Heart Surfer

An odd, yet interesting stencil I found on my recent trip to San Francisco.  To me, it looks like a lady sky surfing.  Someone else said it was a lady standing in her own shadow.  What do you think it is?..

Beer Testing - Round 4

Going for 4 wins in a row, Harbin Beer's next challenger is Yanjing Beer.

Defending Champ

Name: Harbin Beer

Origin: Harbin, China

Alcohol: 3.6%

Price: USD0.40/can USD0.11/100mL

Challenger

Name: Yanjing Beer

Origin: Beijing, China

Alcohol: 2.8%

Price: USD0.41/can USD0.12/100mL

Tasting notes:

Yanjing Beer was the official sponsor of the Beijing Olympics, and had the tagline, "Inspire the world, taste the dream." Well, it lived up to half of the slogan, because it was pretty much a nightmare. Really fizzy and no taste. Both Mike and I gave it a 4/10.

Harbin Beer, with a score of 5.5/10, wins decisively and is now 4-0. How long can this middle-of-the-road beer continue this winning streak?..

New Kicks

One of my boys over at Nike hooked me up with some new kicks: Dunk Low Premium SB - Space Tiger (Randy Colvin).  Based on his skateboard, it features a star pattern on the toe box and side panels, and a tiger print on the tongue, heel tab, and insole.

Beer Testing - Round 3

Now a 2-time winner, the next challenger for Harbin Beer was Suntory Ice.

Defending Champ

Name: Harbin Beer

Origin: Harbin, China

Alcohol: 3.6%

Price: USD0.40/can USD0.11/100mL

Challenger

Name: Suntory Ice

Origin: Shanghai, China

Alcohol: 3.1%

Price: USD0.42/can USD0.12/100mL

Tasting notes:

The special selling point of Suntory Ice is that it is brewed with "pure natural mineral water". Well, it sure tasted like water alright. The worst so far. I gave it a 4/10. Mike gave it a 3.5/10. Final score: 3.75/10.

An easy victory for Harbin Beer, with a score of 5.5/10.

Dancing Guy

For those of you who love It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia as much as I do, this is for you.  If you've never seen the show before, you'll probably be wondering, "What the hell is this?"  But I'll bet you won't be able to turn away..

Beer Testing - Round 2

With Harbin Beer winning the inaugural challenge, next we put it up against another Blue Diamond Beer.

Defending Champ

Name: Harbin Beer

Origin: Harbin, China

Alcohol: 3.6%

Price: USD0.40/can USD0.11/100mL

Challenger

Name: Blue Diamond

Origin: Beijing, China

Alcohol: 3.7%

Price: USD0.34/can USD0.10/100mL

Tasting notes:

This Blue Diamond is slightly different than the previous one in that this one is not "Refine". So we were expecting it to come out a little tougher, perhaps a little rougher around the edges, and with a bit more bite. However, it was just as unremarkable. Its slogan is "For all seasons and all people." Now, that's a nice lofty goal, but in my experience, whenever you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody. This was no exception. It got a 5/10.

So with a score of 5.5/10, Harbin Beer managed to edge out the Blue Diamond to defend it's title.

Fast Track

Sorry, this is a geeky guy post, but if you ever wanted to know how fast 431km/h looks like, ride Shanghai's airport express train, or watch this video.  Note that that is a freeway alongside the train, so although most of the vehicles look like they're barely moving, they are all traveling at over 100km/h.

Beer Testing - Round 1

If you've spent any amount of time with me at all, you will know 2 things about me:

1. I like beer.

2. I like trying new things.

Well, the math is simple. You put 1 + 2 together, and it equals: I like trying new beer.

However, it's always been difficult to really keep track of what beers I've tried and what each one tasted like. So I've decided to start keeping an informal record of all the beers I've been able to sample.

I figure I will make it a head to head elimination competition to see what will ultimately become my favourite beer. Now, I know right off the bat, there are some problems with this, as you might ask, "How can you compare an ale to a lager? Or a malt liquor to a wheat beer?" Well, admittedly, you can't really. But to keep things simple, this rating system is based purely on my personal tastes and really it comes down to the question, "Would I drink it again if I had a choice?"

I should state up front, my preference is for light, easy drinking ales, that go down smooth and have minimal aftertaste. I will try to start with the cheapest beers and work my way up. I will also try to have guest judges alongside me when possible, in order to average out the scores.

Maybe later as I get more beers into the competition, I will figure out a way to categorize. But for now, it's just straight up, no holds barred, one on one action, kind of like UFC in the old days, when you'd have a sumo wrestler vs. a boxer.

So with all that said, here are the first 2 contenders:

1.

Name: Blue Diamond Refine Beer

Origin: Beijing, China

Alcohol: 3.7%

Price: USD0.41/can USD0.12/100mL

2.

Name: Harbin Beer

Origin: Harbin, China

Alcohol: 3.6%

Price: USD0.40/can USD0.11/100mL

Tasting notes:

The Blue Diamond was pretty bland. On the upside, however, it was light and had no aftertaste, so theoretically, you could easily drink a lot of this. However, it got pretty boring after about half a can. At this inaugural testing, I had the honour of having my long time buddy Mike D. (sorry, no, not the one of the Beastie Boys fame), travel all the way out from Toronto to take part. I rated this a 4.5/10. He gave it a 5/10. Final score: 4.75/10.

The Harbin, a subsidiary of Budweiser, was pretty much the same, but with perhaps just slightly more taste. So both Mike and myself gave it a 5.5/10.

Winner, by unanimous decision: Harbin Beer.

Corny

I was recently at the supermarket, looking for something to quench my thirst, when I came across this:

I was curious - what would a corn drink taste like?  The misspelling of "CORN" should have tipped me off that there was something not quite right about this, yet I still went ahead and bought it.

Would it taste light and sweet like fresh-picked summer corn?  Or would it be slightly thick and creamy like creamed corn?  Maybe it would have little kernels of crunchy corn in there that were a flavour burst of corn goodness when you bit into them?

It was none of those things.

It tasted like you know when you buy a regular can of corn, there's water in the can that you have to drain out?  Well yep, that's basically what I was drinking..

My Apartment

For those of you interested, here's where I spend most of my free time these days.

House of Barbie

Barbie is opening it's first in the world, flagship store right here in Shanghai next month.  I was invited to the pre-launch party the other night.  This is a picture of one of the artworks at the event.  Apart from having a real life Ken and Barbie there to take pictures with, it was interesting to see how Barbie is trying to reposition itself to appeal to an older, more hip, urban consumer.  Among other things, the 6 floor store is going to include a spa, a restaurant, and a place where you can actually design outfits and customize your very own Barbie doll.

Living Tree

Just something I shot recently while I was in the U.S.