SC - OT: Silence of the Lambs

[Joan Nicholson]

In a message dated 6/2/00 10:56:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
baronsig at peganet.com writes:

> Yup. It's a matter of commitment to the art. I LOVE Sam Adams beer, and
>  the limited runs they do. Regional microbreweries do some awesome work, but
>  it's still the Big Brewers that govern the market;

One thing to watch out for, though, is an alleged "micro" or "craft" brewed 
beer produced by a contract brewery (usually out of Minnesota).  Often times, 
small breweries will farm out their product names to these contract brewers, 
who then produce them on a mass marketing scale.  Usually, the finished 
product is nowhere close to the original recipe, nor as tasty.  This happened 
to a local brewer here in Bakersfield, CA.  They were producing excellent 
craft brewed beers, which, as a bar manager at the time, I carried and sold 
in great quantities.  Once they decided to go "international", and sold out 
to a contract brewery, the quality went down the privy (SCA reference).  This 
is not to say that all contract-brewed beers are swill (SCA-Cooks 
reference)...But if you want a true craft or micro-brewed beer, you should 
check out where they are being made.  Coors and Budweiser both put out a few 
decent brands, but these are not real microbrews.

Balthazar of Blackmoor
(mandatory Cooks list content:  Anyone have a reference to malted barley 
being eaten as a breakfast cereal??)
Mr. Wizard, what happens when you combine pasta and antipasta?