Pucker Up: Sour Beer
Author Brent Zundel
By Brent Zundel
For the MSU Exponent
January 31, 2013
How would you react if, instead of adding carefully cultivated yeast strains (or formaldehyde in the case of PBR), your favorite brewery let wild yeast and bacteria spontaneously ferment your beer? Could you stomach the distinctively sour taste?
A row of lambics for sale at Joe’s Parkway.
If you could — or if you just want a beery, new adventure — pick up a lambic beer at a local grocery store. Unlike the traditional ales and lagers that get us through the week, lambics rely on spontaneous fermentation from wild yeast and bacteria. Typically, the beer is brewed with a 70:30 percent ratio of barley to wheat. Read More…
Student Voting Rights Threatened in 2013 Montana Legislature
By Brent Zundel
For the MSU Exponent
January 15, 2013
Students’ voting rights are again under fire as the 63rd Montana Legislature considers a number of bills that would disproportionately disenfranchise some of the most neglected segments of society.
In addition to undercutting the ability of many senior citizens, Native Americans and low-income Montanans — groups that are already especially vulnerable — to vote, the rights of students are also threatened.
This attitude toward students is, unfortunately, nothing new. Read More…
Wolves, Bison and Beer: What to Watch for in the 2013 Montana Legislature
By Brent Zundel
For the MSU Exponent
January 24, 2013
Beneath the specter of a sluggish economy, the Republican-controlled 63rd Montana Legislature convened Monday, Jan. 7, under the watchful eye of newly elected Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock.
The Exponent is covering many important issues in this week’s edition, but I’d like to highlight some issues that, though they may fly under the radar of the university’s steady “fund us!” drumbeat, will also impact students.
Public lands and wildlife policy
The 2011 session considered a record 110 bills related to fish, wildlife and land issues. At best, most of these were simply misguided, but some would have devastated central aspects of what it means to be a Montanan. Read More…
Bozone Buzz Kill Java Stout
Author Brent Zundel
By Brent Zundel and Matt Kennedy
For the MSU Exponent
January 24, 2013
When Brewponent writers Brent and Matt arrived unannounced at the Bozeman Brewing Company at the crack of noon one day over Christmas break, we found the building, as near as we could tell, completely deserted, even after dutifully pounding on the front and back doors.
Business Manager Tucker Kalberg had previously invited us to stop by sometime after 9 a.m. — there should be someone there to show us around, he said.
When we showed up at 2, their official opening time, the tap room was occupied by just a few early-birds, a bartender, the owner Todd Scott, and Kalberg, walking around with a smile and still-damp ski gear draped over his frame. “We enjoy working as much as we enjoy playing,” he explained.
The reason for the Brewponent’s visit to the Bozone this break was one of their most popular seasonal beers: the Buzz Kill Java Stout. Coffee beer with a dash of local flare is a serendipitous combination of the alternating bartender and barista content of this column. Read More…
‘Engineering Plastics’ Social Group Overthrown
By Brent Zundel
For the MSU Exponent
January 24, 2013
Note: This column originally appeared as part of the Exponent’s Sugarbeet page, a satirical biweekly feature that attempts to stimulate discussion of critical community issues.
The Engineering Plastics plot their next lunch room brawl at the Union Market. From left to right, Drs. Otto Stein, Joel Cahoon, Dan VanLuchene, and Dan Miller. Illustration by Pat Hessman, MSU Exponent
In a shot heard ‘round Cobleigh Hall, a mostly peaceful coup d’état has toppled a tight-knit social group of three civil engineering professors known colloquially as the “Engineering Plastics.”
Dr. Dan VanLuchene, a structures professor, orchestrated the apparently successful coup, according to sources within the College of Engineering Dean’s Office.
The three toppled professors were Drs. Joel Cahoon, Otto Stein and Dan Miller. According to sources, the three professors had overseen a reign of terror since Miller was hired in fall 2008 and regularly ate lunch together in the Union Market. Read More…
Author
Mountain Solitaire Author Brent Zundel
MOUNTAIN SOLITAIRE 