Greetings, beer lovers! Happy Friday, and yes, ‘tis chingchongchinaman once again as your FNBB guest blogger tonight. This is set to continue for the next 2 FNBB’s, so brace yourself :) . Resuming, after a fashion, the theme of social distancing and related beer names started last week, 3CM the loser e-travels from Georgia to closer to home, on various levels besides geography, namely New Jersey. He still remains with “last year’s news”, though, to keep his loser credentials fully burnished. The specific NJ microbrewery here is Untied Brewing Company of New Providence, NJ, and two particular Untied Brewing Company beers:
‘Data Determines Dates’
‘Knucklehead Hall of Fame’
Untied Brewing took inspiration for these titles from NJ Governor Phil Murphy, per two articles by Jeremy Schneider from the NJ.com media page. From the earlier article on 7/30/2020, Schneider opened his article thus:
‘For months now, New Jerseyans have heard Gov. Phil Murphy repeat the phrase “data determines dates” regarding the state’s coronavirus response….
‘Matthew Green, the brewery’s president, said the name came to them as they watched Murphy’s daily press briefings, in hopes of getting news about when they’d be able to reopen full-time — the phrase indicates that COVID-19 data such as transmission rate and hospitalization trends will determine when restrictions will loosen throughout the state.”
Naturally, of course, Murphy is a Democrat :) . The politics of Matthew Green: well, there I won’t presume to infer. However, in terms of a name for a beer, the light bulb clearly went off for Green:
“We kept hearing it and hearing it, and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a pretty good beer name. It kind of fits for what we do because our entire processes is around data and taking measurements and determining when beer is made and finished, and we went with it.”
In terms of the nitty-gritty of the brew itself, Untied Brewing’s own beer menu states:
“IPA - New England
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: 29
Brewed with El Dorado, Amarillo, Columbus, Azacca, and Mosaic providing notes of Tangerine, Lemon, Melon, Mango, and Apricot with a slight dankness.”
Green spoke to Schneider on the positive (of course) feedback on “Data Determines Dates”:
“The feedback on the beer itself has been awesome, it’s probably one of the best beers we’ve made. Talking to customers, we casually ask them if they know what the name comes from. Some people do, some people don’t, so it’s an interesting conversation starter. And to some extent, it helps to raise awareness to everything that’s going on.”
It’s obviously impossible to quantify precisely whether such discussion about the beer’s name helps keep some people safer and observing safe practices on masks and social distancing. But the idea certainly doesn’t hurt, as long as more and more people learn that facts, not wishful thinking and violent protests against facts, should drive re-opening schedules and plans.
When it comes to COVIDiots, however, Governor Murphy has another catchphrase for such people, as this 8/19/2020 article from Schneider, again through NJ.com, reports:
‘Murphy has been calling people that disobey social distancing guidelines during the coronavirus pandemic “knuckleheads” for months. If you do something especially dangerous — say, attend a house party that contributes to the spread of coronavirus — you may even be nominated for Murphy’s Knucklehead Hall of Fame.’
Green again saw a good phrase when he heard it:
“I kind of liked that phrase. In hindsight everyone can play Monday morning quarterback, in hindsight we’ve made our own bad choices.”
Schneider reports that Green considered a mint chocolate chip beer (!?) as one of Untied Brewing’s own “knucklehead” decisions (in the general sense, not the pandemic-inspired Murphy sense).
On Knucklehead Hall of Fame, this Beer Advocate page presumably quotes Untied Brewing’s own marketing collateral:
“This beer is an Imperial NE Style IPA with Citra, Ekuanot, Columbus, and El Dorado in the whirlpool then dry hopped multiple times with Galaxy, Strata, Motueka, and Lupulin Citra providing notes of citrus, tropical fruit, apricot, passion fruit, lime, and stone fruits and has a slight dankness going on in the background.”
From a look at Untied Brewing’s current beer menu, it’s interesting to see that Data Determines Dates is on the roster, but Knucklehead Hall of Fame isn’t. One wonders if the latter name perhaps was a bit too provocative, or maybe it hasn’t sold quite as well regardless of its name. But I have no data (ahem) either way. However, in the August article, Schneider notes that Gov. Murphy got word about the earlier brew:
“Murphy reached out to the brewery after hearing about Data Determines Dates, giving them his stamp of approval. He previously tried the brewery’s other offerings at The Governor’s Craft Beer Event at Drumthwacket last October.”
According to Green:
“He really liked the name and kind of gave us his support and two thumbs up. Hopefully, when the world improves and you can get out and about more, he can come out and visit or maybe have some of some of the beer again, that’d be wonderful.”
Of course, Gov. Murphy would like the name :) . But more seriously, his communication to Untied Brewing was classy, a state governor showing his support for a local business. As well, said local business indicated how serious they are in encouraging vaccination, along with multiple other NJ microbreweries, in the statewide “Shot and a Beer” program. From NJ’s official COVID-19 page, one can read about this recently concluded campaign as follows:
“In partnership with the Brewer's Guild of New Jersey, the Governor's Office and the Department of Health have launched the "Shot and a Beer" program to encourage eligible New Jerseyans ages 21 and over to get vaccinated.
Any New Jerseyan who gets their first vaccine dose in the month of May and takes their vaccination card to a participating brewery as proof of vaccination will receive a free beer, courtesy of the participating brewery. This program will end on May 31st, 2021.”
Attentive readers will note how this FNBB diary title tweaks the phrase ever so slightly, in acknowledgement of the fact that the word “data” is plural, the plural of “datum”. However, Governor Murphy’s statement is certainly valid. A modest grammar error doesn’t invalidate it.
The posting of this diary tonight makes for fortuitous timing, since today was the scheduled reopening date for NJ, as indicated on the NYT’s running tracker of state re-openings, where:
* May 28: Gov. Murphy lifted the statewide mask mandate
* June 4: indoor gathering limits in NJ were lifted, as well as the 30% capacity limit on stadiums
Other data that determined dates for Gov. Murphy’s actions included the following, from neighboring states, again per the NYT tracker:
* NY: many %-based capacity restrictions were lifted on May 19. NYC culturally opened up quite a bit on Memorial Day weekend, per this May 31 NYT article from Julia Jacobs.
* PA: May 31 saw the end of remaining restrictions on businesses and social gatherings.
These two states obviously bookend / sandwich / (choose your own verb metaphor) NJ. Furthermore, perhaps the biggest datum for Gov. Murphy is that he is running for re-election this fall. Tracey Tully noted in the NYT back on May 24:
“Mr. Murphy’s decision to relax the rules in time for Memorial Day weekend follows the lead of governors in most other states after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance that vaccinated people could choose to go maskless, indoors and outdoors, in most situations.
But it also comes just a week after Mr. Murphy, a Democrat running for re-election, offered a full-throated defense of his decision to retain the state’s yearlong indoor mask mandate until more people were vaccinated.”
Tully quotes Gov. Murphy as acknowledging the reality of his neighbor states’ actions:
“If you’re the only state in the entire neighborhood, and everybody else is doing something differently, at a certain point it puts a significant amount of pressure — pressure on our business community.”
So it goes. Hopefully NJ voters will see fit to re-elect Gov. Murphy, as the one thing that this country does not need is more Republican governors.
3CM clearly didn’t nab any of the United Brewing Company beers for himself for this edition, but my offering tonight is geographically close-ish. As shown in the picture at the top of this diary, it’s a Live Your Best Life from Ten7 Brewing, described as using “Floor-Malted Bohemian Pilsner malt”, and “dry-hopped with Galaxy and Wai-iti hops”. I don’t have the beer detail knowledge to know what these choices would do to the overall flavor and texture. But in of itself, this is a good, solid pilsner, with the tiniest tinge of bitterness in the aftertaste to give it a bit of a kick — or a jab :) .
With that, time to turn the floor over to you folks. What are you drinking tonight? Anyone brewing their own?