Month: December 2010

Beer Review: Sweetwater Festive Ale

This year, I was fortune enough to fine two (two!) favorite Christmas ales: Red Brick's Long John (reviewed yesterday) and Sweetwater's Festive Ale—both from my very own home town, Atlanta. As I mentioned, the annual arrivals of the Christmas/Festive/Winter ales at my local pubs are some of the most eagerly anticipated joys of the season for me. This is an especially good year for Christmas ale.

Beer Review: Red Brick Long John Winter Ale

Even allowing for regional bias (Red Brick is brewed here in my hometown of Atlanta), Red Brick's Long John is one of the best Festive/Winter/Christmas ales I've tried. It pours a nice deep burgundy color, with a rich head that thins to a nice lacing ... like frost on a window. The scent is bready and rich, and the taste is, well, festive. There are hints of cocoa and fruit, raisins, figs, and banana, and spices. The body is medium and smooth.

A few (expanded) thoughts on the future of television

Watching online shows makes me wonder if the networks and media giants are watching, too. They'd better be. I talked to a few of my neighbors at a Halloween party, and learned that more than a few of them are ditching cable and satellite services altogether, and replacing them with Internet television delivery solutions. Thanks to sites like Hulu or TV Guide, most network shows can be streamed to your computer, tablet, or TV, especially if you are willing to spring for a device like Apple TV, Google TV, or Boxee. Some televisions, in fact, already ship with Internet-ready connections built in.You can find most (if not all) of your favorite networks shows, and you can purchase or rent others from Amazon, Netflix, and iTunes. Best of all, you can watch on your own schedules, with or without commercials.

Web TV Review: The Best Sketch Comedy Show

As you can tell from the descriptive if not overly modest title, The Best Sketch Comedy Show is a sketch comedy series. So far, the team has posted eight episodes, each around four or five minutes long. All of them are funny enough to make you smile—and, in fact, all contain at least one or two good laugh out loud moments. In short, if you go out to see live improv, and you enjoy it, this is going to be your cup of tea. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.