In September my wife treated me to a Saturday course in brewing beer offered by Trumer Pils in Obertrum am See (Austria), it's about 30-minutes by bus from Salzburg.
The Creativ Braueri is located in the cellar of the Gasthaus Restaurant in Obertrum am See. The idea is a small group of people spend the day brewing about one keg worth of beer. The day is held in German (probably a group could arrange a tour in English, but I am not sure). They brew beer about 100 days a year, mostly tour groups and company events; we had to book well in advance for our day.
We started with a recipe prepared by our Braumeister and measured the ingredients carefully, placing them in the warm water and cooking the mixture for a couple hours.
While the mixture cooked our Braumeister talked to us about the process of brewing beer and the importance of small local breweries. We walked around in the Gasthaus - a huge building with restaurant, banquet rooms, beer garden (naturally!) and huge kitchen. We visited the beer library and sampled a few of the unique beers (e.g. one made with coffee). During this time we monitored the cooking beer and stirred the mixture every now and then.
At about noon lunch was served. A hearty portion of Schweinsbraten (roast pork) with knodel and kraut. Yum. Washed down with plenty of Trum beer: Pils, Marzen or Weissbier ... who knew that Trum made so many varieties (only the Pils is 'exported' outside of the region to the rest of Austria). It was an open bar all day, you served yourself.
Next we added the hops pellets, stirred, and waited a while before filtering the mixture. See the photos, lifting the settled mash out of the pot was really hard. Next the 'brew' was transferred to the aging tank where the yeast was added. The beer would then age for a couple of weeks before being consumed at a Gasthaus in Obertrum that serves the Creativ Brauerei beer.
At this point we had our graduation ceremony where we each received a diploma and souvenir glass. Next we had a tour of the Brewery and had a chance to ask questions about Trumer Pils' unique brewing process.
I participated in an interesting "holiday" last weekend. I went to Heathrow Airport to attend a class given by the School of Life on Heathrow Airport. The class was led by one of my favorite authors, Alain de Botton (How Proust can change your life, Status envy, The art of travel, ... ). In the class, we looked at airports from several different perspectives, most of them new to me.
We took a walk around the new Terminal 5 (T5 to Heathrow cognoscenti) with Stephen Barratt, one of the architects involved in the terminal's design from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. He explained how complex airports are to design, particularly on very congested sites like T5. The firm also helped design Madrid's new terminal, which was built on a totally unconstrained site ... the differences are quite extraordinary.
We talked about airline food while eating sandwiches from Gate Gourmet served to first class passengers ... unfortunately they did not provide any Dom Perignon to wash them down. We talked about eating on planes, why? our best experiences? our worst experiences? websites dedicated to food on planes (why not?) ...
Next we had a presentation on airport baggage handling by Edward Quinton, one of the system managers. It was interesting to learn what happens after our bags disappear on that conveyor belt never to be seen again until they arrive on a similar conveyor belt at our destination (hopefully). Quinton also gave us practical advice on how not to lose our bags (e.g. always put your name inside the bag too!).
We went out to visit some of the people who watch planes land and take off. We talked with Craig, a veteran plane-spotter, to learn what is involved and why they do it. They keep track of actual plane numbers, underlining the ones they have seen in books that list all the planes owned by all the airlines. It was a peek inside a unique society.
We learned about the history of Heathrow from Allan Gallup, author of ‘Time Flies: Heathrow at 60’. Then we heard from a representative of Plane Stupid, a group opposed to expansion of Heathrow. The airport owners (BAA) want to build a third runway at Heathrow. Plane Stupid opposes the runway on the grounds that our society needs to fly less. Following the presentation we separated into four groups and role-played different positions regarding construction of the new runway (airport owner, member of Parliament, local citizen, and anti airport activist).
For dinner we went to an Indian restaurant frequented by airport workers, although it didn't really feel connected to the airport. The taxi ride back to our hotel was interesting, we were able to see the new T5 lit up in the night ... cool and impressive. We stayed overnight in the Sofitel luxury hotel at T5. The place was a bit spooky, so quiet and calm, yet a two-minute walk from the airport. Our 'class' met in one of the deserted hotel bars.
On Sunday we discussed how travel can change one's perspective and give you a chance to think about your life. Alain led the discussion that expanded on some aspects of his Art of Travel book. We talked about Edward Hopper's travel paintings and the feelings they generate.
Then we did a couple of exercises, first, observing people and creating short plays around them. After that we completed an 'emotional audit' of T5. That consisted of walking around looking at people and trying to assess their emotions. We marked them on a map and discussed what we saw.
In between these exercises visual artist Dryden Goodwin showed several films he made around the idea of airports. My favorite showed quick images of planes passing directly overhead (at low altitude) ... one was of a Concorde ... so different from all the others.
On Sunday afternoon we discussed airport security with Lee James, a retired security officer and had a presentation from Rev Pascale Ryan, the airport Chaplin. Both quite interesting in the sense that these are people who you never really get to talk with in your normal trip to the airport. Our holiday ended with a presentation by writer and performer Julian Fox on the connecting bridge between the Sofitel and the T5 parking garage. We sat on the floor and laughed at his stream of consciousness descriptions of trips to airports, different cities, and songs. Fox ended with a song he wrote about the architect of a new airport terminal ... it's always been my dream to build such a building ... please don't change it too much in the next 50-years ...
With the sound of Fox's accordion and slightly off-key voice in my head, I headed downstairs to the inter-terminal train on my way to Terminal 2 and back to Vienna.
One of my favorite writers, Malcolm Gladwell, has written a new book called Outliers. It's reviewed in the NY Times Sunday Book Review this week. The review by David Leonhardt is excellent, here's the short version:
Malcolm Gladwell says success depends not only on brains and drive, but on where we come from — and what we do about it.
I especially like that last political bit, how we as a society have neglected to give young people the infrastructure to become successful. The book sounds great. I can't wait to read it.
I have finally found time to upload my music video to YouTube and am waiting for all my fans to download it. It's about high speed rail and why it's better than flying. Sorry about my singing ability, but it is supposed to be funny. Here it is:
There was a very nice article on historic architecture in Buffalo in last Sunday's NY Times. Saving Buffalo's Untold Beauty by Nicolai Ouroussoff described some of the architecture I grew up around and which had a real influence on my life. Omstead's parkways in particular helped show me how to integrate beauty and livability into transport projects.
Another great Buffalo website is: Welcome to Forgotten Buffalo ... they have tours and information on architecture and life in the Queen City of the Great Lakes.
The New York Times has several articles on its Opinion page today about saving the auto companies. One was by Robert Goodman (Have you driven a Bus or Train Lately?). His point is that the auto companies should be forced to start building the type of transport we need for the future. It was interesting to read that Kennedy's Secretary of the Interior, Stuart Udall, talked about the need for such a program in 1972.
By the way, Daniel Sperling is a professor at the University of California Davis, his research on alternative fuels and transport policy is innovative and extremely well done.
Anyway, for me the bottom line should be: no taxpayer support without a clear commitment from the auto companies not to fight improvements in auto fuel efficiency, anti pollution laws, etc. and that they begin the process of producing effective and efficient mass transport (trains and buses).
Tyler Brûlé writes one of my favorite columns in the Financial Times Weekend Edition. The column, Fast Lane, is often devoted to transport and travel issues or city liveablity. Brûlé focuses like a laser beam on quality and often presents ideas for improving quality whether it be on an airline, railway or city planning. He is also editor-in-chief for Monocle Magazine and writes for the International Herald Tribune (also weekends).
Brûlé wrote a column for the IHT in June 2007 describing how he and his Monocle colleagues rated cities with the title Urban Manifesto: Factors that make a city great. I think the method they used is quite good and furthermore it provides ideas that could help planners improve their own cities. I also recommend the city summaries developed for the top twenty cities.
The Creativ Braueri is located in the cellar of the Gasthaus Restaurant in Obertrum am See. The idea is a small group of people spend the day brewing about one keg worth of beer. The day is held in German (probably a group could arrange a tour in English, but I am not sure). They brew beer about 100 days a year, mostly tour groups and company events; we had to book well in advance for our day.
