Nothing Doing: Our Bi-Weekly Political Roundup

Posted on August 14, 2013 by The Chop

Hi-ho Choppers. Do you know what today is? Of course you do. There’s a dateline right under the title of this post. Today is August 14. which means it’s pretty much the exact dead-on middle of August. Which means there’s nothing much at all going on politically with all of congress back in their districts doing the whole town-hall State-Fair ‘I’m okay but you should see these bastards I gotta deal with’ circuit.

But be that as it may Baltimore’s Drinking Liberals have not absconded from Our Fair City. Drinking Liberally will meet as usual tonight at 8 at Liam Flynn’s Ale House to talk about all the nothing that’s happening over a few pints of Crispin, because after all August is National Hard Cider Month. And so by the rules of blogdom we are bound to a solemn duty to roundup what little news there is. Like to hear it? Here it go…

drinking-liberally1

The Harbor Point TIF has gained preliminary approval. We don’t have much more to say about that since we already laid out 16 Reasons Why Harbor Point is a Bad Deal for Baltimore. For the record, here’s an excerpt from the Sun on who it’s okay to vote for in the next election: “Council members Carl Stokes, Sharon Green Middleton and Bill Henry voted against the deal. Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke abstained, citing her husband’s business relationship with the developer, Michael S. Beatty.”

In kinda-sorta-related news Otakon is leaving Baltimore. We say it’s probably best to let them go. While it’s probably true that the Convention Center hasn’t aged well and is in need of updates, it’s also true that Otakon continues to grow, and was basically forced to give the city the old ‘It’s not you, it’s me.’ line. Believe it or not, it is possible to do some modernization and updating, and even adding space, without it being a billion dollar publicly financed boondoggle that includes brand new hotels and a new arena. The BACVA should get its shit together and modernize in a general way, forgetting about Otakon for the time being. If they want to come back eventually then they’ll be welcome. If not; Suck it, nerds.

North Carolina has just enacted a new racist, restrictive voter ID law. Same old Song and dance the GOP has been trying to get away with for the last 6 years or so all over the country. Unfortunately we haven’t seen the last of this. Far from it.

In a bit of good news, the Justice Department wants to throw out and replace sentencing guidelines for non-violent drug offenders. It’ll save a fair amount of money and be a long-awaited step in chipping away at institutional racism. Hats off to ya.

Finally, John McCain took a break from handing out free unsolicited advice to the Egyptian army to turn up at an Orioles game in Arizona. His saggy old face brought bad juju for the O’s, but he still wasn’t the biggest bull-headed blowhard in the stadium Monday night. That honor goes to 3B umpire Alfonso Marquez.

Orioles Fan-Designed T-Shirt Contest

Posted on August 13, 2013 by The Chop

We’ve already had our say about how to dress at the ballpark, and you may recall that we heartily endorse freebie t-shirts and have accumulated quite a collection over the years. We’re not shy about rocking a Mora or Huff shirt anywhere around town, although we still regret being out of town for Wei-Yin Chen t-shirt night, which is probably the best-looking shirt the O’s have ever given away.

Until now…? The team announced this weekend that they’re doing a t-shirt design contest for Fan Appreciation Weekend. And since screwing around with Pixlr is sometimes more fun than writing an actual blog post, we went ahead and made a few half-assed entries before we got tired of it and gave up. Since they’re probably not going to win, we’re posting them here roughly in order from favorite to least favorite. Enjoy.

budland

buck1

tillman

o'day

FLAHERTYSHIRT

August Is National Hard Cider Month

Posted on August 12, 2013 by The Chop

August is not National Hard Cider Month.

But it probably should be. After all, it’s 2013- the perfect nexus of foodieism, craft brewing, and lazy journalism. Any asshole with a Facebook page can unilaterally declare a day to be Boston Cream Pie Day or National Greek Yogurt Day. In fact, just the title of this blog post alone is probably going to get indexed in Google and get people to start repeating that August is National Hard Cider Month.

But we digress. What we mean to say is that for us, August is our personal hard cider month. We’re calling for cider at the bar this month more than ever, and really enjoying it. Partially, this is a rebuke against the season creep of Fall beers. We’ve about had our fill of Boh for the Summer but it’s still too damn early for pumpkin flavored things.

Partially, it’s because Apples are just about in season now. Another couple weeks and they’ll be in full season, but we’re already starting to see them occupy more and more space at farmers’ market stands. There’s never a bad time for cider drinking, really, but August and September are just about perfect.

hard cider

But mostly it’s because cider is becoming ridiculously easy to find. It used to be that if you asked for it in a bar they may or may not have a superannuated six-pack of Woodchuck way down in the bottom of the cooler, sitting in like an inch of water, with the label peeling off of it. Now it seems that everywhere we go there’s at least one decent option in a bottle, and several places around town are increasingly featuring cider on draft.

This isn’t just our imagination either. a Google news search for hard cider will turn up pages and pages of recent stories about how cider consumption has tripled since 2007, and increased 50% just last year. There are now more than 200 cideries in the US, and no shortage of stories about brave young entrepreneurs who cast aside their cubicles to pursue their dreams of crafting artisan cider on a shoestring budget and yadda yadda yadda.

But clearing the way for those hearty apple visionaries are giant beer companies like the makers of Sam Adams and Belgian label Stella Artois, which is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Both have recently introduced cider lines to the US Market, with Stella’s being especially precious- spelled Cidre and made from “hand picked apples.” (Really. For fuck’s sake.)

Yes Choppers, sip on ye cider while ye may, because we’re about to enter a brave new world of cider-artisan-cocktails, tasting flights, meal-pairing know-it-alls, horrible ginger-citrus-honeydew-elderflower-barrel-aged ciders and the worst… bartenders who serve it in wine glasses. Mark our words: this trend is about to jump the shark soon, and linger on and on forever afterward.

We say grab a Woodchuck this month and enjoy it in peace while you can- before it becomes the PBR of the cider world.

Less is More: J&M Wallets and Billfolds

Posted on August 9, 2013 by The Chop

We got a bad feeling about this story in the Baltimore Sun on Tuesday. We don’t generally freak out much about crime, but having planned to walk over a large swath of North Baltimore that night, and seeing that the mayor was out doing photo ops for National Night Out… it all just made us a little more wary than usual.

To tell the truth it made us wary enough to open up our wallet and take out all but about $40 in cash and 1 credit card before we left the house. After all, if there’s an emergency that requires more than one card or ATM stop you’re in just as much trouble as if you had been robbed.

But it got us thinking about wallets, and the lightness and utility of them. We’ve been carrying a very nice leather bi-fold wallet for a few years now, and while we do take pains to keep it slim we’ve got to admit that it’s more than we strictly need. We’ve already made the permanent switch from hip pocket to front pocket carrying, and our spending habits have changed as well. These days nearly everything goes on our Amex, and cash is strictly reserved for cover charges and small purchases. We barely hit the ATM once a month, if that.

And the sticky, sweaty month of August is the perfect time for a pocket diet. Less and smaller clothing means less and smaller pockets, so a minimalist wallet makes perfect sense. This weekend we’re thinking pretty hard about heading down to one of our favorite shops for men, Johnston and Murphy and picking up one of the following. (Click on each to go to the product page.)

Tavern on the Hill: Humble Beginnings

Posted on August 8, 2013 by The Chop

It was with great dismay that we came back to town to hear news of the closing of Dionysus. Dio was perhaps our favorite Mount Vernon bar, not too much of anything but just enough of everything. Let the beer snobs go to Brewers’ and the clubby people go to Red Maple and the drunks go to Dougherty’s. Dionysus was the kind of place that was strictly for locals looking to relax. We’re still upset that it’s gone.

But like ye olde bible says there is a time to tear down and a time to build, so we were excited to learn that another recently closed Mount Vernon institution would be replaced with a new establishment.

waterstreet (157)

Tavern on the Hill is now open at 900 Cathedral St. at the site of the former Howard’s of Mount Vernon. As the name would suggest, it’s a little more bar-centric than Howard’s was, which to our mind is a welcome change.

There’s no getting around the fact that the place is first and foremost a restaurant, and it gives that peculiar sensation of being a restaurant bar, with little to no separation between the dining room and the bar area. With the layout not having changed, it is still possible to sit at a bar stool and look over your shoulder clear into the kitchen area.

Speaking of the kitchen, they’re cranking out a menu that’s not terribly different from Howard’s, and about what you’d expect for casual dining; burgers, sandwiches, salads, pasta and the like. The two most interesting points to note are that breakfast is available all day, and that the kitchen stays open late, offering a lite fare menu to bar patrons after dinner service has concluded.

The place is definitely going through some of the hiccups that new restaurants go through, and we’re not going to detail them here except to say that the men’s room toilet seat is being held together by masking tape. Come on now… that’s unacceptable anywhere, but especially in a recently renovated place that’s been open less than a month. How hard is it to go to a hardware store and spend $19.99 on a seat?

Despite some flaws though, Tavern on the Hill is what we want it to be: a comfortable place to sit around and drink beer. The staff is friendly and there’s a good size TV nicely mounted at the end of the bar for watching the O’s or Ravens. Plus much like Howard’s they offer free wifi and that great secluded courtyard in the back. We’ll be going back again, and you should stop by too.