Allagash Black and Franziskaner

So I have been talking to Carly for a while now about starting a beer journal.  Since I have not been using this site for anything productive over the past 2 years, I figured why not try again.  So this time we are going to go with a personal beer journal.  I am going to keep my judgements short and to the point.  The criteria will be look, smell, taste, feel, drink.  I will eventually get to writing about all the standards like Coors, Bud, Yuenglingm Heineken, etc etc.  But, I for the first couple, I am going to write about new beers/micro brews that I am trying for the first time.  I am going to try to have one or two new beers per week.  I hope the soon to be wife doesn't mind.

So this weekend I tried two new beers; Allagash Black and Franziskaner.

Allagash Black is a Belgium style stout, recently added to the Allagash family.

A: The pour was a very dark brown, almost black.  The foam was tan and there was a slight aroma of roasted malt.

S: Roasted Malt/Vanilla/Slight Caramel

T: Roasted Vanilla/Nutty Flavor, hint of espresso, caramel aftertaste

M: Not as smooth as a Guinness, heavy body, slightly carbonic

D: Allagash Black is very drinkable on a cold fall evening.  Not sure how many I could drink in one sitting, it is a bit heavy and the carbonation would get to me.  Overall I thought is was good Guinness alternative.

Overall: 3.5/5

Franziskaner is a German brewed Hefe-Weisse. 

A: Golden-brown pour, bubbly/foamy white head

S: Strong banana scent and other spices.

T: Zesty wheat flavor with a hint of spice and banana.

M: Light to medium with a high level of carbonation.

D: Good. This is a very easy beer to drink.

Serving type: Draft

Overall: 4/5

Serious Pool BBall

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Chelsea Scum

World football's governing body revealed on Thursday they would prevent the Blues from registering players for the next two transfer windows after being found guilty of inducing French teenager Gael Kakuta to breach his contract with Lens.

The 18-year-old winger joined Chelsea from the Ligue 1 side in 2007, after which the French club lodged a complaint with FIFA.

FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) has finally passed their decision on the contractual dispute and handed down a hefty ban and substantial fine to the Blues.

Chelsea hit back at the ruling by issuing the following statement on their official website: "Chelsea will mount the strongest appeal possible following the decision of FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber over Gaël Kakuta.

"The sanctions are without precedent to this level and totally disproportionate to the alleged offence and the financial penalty imposed. We cannot comment further until we receive the full written rationale for this extraordinarily arbitrary decision."

FIFA will now send official documentation to Stamford Bridge and upon receipt of those notification papers Chelsea will have 10 days in which to lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Given the severity of the punishment, it is almost certain the club will take that course of action.

A statement from FIFA read: "The DRC found that the player had indeed breached a contract signed with the French club. Equally, the DRC deemed it to be established that the English club induced the player to such a breach.

"As a result the player was condemned to pay compensation in the amount of €780,000, for which the club, Chelsea, are jointly and severally liable.

"A restriction of four months on his eligibility to play in official matches has been imposed on Kakuta. Chelsea are banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the two next entire and consecutive registration periods following the notification of the present decision.

"Furthermore, the club, Chelsea, have to pay Lens training compensation in the amount of €130,000."

Back in July 2005, Italian club Roma were similarly banned from signing players for a period of one year over the controversial signing of defender Philippe Mexes from French club Auxerre. However, on appeal the CAS later ordered FIFA to cut its ban to cover a single transfer window.

An interesting twist would surround the timing of Chelsea's appeal. It will be a number of weeks before the official papers are delivered to Stamford Bridge, from which time the club will have those 10 days to appeal. It then takes at least three months for the CAS to hear a case and that means it is highly possible Chelsea will be able to sign players for some or all of the January window.

This was the case with Roma when, after the CAS agreed to hear an appeal, their ban was suspended on August 8, 2005, allowing them to sign players for the remainder of that summer window. It took the CAS four months to hear Roma's case, and if the same happened to Chelsea it is likely that they would be unaffected in January.

Chelsea have been in trouble before over their transfer dealings and in June 2005 were found guilty of 'tapping-up' Arsenal defender Ashley Cole by the Premier League. The Blues were fined £300,000, Cole was fined £100,000 and then manager Jose Mourinho was fined £200,000.

Lille-born Kakuta, a skilful left-footed winger, is viewed as one of Chelsea's most promising young players, although injuries have blighted his time at Stamford Bridge. An excellent first season ended with the Frenchman being voted the Academy's Scholar of the Year after he emerged as the youth team's top scorer with 12 goals in 24 appearances, including six goals in Chelsea's Youth Cup run.

The 2008/09 season was a frustrating one for the France Under-17 international, who managed just seven appearances in total during an injury-curtailed campaign.

He overcame early-season hamstring problems to turn in a string of lively performances but his campaign was brought to a halt when he suffered a double ankle fracture in a friendly against the Glenn Hoddle Academy.

Kakuta's rehabilitation from the serious injury remains ongoing, although what kind of career awaits him at Chelsea on his return is now open to speculation.

All Saints Day Trailer

More Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day Info

This is the trailer for the sequel to one of my favorite movies of all time. If if this is not as good as the first, I am still pumped to see it.

No thumbprint, no money, bank tells armless man

MIAMI (Reuters) – A bank in Florida refused to cash a check for an armless man because he could not provide a thumbprint.

"They looked at my prosthetic hands and the teller said, 'Well, obviously you can't give us a thumbprint'," Steve Valdez told CNN on Wednesday.

But he said the Bank of America Corp branch in downtown Tampa, Florida, still insisted on a thumbprint identification for him to cash a check drawn on his wife's account at the bank, even though he showed them two photo IDs.

In the incident last week, a bank supervisor told Valdez he could only cash the check without a thumbprint if he brought his wife in with him or he opened an account with them.

"I told them I neither wanted an account with them and couldn't bring my wife in because she was nowhere close by," Valdez told CNN.

Bank of America said in a statement cited by CNN: "While the thumbprint is a requirement for those who don't have accounts, the bank should have made accommodations."

Valdez said his treatment by the bank violated the U.S. Americans with Disability Act requiring institutions to provide reasonable accommodation to disabled persons.


First of all, like my friend Phil said in his email to me with this link, this guy got OWNED. Secondly, I just became a BoA card holder but lucky for me I have both of my hands. I think that something must be said for the teller holding is ground. It takes a lot of cojones to stand up to a guy with no hands. I mean how do you not think about the consequences though? You have to know damn well that this is going to end up in the papers. I know I would have let him cash the check.

Awful Soccer Injury

After seeing this video, I am contemplating permanent retirement from soccer. The guys toe hit his knee cap, not cool.

Sand Art - Pretty Sweet

This is pretty cool stuff. I have seen this before, but John Fab sent it over and thought it might be nice to post on a rainy Friday afternoon. Check it out.