Sunday, October 28, 2018

Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Octoberfest


This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Samuel Adams Octoberfest Lager.

As I mentioned last week when reviewing the Samuel Adams Spruce Lager (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2018/10/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-spruce.html) I was shocked when I realized that I had never reviewed the Octoberfest, even though I have had more than a few of them over the last twenty or so years that they have been making it. But somehow I must have missed it, so no time like the present. Especially while it is still October!

Octoberfest beers fall in the Marzen category which used to mean that before refrigeration they would brew these beers in March and then put in what passed for "cold storage" through the spring and summer. B'H that's not the process any longer, but the style of beer which leans on the malts for its flavor is still going strong. This beer is no exception and the caramel notes of the malt are prominent. The alcohol content at 5.3% is on the low end of the scale for an Octoberfest, but the beer does not taste "light."

The Octoberfest is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K and has a Star-K certification mark on the label. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this brew, please follow this link - beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/102.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Lastly, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Vayera

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In this week's Parsha, the Torah repeats Avraham's conversation with Hashem, wherein he davens to save the people of Sodom. The Medrash Rabbah ties the prayer to a pasuk in Tehillim 45:8 which reads "You love righteousness and hate wickedness, therefore has Hashem, your Hashem anointed you with oil of joy from among your peers." The Medrash Rabbah states that the subject of the love of righteousness was Avraham who prayed for Hashem to save Sodom. In so doing Hashem was saying even though Avraham himself loves what is right and hates what is wrong, when Avraham petitioned on behalf of the people of Sodom, you love to give a zechus to save My creations and hate to discuss their evil deeds.

R' Frand opined that one would think that since Hashem was about to destroy Sodom, he would say to Avraham - what are you doing? But even though that was Hashem's decree, he praised Avraham for trying to save His creations. And when a person tries to teach a zechus for Klal Yisrael, Hashem truly appreciates.

R' Frand mentioned a story involving R' Levi Yitzchak M'Barditchev. He once passed by a Jew who was oiling a wagon while wearing tefillin. While other people looked on in disgust, saying how can he oil the wagon, while wearing tefillin, R' Levi Yitzchak said - who are like Your people, even when they oil the wagon they wear your tefillin. Hashem appreciates this limud.

R' Frand also told a story about R' Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld who once walked by a Chiloni school and saw children playing in the playground. He gave a beracha - that Hashem should multiply them by a thousand. The people who were with him asked how he could say this? He responded that he was talking to Hashem, but when talking to them you give them mussar. But there is no contradiction. To them, we want change. But Hashem loves when we praise His children to him.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Spruce Lager


This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Samuel Adam Spruce Lager.

The Spruce Lager is one of the two new beers included in the Samuel Adams Beers of Fall 2018 mix box, which also includes the flagship Boston Lager (reviewed here https://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2013/04/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-boston.html); annual entries Octoberfest (surprisingly never reviewed); Black Lager (reviewed here https://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/01/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-black.html); a reintroduced old friend in Pumpkin Ale  (reviewed here https://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2014/03/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-harvest.html); the Spruce Lager and a new Coffee Pale Ale.

The Spruce Lager indicates on the label that it is a beer which is brewed with "spruce tips." I'm not sure what spruce tips are, but if even if they are part of the tree, they have not imparted a pleasant taste to this beer. If the folks at Boston Beer were looking to hop up this lager they have not succeeded. The beer has the look of a lager when poured, but the spruce has added a syrupy flavor which was not welcome. I also tried this with some grilled chicken which usually is an easy pairing, but the flavors did not work together. Well, at least I only have two bottles of this in the mix box.

The Spruce Lager is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K and has a Star-K certification mark on the label. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this brew, please follow this link - beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/348243.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Lastly, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Lech Lecha

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

R' Frand started the vort by quoting a pasuk in the discussion of the war between the 4 kings and the 5 kings. In Bereishis 14:12 it states that while they captured Sodom, they also captured Lot and his possessions, the son of the brother of Avraham. But the diagram of the sentence is curious, as R' Frand said that it has a "misplaced modifier." Why is the fact that Lot is the son of the brother of Avraham placed after the mention that the kings took his possessions?

R' Frand first gave an introduction about Lot before answering the question. He said that a good Shabbos table discussion is - whether Lot was a Tzaddik. The Gemara in Berachos recites that if someone sees Lot and his wife he would make two blessings. On seeing Lot's wife, one would say "Baruch Dayan Ha'Emes" and upon seeing Lot one would say "Baruch Zocher HaTzaddikim."

R' Frand also quoted a Chazal about the angels saving Lot in Sodom. Lot responds to the angels when they want to save him and he asks them to stop. The Gemara in Shavuous states that Lot stopped to daven on behalf of the City of Mitzor because it was created a year after Sodom and had not committed the same number of sins. R' Frand cited to R' Yerucham of the Mirrer Yeshiva who observed that Lot was running for his life at the time, yet he stopped because he wanted to pray for the city - this is an act of Tzidkus. 

R' Frand quoted the Targum which observed that Sarah did not want to leave her homeland to go with Avraham, but she went with her husband. But Lot had no problem to leave everything behind to go with Avraham. And Avraham repaid this kindness by travelling to save Lot.

But with all this, when Lot decided to leave Avraham, Avraham threw him out! Why did he change his heart about Lot? And why did Lot say that he did not want to be with Avraham or his God? Because Lot was a Rasha at his heart and this came out in the fight between the shepherds. Avraham muzzled his cattle so that they would not eat other's foods and Lot said why bother doing this? Avraham looked at this and said - Lot has yetzer hara for money and that was why he picked Sodom to begin with. This desire for money altered Lot's view of the world and Avraham said, I can't live near this person because it will rub off on me. I love you, but I can't live near you.

To this Lot said, I don't want to live near him. R' Schwalb explains that this gives color to why the fact that he was Avraham's nephew was mentioned at the end of the pasuk. Because Lot's money and possessions literally came between him and Avraham.

R' Frand also noted that when Lot and Avraham separated from each other, the pasuk states in Bereishis 13:6 that they could not live together because they had a lot of money and they could not live together. R' Frand explained that the reason that they could not live together was mentioned twice was because the feeling was mutual. Avraham did not want to live near Lot and Lot did not want to live near Avraham. But while it was fairly obvious why Avraham did not want to live near Lot, why was Lot not interested in staying near Avraham?

R' Frand answered that Lot did not want to live near Avraham because he felt guilty when he saw him. A person does not want to be reminded of his flaws and seeing Avraham muzzle his livestock just reminded Lot of the wrongs he was allowing to be committed. So Lot went to Sodom where people were like him and no one cared about the possessions of others.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Sunday, October 14, 2018

Sunday Night Suds - New Belgium The Hemperor HPA


This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at New Belgium's The Hemperor HPA.

No, HPA is not a new style of beer (yet), but The Hemperor HPA is an interesting combination of beer and Hemp seeds. As discussed by the New Belgium brewers
With the popularity of hoppy beers, our brewers are always on the lookout for different hop varieties and the complexities and flavors new strains can bring. That’s where hemp comes into the picture. Without getting too nerdy, we found a unique way to recreate hemp terpene flavors in a beer, which complement the inclusion of hop flavors and hemp hearts (seeds) in a brand new, delicious way—not to mention this beer is extremely dank! The flavors and aromas are so unique that it’s a style unto itself, hence HPA.
I can't remember if I picked this up at the Total Wine & Liquor outlet in Westbury, NY or Oliver's in Albany, but one way or the other I did buy it in New York...which means that there is no THC in it. Also, given that the beer is kosher certified by the Vaad of Denver (which I verified with the mashgiach who also recommended the beer) I am doubly certain that the beer does not have any plant derived hallucinogen properties.

What I can tell about the beer is that it has an interesting twist on the traditional IPA. You can definitely taste the hops and some alcohol bite from the 7% abv, but there are some other floral notes which I was unfamiliar with and even a little breadiness which I was not expecting. At 10.99 for a four pack the beer is a little pricey and I think I paid 3.99 for a single, but if you are looking to try an off the beaten path IPA it might be worth your while.

The New Belgium The Hemperor HPA is under kosher supervision by the Scroll-K/Va'ad of Denver, and their symbol is on the bottom of the six pack holder. However, not every brew produced by New Belgium is under kosher supervision.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about The Hemperor HPA, click here https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/326798.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Noach

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In Bereishis 10:25 the Torah states that Eiver had two children, one of which was Peleg and the other Yaktan. R' Frand commented that this is the kind of pasuk which a person reads in Shnaim Mikra and forgets immediately when he moves on to the next pasuk. The following pasuk then lists (by name) all thirteen of Yaktan's sons. R' Frand quoted Rashi who stated that the reason that Yaktan was zoche to have 13 sons because he was a humble person and he used to minimize himself.

R' Frand joked that apparently Rashi is teaching that being humble is a segulah to have children. But then he asked - what does his being humble have to with having children?

R' Frand next quoted the Rabbeinu B'Chaye who observes that in the Tenth Perek there are 70 names of people and that these 70 people were the ancestors of the 70 nations of the world. But if this is the case, not only did Yaktan have 13 sons, he also had roughly 20% of the nations of the world, since his 13 children were 13 out of the 70 nations of the world. 

R' Frand also observed that each nation is different from other nations. So how did Yaktan's children wind up so markedly different than they resulted in thirteen different peoples?

R' Frand then asked if Yaktan's zechus was because he humbled himself, why was he not called Katan?

R' Frand answered these questions by quoting the Tolner Rebbi who explained that the way to raise children is not to view them as extensions or clones of himself. Furthermore, according to the Tanna Dvei Eliyahyu the way to be successful as a person is to be an Anav, but even more so in the house, that a person should not act as the master of his children and order them around.

According to the Tolner Rebbi, the message of Rashi is that if a person wants to be a successful parent he needs to be a Yaktan, allowing his children to grow individually without being domineering.

R' Frand finished the vort by stating what he called a Chassidish view of why Yaktan was called Yaktan instead of Katan. He observed that the use of the Yud in front of a word transposes the verb from past to future. What Chazal is saying is that Yaktan's entire direction, today, tomorrow and the next day was to be an anav. In this way he was zoche to 13 nations.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Sunday Night Suds - Joseph's Brau Drive Thru Red Dry Hopped Red Ale


This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Joseph's Brau Drive Thru Red Dry Hopped Red Ale.

For the uninitiated, Joseph's Brau beers are the Gordon Biersch brewed beers sold at Trader Joes. They usually run 6.99 per six pack and there is no upcharge for buying singles. Many of the Joseph's Brau are under the Vaa'd of Detroit including the Drive Thur Red and some other quality brews such as the Black Toad (reviewed here https://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/09/sunday-night-suds-josephs-brau-black.html) and Stockyard Oatmeal Stout (reviewed here https://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/08/sunday-night-suds-stockyard-oatmeal.html).

Although the TJ beers are usually above average quality...this one was not.

In fairness, I was unable to tell if this just happened to be a skunky beer due to poor storage in my home or at the local TJ's, but this tasted like a beer which was at least six months past its prime, even though the expiration date was January 2019.

I went on the beer advocate website looking for other people's thoughts on this, at least in the hope that someone had a positive experience with it, but the most recent reviews were uniformly poor. So at best I can tell you that it's 7.2% abv and, well, that;s about it. If you had a better experience, please post it in the comments below.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the brew, please follow this link www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10707/295797.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Lastly, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Bereishis

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

R' Frand quoted the pasuk in Bereishis 2:18 where Hashem said that it is not good for man to be alone and Hashem said He will make him a mate. Rashi explains based on a Pirkei D'Rebbi Elazar that there is only one Hashem in the heavens and if there is only one man below, people will think that there are two in control - one in the heavens and Adam controls life below.

R' Frand remarked that the problem with the vort is that the pasuk does not say that. If this was the case, the pasuk should have said that Hashem was making a second to the pair. Instead, the pasuk says that Chava was a helpmate - she had this as a job.

R' Frand quoted R' Elya Baruch Finkel who cited R' Chaim Shmulevetz based on a gemara in Avodah Zarah that R' Chanina Ben Tradyon had a gezera against him because he uttered the Shem Hamiyuchad in another language. How did he do this, especially since the gemara in Sanhedrin says that one who does this loses his place in the World to Come! They answer that this was for teaching purposes, but Hashem is midukdak with Tzaddikim. The gemara in Avodah Zarah teaches also that his wife died as well. But why? R' Frand supposed - should R' Moshe Feinstein's wife have told him he was wrong? Why is she condemned to death for not arguing with her husband.

R' Chaim answered that we see that women have an intuition of the smell test. It may be right halachically, but it just does not look right. And when you are on that high a level, you have a wife that can intuit it as well. We find this in Tanach by the wife of On ben Peles in Parshas Korach. Or where Rivkah engineers that the bracha should go to Yaakov, instead of Yitzchak's intent to give it to Esav.

This then answers the question which started the vort. Rashi says that people should not have the mistake that just as there is One above there is one below and therefore there is a helpmate. Why? Because her role is to make sure that people dont make mistakes about who is in control and to make sure that her husband does not make a mistake. Her role is not merely to do chores or help with the kids, it is to help him avoid mistakes.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!