Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill

The boys drink and review Super Thick Pastry Stout from Old Mother Brewing in Frederick, Maryland, then discuss the Big 5 personality characteristics. There are a lot of personality tests out there, like Myers Briggs and the Enneagram. Those aren't as solidly based in science as the Big Five. You can remember the Big Five with with of two acrostics, OCEAN or CANOE. They are ... The Big Five pe...

The boys drink and review Planetary hazy IPA from the Ministry of Brewing, then discuss the decline of religion in the west. The boys review some of the stats on the decline in church attendance, the rise of the "nones," and how religion has less and less influence on western civilization. But there are some important elements of society that are heavily and positively influenced by reli...

The boys drink and review Tmave Pivo, a Czech Dark Lager by Ten Eyck brewing. 54% of people in America think the government has too much power. Does the federal government do too much? Is it too big? Government debt has been a problem for a while, but recently it has spiked to almost unbelievable levels. Is this a good thing? How do we stop it? What is the federal government supposed to do, and ho...

The boys drink and review Giant Flaming Zombie Polar Bear Double IPA by Atlas Brewing, then discuss Frank Herbert's Dune and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Which one is better? Where are they similar, and where are they different? Dune is a great work of science fiction and the Lord of the Rings is a great work of fantasy. They have a lot of things in common, including a medieval fee,...

The boys drink and review Big Red Norm Red Ale from Denizen's Brewing, then discuss speed dating. Imagine that a friend drags you into speed dating. What would you do? First, you have to decide what your intentions are. But given that, what questions can you ask to find out if the woman is nuts? What are the deal-breaker questions? Tattoos? Drinking? (Not drinking?) Weed? The questions you ask...

The boys drink and review Delicious IPA from Stone's Brewing, then try to work through the confusing world of gender and the horrible legacy of gender theory. Isn't "gender" about language? How did it come to describe people's sexuality? Enter John Money, the disgusting pervert who is the father of gender theory. He promoted the idea that gender is not connected with sex, and...

The boys drink and review Crowhill's homebrewed Viking Stout, then catch up on recent news with electric vehicles. There has been concern about fires and EVs. They burn hot, and it's hard to put them out. With some experience behind us now, while there are still concerns, it's not as bad as feared. EVs are still mostly a luxury item. They're great as a second car, but they can'...

The boys drink and review O'Hara's Nitro Irish Red, then discuss Tucker's trip to Moscow and his chat with Putin. When only one side of a story can be told, you can be sure you're not hearing the whole truth. It makes sense to try to hear the other side. According to some, Putin is the devil and you can't say anything nice about him or give him any platform. (Even though the sa...

Pigweed, Crowhill, Longinus, and all three wives went to Baltimore to see an adaptation of The Oresteia, which was originally a 3-part play by Aeschylus. In this podcast they reflect on the play and related issues. The play focuses on the web of vengeance within the family of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, starting with Agamemnon's sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia, before the battle of Troy...

The boys drink and review Founder's Dirty Bastard, a Scotch ale, then they discuss the distinction between Scotch and Scottish ale before they get into five topics in five minutes each. #1 Why can't we deport violent criminals who are here illegally? NYC mayor Eric Adams says he has to change the law before he can do that. How did we get into such a ridiculous position? #2 Why did Sports I...

In another edition of "shortcut to the classics," P&C drink and review Pigweed's homebrewed IPA, then discuss Lord of the Flies by William Golding. (Starting at 2:55.) Pigweed gives a little biographical background on the author, then the boys delve into the heart of darkness and survival in this compelling short novel. The story takes place on a deserted island, where a group of...

P&C drink and review a Bock from Guilford Hall Brewing, then ask whether educated people are smarter than the man on the street. Even if you could make the point that smarter people should make public policy, are our educational systems making people smarter? Probably not. "Man on the street" interviews regularly show that college-educated people are dumb as a mud fence. If you ask t...

The boys drink and review Snow Pants Oatmeal Stout by Union Brewing, then discuss how the left tends to project what they're doing on the right. (Starting at 4:00.) "Projection" is, according to Freud, a kind of defense mechanism where people attribute their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and motives onto other people. Let's say there was a political party that spent four y...

P&C drink and review a robust porter from Smuttynose Brewing, then discuss Hungary and the political stratgies of Viktor Orban. Pigweed gives a quick historical overview of the origins of the Hungarian people and nation, with a focus on their unique language. The EU isn't pleased with Hungary these days. They feel as if Hungary is backsliding on democratic norms and other values held by th...

A listener wrote the show to ask for P&Cs predictions for the elections. The boys are reluctant to predict much because of all the uncertainties at this stage. #1 -- This is clearly not plan 1 for the Democrats. They hoped Kamala would get some on-the-job training so Biden could serve for one term and usher her in. It's not going to plan. Kamala is incurably awful. #2 -- The lawfare agains...

The boys drink and review Jailbreak's White Russian cream ale, then discuss five topics in five minutes. #1 -- Confusibles. The boys review some words people commonly use incorrectly. That vs. which. Farther vs. further. etc. #2 -- Swiss fat lesbians. A journalist was sentenced to 60 days in jail for calling a self-described fat lesbian a fat lesbian. Which is true. She is a fat lesbian. But t...

The boys drink and review Royal Crush from Flying Dog Brewery, then discuss how the combination of two events -- the death of George Floyd and the Covid pandemic -- made America crazy. (Starting at 3:40.) The confluence of these two events was just too much for the collective psyche. Everything had to change. + We had to get rid of the Indian princess on Land O Lakes. + The NFL put silly sayings i...

The boys drink and review Red Flannel Logger from Aldus brewing, then discuss the successes and failures of nation building. (Starting at 4:50.) Why does it work sometimes and not others? Pigweed calls this the curse of the Marshall Plan. The U.S. has a history of success with nation building with both Germany and Japan after WWII. Since then, we haven't had such great success. Does every huma...

In another episode of "shortcut to the classics," P&C plus special guest Longinus review a few short stories by Anton Checkov (starting at 3:25). After a quick review of his life, they review and discuss five short stories. The Black Monk is a story about Andrei Kovrin, an intellectual who experiences a mental breakdown that leads to hallucinations of a black monk. In The House with...

P&C don't usually talk about current headlines, but every once in a while an issue arises that compels comment. Hence "Nooze and Booze." Immigration has been a crisis since before Ronald Reagan and has been a top concern for voters all that time. Nevertheless, both parties have refused to address it, and the Democrats have been absolutely insistent on open borders. It's been...

The boys drink and review Crowhill's homebrewed extra special bitter, then discuss the problems with smart phones (starting at 3:10). Mostly relying on the work of Jonathan Haidt, the boys discuss the good and the bad of social media and smart phones. Imagine social media like giving everybody a dart gun, and the social media platforms promoting everybody who likes to shoot. Social media makes...

The boys drink and review their friend Ben's Mosaic IPA, then discuss the relative virtues of dogs and cats as pets. (Starting at 7:15.) Neither Pigweed nor Crowhill grew up with a dog or a cat, but both ended up with cats as adults. Pigweed takes the cat case and Crowhill takes the dog case. They go back and forth on the relative merits and demerits of each. * Cats are low maintenance. * Dogs...

The boys drink and review Crowhill's homemade Italian bitters, then discuss John Adams (starting about 3:50). Pigweed starts off with some historical information on Adams, our second president, including his on-going dispute with Thomas Jefferson. In a different context, John Adams famously said "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to t...

The boys drink and review Founder's Breakfast Stout then discuss the similarities between mindfulness and joie de vivre (starting about 3:30). The very act of reviewing a beer is an example. The point is not to see how fast you can get a beer into your belly, but to savor the moment, pay attention to the world as it's going by, and understand its complexities. What does mindfulness have in...

The boys drink and review Pigweed's brown ale, then discuss how low expectations harm the people they're supposed to help. (The beer review ends at 3:53.) George Bush made the phrase "the soft bigotry of low expectations" popular in his 2000 campaign. The evil of this "soft bigotry" is that it comes from people who pretend to be helping. But when you fail to hold people...