GBI Special Forces

The crew rendezvous near the trailhead of the Wilson Canyon trail by Yerington, NV, at the end of the day for a brief meeting. After two hitches, we had completed 3.7 miles of trail. As a result of such a feat, Austin has designated our crew as GBI Special Forces.

The Wilson Canyon area is teeming with petrified wood. This petrified stump is becoming exposed after years of erosion. This area outside of Yerington used to be covered in pine trees before climate change resulted in the arid desert that exists today. Although there is no volcanic activity now, the topography used to be very erratic, and fallen pine trees would be covered in soils, leaving them no oxygen needed to decompose. All organic materials in the wood are eventually replaced with minerals while maintaining the original structure of the wood.

Phil, Austin and Luke build cairns, or reassurance markers, alongside the trail in Wilson Canyon.

After more strong winds at Wilson Canyon, some tents needed to be taken down.

Holy Grail of Beer - Westvleteren 12

When I was in Amsterdam last fall, my friend Will took me to a bierwinkel, or beer shop, called De Bierkoning which, among other less commonly found beers, sold the three Westvleteren beers Blonde (5.8% abv), 8 (8% abv) and 12 (10.2% abv). I haven't really been appreciative of beers in the past, but then I tried an €18 bottle of Westvleteren 12. Since then, I think I'm starting to become a bit of a beer connoisseur. I've also really been wanting to try Westvleteren 12 again, and just yesterday I finally got my hands on six bottles.

Westvleteren 12 has a bit of an international reputation of being the best beer in the world. It's constantly rated as the no. 1 beer by sites like Beeradvocate and ratebeer (8 and Blonde have ranked highly too), and given this attention, the Wall Street Journal wrote a piece on the monastery in 2007. Westvleteren 12 is brewed by monks in the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus Westvleteren in Belgium.

It is extremely difficult to obtain due to its very limited production and distribution. It's only available at two official selling points: the drive-up sales window at the abbey and at the In De Vrede (In the Peace) café across the street. The current production is 4750 hl annually (for comparison, an average microbrewery in the United States produces 18000 hl annually). The bottles have no labels – all the legally required information is written on the bottle caps.

Getting the beer today means calling the monks at the St. Sixtus Abbey ahead of time and making an appointment, driving to the monastery and then buying a maximum of two crates per person once a month. Its rarity has certainly contributed to its mystique worldwide, and the monks have no intention of increasing production despite demand. In an article in the Belgian newspaper De Morgen, Brother Joris explained that they "brew to live, but don't live to brew." The money they make is just enough to sustain their lives at the monastery (well, monks are also allowed to drink the Blonde ale with their meals). Anyone who buys the beer agrees to not resell it. The monks want their beers to only be available in the area of West Flanders for local and private consumption. But that doesn't mean a grey market for the beer hasn't emerged.

From Wikipedia: "Despite the popularity, the monks of St Sixtus have continued to decline almost all interview and visit requests, and have not enjoyed all of the attention they have received. Non-monastic visitors to the abbey are usually turned away, instead being directed to the visitor's centre opposite where there is information about the abbey and brewery. They have stated a desire to live a peaceful monastic life, and find the resulting interruptions quite intrusive."

The Saint Sixtus Abbey is one of seven Trappist monasteries that produces beer. Only these seven breweries are allowed to label their beer with the Authentic Trappist Product logo that indicates compliance to the rules of the International Trappist Association.

Ughhh business story

In search of a business story, I went to James Smith & Sons, a 170ish-year-old umbrella and walking stick company. They make and sell their products right in the building. What I didn't realize is that they would be extremely rude people. I asked if I could take pictures of the store and if I could get down to the basement where they manufactured the umbrellas. They said it was fine, but that I could take pictures of the customers or employees. But, I kind of needed those pictures for the business story. I asked if there was any way, but then whatever guy I was talking to kind of flipped out and said he was busy and couldn't talk. Even though there was only one other customer in the store. If anyone feels like dishing out about £400 for an umbrella though, this is the shop for you. How are these people still in business?
Hand-made decorations on the 'crook handle' (technical term) on a few umbrellas. Tacky decorations definitely worth the extra £380 or so.

More slacking

Sarah and I went to the British Museum today. I don't know why the photo below is the one I chose to post. But they have the Rosetta Stone at the museum, so it was pretty cool to see that after so many years in social studies in high school hearing about it. I thoroughly enjoyed the museum's collections from ancient civilizations. Yes.
An ancient Japanese stone tablet at display at the British Museum.