Brew Week

The expression “standing on the knife edge” is often used to suggest you are looking for and can see the future as it develops.  It’s a place of nervous energy and decision making.  Do I like this, do I understand what I see, and do I need to jump off before some specific future arrives?

It’s also place to sit back and relax.  Sometimes we just want to let the edge take us to wherever it’s going.  So that was what Ohio Brew Week in Athens, Ohio was.  A chance to just let the future of microbreweries wash over us.

We pull into our first brewery Devil’s Kettle.  We haven’t had lunch or even checked into our motel.  The Brew Week guide tells us DK has food at a little foodie stand called Pork and Pickles.  That very cool!

So we order a beer, get a picnic table and walk over to place a food order.  The owner is behind the counter and in front of the grill.  She tells me she had to send her helper to Kroger Food for supplies.  I’m cool with that.  I understand the need to be patient.  So we order two burgers, well done.  She tells me P and P only cooks them medium.  It seems the beef is locally sourced (later I find out she owns the cattle).  I look at a burger someone is eating.  It’s 2 inches thick and it’s bloody, raw ground beef with a thin layer of brown crust on each side. 

I like to enjoy food, but I can always rationalize poorly cooked food as “it’s just fuel.”  But still it’s too rare.  “Could you cook it a little more?  Please?”  I request.

What!   Compromise the integrity of what!  She must be nuts!

“I don’t want to compromise the integrity of our local beef.”  What, did she read that in some epicurean foodie publication with a circulation of a 150 wannabe chiefs?

I already have a beer, and I need some blotting paper in me and she holding lunch hostage.  So I don’t respond with  “Hell, lady, it’s too late, that cows is already ground up!” 

Instead I look over the posted menu for options.  She has some kind of cold pressed pork patty, but every time I read it the letters spell “Trichinosis.”  I’ll spare you the autopsy photo of a brain infected with trichinosis.  It still gives me the dry heaves, so no cold pressed pork for me or anyone I love or even vaguely like.  

She’s got soup and deviled eggs listed.  I’m saved!  Not so fast.  “Sorry the deviled eggs are for dinner only…”she tells me.

Well, we applied a liberal dose of flattery and convince her we’re celebrating St. Smithers’s Day, the patron saint of hamburgers and she cooks two burgers well done, only after we swear an oath never to reveal that she failed to respect the integrity… you know the rest.

I don’t feel bad about breaking my word to someone who doesn’t know the patron saint of burgers is St. Menches

  

We stopped at a number of places.  One was Jackie O’s.  The food was great and the beer, well everyone was rolling out something special for Brew Week.  So while I’m enjoying a beer I’ve never heard of and can’t find anywhere else, I look over at the table next to me and he’s drinking a Stroh’s beer from a bottle.  Stroh’s was founded around 1850 and is now owned by Pabst.  It’s an ordinary beer that bases its sales on the idea that a since its fire brewed, it must be good beer.

I think you should drink what you like.  But here you are, sitting in one of the breweries consistently rated in the top 100 in the world, not Ohio, but the freaking world, and you’re drinking fizzy, alcoholic, yellow water, cause some advertisement told you should?

We stopped by what is quickly turning into my favorite brewery, anywhere, Little Fish.  They have a relaxed, friendly atmosphere with some amazing beers.  Food is available at a food truck anchored next to the brewery.  They specialize in Cajun food, and it’s excellent.  We had their quail breast sliders one night and went back the next for another serving.  They had a cucumber beer (Cucumba) that is perfect for warm summer nights and an orange/carrot beer (Cheeto Benito) I think would go good with a turkey Thanksgiving dinner.

The selection at LF

One of the bands at Little Fish and some of the grounds

The Cajun Clucker at LF.  The food is excellent!
 

Little Fish is growing.  Bigger building, indoor restaurant, more parking are in the works.  Bye-bye food truck!  Will success spoil Little Fish?  I sure hope not!

We also sat in an hour lecture in the history of the beer can.  There are a few beer cans out there that would pay for a summer of traveling in Europe, if you find one.  The point I liked best was cans were introduced by canning companies looking for more market share of the beer beverage market.  Those beer companies that could afford the technology were able to effectively leave local areas and enter new markets.  They slowly drove the less advanced companies out of business. 

The history of beer cans and it was held in a ....

...In a church!  To me it is proof there is a God and he loves me!

We’re seeing the advent of local brewing, beer with local taste and character and the savvy companies are expanding to maintain a larger regional presence they can grow into a national presence.

Brew Week is the cutting edge of the future of beer in the world.  More and more cities, town and unincorporated areas have breweries.  They cater to local tastes while using local products.  This puts money back into the local economies and creates opportunities.  Not all these breweries will go regional much less national, and some with simply fail.  But they will create many different unique beers.

It’s a great time to sit back and watch it unfold.  Relax and have beer with me.

Here's a few more photos:

The Eclipse Company Store

The Eclipse Company Store is on a bike trail, which is equipped with tools and air pump to effect emergency repairs.  Thats is soooo cool!

uuyg uy h

Mystery Knife

I just want to let you know that no knives were hurt at the Medina gun show this weekend.  In fact, damn few were sold by anyone.  There is something about the June show.  One would think that since there is no May show and following the June show there is nothing until September, June would be busting with buyers needing ammo, targets, supplies, blades and other sundry items.  Not so.

It was a stinky show, so men, stop eating all that cabbage, ‘cause it’s bad enough not having customers, but gassy ones are worse!

What appears to be a tang stamp is someone's initial carefully carved into the metal.

I did pick up a horn handled lever lock auto.  It’s completely free of maker marks.  So I searched Google images.  I found an internet reference to SKM A Beltrame in Italy.  This led me to the website from Frank Beltrame and Maniago, Italy.

It seems Maniago, Italy has a long tradition of making automatic knives, especially in the classic Italian stiletto style.  They also make lever locks like mine.  From the little I could tell with my internet search, companies like SKM (Switchblade Knife Works) acted as jobbers making knives for everyone and could, as governed by Italian law, mark the blades with anything or nothing.  SKM is reported to be out of business.  There is no website, but they may have resurfaced with a different name.

The tab, or lever must be depressed towards the handle to open or close the knife.

With the lever up against the bolster the knife can't be closed.  When closed this position prevents the knife from opening or unlocking.

Frank sells this knife, but he has no prices on his website and only one picture.  I’ve found other listings of this knife, but the dimensions are a little off.  Was this a bad translation from metric to English?  Or did the jobbers have a range of knives they made that looked the same, but varied in size?

In any case Maniago has what could be a very cool Museum of Knife Making: Art of Manufacturing and Cutlery.

You might enjoy this link better.

Horned handle lever lock automatic knife, closed and locked.

I’m not sure what to do with his little guy.  It’s in very good shape with a 3-inch blade and 4.5-inch horn handle.  I suspect there is a little more research to be done on this guy. 

Pilgrimage of Steel

  As much as I love knife companies, I admit they would not be my pilgrimage of the faithful.  I instead would bow down and face Smokey Mountain Knife Works.

 

You might consider it as well.  Right now SMKW estimates that 1.5 million pilgrims will make the journey this year.  There were two school buses in the parking lot when we arrived.

 

Walk in and you notice knives and more knives.  The doors are numbered and you’re reminded to note your entry.  That was a clue how big the place is.  You’ll find people buying $3 POS knives, but you’ll also find top shelf Benchmade, Case, SOG and all the rest.  Wander around and look at all the mounted animals, everywhere.  They were collected by one man who hunted every continent in the 50s and 60s.  The walls are lined with cases and displays of old knives and knife collectables.  These wasn’t a plan, it grew (as much as I hate the expression) organically.  The staff squeezed in a display here and there and then someone decided this display would look good near some other display.  And it just kept going.

We walked in door number 2 and found ....

One of many....

Esee fixed blades

Mr. Pipes started as a seller of arrowheads and civil war memorabilia and a friend suggested why don’t you try selling a few knives?  It didn’t take too long before the knives out sold the relics.  The original store wasn’t big enough, so they moved, then they added on and it’s still crowded.   But everything is laid out nicely and well labeled.

More collection



Shanks.  Who collects shanks?

 

But when you get there, make sure you see everything and then go down into the Relic Room.  Here you find fossils from China and the warm seas that covered Chicago.  You’ll find bullets from the revolutionary war as well as the civil war.  Oh, there is some crystal non-sense about spirit guide stone animals and how a stone with a certain shape will focus your attention and balance your chi.  But you’ll also find Russian coat buttons from the Cold War, binoculars from our western expansion, fired pistol cases from WWI among books listing the local men who enlisted in the Civil War.  How about a commemorative belt buckle from the first reunion of Teddy’s Rough Riders?  I don’t know if anyone knows all the treasures in that room.  I found an issue of Popular Science from March of my birth year.  Guess what the cover story was about?  How to convert your basement to a shelter for the anticipated atomic wars.

One of dozen or more selections of historic relics

The owner of the Relic Room, Chase, is a Pipes family member and is a prodigy for history, both natural and human.  He spoke to us of records and university archeology digs that confirm the existence of a Spanish rendezvous from the 1500s a couple 100 yards from where we stood.  I had no idea the Spanish were ever in this part of the country, but I heard him teach several children (and myself) that the Spanish court required a notary under the control of the Church to travel with their explorers.  Everyday the explorers would diary about the day and the entry would be notarized.  These extensive records are now matched to current digs which confirm the veracity of the findings.

 

Old, beyond my comprehension

 bought a chunk of the oldest original rock available on planet earth.  It’s Acasta Gneiss from the Hadean Age.  There’s still some of this rock showing on the Acasta River in Canada.  It doesn’t look like much.  It is 4.2 billon years old.  And I can touch it with my fingertips.

 

That’s beyond cool.

 

Blade Show Day 3

There’s a few customers with energy and the counter people are doing the best they can, but it’s day 3 of the Blade Show.  When I’m done I simply walk out the door.  The vendors have to start packing up at 3:01 and it takes a while.  I expect some will be there at 6 tonight.  The life of a traveling sales staff isn’t easy.

I stopped by one of my favorite manufacturers, Shadow Tech.  They have creative new ideas.  Yes, I know I said the Blade Show is row after row of sameness.  But there are innovations.  ST has a small fixed blade neck knife with replacement blades.  No, not replaceable in terms of sharpness, but in terms of blade design.  I got a blade that reminds me of a sharpened eagle claw.  But if I decide I need a different blade, I can purchase one for an amount less than the knife (prices are still being figured out).  The blade is held in place by four Allen screws and some internal geometry.  This is a very clever idea.  The blades are S30V and are about an inch and a quarter long.

I stopped off to talk with Mickey Yurco.  Mickey has some of the most interesting ideas on blades and how to carry.  Boker Knife is picking up a second of his designs and I believe they will be using Ultclips.  These are metal spring clip that can anchor a knife sheath inside your pocket.  It’s very clever design.  You can carry an IWB holster or knife sheath without having a belt by clipping a Ulticlip to the fabric of your pants.  Great for women who often go beltless.  I think you’ll see a lot of these in the future.

I never wanted a Pro-Tech Godson.  It seemed too small, a derivative of the classic Godfather auto.  That all changed with the Godson Steampunk.  The copper steampunk art work is designed by Bruce Shaw.  The copper artwork looks great set into the anodized black body of the knife.   ProTech made just 200 of these you better hurry if you need or just want one!

I took a few moments and mounted the glass breaker and seat belt cutter I bought yesterday in my car.  It looks good and we didn’t even notice it driving.  I don’t think I’ll ever need it (I hope), but that’s what I say about concealed carry.  If I need it, I’ll have it in place.

I picked up a few items I need for turning my Spyderco Mule into a working knife.  Jantz is one of the places to go for just about anything you need to make knives.  We’ll see what happens.

Speaking of Spyderco, well, there’s just too much to talk about.  Joyce is always generous to a fault, so I always get some help there.  I am astonished at the interesting designs they are willing to take a chance on.  I’ll have a separate column on them.

I also stopped at Case Knife.  They are making more tactical looking knives and have several collaborations going on.  The Winkler fixed blade they have is sweet.  They are also introducing an assisted opener.

Let me just go off on a tangent.  Quality costs.  So does performance.  If you want a knife that will last 3 years and then needs to be thrown away, you can find them.  Many of us can’t use the full potential of the knives we buy and they become portable temporary collections.  The knife takes a little wear and ends up in rusty tackle box or under a car seat forgotten about.  Cheap knives are everywhere.

If you want performance and an innovative design, expect to pay.  You’ll find knife makers who have a passion for knives.  They want to make the best knife they can for the price they ask.  Joe Caswell is one.  He wants to make the best knife he can.  I found South African Arno Bernard cutting out life size paper models of two folding knives he wants to work on.  He’ll use those models to buy supplies to make prototypes.  Like his fixed blades they will not be inexpensive, but the quality will be there.  He too has a passion for knives.

And it isn’t just designers.  Look at Shadow Tech and Spyderco as just two companies.  They are constantly pushing designs and quality.  They use good steels and constantly strive for improvement.  And it isn’t just US manufacturers.  The Chinese company, WE, does both consignment manufacturing as well as manufacturing under their name.  Look at their knives.  The quality speaks to you.  Every year I see improvement.  They may have trouble with English (they speak English better than I could ever learn Mandarin) but you can see the passion for knives.

Counterfeits remain a problem.  Counterfeit knives, tools, bolts and even food all come into the country and displace quality products because of greed.  If you’re buying solely on price and not concerned about quality and performance, you’re part of the problem.  I’d like to say I hope your sex organs shrivel up and fall off, but I decided it would be better if your little finger died and broke away.  At least then we could recognize you.  There always a chance your sex organs will follow suit.


Read Day 1

Read Day 2