Thinking about salt


"Quite a lot of the problems in society arise from our inability to see that the Laffer curve (I prefer to call it the 'salt curve') applies to many things. Knowledge is good, so more knowledge must be better. As we have seen this is not necessarily so, because it can stifle originality in research. Criticism is good, so more criticism must be better. There comes a point when self-indulgent negativity becomes an end to itself".

Professor Edward de Bono, "I am Right, You are Wrong"


"When a brewer says, ‘This has more hops in it than anything you’ve had in your life—are you man enough to drink it?,’ it’s sort of like a chef saying, ‘This stew has more salt in it than anything you’ve ever had—are you man enough to eat it?’"

Garrett Oliver, 'A Better Brew', New Yorker



4 comments:

  1. It must be Garrett's party piece that. He said it when he was in Manchester when I was there.

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  2. He only says that because his own beers are so bloody dull.

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  3. He says it often, but this is the only version I've seen in 'print'.

    And, Gazza... *yawn*

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  4. i think of the 'more hoppy than hops' as being more akin to 'spiciest curry/chilli' than saltiest stew... insofar as hops are an integral part of the flavour of almost all beers, certain brewers just twist the balance. salt is not there to add flavour, merely to enhance the other flavours (supposedly. never seen the need to add it myself... whereas a beer without hops or at least a substitute would be fecking horrible).

    There probably is such a thing as too much hop, but I've not found it...

    not sure I'd say all Brooklyn beers are dull, but most are rather safe...

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