Sunday Night Suds - Josephs Brau Heller Bock

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Joseph's Brau Heller Bock.

After a number of years without producing new kosher varieties of Joseph's Brau (aka Trader Joe's beer) it seems that there are finally a few new beers in the pipeline. Besides the Heller Bock which is being reviewed in this column, there is a new kosher hard apple cider (Henry Hotspur Hard Pressed Cider) and a few more on the way.

The Heller Bock is a Mailbock/Helles Bock which is defined by the experts at BA as:

The Maibock style of beer tends to be lighter in color than other Bock beers and often has a significant hop character with a noticeable alcohol around the same as a traditional Bock. Maibocks are customarily served in the spring and are oftentimes interrelated with spring festivals and celebrations more often in the month of May.

Its been a while since I went beer shopping at Trader Joe's, so I am not certain how long the Heller Bock has been available there. I am relatively certain that I was there in late spring and I don't recall seeing the Joseph's Brau Heller Bock on the shelves, but it could just have been the store that I was in.

The Joseph's Brau Heller Bock poured a rich copper with significant foam and lacing which remained on the glass for more than 1/2 an hour. The beer itself tastes like a bock with no significant hop character. As beer goes, its rather not obtrusive and more sweet malt than anything else.

Joseph's Brau Heller Bock is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit and there is a tiny Va'ad Hakashrus symbol on the back of the bottle. Please keep in mind that not every Trader Joe's brew is under kosher supervision, so check the label or search my site for the link to the latest list of beers under kosher supervision.

To see what the experts at Beer Advocate think about this beer, click this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10707/108016 .

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).

Finally, 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's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Ki Seitzei

The following is a brief summary of some of the 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 Devarim 23:4-7, the Torah mentions that the offspring of Ammon and Moab are not allowed to convert and marry into Israel. The Torah explains that the reason for the prohibition is that Ammon and Moab did not provide bread and water for the Jews while they were travelling in the desert. The Torah next states that the prohibition also applies because they (Moab) hired Bilaam to curse the Jews.

R' Frand asked - why is the concept of the failure to provide food and water mentioned along with the hiring of Bilaam? He drew the analogy of someone who robs a bank and parks the getaway car in a no parking zone. When the bank robber is arrested and indicted, is he charged with armed robbery and parking in a no parking zone? The parking violation is an afterthought. Why does the failure to give bread and water get mentioned with the hiring of Bilaam?

R' Frand answered by quoting R' Twersky who cited a series of mishnayos in Pirkei Avos (2:8-9) wherein R' Yochanan Ben Zakkai drew together his five students and asked them to identify the five top attributes which a person should have. The suggestions were - have a good eye, or good friends or good neighbors or the ability to see the future or having a good heart. R' Yochanan then asked the students what are bad qualities that a person should run from. Each of them said the opposite - bad eye, bad friends, etc. However R' Shimon who had said that the good quality was seeing the future, answered that the bad trait was to borrow money and not pay back.

Why is the trend broken --- R' Shimon's concepts were not opposites? R' Twersky answered that a person who sees the future is one who recognizes that when someone does good for you, you need to appreciate their goodness. If a person borrows money and does not repay it, he will start on the downward spiral because he rejects the goodness that others have done for him. The one who does not repay when he has the ability to do so can turn on his parents, spouse or society, because he has no cognizance of what was done for him.

This is why Ammon and Moab's prohibition of joining the Jewish people mentions both the food and water and Bilaam. These tribes had an obligation to recognize the good that was done for them by Avraham who saved their ancestor - Lot. Even though Avraham's act allowed them to be born, they were unwilling to sell the Jews water and bread in the desert. And because they were unable to recognize the good that was done for them by refusing to sell the bread and water, they continued down the negative track towards the Jews as they hired Bilaam to curse the Jews.

[Although R' Frand ended the vort at this point, I would like to add a thought that occurred to me. Perhaps this is also the reason that a Ben Sorrer U'Moreh (aka the rebellious son) is put to death. Earlier in the parsha it states that he is killed because he stole from his parents to buy meat and wine. The gemara asks - why is he killed before he has committed a capitol offense? The gemara answers that he is killed at this stage because he will commit more serious crimes and now he has not yet done so. I wonder if this is another recognition of the rejection of good - since the rebellious son does not recognize the good done for him by his parents, there is a clear and present danger that he will become a sociopath and do worse towards 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!

Labor Day 2014 Kosher Beers List

As a community service, Kosher Beers publishes a list twice a year of the beers which are known to be certified kosher. The list will be updated periodically until the next edition (Purim 2015). For the Labor Day 2014 edition, I will again be using scribd to upload and maintain list. All newly added beers are in bold.

Kosher Beers List Labor Day 2014

Sunday Night Suds - Saranac JugglerNaut Wheat Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Saranac JugglerNaut, a possibly new beer contained in their summer mix box.

Earlier this summer I purchased the Saranac 12 beers of summer pack and stashed it in the den while I did the trek back and forth to Camp M. Now that summer travel has ended I cracked open the Saranac mixed pack to sample some of the new and/or possibly new beers.

The reason that I preface this review as one of a possibly new beer is that I can't tell whether the Jugglernaut is a new beer. Until recently, Saranac used market a pomegranate wheat beer (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2008/05/sunday-night-suds-saranac-pomegranate.html). As you can see from the label from the 2008 review, the bottles look nearly identical. Unfortunately, it is impossible to find a link to the Jugglernaut on the Saranac website, so I can't see whether they are rebranding the pomegranate wheat as Jugglernaut.

Although the bottle labels have some similarity, I was not convinced that they are the same beer. The Jugglernaut is a light wheat beer with some sweetness from the pomegranate juice which is added to the brew process. I feel like the old pomegranate wheat had a stronger flavor profile, but its been a few years since I had one so I can't be certain.

The Jugglernaut is a good summer beer, especially for those who like a little sweet in their brew. I had this on shabbos with cholent and I found that the sweetness did not clash with the savory stew. Of course part of the reason could be that the flavor of the Jugglernaut was on the mild side (a rarity for a Saranac flavored product).

Saranac Jugglernaut is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit as is every other beer produced at the Matt Brewery plant in Utica, NY. Keep in mind, Saranac brews some of its High Peaks series off site and these bottles do not have kosher certification from the Va'ad of Detroit.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the Dry Hop Lager, please follow this link www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/116791.

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's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Shoftim

Although it is only the 28th of August, it is also the first Thursday Night of Elul and R' Frand has begun the new season of Parsha shiurim. The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort 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.

The Torah states at Devarim 17:9 that if there is a dispute, the litigants should go to the Shofet of your days and he will paskin for you.

The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah asks - why does the Torah have to add that the Shofet is of your days? Can a person go to a Judge from a prior generation who is already in the Olam Ha'Emes? The Gemara answers that a person CAN only go to the Shofet in his days and that he should not attempt to compare him with the judges of yesteryear.

R' Frand then linked this to the Siyum HaShas which runs every seven and half years. Invariably, some of the Rabbanim who were on the dais at prior events do not live to see the next siyum. People speak nostalgically about how R' Moshe Feinstein and other rabbanim attended prior siyumim.

R' Twersky mentions in one of his seforim that Avraham Avinu brought thousands of people to teshuva, but what happened to the "nefesh asher asu b'Charan" mentioned in Bereishis 12:5, where did they go? The speculation is that the ba'alei teshuva did not want to go Yitzchak because they remembered him when he was young and did not see him as a proper person to visit with for questions.

R' Frand talked about visiting the grave of the Chasam Sofer. He told a story that when the Chasam Sofer died the very first person to speak at the funeral said that he accepted his son as the Rav for the community and wished him a mazal tov. One does not normally (perhaps ever) hear a mazal tov at a funeral, but this speaker wanted to make sure that everyone understood that there was a new Rav who would be making p'sak for the community.

R' Frand next quoted R' Chaim Shmulevitz who quoted a Gemara wherein Rebbi was giving a shiur and there was a foul smell from garlic which someone had eaten. Rebbi said - whoever ate the garlic should leave. R' Chiya got up and left. Thereafter, everyone else left. The next day R' Shimon B'Rebbi saw R' Chiya and said did you eat garlic? No, he responded. Why did you do this? Because I learned from R' Meir HaKatan. The Gemara then explores R' Meir's story and asks where he got this concept from and he says R' Shmuel HaKatan and then traces the act back to Yehoshua who learned from Moshe.

R' Chaim asks - why is it that the Gemara did not just say that the concept of not embarrassing was learned from Moshe? He answers that Moshe was not R' Shmuel's rebbi and he did not learn directly from Moshe. Its important to have a Rav and to learn and act based on the teachings of your Rav and not hearken back or try to compare with Rabbanim of yesteryear.

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!

Monday's Musings on Sports - The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Although not truly a sports issue, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has spanned many genres and has even permeated the sports world. Although the first sports persona who I saw take the challenge was the curmudgeony Bill Belichick who took the plunge during the first week of August, the ice buckets have been flying across all the major and minor sports.

Unless you live under a rock, you have a heard about the premise of the challenge - agree to dunk yourself under a bucket of cold water or donate money for ALS research. The challenge was the brainchild of Peter Frates and Pat Quinn (both ALS patients) as a way to raise awareness of this horrible disease and to raise money for medical research to find a cure.

Some of the notable athletes who have taken the challenge in various public and creative ways are Kevin Durant, Lebron James (who unsuccessfully nominated the POTUS to take the challenge), Caroline Wozniacki, Roger Goodell and LA Kings forward Marian Gaborik who used a zamboni for the challenge.

While driving home from Camp M last week, I heard a discussion about an article that ran in the NY Times which quoted Arielle Pardes who opined that “[t]here are a lot of things wrong with the Ice Bucket Challenge, but the most annoying is that it’s basically narcissism masked as altruism.”

The skepticism related by Ms. Pardes was challenged by Mike & Mike who had received word from the ALS foundation that in the month since the Ice Bucket Challenge had commenced, they had raised as much money as the entire 2013 calendar year. Additionally, Mike Greenberg observed that people were donating money for a worthwhile charitable cause and it should not matter what their motivation was for making the donation.

The story reminds me of a vort in connection with Parshas Tezaveh wherein it states that Betzalel made calculations as to the gold, silver and copper which were donated for the mishkan. The rishonim teach that those who donated for pure reasons were the "gold" and their donations went for the highest purpose, wherein those who had donated but wanted recognition were the silver and those who solely donated for public accolade were the copper.

The bottom line is that all the money was used for holy spiritual purposes, but those with altruistic reasons for donating received a greater spiritual reward in that their donations were used for a higher spiritual purpose. 

Similarly, it does not truly matter why a person takes the ALS challenge. What matters is that the money is used for charitable purposes - fighting and finding a cure for this horrible disease.

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!