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RZ#128 – Guinness widget; Northern Voice 2007; Vancouver Podcast Meetup; Flickr fun

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I ran around the apartment with my minidisc and microphone to record this one. Rebecca was preparing to head over to the island for the weekend with some of her family(girls only), so I followed her around while spouting off about various topics. I tore into a can of Guinness to find out what those things they put in there look like, we give our review on the Northern Voice conference that occurred last weekend, and give a roundup to the Vancouver Podcast Meetup that Mark Blevis, of the Canadian Podcast Buffet, put together last Sunday. Other hilarities included.

Music links (All tunes from the IODA Promonet)

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8 Replies to “RZ#128 – Guinness widget; Northern Voice 2007; Vancouver Podcast Meetup; Flickr fun”

  1. Re: Tod Maffin:
    So does this mean you want those pictures of me in the bikini briefs or that you don’t want those pictures of me in the bikini briefs. Cause I know you were enthused about them but I don’t want to hurt your flickr ego.

    Re: Guinness and Gallon beer:
    You’re talking about the widget just to make me cry, aren’t you. As for the gallon beer, is that the Rev. Don Death Dealing Deal? One pitcher to put away itinerant internet wankers. Sounds like a marketing plan.

    Re: blogging:
    You’re making me want to blog. I’m such a poseur. After you started your podcast I went and got a radio show because I have no bandwidth access. Now after your Northern Voice thing I’m thinking of posting to my LJ and radio blog more regularly. Plus I’m starting to imagine that I want to do a podcast and host it on archive.org or libsyn. Craziness.
    Of course there are other reasons as well, mostly the impendind war with Iran. That’s something that needs to be fought against in every possible way. Check out http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/ for more on what’s going on in your former country of residence.

    Specifically check out http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-have-you-done-to-prevent-next-war.html where he mentions Bush’s intentions of attacking Iran this week. I am in a nation ruled by insane children.

    Have a good weekend.

  2. The Widget…

    American beers are infused with carbon dioxide (CO2) to give it the extra carbonation we are all used to. Guinness and various other Irish and British cream ales/stouts are infused with nitrogen (N2). The gas needs to be introduced at the time of serving, in order for it to have that ‘draught’ taste. The N2 widget serves that purpose. When you open the can, the de-pressurization of the contents cracks the widget open and infused the brew with a shot of N2.

    Generally, after the widget is done doing its thing (you can hear it), I pour the contents into a pint glass. Be sure you have a proper Imperial pint glass and begin pouring the beer on the side, until you have just about 2 fingers in the bottom of the glass…then turn the glass upright and pour the beer straight in. It will not foam over…that is the nature of Guinness and other fine cream ales/stouts. Then, you let the brew settle. You should not try to drink or touch until the beer is black and you have a nice, white head on the top.

    Other great beers with widgets that are available in the USA (I don’t know about Canada)…Murphy’s Irish Stout. It has a different flavor than Guinness. My favorite is Boddingtons Cream Ale. This beer is so incredibly smooth with the widget…watch out. You can drink 2 pints in a very short period of time, because it is so smooth.

    Cheers!

  4. Thanks for the mention guys; it was great to meet you too!

    Nice Guiness tutorial GZ, very accurate, and you saved me having to do it myself.

    Btw, beer is best served in a glass, hence the reason bottles are made of glass. If you buy cans and you’re not camping, give your beer a proper home; in a glass.

  5. Just finished listening to the Beer segment on RZ#128, I love GZ’s Guiness how to. From my perspective, the Guiness cans with the N2 Widget make the beer more like draught beer, but still not all the way there. I’ve had the cans and the bottles, and the bottles have a horrible… something about them that makes the beer lose its creamy smooth taste.

  6. I had a buddy here in GZ that worked for Carlsberg and he was explaining the virtues of bottles vs cans.

    His advice was…when in China or any other 3rd world country…drink from a can. The can is fresh and is coated inside, so the beer is not contaminated in any way (inside). Bottles, on the other hand, can be returned, washed and refilled. You don’t quite know what you are getting in 3rd world places because of that. At home, though…bottles are returned, destroyed, and re-constituted into new bottles…hence, they are always fresh. Oh yeah…and whenever you get a can of brew…wash the lid before opening…that is where all the cooties settle. And, if the beer tastes off, it is most likely because it was contaminated at that point and not inside the can.

    Thus endith the lesson.

  7. I’m starting to think that we should do more segments like this. People seem to like them, and we get to drink. It’s a win-win situation.

    Thanks for the insight, GZ! I’m not a big beer drinker traditionally. We should do a whiskey segment…

  8. Yes. You should do a whiskey segment. In fact, you should do a whole whiskey-cast. “One bottle, one couple, one recording. It’s a race to see who gets finished first.”

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