Musings from the basement...

Tipping my hat to Anchor Brewing

May 18, 2017 0 Comments

If you can’t appreciate Anchor Steam, you’re no beer friend of mine. Anchor Steam is one of the grandaddies of craft beer in America. It’s just one beer from the excellence-filled Anchor lineup, but this one is something special. It’s a landmark. It’s a mainstay. It’s a bottle of history. Oh, and it holds up wonderfully, too. Many who are new to craft beer scoff at Anchor Steam. After all, it doesn’t feature any crazy ingredients or style-busting flavors. Nope, it’s just a damn good beer. Not going to blow your mind, not going to take you to new beer places, not going to push the boundaries of taste. Just going to provide a good, basic, “this is a good drinking beer” experience ideal for…
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Craft Beer

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How to Choose the Best Home Studio Monitors

April 17, 2017 1 Comment

Your studio monitors are an often overlooked but absolutely critical part of your home studio setup. They play an integral role in ensuring your recording, mixing, and mastering all sound as good as possible. And whether you’re a hobbyist or a professional, it goes without saying that you want the music you produce to sound as good as it possibly can. Choosing the best studio monitors can be a little tricky – they are not one-size-fits-all pieces of equipment suitable for any space or user – but by following the below tips you can make a choice that will benefit your work for years to come. What is the Cost? This should probably seem obvious, but your budget is going to play a big role…
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Music

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SUNDAY SIPS: 5 Great Beers From the Garden State

April 15, 2017 3 Comments

Despite getting distribution from more breweries than almost any other state in the nation, New Jersey doesn’t have a great beer reputation. That’s because unlike states like California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Oregon and others, it doesn’t have a wealth of fantastic in-state breweries. Or rather, it didn’t used to. That’s changing. Here are five beers worth checking out from the Garden State. Kane Head High IPA New Jersey may not have the brewing bona fides that Pennsylvania boasts, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some outstanding beers worth paying attention to coming out of the Garden State. Take a tour of some great beer bars in the region and you’ll find more than a few NJ brews worth drinking. Head High from Kane, for instance, is…
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Craft Beer

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The Fast & the Furious, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Franchise

April 12, 2017 40 Comments

The last movies I ever expected to love were those ridiculous The Fast & the Furious flicks. Meathead street racer nonsense starring silly actors doing silly things in silly suped up cars as annoying as the ones that buzz around at 1am being far louder than a little lime green import has any right to be? Ugh. No. Several friends kept insisting the series was secretly amazing, though, a bunch of movies that were more like comic books come to life than, say, the latest Batman or Superman movie or Caligula. Okay, okay, fine. Facing some empty late nights and some bags of chips that needed eating, I figured I’d marathon the movies. Figured they’d at least give me something to do when trying to shut down…
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Films

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SUNDAY SIPS: 5 Saisons For Spring

April 9, 2017 1 Comment

Spring has sprung! One of the best parts of the warming weather is enjoying beers that match with the season. There are few styles I like more in the spring than a saison. Here are five worth drinking. 21st Amendment Sneak Attack Now that the weather has finally turned and it looks to be mostly sunny days ahead, the saison is going to become the style of choice for many craft beer lovers. No surprise there. There is something about the saison that feels like open air and bright spring days. Of course, some brewers, such as 21st Amendment, buck traditional by making their saison a winter seasonal. That’s okay. A saison is a saison no matter the time of year. This one has a…
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Craft Beer

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