Posts tagged: beer

The AEG Fly Fishing Film Tour Starts Today (or, Now That’s a Media Kit)

February 2, 2011, by 16 comments

You’re unlikely to see a review of the Fly Fishing Film Tour on the Underground (there isn’t a stop closer than 3.5 hours away, and if I was going to drive that far, I’d drive somewhere and fish), but let’s give credit where it’s due – they do know how to put together a first-class Media Kit (yes, that’s a sixer of India Pale Ale):

The 2011 Fly Fishing Film Tour Media Kit

Now that, Undergrounders, is a Media Kit.

The fly fishing video world is still in something of an infancy; some productions are frankly brilliant (Felt Soul, Steve Apple, a few others, we’re looking at you), but too many lack insight or point of view (beyond “Zog say fish porn good“), and some are little more than rock sound tracks accompanied by mediocre video.

Still, good is good, and anything that spotlights the best video out there deserves support.

You can find their tour schedule here (interestingly, they’re playing in Fryeburg, ME – the tiny town that Nestle bludgeoned with a lawsuit and five appeals).

Again, you probably won’t see me there (that drive thing again) – and I’m not wearing the hat, which is kinda ugly (any takers among the Undergrounders?) – but I promise the Fly Fishing Film Tour I’ll drink the beer before I review the DVD.

See you on the silver screen, Tom Chandler.

The Fly Fishing Gear Review You’ll Wish You Conducted…

October 19, 2010, by 13 comments

While some fly fishermen would have you believe that drinking cheap, swillish beer on fly fishing trips is more extreme than enjoying the good stuff, it’s one theory the Underground does not subscribe to.

Which is why we’re offering an image sure to get the attention of drunken discerning fly fishermen everywhere: A half-gallon “growler” of the Mt. Shasta Brewing Company’s latest stout:

a growler of Mt. Shasta Brewery's stout

Mt. Shasta Brewery's latest stout (and at 9%, it is)

At 9% alcohol, this bad boy not only tastes great, it will also put you far beyond caring about the day’s skunk – or even that compound fracture you sustained while wading at dusk.

And yes, this is crafted at the same brewery which drew the ire of a Vast Federal Agency for its use of “Try Legal Weed” on its bottlecap – a fight chronicled right here on the Underground (the leading fly fishing blog when it comes to the protection of your first amendment beer drinking rights).

They say money can’t buy happiness, but frankly, this half-gallon of rich tasty goodness suggests otherwise.

Come to me, my little growler of goodness. We’ll talk.

See you face down on the river, Tom Chandler.

When the Going Gets Tough, The Smart Have Beer (our Oktoberfest Themed Post)

September 25, 2009, by 4 comments

I won’t lie to the Undergrounders (well, not right now); it’s Crazy Time here at Trout Underground/Man Cave World Headquarters.

Still, as everyone knows, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, eventually killing themselves because they didn’t have the common sense to stop and have a beer like everybody else on the planet.

At least that’s how I think the saying goes.

Beer

Brought to us courtesy Pop Artist Nikolas Allen (click pic to see more)

I mean, look at the Germans. They’re an industrious, hard-working people, but every September (and early October), they don traditional garb and dive headfirst into the giant, frosty brewski that is Oktoberfest.

With the rise of extreme fly fishing – and the unfortunate lionization of cheap, swillish beer that so many seem to think adds character to a trip (the Underground’s Department of Alcohol vehemently disagrees) – we thought it appropriate to take a moment and applaud our Germanic cousins, who most certainly do not lionize watery beer:

The Big Picture photoblog pays homage to Germany’s Oktoberfest, and while the photographs of beer halls, lederhosen (I *need* lederhosen), and drunken beer hounds certainly added immensely to our understanding of the world, we’d also suggest our y-chromosone readers pay a visit to a site honoring those who keep the beer flowing to the drunken crowds at the following site:

The Sexy Girls of Oktoberfest Site (ten pages, that’s all we’re saying here).

Still, it’s not yet beer time at TU – there’s still hope of a quick afternoon fly fishing trip to a nearby, probably largely unfishable stream.

When it’s Crazy Time, you do what you can, especially if you’re going to be out of the country for a significant chunk of your area’s own little Oktoberfest (and we mean caddis here, not beer).

More soon for the Undergrounders.

Lederhosen: The Underground *needs* some

News the Undergrounders Have Been Waiting For: Beer Hydrates Better Than Water!

June 2, 2009, by 14 comments

It’s not every day I get to bring utter and complete joy to the hearts of the Undergrounders (fly fishing’s elite shock troops of the bizarre and trivial) but today, my friends, is one of those days.

Hydrate well, Undergrounders.

Via the Goat Blog, we bring you Conclusive, Scientific Proof That Beer Hydrates Better Than Water:

Researchers in Spain have found that drinking two pints of lager after exercising to near exhaustion rehydrates your body better than drinking water. The totally scientific study was based on Spanish students over the course of a few weeks, and they found the 25 students given beer instead of water were slightly more hydrated. Of course, I’ve known this for years, but I’m sure my pre-hydrating method of drinking beers before working out will still turn some heads.

Many of you are stepping your way through the Beer Victory Dance right now (which would be bad if you were at a funeral), and damnit, we’re joining you (because we’re not at a funeral).

And why not?

Who doesn’t want to see dozens of “well hydrated” fly fishermen weaving their way upriver, bouncing off four-ton boulders that “stepped in front of them” and wondering why their dry fly won’t float (they’re fishing nymphs with four split shot).

Of course, the study doesn’t scientifically explore the side effects of “excessive hydration,” which include a tendency to embed flies in the back of your head, the sudden need for zippered waders, and – in extreme cases where both sexes are present – a nine-month long weight gain program.

As the fly fishing world’s leader in protecting your constitutional right to over-hydrate (as well as providing you with critical emergency hydration mapping data), the Trout Underground is pleased as punch to bring you this news, though because we’re very hydrated at the moment, we’re just going to stop for a minute and lay down in the corner.

See you as you spin around with the room, Tom Chandler.

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Underground Stand Against Beer Tyranny Vindicated as Local Beer Wins Medals

October 23, 2008, by 8 comments

Not long ago the Underground took time from slacking its busy schedule to protect your First Amendment Related Beer Drinking Rights by publishing news of the federal assault on the Shasta Brewery’s “Enjoy Legal Weed” bottlecap.

As you know, that story ended in a win for the good guys, and as proof that the Undergrounders’ support of the brewery wasn’t a foolish mistake (like so much else we do), our hoppish heroes just won a pair of medals at the California Brewers Festival:

Mt. Shasta Brewing comes out on top (again)- Mount Shasta Herald

Mt. Shasta Brewing made a strong showing at the California Brewers Festival, winning first place in the India Pale Ale category with its “Mountain High” IPA and third place in the fruit beer category with “Brewer Kriek,” a cherry ale. The victories add two more medals to a growing collection housed in the craft brewery’s tasting room, located in Weed.

Journalistic integrity demands that we remain steadfast in our support of Shasta Brewing’s Rastafarian Porter (over some fruity beer), but we’re always happy to see the locals pummel those metrosexual big city microbrews.

Yay, locals!

It’s even possible we’ll be hoisting a few of the savory brew at this weekend’s Bamboo Rod Gathering, hosted by Chris Raine in Dunsmuir, where I’ll have the opportunity to test-cast bamboo fly rods I couldn’t begin to afford.

See you drinking on the river, Tom Chandler.

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The Best Fly Fishing Blog Name That Doesn’t Include Underground: Fishbeer

August 13, 2008, by 10 comments

Since they were foolish enough to link to us – and the guy can write – we’ll give ‘em a plug: the Fishbeer blog.

They suggest they’re the “Greatest fly fishing, beer, and fancy writing blog you’ve ever seen” though I’m going to dispute the “beer” part.

After all, it was the Underground who led the way in protecting your First Amendment Beer-Drinking Rights.

Still, there’s something to be said for the writing part:

One thing Cow Creek Ranch could improve is the strength of their coffee. I’m sitting here now in Soma in Bloomington Indiana enjoying a tall glass of very fine, strong-brewed, real coffee. I’m going to drink two. Maybe three.

Scuff on the fuselage, lightening on the left, lightening on the right, my flight back from New Mexico was not great. I got to my new house around 2:00am last night. I still have to unpack from the move. Awesome.

But enough of the complaining. Just two days ago I was traipsing through high meadows on the Sangre de Cristo Mountains plunking down a bushy stimulator in every riffle, pocket and hole of Cow Creek looking for the five-slam. Above the black, swirling, deep pools of the manicured guest beats on the main fishery at the ranch, Cow Creek continues to climb into the mountains above 10,000′. There’s a trail that follows it all the way up.

See you on the Internet, Tom Chandler.

We Report, You Drink Beer: The Day’s IMPORTANT Breaking News As Told by the Underground

August 6, 2008, by 9 comments

I’ve got last night’s fishing report just waiting to be written, it’s raining softly outside, and we’ve two pieces of breaking news (maybe three) that simply can’t wait.

Mt. Shasta Brewing Wins!

We’ve chronicled the first amendment struggles of Mt. Shasta Brewing (and the tastiness of their Shastafarian Porter) against the ATF (or whatever they’re calling themselves today).

Basically, the feds objected to the brewery’s “Try Legal Weed” bottlecap, and most of the civilized (and by “civilized” we mean “beer-drinking”) world erupted in disgust.

Be disgusted no longer, Undergrounders – this just in from Mt. Shasta Brewing owner Vaune Dillmann:

Yesterday afternoon we got a registered/certified letter – return signature required from our “buds” at the U.S. Treasury/TTB – stating that they will now accept our bottle caps and slogan/logo as is!

TTB agreed we are in fact proper in our Bottle Cap appeal; that we are not inferring a drug reference, nor are we confusing the public as to what is in our beer bottles!

Far be it from us to claim responsibility for something we had nothing everything to do with, but we can only draw one completely and wholly erroneous legal conclusion from this whole thing: Drinking Beer is Protected Under the First Amendment.

Dillmann’s now calling this caper the “Bottlecap heard ’round the world” episode, and we’ve been drinking too much beer to disagree.

Nestle Officially & Formally Capitulates

While they’d been making the right noises, Nestle finally agreed to begin a whole new contract negotiation with the McCloud Services District over their proposed McCloud water bottling plant, including such niceties as the gathering of real scientific data about water impacts.

In other words, after years of wrangling, intimidating legal efforts, community organizing and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots (see what I did there?) of bad/awful/embarrassing PR, Nestle’s finally doing the right thing.

Here’s a thought for Nestle: Consider doing the right thing from the start next time (silly us; that’s not their business model…)

It also means the McCloud Services District has a chance to Get It Right This Time. Let’s hope they do.

Good News Trifecta: Solar Power Discovery Promises to Revolutionize Stuff

This breaking energy news in from the Underground’s Egghead Patrol:

Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source, because storing extra solar energy for later use is prohibitively expensive and grossly inefficient. With today’s announcement, MIT researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process for storing solar energy.

Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun. “This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years,” said MIT’s Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science. “Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon.”

Woo-hoo! We’re all for saving the world, but the Underground’s Crack Team of Big Thinkers sees the deeper implications: abundant, sustainable, and largely free energy means the Undergrounders will throw off the burden of their Energy Oppressors, leaving more time to fly fish.

Sure, other news outlets will focus on the fact this discovery has the potential to save the world as we know it, but the Trout Underground sees beyond the hype.

No need to thank us with great big wads of cash. It’s just what we do.

See you at the news desk, Tom Chandler.

The Biggest Casualty of Global Warming? Beer.

April 9, 2008, by 9 comments

Beer

Would you still be driving your 2 mpg Hummer and crushing the environment under the weight of your enormous carbon footprint if you knew you were personally causing the extinction of beer?

We didn’t think so. From Grist:

Malting barley will likely be harder to grow in a warming world, especially in Australia, says climate scientist Jim Salinger. He warned at an Institute of Brewing and Distilling convention Tuesday that within the next 30 years, "either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up."

This is either a Sobering Climate Change Fact or a brilliant marketing maneuver designed to bring rednecks, bubbas and college fraternities into the anti-climate change cause.

If this isn’t an apocalyptic vision of a post-warming world, then nothing is.

See you in the pub, Tom Chandler.