Festung Europa's Iowa Caucus Report

Gentle reader,

The following report comes from our Festung Europa political and beverage correspondent, Mr. Aaron Nielsen, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Festung Europa itself. After all, here in the Stingray Regime, we're a benevolent dictatorship and are happy to be such since 1987.

Hail Stingray!

CRM


Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012. Buckle up, folks. If you're a fan of politics or the nastiest of spectacles, then the night of the Iowa Caucuses is something akin to the 4th of July. Even though this middle American state completely fails to represent the American people in any sense, it is here where we begin to choose the next President of the United States. Back in 2008, then Senator Obama propelled himself past the establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton, with a win at the Iowa Caucuses en route to the presidency. This time around, eight dipshit swine are vying for the Republican candidancy for president. To call the Republican field a group of dipshit swine probably isn't objective, but it's also not far from the truth. These bloodsucking, bottom-feeding, kinky donkeys are not ones to cheer for, but tonight, political junkies are not ones to look for quality products.

That being said, if you're going to watch five straight hours of coverage of the Iowa Caucuses, it's important that you have a high powered drug to fuel your night. Ibogaine is out of the picture unless you're the late Ed Muskie, and unless you have been diagnosed with ephesema or glaucoma, legal, potent, organic ganja is not an option. This is a night about Iowa, so your best, legal option is likely booze. Since it will be a long night, it's important to get a stiff one in you early in the night without having to deal with excess Santorum. I have choosen Iowa's most famous spirit, Templeton Rye.

Per Wikipedia, Templeton Rye refers to rye whiskey originally made in Templeton, Iowa during the prohibition era as a way for farmers in the Carroll County area to supplement their income. It is also believed to be the favorite drink of Prohibition-era mobster, Al Capone. Templeton Rye is only available in limited quantities in Iowa and even more limited quantities in neighboring states. Most bottles sell the day they are put on the shelves. I was lucky enough to secure a bottle through an acquantaince in the beer industry that works for one of Iowa City's finest beer stores.

Templeton Rye pours a clear, brownish, dark golden appearance. It's fairly spicy, somewhat toasty, sweet oaky, moderately sharp rye aroma with a note of citrus and leather. The nose is very appetizing and pleasant. Citrus notes are a little more prominent in the flavor with a fairly smooth, sweet yet fairly spicy rye, moderately toasty oak taste. The rye aftertaste is also fairly spicy, with a great warming, tingly finish. Fun stuff to drink, but at $45/bottle, don't waste this on shots for the hussy you happen to bring home from the bars. Let's rock 'n' roll!

To participate in the Iowa Caucuses, you must be 18 years of age and registered to vote in Iowa. At your local caucus, you can actually change your party affliation to vote in a Republican caucus if you're currently registered Democratic or vice versa.

The Iowa Caucuses begin in five minutes and I'm strangely attracted to the length of time that the spicy notes of the Templeton Rye dances on my tongue. It's pleasant and somewhat arousing.

6:55 CST: Anyway, here's my prediction for the night: Paul 23%, Santorum 21%, Romney 20%, Gingrich 14%, Bachmann 10%, Perry 9%, Huntsman 3%. Paul has a strong base that will not be easily swayed by the Swiftboating of the Gingrich, Santorum, and Romney campaigns. Willard "Mitt" Romney, a liberal Republican, is actually probably as liberal as Iowa Democratic stalwart, Senator Tom Harkin, and as a result, I expect him to underperform compared to his poll numbers. Anal mess a.k.a. Santorum will be the winner of the night despite finishing in second place. Fivethirtyeight's Nate Silver has a model predicting Romney 22%, Paul 21%, Santorum 19%, Gingrich 15%, Perry 11%, Bachmann 8%, Huntsman 4% but personally predicts an upset win by Anal Mess. Realclearpolitics' final poll averages predicts the following: Romney 23%, Paul 22%, Santorum 16%, Gingrich 14%, Perry 12%, Bachmann 7%, Huntsman 2%.

Now comes the boring/exciting part: the wait. This is your time to get all boozed up because it depresses you to have to listen to five hours of analysis by Fox Noise regarding eight gun-toting, baby-saving dingbats. Since most microbrewed beers from Iowa, with a few exceptions, are both shitty and poorly distributed, I'll be tasting a variety of high powered, high quality products, many of which are difficult to procure. First up is the newest offering, Wild Wild Brett Green, from Fort Collins' own, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project.

Crooked Stave's Wild Wild Brett Green

Crooked Stave is the master work of Chad Yakobsen, a brewer who previously studies the wild yeast, Brettanomyces, for his Master's degree. Wild Wild Brett is a series of "Brett" beers created by Chad to showcase the various ways to utilize this special yeast. Wild Wild Brett Green was previously rated as nothing short of transcendental by the venerable Ratman (Ed. Note: no relation to Rathead, the Buffalo Fucker.), a famous beer critic based out of Arvada, Colorado. WWBG pours a hazy, brownish orange appearance with a big, cream colored head with good lacing and fairly long duration: really a rich earthy, moderately citrusy hoppy nose with quite a bit of tart tropical fruit notes like pineapple, passionfruit, and mango. WWBG is just a touch tart, big earthy/citrusy hoppy, a touch toasty, sweet pale malty flavor again with notes of tangerine, pineapple, mango, and passion fruit, and really does a nice job of combining the fruit notes with the moderate hoppiness.

Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/10, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 4/10, Overall: 16/20. Pretty nice beer.

Chad was nice enough to personally email me shortly after my first rating of his beer to provide me with more information about his company. For the hardcore beer nerds out there, you can join his exclusive Cellar Reserve Membership for $300. These babies are selling fast, so order today!

Oh fuck, good beer and now it's starting to getting good on Fox Noise. Megyn Kelly (the hot blonde with the huge tramp stamp) just sent us out to one of the caucuses. Some instructions to the crowd now: "Here's how you donate to the Republican party," "If you want yard signs," "Mushrooms are available in the back," "Now we will start with the pledge of allegiance." Fucking barf. These idiotic cocksuckers think they can prove their more patriotic by repeating the Pledge. You fuckers can pledge; I'm refilling by WWBR.

Keeping to the Fox Noise agenda, the experts are all saying that Ron Paul is a joke and has no chance to be the nominee. They love his thoughts on 19th century, Central European economics but hate his position on killing the military-industrial complex. Rick Perry just piped in: "You'll see a governor.... Errr, I mean you'll see a president who respects the Constitution and leaves those decisions to the states and the governors when I'm president." The eight dingbats all love the 10th Amendment and would love to outsoure all government decisions back to the states away from the federal government and at the same time are running to lead the federal government. My interpretation: they want to lead an organization that will hopefully cede all of its power, thereby making the position they are seeking effectively worthless. Back to Megyn Kelly, our trusty Fox Noise correspondent leading our TV analysis. She's wearing a seafoam green blazer with a black undershirt. She's featuring a layered, slightly shorter than shoulder length, blonde hairdo and dark pint lipstick. Republicans know how to pick babes to represent their bullshit ideology.

One percent reporting: Paul is at 43%. Go Ronnie! I'd love to see him win tonight just to show these fuckwads that he can win! He's one weird quack, but as the venerable Robert Nelson, a lifelong Democrat, once said, "I kind of like Ron Paul." 

Mike Huckabee just piped in: "Let me first just start by saying that everyone that voted for me in 2008 are going to heaven." 

7:51 CST: Just placed a call to my favorite Democratic operative in Iowa, the regal Mildred Meyer. She predicts a Romney win but hopes for a Santorum win and overall chaos in the Republican nomination process. When I told her that I was watching the coverage on Fox, she replied, "OH FUCK!" Ok maybe she said, "OH FOX!" but either way, she wasn't happy. I said I needed to listen to neanderthals talk about neanderthals. 4% of precincts are now reporting: Santorum 24%, Paul 24%, Romney 22%. Ms. Meyer also mentioned that her second cousin, Dale Nelson, met Mitt Romney at the Family Table in Atlantic recently and he was very nice and giving hugs. Soon later, Gingrich showed up and he was a real jerk! Well, fuck you Newt. I don't know what's more embarassing: being a Republican, hugging Mitt Romney, or seeing Newt Gingrich literally in the flesh. With 15% reporting in Cass County (home of Atlantic), Santorum is leading with 35% with Newt failing to be in the top five. Take that, asshole! Fox is already projecting that GILF-a-rama, Michele Bachmann, will finish sixth and Huntsman will finish seventh with only 6% of Iowa reporting. Michele peaked too early, evidently, which frequently happens to Chris Meyer in the presence of my ex-girlfriends. (Ed. note: I have no idea what he is talking about.)

Engaging in the peculiar hobby of beer trading can be legally dubious at best and physically dangerous at worst. As Hr. Meyer can attest, I had a potentially dangerous encounter completing a back alley beer trade while we were in Minnesota. I was only provided with this picture and a list of beers to bring. The deal went down without any switchblades or bullet wounds. Today, my beer trading has expanded internationally in an attempt to secure the world's most tasty and rare beers. Next up for tasting is Cantillon Mamouche, a beer I obtained from a beer trader in Quebec. This beer is not available in the United States. Cantillon is a world renowned lambic producer out of Belgian. A 750 mL bottle of Mamouche will set you back $30 should you find it in Quebec or in Belgium. Mamouche is a lambic aged for two years then aged with elderflowers. 

Cantillon Mamouche
 
Mamouche is corked and then capped, yet it still gushed a bit when I popped the cap before removing the cork. It has a cloudy, yellow-orange appearance with a big white head. It is fairly floral, with a moderately to highly sour, lemon tart, brett funky aroma. The flavor is moderately to highly sour, tart lemon citrusy, herbal and floral, tangy, funky, with a fairly funky, tart finish. The floral element is actually really nice and complements it the sourness quite well. 

Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 5/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 17/20. Beers like this are not for an amateur due to the high sourness and the floral content which can both be off-putting. Despite the huge flavor, it is only 5% abv. This is a very nice beer and well worth the difficulty that I went through to obtain it. 

8:22 CST: 15% reporting: Paul 24%, Santorum 23%, Romney 23%. Some pundits are saying it's a bad night for Romney based on his results and some are saying that it's a good night since it looks to be a three-way tie. As the late, great Dr. Thompson once said, when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. More Templeton... Ahhhhhh, the Rye is again dancing on my tongue. Holy Moses! 48% of independents are going for Ron Paul. Fuck, this Templeton is damn tasty and it just lingers and lingers. My Communist cats are beginning to see something is going awry (pardon the pun). Better get the bottle rockets ready to celebrate the winning dingbat. 

8:36 CST: The neanderthal with the dark gold tie, Charles Krauthammer, is spewing anal mess (aka Santorum) from his mouth right now. He's saying that it's going to be a toss-up (no duh) and the only losers are Perry and Bachmann. Hey, I'm all for total chaos is this whole nomination process. Justin Nielsen just called into our international HQ and said that Romney is going to win. 27% reporting: Romney, Santorum, and Paul all at 23%. Truth be told, the flavor of Mamouche really doesn't linger all that much and is just moderately sour. Still a nice brew, however. Back to the Fox Noise panel. You got to give it to these guys. They invite the grumpiest old fucking men and the most boner inducing women on the planet. Kirsten Powers of the Daily Beast is now talking, smoking hot, and actually making some sense. She's saying that Romney has been playing up his odds the last days and now is basically going to get a three-way tie for first place. Excellent analysis, Kirsten! All Iowa history buffs and major politcal power players know that you must play down your expectations in Iowa! It's all about beating expectations! Romney, you fuck wad. Go Kirsten

8:49 CST: Santorum is winning all over Western Iowa aka Steve King country aka Mildred Meyer country. Paul is winning in the Central and Eastern Iowa. Romney is doing better on the East/West borders like he did last night. Sarah Motherfucking Palin is going to give some nuggets of analysis next. This is going to be good. If there was enough room, I would just include her whole transcript as I'm sure she'll do herself the most justice, but I need to just give the highlights. 

9:01 CST: Great! Sarah Palin is sporting the "poof" hair style. She loves Santorum for being hardcore on Iran... Iran is threatening American in the Persian Gulf and their hatred of Israel and their hatred of us. She can relate to the issue of having too much Santorum to deal with. Brett Baier: Will you openly support Santorum? Brett- that is a disgusting fucking question. How dare you ask a former VP candidate about her feelings on a combination of lubricant, ejaculation, and fecal matter. More from Sarah about Obama's failed socialist agenda. Blah blah blah. Sarah is basically telling Bachmann to drop out. Now Billy Kristol is telling Rick Perry to quit. Let me be the first to ask Willard Romney to quit. 

9:25 CST: 46% reporting, 24% Santorum, 24% Romney, 22% Paul. Starting to get boring - time to pick up the beer drinking. Some stouts coming up....letting them warm up a bit. Ok, let's go. Now up is Green Flash Double Stout, an 8.8% abv stout. Green Flash is based out of San Diego and makes some world class products, including this beer that is rated in the 99th percentile for stouts. GF Double Stout can be found without too much trouble on West Coast and in Colorado in bombers and in six packs.

Green Flash Double Stout
 
Green Flash Double Stout pours a deep black apperance with a dark brown appearance that dissipates fairly quickly. It exudes s'mores-like aroma with a rich note of cocoa, roast, marshmallow, vanilla, and light espresso: really a delicious, dessert-like aroma. The mouthfeel is smooth and creamy, with even more roastiness in the taste. The flavor reminds you of dark chocolate, vanilla, rich cocoa, light coffee, roasty, sweet. It's a yummy dessert beer, and smooth as hell!

Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 9/10, Palate: 5/5, Overall: 18/20. 

Great beer but we have a big update. 88% in: Santorum 25%, Romney 25%, Paul 21%. Fuck, I may need to pick up some of this Double Stout for the reputable Hr. Chris Meyer. I really get s'mores from it and it's drinking just too easy. We're waiting on Sioux City and while we do, I'm going to have more of this shit. Mikey loves it ("sharp hop acids tickle the tongue") and Slim Ernie digs it ("relatively forward, but wow... adeptly crafted), too. Lately, I've been on the exact same page as these Boulder Beer Sages with Avery and Crooked Stave being the noted exceptions. Sioux City is partly in and Santorum is kicking serious fucking ass there. Fox Noise just announced that they project Ron Paul will finish third. I lose. Billy Kristol just made an excellent point. It's hard for Romney to say he's the eventual nominee with only 25%, a figure not higher than 2008. Gingrich tanked just a bit too early for Ron Paul. Had he not fallen for another week, I think the others wouldn't have had time to attack him and make me fall a bit. Santorum wins that fight. 

10:18 CST: Santorum and Romney are separated by 13 votes with 92% reporting. Paul just claimed a three-way tie (ha!), Gingrich is now announcing victory (ha!), and I'm announcing victory by drinking GF Double Stout (ha!) Interesting enough, Huntsman finished with 1% even though Nate Silver predicted 4%. Newt's going on and on about how positive Rick Santorum was but how some of the "other" (ahem Romney) were incredibly negative. Romney's associated Super PACs put in somewhere in the vicinity of $5 million in the last couple of weeks to kill Newt. Now Newt is attacking Ron Paul. Evidently he loves Santorum but hates Ron Paul and Willard Romney. 

10:23 CST: Audubon County, home of Iowa Democratic Strategist, Mildred Meyer, has finally sent in their final results: Santorum 54 votes, Romney 48 votes, Paul 41 votes, Gingrich 32, Other 48. Exirans love them some anal mess (aka Santorum)! On another note, I think the primary schedule should be based on the states that were closest in the previous election. Wouldn't it make sense to have the most centrist states pick the candidates (North Carolina, Colorado, Florida, etc)? Nah fuck that. A centrist these days has to deal with the tea bagging terrorists. 

10:39 CST: 96% in: 25% Santorum, 25% Romney, 21% Paul. Anal mess is up by 79 votes over magic underpants. Bachmann really tanked. I see her dropping out tomorrow. I think Perry may try to hang on until South Carolina but fuck, he should drop out too. Shit, Perry's speaking now and is acting like he's dropping out. 

11:08 CST: 97% in: same as before with Santorum up by 37 votes but the remaining precincts are likely for Romney. Fuck it's getting boring again. Rick Santorum's rally is starting up with the crowd singing God Bless America followed by Amazing Grace. GO PATRIOTISM!!!! That's the problem with the Socialist Dems these days. They don't pledge allegiance, they don't sing the patriotic songs. What a bunch of godless losers. Santorum is finally speaking. We need a balanced budget amendment. We need to cut taxes. Under my administration, we will have a top tax rate of 28%. We will cut the corporate tax rate in half. Using our anti-scientific mathematics, we will balance this mother fucking budget with tax cuts. Thank you, God bless America and good night! Never have so many pro-life and pro-choice folks cheered on the same mother fucker. Go Anal Mess! Leave it to Iowa to give their vote to a numbskull with that same dumbass look as W. He's not W. He's even dumber. And the dumb Republicans from Iowa fell for this shithead. I love it!!!! And before we call it a night, it's time for a Meretrix releases and is a sour ale aged in Cabarnet Sauvignon barrels accompanied by sour cherries. 

Meretrix Barrel Aged Sour Ale


11:39 CST: Ann Romney: Congrats to Rick Santorum! We don't even know who won yet, but here we are! Mitt Romney: We don't know what the final vote tally will be. What a shithead. It's all spin around here. You predicted a win, Willard and with 98% in, you're down by five votes. (Ed. note: At the time of publishing, Romney was up by eight votes.) You lose Mr. Magic Underpants. Meretrix pours a dark burgundy purple appearance with a tan head that dissipates quickly. The aroma is very rich: cherry/strawberry, red wine, tangy/tart fruity, musty, funky, acidic, a touch oaky.. The oak comes out nicely in the flavor with a rich strawberry/cherry fruity, funky sour, vinous flavor, with a vinous, dark red fruity aftertaste; excellent beer. 

Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 9/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 17/20. 

Good night and God bless Aegir!

Aaron Nielsen 

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