tastewar.com

Category: Favorite Things

  • The King is Dead (Almost…)

    The King is Dead (Almost…)

    I can’t believe I’m having to write this. Cambridge Brewing Company opened in a run-down, post-industrial, pre-biotech part of Cambridge on the outskirts of Kendall Square in 1989. That was the year after I graduated college. I didn’t know about it initially, as I had moved out of the area (way out to Waltham), and worked in Boston. But in 1991, I started working just outside Kendall Square, and I discovered CBC. Spending money was short in those days, so I won’t say I went often, but I did stop by periodically. It was a revelation. I knew that Budweiser and Miller could not be all there was to beer, but there were not a lot of interesting options. Heineken? Molson? St. Pauli Girl? I mean, there were other brands, but a bar that served something other than the big 2, and maybe Guinness for an Irish bar, was unusual, if not downright pretentious.

    Into that milieu came CBC, along with three other local brewing startups from that era – Harpoon (Mass. Bay Brewing Co.), Sam Adams (Boston Beer Co.), and Commonwealth Brewing Co. So in the Boston area, you would start to see some “local” beers (Sam Adams was contract brewed elsewhere for a while), certainly in stores, and occasionally at a bar. Commonwealth Brewing was a brewery and restaurant that was located near the Boston Garden. While both CBCs were labeled “brewpubs” Commonwealth always felt more like a restaurant, and not someplace you might go to hang out at the bar. So I always had a preference for the more laid back atmosphere of Cambridge.

    I would never have been counted among the regulars there, but until perhaps ten years ago, if you wanted to bring someone to a restaurant (or bar) where they brew their own beer, there were few other choices. Cambridge Brewing kept things lively by brewing a wide variety of beers, including a Heather Ale, and the occasional gruit. They also experimented with wild “Brett” yeast. If you wanted to expand your beer horizons, there was no better place.

    There was one year, though, when I was something of a regular. From June 2016 through June 2017 CBC had what they called the “Beer Year” contest, where you were invited to post to Instagram every different beer you had there, and if after a year, you had posted

    about every unique beer that they had brewed over those 12 months, you would earn a special mug. I would say that I went above and beyond over the course of that year, by also posting their traditional (of that era) four drafts, the 3 different canned beers they offered, posting when I had one of their beers at a different local restaurant/bar, and posting the many unique beers they made for their pumpkin fest which were not required for the contest. All in all, I made 74 posts to Instagram for the beer year, and in fact, the Beer Year was the reason I signed up for Instagram in the first place. I was working in Waltham at the time, and would ride my bike to work once a week, then ride home “the long way” (and it was a lot longer) via CBC. It was a glorious year, and I still treasure my special mug.

    After that, my visits went back to their more ordinary pace of “occasional” but when it was time for another “Guys Night Out” I could almost always be counted on to suggest CBC (to the chagrin of at least one friend), and if that ended up being the chosen venue, I would always arrive early to get in an extra round (or two, or…), to see what was new on tap. One of the first places I visited after the worst pandemic restrictions were being lifted was CBC.

    Cambridge Brewing has also long been a great supporter of the local craft brewing scene. For their recent 35th anniversary celebration, there were a bunch of beers available from former brewers who have gone on to work at other breweries. From the menu, there were brews from “Ben Howe of Otherlands Beer, Megan Parisi of Samuel Adams, Jay Sullivan & Sean Nolan of Honest Weight, Kevin Dwyer from Oxbow, Lee Lord of Naragansett, Ben Roesch of Murder Hill, and Anthony Lauring of Outrider Brewing.” Pretty amazing, no?

    So I was totally caught off guard this past weekend when CBC announced that they would be closing at the end of the year. It would be hard to overstate how much I will miss Cambridge Brewing Company. I know they won’t particularly miss me – I was never someone who was going to keep the place afloat – but CBC has been a constant presence for almost all of my adult life, and I foolishly thought it would always be there. To Phil (the owner) and Will (the brewmaster), I wish happy retirements and/or next ventures. You provided me with 35 years of amazing beer, a creative food menu, and a great place to hang with friends. Próst!

  • Pin That Post!

    Pin That Post!

    I’ve always had an interest in locks and locksmithing. A few years ago, I bought someone’s re-pinning kit on eBay. It was in pretty rough shape, so I removed all the pins, put them in teeny little ziploc bags, and imagined I would eventually get around to sanding and re-painting it. But I never did. So when Tyler asked for something on which he might practice powder coating, I immediately thought of that sad metal case. I gave it to him, and then forgot about it. On Christmas Day, though, when I opened my present from Tyler, there it was! But not at all how I remembered it. It ended up being too big for his powder coating oven, but he cleaned it up and gave it an amazing custom paint job! So cool!

    So this week, I finally got around to putting the pins back in their little compartments, and ordering a few more to fill some of the empty compartments. Over the years, I have used the kit to re-key my house so that now all the locks can be opened with the same key. And here it is now, all ready for my next career as a locksmith. Heh. I have spent some time trying to pick locks, but haven’t gotten to the point of being reliable, and in the end, I don’t really care to invest the time. But I do enjoy being able to re-key locks!

  • Another of My Favorite Things

    Another of My Favorite Things

    Maybe this is a series?

    Hamilton Beach HBB 909

    Growing up, my parents had a 14 speed blender — I think it was a Hamilton Beach. Each of the speeds had a name — things like blend, whip, puree, mix, etc. I think it had 7 buttons for the speeds, and a “High/Low” range switch that selected one of the two banks of verbs. I can only imagine that a marketing person had the job of coming up with 14 different verbs that defined some form of mixing, and somehow implied greater or lesser speeds. My parents hardly ever used it, though. It wasn’t something either of them was familiar with, so mostly it sat on the countertop looking modern (compared to the rest of the items there). They had received it as a gift from the realtor who sold them the house.

    Fast forward 15-ish years, with me in my first post-college job, and wanting a blender, mostly for making drinks that involved chopping up ice into tiny bits. So I wanted something heavy duty. I worked in a part of Boston that had a fair number of commercial kitchen suppliers nearby, so I went to one of those and purchased the above blender. I have little recollection as to what it cost. I’m sure it was, for me, quite a luxury purchase, but I wanted something that would be sturdy and lasting. This thing has a 3/8 HP motor and is built like a tank (in the U.S. of A. no less!). This would have been around 1990 or 1991. Sometime in its first few years of life, the “clutch” in the actual blending container became pretty stuck, and I went back to the same store and was able to buy just that part. It has been running smoothly ever since. But in the past month or so, the motor wasn’t always engaging with the clutch in the bottom of the container. And once again, 30+ years later, I was able to purchase repair parts for this thing and get it working reliably again.

    My repairs, as is often the case, didn’t go exactly smoothly. First, I was trying to loosen the clutch from the motor by turning it the wrong way. This caused me to take apart the unit a whole lot more than was necessary in the hopes that I could grab onto the other end of the shaft to stop it spinning. This resulted in the motor coming apart way more than I anticipated (brushes came out of the motor housing, even). I think I ended up putting it back together half a dozen times, or thereabouts, due to the motor running the wrong way (!), leftover washer, etc. But, in the end, it did all go back together, and is working well once again, with the clutch engaging well and turning the blades in the blender.

    I really appreciate things like this, that are simply well built, made to last, and made to be repaired. Commercial kitchen equipment is certainly significantly more expensive than home oriented versions, but it can pay off in the long run.

  • Objet d’art

    Objet d’art

    Western Electric 1013

    Not everyone is likely to agree with my assessment of this particular artifact, but in my opinion it is a paragon of industrial design. Perhaps nobody loved the Bell System at the time, but the gear they made (which they owned, and you rented) was made to last for decades, which this example certainly has.

    The above photo is of a Western Electric model 1013 Linesman’s butt set, probably from the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. I have a couple of other, more modern sets in my “collection” but this recent addition is really a prized possession for me, for two reasons. First and foremost, this comes from a friend’s father’s collection of tools, and is a beloved memento for that. Second is the rotary dial, which is just one of the most pleasing devices to operate. This is of course what all phones had for the longest time, but the mechanical engineering that went into creating something so reliable is inspiring. This particular rotary dial is mechanically the same as the one that went into Trimline phones, with the slightly odd movable finger stop, that allowed for a more compact design. But because it was a tool that would see heavy use in this particular context, the number plate was done in porcelain. I find it hard to imagine anyone putting that kind of thought and money into a similar product today.

    I really do find the design both pleasing and functional. The shape is essentially the same as a traditional handset from the era, which is very comfortable to hold, and to rest on the shoulder for hands-free use. But in something that isn’t much larger than a handset, they have managed to incorporate an entire working telephone. Even the rubber pad on this specimen is still pliable, indicating that care went into the selection of materials. The cloth covered wires are still supple and the colors easily distinguished. And who could fail to love the orange color?

  • These Are a Few of my Favorite Things

    These Are a Few of my Favorite Things

    ok — one of my favorite things.

    It’s my old Garmin eTrex! A friend’s son is going to be working at Garmin for the summer, and I was reminiscing about my long history with their products. This was my first — the original eTrex. I can still remember going to a MacWorld exhibition back in 1989 or 1990 and seeing a Sony GPS unit (yes, Sony!). It must have been a Pyxis model, though my recollection was that the antenna unit was spherical rather than just round. Could be faulty memory, or might have been a prototype unit. More likely the former. Anyway, it was of course super expensive, and there was no way I would be able to afford such a thing, but the concept of a (semi) portable device that could tell you (fairly) precisely where you were anywhere on earth seemed pretty magical.

    In any case, GPS technology continued to evolve, and a newish company, Garmin, was producing some interesting devices. A lot of the early devices were aimed at the boating market, where LORAN had been the previous popular means of electronic navigation. There were some handheld units, but the eTrex was (I would say) the first reasonably priced, handheld GPS receiver, oriented towards hiking. And so, I bought one. I used it for hiking, and even toyed with connecting it up with a PocketPC via a cable purchased from a “pfranc” (Purple Open Project Franchisee). If you have a few minutes, the history of those 3rd-party connectors is really fascinating and fun, and Larry Berg is a great example of a hacker’s hacker. I remember being completely absorbed by the story back then, but eventually I lost track of him, and he apparently passed away in 2012. But the other thing the cable was useful for was powering the eTrex in the car. I could also connect it to a laptop via a serial port (and later, a USB-to-RS-232 converter). Because, of course, the eTrex had no built-in mapping capability. It could just tell you where you were. And via a “breadcrumb trail” function, where you’d been. And store waypoints. And point you in the precise direction of a waypoint and tell you how far it was. But it had no concept of roads, or trails, or anything other than location: current, previous, and preset waypoints. But this was enough! I recorded many hikes with my beautiful yellow eTrex that I could then save and post, and overlay the breadcrumb trail on top of topo maps, etc.

    The eTrex was a miracle of technology, but still showed some weaknesses that were common among early GPS receivers. It could take quite some time to get a signal, and it required quite a clear view of the sky in order to receive the signal reliably. For the many years that it was my hiking GPS, you would see me with the unit balanced on top of my hat. No doubt this helped improve my posture. Many times I thought about velcroing it there, but I never actually did.

    One of the great things about GPS was that, being a government designed technology, the standards were published, and while different companies might well choose to implement proprietary physical connectors to their device, the data coming from those devices was all standard, so if you wrote an app to interface with one GPS, with very minor exceptions, you could interface with all of them. A great example of the value of standards!

    After the eTrex, I eventually bought an Edge 705, which was oriented towards biking, and could interface with a cadence meter, a wheel tachometer to more accurately calculate speed, and a heart rate monitor. This had several advantages over the eTrex — it had USB connectivity (via a standard connector, even — way to evolve, Garmin!!), and a rechargeable battery. It had much quicker startup times, and had a much more sensitive receiver. So much so that it spent most of its time in my pocket, resulting in a screen that has suffered many scratches from other pocket paraphernalia. But most of all, it had a mapping capability! I could load street maps on it, and it could calculate routes. I could load topo maps on it, and see what the trail ahead looked like, etc. It even had a color screen! Even after I had a phone that could also do all these things, I still carried the Edge. It did much better with battery life, and it meant I could leave my phone in airplane mode to conserve its battery, and have it available for emergencies.

    But the beautiful thing is that, after 20+ years, the thing still works. Once I cleaned out the leaked battery acid from old alkalines (Duracell, even!), and popped in a fresh pair of AAs, the thing booted up and found the requisite “birds” and was able to give me a location. As always, it had to be outdoors to get a good enough view of the sky, but it still works! I Love It!