thespeakpodcast

Oh crap, we’re a week late posting this episode. To make it up to you though, we’re going three stouts deep in this episode. Also, we bring back sports questions for Adam. To kick things off we sample Franken gloop from Books &Brews . It’s a triple chocolate stout, aged in a rye wheat whiskey barrel. It’s part of their Monster Reserve Series. Keeping it local, we then move to Deer Creek Brewery 's Black Mystic Java Stout. Editor’s note: This was last year’s Black Mystic. The year’s release is more “robust.” And to wind things down a bit, we venture out of state to discuss, Prairie Artisan Ales : No Chill Coffee Milk Stout. Oh, and if anyone knows and Army recruiter, Adam is “on tape” indicating he wants to enlist. Send us an email! * Photo Credit: Alyssa B (abatula on untappd)

Here's the first thing to know about cigar shapes and sizes: there is no real standard. A robusto from one company is likely as not to be longer and fatter than one from another. Add to that the fact that there are so many sizes to choose from; coronas, churchills, diademas, presidentes, gordos, perfectos, toros, panatellas, lanceros... Some companies forgo traditional naming conventions all together, making up their own names to further muddy the waters. To sift through all this, first we need to learn how cigar size is measured. Length is easy: it is simply measured in inches. Width, called ring gauge, is a little trickier, as it is measured in 64ths of an inch. For example, the "standard" size of a robusto cigar is expressed as 5 x 50. That means that it's 5 inches long, with a ring gauge of 50/64th of an inch. Understanding that, we can get into specifics of size and shape a bit more. From the 10,000 foot view, cigars are separated into two categories:...