Triple Socks and Sandals from Humble Sea, Drink at Smoke Eaters
It’s bright orange yellow color, foam is fine and thin. Fully hazy, opaque. It smells like mandarin juice, the fruity smell you may get from kids’ favorite Orange-D. The smells definitely is a simple orange, orange hard candy like. The first sip, it’s balanced bittersweet, but that flavor is very bold. You can tell both the sweetness and bitterness are strong. There’s a bit of minerals giving it a hint of salt. It’s full bodied, thick but not very oily. It shows a strong fruit hard candy aroma, citrus aromas orange, mandarin, limoncello, passion fruit, ripe guava, orange liquor aromas. The tropical fruitiness is quite radical, it can cut through some greasy food I guess (I’m not eating that this meal), the fruitiness is so bright and citrusy. The aftertaste feels a bit like artificial citrus flavor, combined with floral fragrance like lilac or jasmine, citrus peel, pine resin and weedy fragrances. It’s a very nice beer. I appreciate its balance flavor. And when you take sips, you can still get the spirit of “Socks and Sandals”, that fruity, easy and happy, (redwood coast) foggy forest, tropical and weedy. The balance and smooth is a key for extreme style like this TIPA, it’s not a simple “doubling down”, but an intentional amplifying of a style.
Quadruple Socks & Sandals from Humble Sea, Drink at Smoke Eaters
It’s yellow orange, more yellow than the triple version. It’s fully opaque, like an orange juice with pulp. Foam is very thin. The smell is citrusy, more citrus peel, grapefruit peel, lemon peel, a hint of weeds smell. The beer tastes still balanced, lean on the sweet side more (than triple). It’s oily, thick, like a sticky pulpy orange juice’s texture. It’s full bodied, tastes less boozy than the triple version. I love the opportunity to compare the triple and quad versions side by side. The beer shows a mellow orange juice aroma, more like when orange juice warms up and becomes sticky. The beer shows thick orange juice, ripe mango, dried pineapple, orange liqueur aromas, I think because it’s more condensed so the flavor actually is simpler than the triple version, because it bond my sensory hard I’d overwhelmed. The aftertaste releases the missing layers from the beer, strong tree resin, tree leaves, weeds herbal, leafy green teas, various of citrus peels aromas layered, and released in the aftertastes. It’s a very good specialty beer, designed for hardcore drinkers. I think it’s super valuable Humble Sea team release this lineups of Socks & Sandals from 1x-4x, what else you can ask? 5x? That kills the yeast I guess. I really love the more tropical fruity aromas in this quad, and it’s dramatically less heavy than some other rare quad IPA I had. It’s a jammy beer, crystallized what you can have from juices, and then you get jam. You won’t rate jam by how sweet they are, right? You rate them by the flavor and aromas. Humble sea is a good player here, it fused east coast’s fruity and jam my, but preserve the weedy, resin-y redwood coast’s psychedelic aromas in west coast IPAs. The triple and quad definitely closer relationship with a hazy IPA in their bloodline, but their west coast gene traits are also clear. It’s fun, casual, and seriously good.
Humble Sea’s birthday beers: Socks & Sandals from 1x to 4x. I think comparing those two in the middle back to back is an intriguing idea. (Humble Sea is one of my favorite California brewer, they are from Santa Cruz which is not far from where I live.)
They are same color, if they are in same shape of glass I won’t be able to tell which one is which one by colors. Foam is thin in my pours. They both smells lemon drop, pineapple and whole oranges. I think the triple version smells stronger, a bit more jammy, with a hint of mango in the 3x too.
Side by side tasting comparison at Smoke Eaters
The 2x is soft, high viscosity, creamy and oat-ly. It’s balanced, a little bit sweet, but the bittersweet balance is back in the center each sip. Medium body. In comparison, the 3x is a bit more sticky, sweeter but still balanced, full bodied. A bit bold canned pineapple aroma burst from the triple version. When you drink these two back to back the 3x definitely eclipse the flavor and aromas in the 2x. Although the 3x has more power output, but you get those boozy feeling right away. If you don’t like your bartender over-booze your cocktails the 3x is overpowered. The 2x has the lovely redwood coast breeze, the fogs are bitter, not just take like orange juice (I’m the taste of sweetness). The 2x shows you leafy greens, evergreen resins, mandarin peel oil (less pungent but still quite citrusy). It’s a citrus centered experience, but those sea breeze and forestry experience add The Humble Sea’s signature touch. 3X brings more tropical experience, notably more ripe mangoes, pineapple, mangosteen juice, ripe melons aromas, and it’s a boozy experience. Those ripe tropical fruit aroma do not make your experience of yellow fruit goes too dark though, the citrus power can still brighten the fruity experience pretty well. The combination is a ripe tropical POG experience, maybe not the same combo of POG, but a mango, mangosteen variation. I think the earthy herbal of hops also added up giving the 3x an earthy roots sweetness, I will say a bit of earthy licorice, yam or even ginseng roots herbal? Lighter beers are easier to pair with food, the 2x is already making you feel overwhelmed and not want to eat much. I feel the 3x is at a territory that drinking is your majority of enjoyment tonight. If you are drinking with friends, go with the 1x. And if you are watching a game, go light lager instead. If you are a pro, like DIPA. This 2x is good. If you like bold, fruity, balanced stuff you will love the 3x. 4X is not tested today, but I remember the 3x is a slightly more flavorful than the 4x. If you love the more delicate experience, looking for unicorns, the. You should line up for Pliny the Younger!
I really appreciate Humble Sea’s magic of keeping the vibe consistent across this series of Socks & Sandals. The west coast version of the east coast style has a unique twist. It’s always balanced or slightly bitter, so you won’t fooled by the sugar taste. But the weedy, earthy herbal stuff just reminds you Santa Cruz is on redwood coast, it’s always foggy, and you will surf and enjoy the cold sea. Wear your socks and sandals, be a happy weirdo.
个把月前逛旧金山的日本城 Kinokuniya 书店的时候看到「The Book of Ichigo Ichie 一期一会」这本书。可能因为中文是母语，所以从一堆书中一眼就看到了。进门第二排的书架，应该是畅销书吧。这套书中的另外一本「Ikigai」很久之前我就买来看了，很喜欢。我觉得一期一会这个概念以前我听说过，并没有留心看是什么意思。翻了一下一期一会是把每次茶会（见面）都当作一生一次（或者最后一次）的机充满诚意的去珍惜。这个概念来自于茶道，体现了日本禅的一些观念，每次的聚会都独一无二，要仔细体会。那本书并没有很好的阐述这个问题，而是从这里出发介绍了日本的一些文化的知识，所以我当时并没有买下那本书。
早上在数码相框上看到 2019 年与 Lord Hong 一家在我们后院一起放小的烟火，我想应该是借着庆祝 Diwali 吧。看到照片的那个瞬间，我心里想的就是一期一会。因为现在看来那已经非常接近于两个家庭友谊的终结了。我这边体重又涨了，而他们那边已经搬到大陆的另一端了。照片中，小孩子的大人玩的都很开心。眼镜蛇的烟花在水泥地面留下的黑色痕迹到现在还在。但是那份友情已经蒸发不见，留下唏嘘和我们对他们单方向的思念和祝福。一期一会，每次都认真的准备，每次都玩的开心。
在我高二的时候，我记得我拿到了这张 No Boundaries – A Benefit For The Kosovar Refugees 的 CD。我忘记是一张打口还是盗版了，放在我的 Panasonic SL-CT570 里面反复的听，非常喜欢。因为 CD 的播放方式，第一首听的最多。第一首是 Pearl Jam 的 Last Kiss。我印象特别深，那个时候我很讨厌珍珠果酱这个翻译，一般就说英文的 Pearl Jam，听起来原汁原味一些。不过我记得我们当时几个小伙伴说话都很脏，所以一般都管它叫 “屁眼儿 Jam”。我的英文发音烂，所以这个“屁眼儿 Jam”又和当时经常玩的一个游戏“Earthworm Jim（蚯蚓吉姆）”在记忆中被放在了同一个盒子里。我当时要好的朋友小关同学会学者唱 Last Kiss，那个浓厚的嗓音（口音）被他学的惟妙惟肖，所以我现在一听到 Last Kiss 还会想到那个一脸不正经的小关同学。这张专辑还有大爱的 Rage Against the Machine，还有当时觉得嗓音超级古怪的 Neil Young，还有还有好多。不管怎样，这些奇怪的记忆和喜爱就都被放在一起了。因为这里有个“屁眼儿”，所以这些记忆又燥又滑稽，但是那是我的珍爱。
前几天我在 Tidal 上听某个 Playlist 突然偶遇了这首熟悉的 Last Kiss，我随手点开歌词。然后，突然我的脑子就空白了。我第一次感觉到这首歌讲的是生离死别的悲剧，和我印象中那个不正经的中年人唱出来的有点诙谐的记忆完全不一样。我受到了很大的冲击，感觉到悲剧的震撼。冲击很大程度上来自于对比，一个不好好看歌词的人把音乐只当作旋律，而现在我可以听懂英语但是我却从来没有想过去理解过去我听过的音乐的歌词所讲的故事。随后我在维基百科查了原作者 Wayne Cochran 的故事，原来作者写的也是身边的故事（并不是作者本人发生了这样的悲剧）。一开始这歌并没有红，后来的一些翻唱才让这首歌红了起来。Pearl Jam 这版 Last Kiss 是为了 No Boundaries 这张慈善专辑而录制的，后来也收录在他们的 B-Side 专辑 Soldier of Love 里面。Pearl Jam 是美国西雅图的乐队，不知道为啥我以前以为他们是澳大利亚的。
这些混合的“新知识”和旧记忆让我觉得很有趣。这不是第一次当我看到歌词时才发现我完全理解错了歌曲的 sentiment，妥妥的 Lost in translation。但是，这首 Last Kiss 还有这张 No Boundaries 在我成长的时候是我最常听的，所以记录一下表达我对青年时代的追思还有当时的无知的自省。
Rage Against The Machine THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD (favorite!!!)
Neil Young WAR of MAN (LIVE)
Black Sabbath PSYCHO MAN (DANNY SABER REMIX)
Bush COME DOWN (ACOUSTIC)
Ben Folds Five LEATHER JACKET (favorite!!!)
Oasis TAKE ME AWAY
Sarah McLachlan MARY (LIVE)
Indigo Girls GO
Tori Amos MERMAN
Pearl Jam SOLDIER OF LOVE
Last Kiss
Oh, where oh where can my baby be?
The Lord took her away from me
She’s gone to heaven, so I got to be good
So I can see my baby when I leave this world
We were out on a date in my daddy’s car
We hadn’t driven very far
There in the road, straight ahead
A car was stalled, the engine was dead
I couldn’t stop, so I swerved to the right
I’ll never forget, the sound that night
The screamin’ tires, the bustin’ glass
The painful scream, that I heard last
Oh, where oh where can my baby be?
The Lord took her away from me
She’s gone to heaven, so I got to be good
So I can see my baby when I leave this world
When I woke up, the rain was pourin’ down
There were people standing all around
Something warm flowin’ through my eyes
But somehow I found my baby that night
I lifted her head, she looked at me and said
“Hold me darling, just a little while”
I held her close, I kissed her our last kiss
I found the love, that I knew I had missed
And now she’s gone, even though I hold her tight
I lost my love, my life that night
Oh, where oh where can my baby be?
The Lord took her away from me
She’s gone to heaven, so I got to be good
So I can see my baby when I leave this world
LOL, it’s weird that anger is a good drive for a quick blog post.
My next door neighbor rent their house to a family. That family is mostly normal except they party sometimes. I mean party in an animal manner. Sorry to use that strong word, but every time you will see the whole street side parking are full, and the loud music will last long past midnight.
I used to call the 311 and report the noise neighbor. But the noise party just kept coming back. It last to 2AM normally, and in some cases it last to 3AM. That totally ruin my sleep. Previous report doesn’t work in most cases. My other neighbors also complained about it, and they exchange idea of sending letters to this family couple of times.
But over the time I start to give up. Sadly.
Last night the family party again, it’s so loud (some Iranian deep house dance music, I don’t know if that’s a genre), and both me and my wife can’t fall to sleep. So I called the San Jose police department (using their direct number) at 12:20 AM, they told me they will dispatch officer. The noise continues. We took our noise cancellation headphone to resist the deep beats. And then the police department calls back at 1:17 AM asking me if the noise are gone. I told them the noise is still there, and they told me they will send some officer here.
Around 1:45 AM, the noise is gone. I don’t know if the officer is dispatched here. But I guess the first call didn’t get any dispatch here. So next time I will make sure I report early and keep awake to reply the police department’s call. I guess they will defer the noise complaint for a while and only send officer after a delay. So I called too late.
Looking at a friend’s python code which have tens of lines of metaclass. I thought I know __metaclass__ which is how Django implemented its database model. But then I rethink maybe I don’t know it very well.
Oh, it’s a great answer! It’s using the “refactoring to patterns” style, telling all the magic behind it with a reasoning process. It tells you how to fish!
To me the Python3 metaclass is new, but makes a lot of sense. I’m glad I found it.
