Who admires their country the most?

JUST as some people have a better self-image than others, so it seems do countries. In a poll of 33 nations by the Reputation Institute, a branding consultancy, people were asked to rate their trust, admiration, respect and pride in their country. The results are presented as an index. By this measure, Australians are almost as exuberant about their country as they are about sport, and lead the list. They are followed closely by Canadians. Americans, normally a patriotic and positive bunch, are perhaps being affected by the recession. The limited self-regard of Brazilians belies their reputation as a sunny, carefree people, but the Japanese are gloomiest of all.

AFP

N.B. These are not my actual parents.

The Ultimate Uncluttered Tube Map

The big trend is convergence as all these new technologies come together. As these systems start to connect, real time is not fast enough. Companies have to be faster than real time and predict what their customers will do to prevent a detractor from derailing them. When they have the tools, they will be able to predict what their customers are doing.

We just about lost it when we heard Brooklyn Brewery brew master Garrett Oliver was working on a beer made from Benton’s Country Smokehouse bacon, and now it’s a reality. The catch is: You’ll have to pay $350 for a taste of Reinschweinsgebot, as Oliver is calling it. The beer is part of a pairing dinner at Per Se on September 18 at 7 p.m. (the first of its kind there), which will also feature the Manhattan Project, a rye-based beer made with David Wondrich that’s aged in Rittenhouse Rye barrels and flavored with herbs, spices, and cherry so as to echo the taste of a Manhattan. The Manhattan Project is going out to bars in New York and across 21 states this week (it’s currently on tap at Rattle & Hum), and Oliver is quite pleased with it: “It tells me that we got it right that several bartenders I’ve served it to smelled the beer and just burst out laughing.” Since he’s also pleased with the bacon beer, will it too become commercially available?

Unfortunately, the answer is nyet. Brooklyn Brewery made 21 cases of Reinschweinsgebot for special events, which isn’t enough for even limited commercial distribution. And don’t expect it to go wide anytime soon. Oliver tells us that “the technique we used — which comes originally out of the perfume industry — involves transferring an aroma from a fat to a liquid without actually transferring the fat itself. Then to completely remove the fat and have none left in the liquid, it was very tricky.” However, he says he’s open to finding a way to simplify the process so that plebeians can one day enjoy bacon beer, too. Fingers crossed.

 

$350 seems a bit steep