Florida's Primary Beers
Tonight's primary is in the Sunshine State and while last cycle's showdown was quite dramatic, tonight will not be that way. Back in 2008, Rudy Guiliani bet the farm on a win in Florida, but as other candidates scored wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Rudy's poll numbers dipped. John McCain ended up winning by five points, thanks in part due to the late endorsement of then Florida governor, Charlie Crist. Crist was extremely popular at the time and some suggested that he would be McCain's VP. McCain would go rogue, however, and named a dingbat ditz to join him on the ticket.
Polls are a little all over the place at this point. Following Newt Gingrich's win in South Carolina, he instantly jumped from ten points down against Romney in Florida to a ten point lead. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man has since been fading, partly due to the massive investment by Magic Underpants's super pac. Of course, Gingrich didn't do himself any favors by announcing that by the end of his second term, America would have the first permanent base on the moon that could become a state once its population reached 13,000. I love this idea, but let's be honest, it's batshit crazy. It would take a massive investment during a time of economic stagnation and I can't imagine he could get ten senators behind this plan. On top of the aforementioned reasons, Newt also performed poorly in the last two debates.
It's clear that Newt is a huge underdog. RealClearPolitics predicts that Romney will defeat Gingrich by 13 points, whereas Statistics guru, Nate Silver of 538, predicts a Romney win by nearly fifteen points. I can't imagine the spread will be that significant, so I'm going to predict a Romney win by ten points.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 7:27 PM EST: Romney 50%, Gingrich 29%, Santorum 12%, Paul 7% (32% reporting)
Some of the polls have already closed and their results are rolling in, as are the early voting ballots. Romney has held a large lead over the last week during early voting, so that will definitely help him. If a lead like this holds, Newt is going to have a hard time continuing in this race. Of course, Gingrich claims that the nomination process will continue for the next six months. While that's true, it's hard to imagine Newt staying viable much longer. One reason I can see Newt continuing for a while is the fact that it appears that he genuinely hates Romney and thinks he's unfit to be president. Reports are now in that Romney's campaign outspent the Gingrich campaign by 5:1. This is Iowa all over again. Gingrich surged and then Romney's money and super pac brought it back to Earth.
I'll be tasting a couple of fine Floridian brews tonight from Cigar City Brewery in Tampa. Beer nerds around the world go crazy for CCB and I've had overall good luck with them in the past. Tonight, I will be tasting their highest rated beer (and the 14th highest rated beer) in the world, Hunahpu's Imperial Stout. Hunahpu's can be only bought during Hunahpu's Day in mid-March, which beer nerds yearly show up to in huge numbers. I received this bottle in a trade from a famous beer rater out of Georgia. Hunahpu's is an Imperial Stout aged on peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, and cocoa nibs and packs 11% abv. This should be an exciting beer to taste.
Tonight, I will be drinking a 2010 Hunahpu's Imperial Stout, so it has almost exactly two years of age on it. Initially it has a one finger, dark brown head but that quickly dissipates and it also features a pitch black appearance. Rich anise, cocoa, mild vanilla, thick chocolate malts are present in the aroma. Hunahpu's has a thick, somewhat syrupy mouth feel. Initially, there's a very rich cocoa, mild vanilla, woody, dark chocolate malty flavor that then has more of the creaminess and peppers on the finish. There's a thick coating on my tongue after drinking this: rich cocoa, light anise, mild vanilla aftertaste. This sucker is thicker than almost any other beer I've ever had. Not sure if the peppers faded or if they're naturally not too pervasive, but they are a nice addition to the finish. Tasty beer for sure.
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 9/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 16/20
7:41 PM EST: Romney 49%, Gingrich 30%, Santorum 13%, Paul 7% (48% reporting)
Half of the precincts have reported and Romney is anally raping Newt. We're still waiting for Fox News's stellar team to join us and have to settle in the mean time for Shephard Smith. Ah fuck, now there's a cheesy recap of Ron Paul's life. This will probably be all that's said about Paul tonight per their usual policy of ignoring Ron Paul
8:00 PM EST: Romney 47%, Gingrich 31%, Santorum 13%, Paul 7% (58% reporting)
Right at 8pm, Fox Noise called the race for Romney and predicted that the current order will hold. Well this is going to be a snooze fest. 46% of those that enjoy Tea Bagging went for Gingrich. Romney did extremely well in South Florida and on the Atlantic coast. Gingrich's strength was in the more socially conservative north.
The second beer that I'll be tasting from Cigar City will be Improv, an Oatmeal Rye India Brown Ale (whatever the fuck that is). It's rated in the 97th percentile on RateBeer, though I believe there is significant label bias with their beers. Improv uses 10% oats and three different rye varietals, as well as a ton of American hops. Hard to say what this beer will taste like.
Improv pours a clear, dark maroon/brown appearance with a one and a half finger, light brown head and has good lacing. In its nose is a toasty caramel malty smell with some rye spiciness, moderately piney/earthy hoppiness, and notes of chocolate, caramel, and leaves. There's a soft mouth feel to the beer due to the oats and a rich yet spicy, dark caramel, rye malty flavor, again with a moderate earthy, organic, lightly piney hoppy taste. Smooth, easy drinking beer that doesn't taste like it has 9% abv. I should get a nice buzz off of this 750 mL bottle.
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall 15/20
8:33 PM EST: Mitt is out now with his victory speech. He strolled up to the podium like he's Apollo Creed. He thinks he won the nomination tonight and while it's probably true, I expect the bruising battle to continue. Obama is going to be able to re-use half of Newt's negative ads against Magic Underpants. Can you imagine Obama repeating Newt's lines from this week? "Do we really want someone to be president that hides their money overseas in the Caymans and Switzerland?" Besides the two tasty beers tonight, there's very little to enjoy except possible a continuing, bruising Republican race. Stay tuned!
Aaron Nielsen
Polls are a little all over the place at this point. Following Newt Gingrich's win in South Carolina, he instantly jumped from ten points down against Romney in Florida to a ten point lead. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man has since been fading, partly due to the massive investment by Magic Underpants's super pac. Of course, Gingrich didn't do himself any favors by announcing that by the end of his second term, America would have the first permanent base on the moon that could become a state once its population reached 13,000. I love this idea, but let's be honest, it's batshit crazy. It would take a massive investment during a time of economic stagnation and I can't imagine he could get ten senators behind this plan. On top of the aforementioned reasons, Newt also performed poorly in the last two debates.
It's clear that Newt is a huge underdog. RealClearPolitics predicts that Romney will defeat Gingrich by 13 points, whereas Statistics guru, Nate Silver of 538, predicts a Romney win by nearly fifteen points. I can't imagine the spread will be that significant, so I'm going to predict a Romney win by ten points.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 7:27 PM EST: Romney 50%, Gingrich 29%, Santorum 12%, Paul 7% (32% reporting)
Some of the polls have already closed and their results are rolling in, as are the early voting ballots. Romney has held a large lead over the last week during early voting, so that will definitely help him. If a lead like this holds, Newt is going to have a hard time continuing in this race. Of course, Gingrich claims that the nomination process will continue for the next six months. While that's true, it's hard to imagine Newt staying viable much longer. One reason I can see Newt continuing for a while is the fact that it appears that he genuinely hates Romney and thinks he's unfit to be president. Reports are now in that Romney's campaign outspent the Gingrich campaign by 5:1. This is Iowa all over again. Gingrich surged and then Romney's money and super pac brought it back to Earth.
I'll be tasting a couple of fine Floridian brews tonight from Cigar City Brewery in Tampa. Beer nerds around the world go crazy for CCB and I've had overall good luck with them in the past. Tonight, I will be tasting their highest rated beer (and the 14th highest rated beer) in the world, Hunahpu's Imperial Stout. Hunahpu's can be only bought during Hunahpu's Day in mid-March, which beer nerds yearly show up to in huge numbers. I received this bottle in a trade from a famous beer rater out of Georgia. Hunahpu's is an Imperial Stout aged on peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, and cocoa nibs and packs 11% abv. This should be an exciting beer to taste.
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| Hunahpu's Imperial Stout |
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 9/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 16/20
7:41 PM EST: Romney 49%, Gingrich 30%, Santorum 13%, Paul 7% (48% reporting)
Half of the precincts have reported and Romney is anally raping Newt. We're still waiting for Fox News's stellar team to join us and have to settle in the mean time for Shephard Smith. Ah fuck, now there's a cheesy recap of Ron Paul's life. This will probably be all that's said about Paul tonight per their usual policy of ignoring Ron Paul
8:00 PM EST: Romney 47%, Gingrich 31%, Santorum 13%, Paul 7% (58% reporting)
Right at 8pm, Fox Noise called the race for Romney and predicted that the current order will hold. Well this is going to be a snooze fest. 46% of those that enjoy Tea Bagging went for Gingrich. Romney did extremely well in South Florida and on the Atlantic coast. Gingrich's strength was in the more socially conservative north.
The second beer that I'll be tasting from Cigar City will be Improv, an Oatmeal Rye India Brown Ale (whatever the fuck that is). It's rated in the 97th percentile on RateBeer, though I believe there is significant label bias with their beers. Improv uses 10% oats and three different rye varietals, as well as a ton of American hops. Hard to say what this beer will taste like.
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| Cigar City's Improv |
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| Communist Cat Lenin also got blasted on some choice Colorado catnip and a bit of Improv beer. |
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall 15/20
8:33 PM EST: Mitt is out now with his victory speech. He strolled up to the podium like he's Apollo Creed. He thinks he won the nomination tonight and while it's probably true, I expect the bruising battle to continue. Obama is going to be able to re-use half of Newt's negative ads against Magic Underpants. Can you imagine Obama repeating Newt's lines from this week? "Do we really want someone to be president that hides their money overseas in the Caymans and Switzerland?" Besides the two tasty beers tonight, there's very little to enjoy except possible a continuing, bruising Republican race. Stay tuned!
Aaron Nielsen
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