, it’s a great way to show them where the coffee dad drinks every morning comes from because there are no coffee farms in eastern Iowa.

A Dark Side to a Good Day

Most of us have heard of the patch of garbage floating in a gyre in the Pacific Ocean, but it is a relatively abstract concept.  The oceans are, in some ways, too large for us to truly comprehend.  Everything seems to be over the horizon or measured in distances that are hard to imagine because we fly over the oceans instead of traversing them via ship.

However, the plastic pollution that is gumming up our oceans is very real.  On an otherwise great day at Lydgate State Park I saw this:

At first, I did not know what these little pieces were all over the beach.  I thought maybe broken pieces of shells or something else.  Nope, broken bits of white and blue plastic mixed in with busted up pieces of driftwood.

These little bits of plastic seem almost impossible to clean up.  Several groups do an excellent job of keeping the entire park free of large debris that washes up on the shore, but what can they do to clean up the little bits of plastic?

On a positive note, I did not see any similar plastic pollution at Poipu Beach State Park, Haena State Park, Tunnels, or Kee Beach.

Friday Linkage 3/8/2013

It’s always hard to come back from vacation, but it is hard to get back into the swing of things when you leave weather that is mid-70s and sunny for weather that is mid-teens and snowy.  Oh well, it’s the price that I pay for living in Iowa.

On to the links…

AirBot and WaterBot to Democratize Pollution Monitoring—I want both of these!  Now!  Can you imagine the power in unleashing distributed monitoring of pollution in our air and water?  Bring it on.

New York Times Green Blog Bids Adieu—I am going to miss the Green blog on the New York Times, which was unceremoniously killed March 1^st.  As other  major outlets cease providing journalistic coverage of environmental news I can only shudder in fear for the hackery that will follow.

A Snapshot of Drilling on a Park’s Edges—On the edges of Glacier National Park there is a boom in fracking and drilling for natural gas.  Tony Bynum, a photographer who is known for his work in Big Sky Country, has created an interactive map to show what is going on.  It’s a fitting goodbye post for Green.

China Must Send a Clear Message to Consumers on Ivory Trade—I am going to get this out there right away, China is essentially the bane of wildlife’s existence right now.  If there is an endangered species out there right now, it’s threat is usually a result of demand for body parts in China for some bizarre cultural tradition, invented or otherwise.  Granted, other countries are doing the same thing—I am looking at you Japan when it comes to whales and dolphins—but China is a common enemy of wildlife.

Images of Japan’s Barren Tsunami Coast Two Years Later—It’s amazing how little progress has been made in repairing the damage to the coast of Japan following the devastating tsunami.  I understand that the process is long—trust me, Cedar Rapids just now feels like it is getting back to normal after a brutal flood in the summer of 2008—but it seems like Japan is just caught in stasis.

Solar PV has Reached Unsubsidized Grid Parity in India and Italy—You want your mind blown?  Solar PV is now at a price level where it is competing “even Stevens” with fossil fuels.  It’s an inflection point that may accelerate the decarbonisation of our energy system.

Coal Use Declining in U.S., Going Up Everywhere Else—The U.S. is reaping the fruit of its boom in natural gas by supplanting coal generation, but a lot of the rest of the world is not so “lucky.”

BP Bows Out of Solar—Does anyone remember when British Petroleum was going “beyond petroleum?”  Yep, it’s pretty much a dead campaign now.  At least the outlook for solar as an industry, on the whole, is looking good.

Lancaster, California Requires all New Homes to Have Solar Roofs—Talk about a bright spot.  If you build a new house in Lancaster, California it will have, at a minimum, a 1kw solar array on its roof.  Homes on larger lots will be required to have larger systems.  Dig it.

The Loophole That’s Letting Conservatives Manipulate Renewable Energy Standards—Why do conservatives, in general, hate renewable energy?  It seems like a “win-win” for the U.S. to produce as much of its power from domestic sources that can never run out.  However, nothing lines the pockets like manna from Exxon-Mobil.

CREE LED Light Bulb Hits Price Point—Is $10 per bulb the price point at which LED bulbs fly off the shelves?  I have purchased “off brand” LEDS for about $10 and found their performance to be acceptable, but nothing like the $40 or so bulbs I bought for a pair of high use lamps.  Maybe CREE has cracked the ceiling or floor, as it were.

In A Grain Of Golden Rice, A World Of Controversy Over GMO Foods—I have a problem coming to grips with the role of genetically modified organisms.  On one hand, it seems ridiculous to engineer an organisms genetic structure to make it resistant to herbicides to further a chemical farming regime that is unsustainable.  On the other hand, if something could be done to reduce the incidence of critical malnutrition there may be value.  I hate nuance.

A Cheat Sheet to Win Climate Arguments—Keep this handy infographic ready to joust with climate deniers:

A Night at Keoki’s

It sounds like the title to a bad romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl and Paul Rudd, but really it’s dinner at Keoki’s Paradise in Poipu.  Sure, the place is kitschy with its waterfalls and live Hawaiian music.  However, it’s fund and I was on vacation…so deal.

Kona Brewing Company—who’s beers I sample extensively in bottle form during vacation—also produces beers that are only available in draft form.  A win for me was the Keoki’s carries two of these beers: Duke’s Blonde Ale and Lavaman Red Ale.

Duke’s Blonde Ale is true to its name:

At only 18 IBU, I am surprised that the brewers even bothered calling out three different kinds of hops in the recipe because there is very little bitterness or aroma from hops.  The beer is also pretty low in alcohol (4.9% BV), so when served cold there is not a lot of need to balance anything out.  Needless to say, given these numbers the beer is very easy drinking.  It’s not remarkable in any way.

Lavaman Red is a different story:

Darker, stronger (5.6%), and more bitter (30 IBU) than Duke’s Blonde this beer is a perfect showcase of what the folks at Kona Brewing can do.  Unlike a lot of beers, this beer is malt forward instead of relying on hops to provide the memorable flavor profile.  This is the kind of beer that I am trying to brew when I plan my recipes.  Kudos to the good folks at Kona Brewing for stepping out of the craft brew stereotypes to make a beer like Lavaman Red.

Another brewery on the Big Island of Hawaii that I did not know about prior to my trip was Hawaii Nui Brewing.  Located in Hilo on the rainy side of the Big Island, Hawaii Nui is the island’s “largest independent brewer,” which I guess excludes the folks at Kona Brewing because of the CBA and Primo because of its ownership by the Pabst Brewing Company.

At Keoki’s I got a chance to try Hapa Ale:

Called an “American Brown Ale” the beer was actually probably served too cold for all of its flavors and aromas to really develop. At a shade under 40 IBUs with an ABV of 6.4%, however, the beer may not have been balanced when it warmed up.  Served cold with live music in the background at the end of the evening it was enjoyed.

Apparently, cold beer is a big deal on the south shore of Kauai because the menu at Keoki’s made in very clear that there beer was dispensed using the 29 degree Blizzard Beer System.  I had never heard of such a system, but I do like cold beer.  I can attest that the beer at Keoki’s was cold and it tasted good that way after a long, hard day at the beach.

A Good Day at Lydgate

If you ever find yourself on the island of Kauai with children, spend some time at Lydgate State Park:

First, the surf can be rough but a two “pools” have been created with lava rock to break the wave action and create the perfect place for children to frolic.  There are also some of the most tame fish in these pools, so your budding snorkeler can put her face in the water and see fish while you help her float.

Second, if your land bound your kids will love running around the Kalamani Playground.  It can be one of those lifesaver moments when you are looking to run the keiki’s legs off before a long trip to the north shore.

Third, a long path winds through the park providing a nice place to walk and unwind.  Eventually, when the work on the Kuhio Highway over the Wailua River is complete it will connect to the Lihi Park to Ahihi Point trail for a total length of 8.7 miles.  The Ke Ala Hele Makalae will be a great place to run or bike along the east shore of Kauai as portions are completed.

If you get lucky, like we did on our first day, you might get to see an endangered monk seal:

Between swimming with fish and seeing a monk seal, I may have created a mini-marine biologist at Lydgate.  Thankfully I have been fully funding that 529 plan for a while now.

BTW, I just fell in love with the panorama picture feature on my iPhone.  It is one of those “so cool” technologies that constantly amaze me.

Seduced by the Sampler Pack

I am a sucker for the sampler pack, especially when on travel because I want to try as many beers that I cannot get at home.  Buying a six pack of each type is generally not practical because of volume or cost and a lot of craft brewers are foregoing the 22 ounce single bottles for multi-packs or cans.

On Kauai, I ran across this beauty at Costco:

If you spend any time on the islands looking for beer you will run across Kona Brewing Company’s products.  The primary facility is located on the Big Island of Hawaii in Kailua-Kona, thus the name Kona Brewing Company.  In 2010 I tried to visit the brewery but was thwarted by a tsunami warning and spent the day upcountry in Waikoloa Village.  Bad memories.  There is also a pub on Oahu.

So, four beers are included in this particular case: Longboard Island Lager, Big Wave Golden Ale, Fire Rock Pale Ale, and a season offering—Koko Brown Nut Brown Ale.

I apologize for not having any pictures of the beer alongside the bottles, but I did not have any glasses of sufficient clarity to really capture the color.  Use your imagination, I have faith.

It’s hard to swing a pint glass and not find Longboard Island Lager on the beer menu in the islands.  That is not a backhanded compliment because this a beer that fits its place perfectly.  When you sit down to have a drink after spending a day snorkeling or hiking or doing whatever outside in the brilliant Hawaiian sun you want a beer that is refreshing.  It also helps if the beer tastes good cold.  Longboard does this well.  I will admit that the beer is better as a draft than out of a bottle, but that may have been helped by a plate load of fried food at Kalapaki Joe’s during happy hour.

Big Wave Golden Ale and Fire Rock Pale Ale are a lot like Longboard in that respect.  These are perfect beers to drink while watching the sun go down on the lanai.  Do either of these beers blow me away with originality?  Nope, but that is not really what the future of brewing is all about.  I believe that crafting beers that are right for a certain time and place is the future of brewing.  You do not always want to drink a stout, but when the winter winds are howling and a bowl of hot soup is on the table a stout is an excellent choice.  Take that same stout to Hawaii last week and I would look at it askew wondering how it got there.

Koko Brown Nut Brown Ale is an abomination.  I did not read the label fully before taking my first drink and almost did a spit take afterwards.  What could be so wrong with a nut brown ale?  I love Newcastle, so it should be a home run right?  Except for the inclusion of freakin’ toasted coconut.  There are two flavors, in my opinion, that should never, ever be included in any beers: coconut and banana.  No ifs, ands, or buts about the exclusion.  It’s an absolute.  I left five full bottles for the cleaning crew to take home or give to friends, if they can find someone willing to stomach the sickly taste of coconut in their beer.

Since 2010 Kona Brewing Company is part of the Craft Brew Alliance.  CBA is a partnership between Widmer Brothers Brewing, Redhook Ale Brewery, and Kona Brewing Company to leverage the combined expertise of the three companies while executing independent business plans.  It’s an interesting answer to the trend of big macro brewers buying up smaller fish to improve their “beer cred.”  It’s something that I am going to have to look into.