New Year - New Laws - New Trials 01Jan19

First off, HNY to all. Arcane rules have been withdrawn and now grocery stores can carry real beer. Sure they are still prohibited from carrying real wine or booze, but Costco isn't. I am all for the success of my local liquor store but they need to find access to the more esoteric varieties to progress - I am not for undue protection. To test whether the major labels would dominate the rollout, today I hit the closest Safeway to buy stuff for dinner (the burrata and heirloom salad was yummy) and to check out the beer selection. I was pleased. I scored a strong new entry from Odell, better than the Blue Dream, Can-O-Bliss (yeah, they went there) - it's a MIPA, mountain IPA, and #11 from Luponic Distortion series from Firestone. Both are worthy and the Can-O-Bliss is very good... it mates well with the negative temps and my latest CD ripping project (I found ~100 more discs I'd not yet cut to FLAC) - sheesh.

Over these chilly days I also am trialing Amazon Music Unlimited and Pandora Premium, both offered me 90 day free trials and have increased their bit rate on HD streams to 192Kbps "mp3." These are not lossless as I'd prefer but the catalogs are surely big and as my hearing deteriorates, it may be sufficient. Nah, who'd pay $10-$20/mo to listen beyond the reach?