Hoisting a few with Will Shakespeare this evening. Ask us anything.

[Aristus]

Celebrating the end of a busy workday, and plotting this weekend's edition of WSTFTD.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. How nice, my dear Aristus...

What are the two of you drinking tonight?

[Aristus]

2. Ale for the both of us.

It's a work-night.

Will says "Hail and well-met".

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Ale is good stuff; I prefer it to beer.

Cheers!

to you both!

[Aristus]

4. I agree.

Much more flavorful...

[auntAgonist]

9. I think you mean you prefer it to Lager? Ale is beer. n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. I didn't know that they were the same.

I knew a couple of guys back in college who were making what they called ale, and it had a richer flavor than any beer I'd had up till then.



I've never had Lager as far as I know...

[auntAgonist]

11. The whole thing is very interesting...

The fundamental difference between the two is simply that ales are fermented with a different group of yeasts than lagers.

Ale yeasts ferment at warmer temperatures than do lager yeasts. Ales are sometimes referred to as top fermented beers, as ale yeasts tend to locate at the top of the fermenter during fermentation, while lagers are referred to as bottom-fermenting by the same logic.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. Wow, you're pretty knowledgable about this stuff!

I had no idea!

Very cool, and thank you for sharing these facts.

[auntAgonist]

13. anytime. I had / have brothers in law who make some excellent beers and wines.

My Dad and Uncle used to love their Guiness and "wee goldies"

I'm not much of a drinker though.

Guiness and a shot of good whiskey.

[Paulie]

5. Was it Brutus in the library with the candle stick?

[Aristus]

7. No. It was Brutus in the Theatre of Pompey with the dagger.

Don' t you read history? Or Shakespeare?

[zbdent]

6. where'd you dig that guy up?

[Aristus]

8. No place. He never died.

When Ben Jonson said that Shakespeare was not of an age, but for all time, he wasn't kidding.

There's nothing in his tomb but dust; says so right on the headstone.

It also explicitly prohibits digging up the contents...

[dogknob]

14. OK, hotshot. Answer me this then...

What is this quintessance of dust?

[Aristus]

15. That picture? That's the Sombrero Galaxy.

The more abstract quintessence? An intangible "fifth element" ( which is what quintessence means) over and above earth, air, fire, and water, that constitutes the primary life-giving factor.