Commentist Beer Barrel: Here It Gose Again

makeitsnowondem - May 8, 2016

Pray for me, Commentists. Tomorrow, I'll begin an entire month without alcohol, a wholly voluntary and possibly stupid exercise in self-denial that's become a yearly tradition for me. It can be a bit of a pain in the ass at times, but it's hard to argue with the results: I lose a ton

Commentist Beer Barrel and Open Thread: Substitute Student

makeitsnowondem - April 26, 2016April 26, 2016

242

make it snow is off this week. This Beer Barrel is brought to you by Moose - The End Is Well Nigh! This is the story of a break for make it snow, and of one’s quest for enlightenment. So that is not really it; it is one weirdo’s evening at

Commentist Beer Barrel: Turkey Day, Continued

Commentist Beer Barrel

makeitsnowondem - April 17, 2016

110

This week's Beer Barrel is a sort of mystery. The facts are simple enough: At the store on Friday, I stumbled on a bottle of beer that had been marked down from its usual price of $10.50 to a mere $5.99. I immediately had to know why, because this was

Commentist Beer Barrel: Breakfast of Champions

Commentist Beer Barrel

makeitsnowondem - April 9, 2016April 9, 2016

214

You can probably use your fingers to count the genuinely distinctive beer styles invented here in the United States, even if you're Jim Abbott. American brewers have shown a terrific facility for re-invention, for better (American IPAs!) and worse (the "great pilsner taste" of Miller Lite!). New ideas are fewer and farther

Commentist Beer Barrel: It’s a Beer!

Commentist Beer Barrel

makeitsnowondem - April 3, 2016April 4, 2016

157

As I'm sure you're all tired of hearing, I have drunk many, many different beers—roughly 2,300 by my best current reckoning. It has been, and continues to be, a really awesome, life-enriching hobby, with the incredibly minor drawback that finding something truly new and different seems to be increasingly difficult

Commentist Beer Barrel: Extreme Beer Aging

makeitsnowondem - March 19, 2016

Before I get started, I want to thank Son of Spam, Brett Favre's Colonoscopy, and Electric Mayhem for contributing to Beer Barrel in my absence. Credit for the feature's increased quality during that time is due entirely to them. Credit for the scheduling fuck-ups that caused us to have three

Straight White Super Bowl 2016: Oscars Recap

makeitsnowondem - March 5, 2016March 5, 2016

The Oscars were last weekend. Let's see how my predictions did. Best Picture, Best Director, Acting Awards (5/6) I missed only one of the big six awards, with Best Director going to Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant instead of George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road. The lead acting categories went, as expected, to Leonardo DiCaprio and

Oscars 2016: Best Picture and Best Open Thread

makeitsnowondem - February 28, 2016February 28, 2016

496

They'll start handing out the awards in an hour or so, and I still have a personal Best Picture to anoint. But before I do, let's take a moment to remember that Straight Outta Compton was not nominated, and neither was Beasts of No Nation, and neither was The Danish Girl, and neither was Carol. Beasts

Straight White Super Bowl 2016: Best Foreign-Language Film

makeitsnowondem - February 28, 2016February 28, 2016

The Oscars are almost upon us, with all their unpredictability. You don’t need an oracle to tell you what will happen. You don’t even need a film critic. You need someone who sees into the very souls of the Academy voters. You need a Straight White Man. Okay, so you guys