Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill

The boys drink and review Sweetwater's Glacial India Pale Cold Ale, then discuss the man of the week, pronouns, and other gender confusions. A regular listener objected to "man" of the week. The boys discuss. Do we have to change "fireman" to "fireperson"? What is the point here? And how does this relate to pronouns and other "gender" issues of the day? Some people think it's "inclusive" to say "h...

The boys drink and review a homebrew dry hop experiment, then discuss Florida. Both of the boys have spent some time there, but Crowhill has spent about a year there, off and on. The state is quite a mixed bag. It's the vacation capital of the world, but it has some unique issues. One thing you quickly notice is that it's filled with lizards: anoles, iguanas and alligators. They're usually not a p...

P&C drink and review a homebrew IPA, then discuss this weird place in the middle of the desert. How did a town founded by the Mormons becomes known for gambling? Why did a city spring up in that location? How did it develop? How did it take on some of its unique characteristics? Why did it get associated with prostitution, easy marriage, and divorce? Along with special guest Longinus, the boys...

Along with special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Pigweed's homebrew clone of Steady Eddy IPA, then discuss Melville's last major work. The story of Billy Budd is carefully crafted to create a tale of moral confusion and conflict. Set after the French revolution, and very shortly after two significant mutinies in the British fleet, the innocent Billy has run afoul of the law on a Britis...

P&C drink and review BMore Sour from Oliver Brewing, then discuss the intersectional coalition. "Intersectionality" is the complex cumulative way in which multiple forms of discrimination combine or intersect. It seems to turn "being a victim" on its head. People vie to have more victim boxes to check so they can be more oppressed and therefore -- in a peculiar way -- have more power. Along wi...

The boys drink and review Negra Modelo for Cinco de Mayo, then discuss the jury system. Pigweed was recently called to jury duty, and the boys discuss the history and development of the jury system, and some of the interesting details about it. What does a "jury of peers" mean? How are juries selected? The main purpose of a jury is protection against arbitrary government power. Is it doing that ef...

P&C drink and review a strong ale from Lagunitas, then do five topics in five minutes each. 1. Do you like cringe comedy? Do you feel embarrassed when someone else is doing something embarrassing? Do you like that sort of comedy? Does that say anything about you? 2. Earring boy. Are we allowed to think less of someone if they dress like an idiot? At some point, "being me" is no excuse -- unles...

The boys drink a whiskey sour, then discuss the implications of Elon Musk's purchase of the social media platform Twitter. Musk claims that he wants to create an inclusive arena for free speech. This has caused the left to melt down. I thought the left liked free speech. Part of the problem is the lack of transparency. Twitter has some hidden algorithm that promotes, demotes or even bans certain c...

The boys drink an experimental beer with backyard hops, then discuss some popular psychology ideas that might not be true. The bystander effect. The rape and murder of Kitty Genovese created a viral story that promoted the idea of bystander apathy. The Stanford prison experiment. After normal kids are randomly assigned as prisoners and guards, the guards become abusive and the prisoners became com...

The boys drink and review a homebrewed Old Ale, then discuss Jonathan Haidt's essay on how and why the last ten years have been uniquely stupid. He points the finger at social media, and a few particular features: retweets, likes and shares. "We might have just handed a four year old a loaded weapon." The problem is that outrage spreads faster than sensible talk. A Republic requires time to slow t...

The boys drink and review Sprucey Goosey from 1623 brewing, then discuss the Christian idea of the rapture of the church. The modern view of the rapture was popularized by John Darby in the 19th century, along with "dispensational premillennialism." That has become the default position of American Evangelicals, although it was not the majority view of the church through history. P&C try to unp...

The boys drink and review 1621 Brewery's East Bound and Brown Indian Brown Ale, then look back on Donald Trump and assess his good and bad qualities. Now that we have some distance, what can we learn about the Trump phenomenon? The boys recommend two bird's eye view perspectives to govern how we view Trump. First, there is "Donny from Queens." Second, there is the observation that the right takes...

The boys drink and review Sweet Baby Swirl, a chocolate peanut butter white stout, by DuClaw, then discuss various common phrases of dubious origin. Close but no cigar. The whole nine yards. At the drop of a hat. Pushing the envelope. Best foot forward. Spitting image. In the nick of time. Pudding time. Beyond the pale. Jump on the bandwagon. Get off your high horse. Living high on the hog. Mad as...

P&C drink and review Sweet Baby Jesus, a chocolate, peanut butter porter from DuClaw, then discuss the last and possibly weirdest book in the New Testament. The Book of Revelation is often compared to a drug-induced hallucination. It's anything but. It's a very structured, organized book that ties together many prophetic themes from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament tradition. Many themes...

P&C drink and review Union Brewing's Steady Eddy IPA, then discuss quotas. Quotas have become part of the landscape in many parts of our society. University admissions. Hiring. Political appointments. The boys believe that quotas undermine the accomplishments of the people they are designed to help. President Biden promised to choose a black woman as vice president, and then made the same prom...

P&C drink and review Zelus Beer Company's "Light Into Dark" Porter, then discuss dreams and dreaming. Why do we sleep? What's the benefit of spending so many hours in an unconscious, vulnerable state? Where do dreams come from? Are they messages, or just a rehash of the day's events? The boys review theories from psychoanalysts and from modern science, and discuss what we've learned about drea...

P&C drink and review an amber ale from Guinness, then, with special guest Longinus, discuss mall culture. Longinus gives a quick history of the development of suburbs and malls. Shopping centers evolved into department stores, and the next step was malls. They were mostly to serve the growing suburbs. Malls started popping up all over the place. Investors got involved, and malls were built as...

P&C drink and review a homebrewed Black Saison, then continue their "shortcut to the classics" series with a review of some of Isaac Asimov's short stories. Asimov was an amazingly prolific and wide-ranging author. This is just a taste of his impressive body of work. Patches -- The conflict and contrast between individualistic humans and a collectivist entity that seeks to liberate humans from...

P&C drink and review O'Hara's Irish Red, then find that they can't communicate. The words they try to use have taken on new and confusing meanings. Orientation. Diversity. Identity. Transition. Reassignment. Privilege. Trigger. Equity. Tolerance. Pronouns. Even the rainbow. The new definitions of these words are intended to force you to think in a different way -- to adopt a particular view of...

The boys drink and review O'Hara's Irish Stout, then celebrate March 17th. They do a quick review of Irish history, starting back in pre-history, through St. Patrick, the Vikings, Brian Boru and the English occupation, and up to modern times. They ask why is Ireland divided north and south, and wonder about the demise of the IRA. They also discuss the two spellings of whiskey, the potato famine, S...

The boys drink and review Cigar City's White Oak Jai Alai IPA, then discuss suffering. Does suffering disprove the existence of an all-powerful, perfectly good God? What is the nature of suffering, and why does it exist? What is the proper response to suffering? Why do Catholics "offer it up" when they experience suffering? Would humans be capable of enjoying a world without suffering? Don't we ne...

P&C drink and review Pilsner Urquell, then discuss how businesses are using wokeness as a smokescreen to pretend to be virtuous. The boys discuss what "woke" means, then review some of the work of Vivek Ramaswami. Corporate wokeness is all a magic trick. They keep our eyes on woke BS to keep our attention away from their misdeeds. "Never mind that we use Chinese slave labor. Look at the rainbo...

P&C drink and review Pigweed's latest IPA, then discuss Sun Tzu's classic. It's an ancient book that might date back to the 6th century BC. It came out of a time when Chinese intellectuals were classifying and organizing things. While it's explicitly about war, it's often re-interpreted as a general commentary on strategic thinking. The Art of War is relevant to things in the news right now, l...

The boys drink and review another Pastryarchy offering from DuClaw, Irish Cream Dessert Stout, then wonder whether we're living in a simulation, and whether it matters. From Descartes's skepticism to Nick Bostrom's famous paper, P&C review some of the top arguments for why our world might not be what we think it is. If simulated humans can have first-person experience, we are almost certainly...

The boys drink and review Still Holidazed and Confused from Hysteria Brewing, then discuss how to save the planet. P&C decide to buy in to climate alarmism (for purposes of the show) and discuss what we'd have to do to save the planet. What would have to change? If radical change is necessary, what would it look like? Most of the normal suggestions are simply window dressing -- polishing the b...