April Beer Post - I know its actually May but most of these beers were drank in April.

I was in the porterhouse with some lads I went to college with last night. Against my better judgement I started tasting some beers and while I enjoyed the beers I am paying for it today. All of this reminded me that I haven't done a post in a while!
(I also believe they may be as well!)
Goose Island, India Pale Ale

As a rule I'm not a big fan of IPA's because of the bitter taste but this one was suprisingly tolerable!

I can't describe the colour because I didn't get a glass ( a mortal sin I know!) but the flavour was slightly caramel and orange rind with a mildly malty after taste. I'd definetly recommend this to other people who aren't fans of IPA. According to the beer advocate there are hints of pine but I didn't get these! At 5.9% its certain to give you that happy feeling!

Paulaner Salvator

I had never seen or heard of this till I saw it in the fridge in "against the grain" on Camden St. Clearly a dark beer rich in flavour, its actually a double bock ( stronger version of single bock which is itself a strong sweet malty beer). It loves up to its taste as a lovely malty finish deep. Strong bread like smell with a sweet slightly fruity finish. at 7.9% this was the strongest of the beers taht was tasted in Against the Grain

Triple Karmeliet

I tasted this at a Trappist beer night arrenged by the porterhouse north. I can't remember the name of the guy running the event but he had tremendous knowlegde of his subject.
Triple Karmeliet pour slightly cloudy into the glass with very little head. The aroma was immediately coriander with a hint of caramel and a vague nutty scent and the flavour was all of the above. The taste was a bit hoppy for my liking but certainly a beer to taste, almost like a desert wine. 8.4% gives it a good kick!

Metalman IPA
Metalman has been causign a stir in the Irish craft brewing community over the last few months to the point where you have to dash to a pub when you hear its on tap to try and get a taste! Metalman are basedin Waterford and seem to release batches of their beers on draft only.
The colour is blonde but with a hint of red (i'm colour blind so don't trust this description) As with all IPA's its bitter but with a smoothness I have only seen matched by Goose Island above. The taste is caramel (again!) and honey, but the scent is more about the hops.

Trouble Or
The final beer I am blogging about is Trouble Or. I was lucky enough to taste this just after the keg was opened in the Bull and castle. Its brewed by Trouble Brewing, another addition to the growing army of Irish Craft Brewers.
I'm a bit stumped as to how to describe this. Their spiel is:
"A smooth, refreshing golden ale that is full-bodied and has a distinctive hop flavour.
Brewed using the best two-row Maris Otter pale malt interwoven with a complimentary selection of speciality malt for a robust taste. It is hopped with a combination of traditional English and modern American hops, to produce a beer with subtle fruit flavours and a crisp, lingering finish."

What I tasted was slightly different. I'd definetly agree with the malty falvour but it seemed uncarbonated to me. The colour was golden but slightly cloudy while the flavour was honey, like Fullers Honey Dew. The smell was of grain as well. I'm not certain if this is supposed to be the way it should taste or if it was too young or had not come out right, but I quite enjoyed it. I think the only way is to try it again :)

The problem of education

I've been thinking about the problem of the teaching profession in Ireland because of all the teachers union conferences recently.
I'm not going to pretend to understand the full career requirements or motivations of people to choose teaching over another profession; but I think that it is an important area of ambiguity that needs to be addressed.

From my point of view the benefits and positives of being a teacher are:

•     Stable employment once your are taken on full time
•     Opportunity to work with young people
•     Opportunity to shape and direct young adults
•     Able  to focus on a subject that you have some interest in
•     Long holidays
•     Tenure (where you are full time)

The negatives (for me) would be:

•     Putting up with disruptive kids
•     Repetitive nature of the material
•     Lack of direction in terms of career development.

I want to focus on the last one for the moment as its probably the one I know least about.
How does a teacher progress? I assume that you start off on an entry grade and over time maybe you teach higher level classes, or more subjects or become year heads. Maybe the ultimate objective is to become principle or vice principal? (Feel free to enlighten me, I really know nothing about this topic!)

In my line of business I advance by going for roles with more responsibility or I move into roles that I feel can benefit from my experience plus give me knew understanding. In theory I can indefinetly move diagonally upwards. to my mind there is effectively a cap on how much authority you can achieve as a teacher.

How do you get salary rises? If your salary is linked to the number of students you teach, or the number of classes you take then you might be able to cheat the system by offering your services and targetting those classes and subjects that are in demand at that time. However this reflects nothing of your achievements. Good exam grades might be a start but only exam year teachers could be assessed. Non-standardised end of year exams can be easily gamed to produce lots of good results; Cross-marking and exam setting have the same vulnerability. Obviously a class full of A's isn't likely so the bell curve can be used to detect cheating in that way, but in effect it pre-determines performance and therefore remuneration?
If anyone wants to explain to me how the Irish system works!

Good Friday

Just a quick post.
I'm sure these sentiments have been echoed in the media many times before but I just don't understand the logic now in prohibition on Good Friday. It temporarily shuts pubs till midnight, so people stock up in an off Licence the day before, or go out on the tear on the Thursday night instead.

The government should drop the ban for many reasons:

• It forces people with other religous views to comply with the Catholic churches laws.
• It fails to prevent people actually drinking on the day
• It prevents tourists from drinking on a good friday

The biggest reason though is that it attempts to enforce good behaviour. The people who feel strongly about not drinking as a mark of respect to their religion are still free to do so. In fact it should earn them a higher place in Heaven; if they can resist temptation then they really do understand the sacrifice.

Of course one problem is that most people manage to resist that temptation 5 or 6 days each week.
So telling them they can't drink and then closing off all of their options is basically nannying them.
As we we have all experienced in our own lives; when you are told that you have to do something it makes you more likely ro "rebel" and not do it. It might make more sense to force people to drink on the day, that way they might "rebel" positively and not drink!

March Beer Post

Sorry Folks
Haven't been many beer posts in a while. I have been drinking I just haven't been posting due to laziness!
So let me make it up to you!

Weissenofer Bonator
The find of the pack by far, beautfiul Brown colour, Caramel, chocolate and pine, smooth with no bitter after taste. 8.2% hit me pretty hard!

Helvick Gold
From the Dun Garvan Brewery, Unfortunately I don't have many notes on this one, cloudy in the glass with a slightly citrusy flavour, worth a look, not least because its Irish

Goose Island - Christmas Ale
Wonderful flavour in the best Winter beer tradition. Dark but not black in the glass, Strong flavour with rich caramel tones.

Youngs Double Chocolate Stout
I had expected this to have either a bitter black chocolate taste or a smooth creamy milk chocolate taste but I was wrong on both counts. The chocolate flavour is mild and a bit watery in the finish. If you're expecting a hot chocolate I wouldn't go for this. If you find something like that, let me know!

Fuel Economy and Driving to work

In a moment of idleness last week I started working out how much my car was costing me per month. I’m thinking of trading up next year; hopefully get something more fuel efficient.

For the most part I drive about 750 miles a month, which is made up for trips from my home in Drumcondra to Cherrywood. Some months I drive about 600 miles (when I travel abroad) and when I have to work in Limerick the number can go up to 900 miles. My car gets about 6.5 miles to the litre, or 390 miles to a full tank, which hardly makes it a green-mobile. At €1.50 a litre I’m spending about €173 a month on petrol. The drive to and from Cherrywood is about 25 miles round trip.

Fuel is not the only cost I incur though. My insurance is about €600 euro a year. My car tax is €324 a year and I also have the AA at €210 a year. I expect to spend around €300 on maintenance and repair over the year as well.

There is one more cost that is less straight forward. Strictly speaking the cash isn’t going out every month. In fact the cash has already been paid out. Its an opportunity cost; what I could have done with the money if I hadn’t tied it up in the car. I know this sounds like a fuzzy concept; I’ve already paid the money right? But here’s the thing, If I sell the car right now I might get €4000, but If I hold on to the car till next year like I plan to it might be worth €3000. In a way I am renting the car or slowly surrendering value day by day. I figure that the car is worth about €1000 a year. If I had a more expensive car then it would be worth more.

So having worked out all these costs I can look at the three scenarios and work out how much money I’m spending a month. I can also calculate a proxy for “convenience” i.e. The value I am paying to have the car for average use. I can then compare this to my utility value – How much I am willing to pay for this privilege. If my utility is greater than that of convenience then I should keep using the car but if its less then I should use substitutes I.e. The DART, where they exist.
The easiest way to summarise the options is with a table.

As you can see the more miles I do the lower the total cost, but it also shows that the cost of having the car under each scenario is way over the cost for the same trip to Cherrywood on the train.
In reality I'm paying an average of a 61% premium or €7.67 to use the car on my round trip to and from Cherrywood.
I know I said I'd calculate my utility value but I actually haven't a clue how to (If anyone wants to suggest how to do this I'm happy to try it) I just know that a 61% premium feels too high for me though. I suspect that if it was raining when I got up I'd prefer to take the car but with the summer coming up hopefully I'll think of my pocket and take the train!

Funday

Not a major post for the weekend.
Two things that stand out.
I've been resisting shaving / growing a goatee for the last two weeks with mixed results. Amazingly there is a lot more grey and a lot less ginger than the last time 10 years ago, I'll try to put up a photo to compare shortly.

The other thing I did was to put up a shelf for the LAK. It was a cheap one from Woodies, but it put me up against the 2 years of selling DIY to actually prove that it was easy to do.
What was bizarre is that the 2 supports were definitely not level and yet the shelf is!

No Posts for a while!

Afraid I've been lazy the last 2 weeks.
Actually I've been sick with the man flu for the last 4 days, and was at a stag party the week before. (I see no connection!)
I have been active though so expect some bursts of updates next week around beers, Prague and Politics

As for the Election:
The outcome was easily predicted. All of the posturing now is disappointing and I am a little concerned by the looks of smugness from FG are worrying. Like I said before. The 25% vaccum of votes left by FF had to be filled somehow. As for the Wipeout, FF will be above 20% next election and in danger of becoming a real coalition option next time round.
I feel sorry for the independents. They fought hard and have won...nothing. No real power, no legislative authority. I think many of the new ones will do a George Lee and quit because they are frustrated by the glacier like pace of change.

FG Labour
Lets see what happens. I have a feeling the departmental briefings are going to scare some of them and there will be a lot of "look at what FF did the country". This will fly for a while but eventually they will have to start solving the problems in front of them. Because if they can't make a dent themselves then they aren't any better  than the outgoing administration.

Thats all for now, The virus is still at work and my mind is not using english properly