Rambles: Hermitage Calypso Single Hop IPA, Grace Under Pressure, and the Latest with Lance

The latest news bits with a more autistic emphasis than times past.......

The folks at Hermitage Brewing have once again delved into the endless world of hops with another single hop IPA release, Calypso.  The name Calypso evokes gentle Caribbean breezes, but this hop packs a wallop of a distinctly different character.  It's resiny, peppery and there's this undertone of some type of fruit.   I think it's cherry even if my wife doesn't think so.  And I enjoyed just inhaling of those wonderfully fresh piney aromas. It's decidedly unlike any hop I've ever tasted although Calypso hops have been used commercially before, including Hanger 24's excellent Spring Beer and a few beers from Stone Brewing, including their 16th Anniversary IPA.  One of the best things about Hermitage's single hop IPA series is that each beer is its own unique tasty surprise.

Grace, Under Pressure: A Girl with Asperger’s and Her Marathon Mom is a new book by international journalist and runner Sophie Walker chronicles the highs and lows of raising a child with Asperger’s Syndrome and the physical challenge of training for a marathon.  As the father of an autistic child, I've found running has helped find the strength and patience to raise my son, so can relate to this message.  In addition to her book, Sophie Walker keeps a blog of her experiences, and you can also watch her in this interview.

Like Sophie Walker, you can fight autism by pushing your body and mind to their ultimate limits while challenging yourself in a marathon.  Or you fight autism by simply going to a bunch of breweries.  But of course, for Lance Rice, the simple act of visiting a brewery is a lot like running a marathon.  Yes, I've mentioned Lance's Brewery Tour many times, but it's still remarkable how a simple thing like beer has helped Lance engage with the world in ways that didn't seem possible. The latest on the inspiring journey of Lance who travels to breweries who accept him on his own autistic terms is here.

The Session #76 : Beer Autism

For this month's Session, Glen Humphries at Beer is Your Friend asks to write about beer compulsion.

Lance Rice knows a lot about beer.  He's collected hundreds of beer cans over the last 40 years, and can tell you all about each one of them.   He knows the history of most breweries in the United States, and figures out the malts and hops in a beer after just a few sips.

Remind you of anyone?

Lance has autism.  While estimates suggest as many as 1 in 110 people are currently born with autism, we don't know much about the condition.  We know they have trouble with communication and are uncomfortable in social situations.   Like many with autism, Lance has battled several phobias in his life.  Scientists think autism makes it difficult to control and organize sensory input.   A quiet, well lit room with a few people chatting away is transformed into a raging mosh pit full of strobe lights within the mind of an autistic.  It's thought that to maintain control of their turbulent surroundings, people with autism focus intensely on familiar and comfortable things to find order in their chaotic life.  For Lance, when it's about beer, he's in his comfort zone.  Know someone like that?

Lance is the subject of a movie and book project called "Lance's Brewery Tour" currently seeking funding on Kickstarter.  Many breweries have thrown open their doors to allow Lance the opportunity to see the breweries he could only talk about.   This support seems to come because the project celebrates Lance's autism rather than pities him for it .  As the father of an autistic child, it's a story I support and contributed to on Kickstarter.  And yes, I am writing this to encourage others to back this project if they feel Lance's story deserves a wide audience.

All of us beer geeks have a compulsion at some level with beer.  Perhaps there is a little autism in all of us.

Update:  Yay!  Today, Lance's Brewery Tour was fully funded!

Aaron and Lance Rice discussing their project
at Great Lakes Brewing Company

 

"Lance's Brewery Tour" Get's a Second Chance on Kickstarter

Lance is getting a second chance.



Aaron and Lance Rice answer questions about
their upcoming film at Great Lakes Brewing
(Photo from "Lances Brewery Tour")

Lance Rice has an unusual gift.  He pick out one can among the thousands he's collected in the past forty years and chances are, he can tell you exact date he found the can and everything about the day he found it.  Mention a brewery, and it's a good bet Lance can recite its entire history.  Give Lance a beer, and after a few sips, he can tell you what ingredients were used in the beer, and how it was brewed, despite  never took any Beer Judging or Cicerone exams. 

Lance has autism.

Aaron Rice, Lance's nephew embarked on a Kickstarter campaign to create a film about Lance's talents and give him the opportunity to visit the breweries he has long talked about.   Aaron calls his yet to be produced film "Lance's Brewery Tour".  In his first attempt with Kickstarter, Aaron attempted to raise an audacious sum of $130,000 but fell well short of this goal.  Never the less, his  project got the attention of news outlets as diversion as MAXIM Magazine, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, USA Today,  and Disney's Babble.com.  Several breweries including Miller Coors, Pabst, Yuengling, Great Lakes Brewing Co, Rogue, Pittsburgh Brewing Co, New Holland, New Belgium, Spoetzl Brewery (Shiner), Schlafly, Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) invited Lance to visit their breweries.

Maybe "Lance's Brewery Tour" resonated with so many people is because it viewed Lance's autism something to be celebrated rather than pitied.  It's something I've come to terms with raising my autistic son Brandon.  At first, autism seemed like some demon to be exorcised from my son's brain.  While helping Brandon overcome his mental deficits is rewarding, over time I learned loving my son meant loving autism.

Make no mistake, Lance's autism isn't a blessing.  Simply talking to someone else is a challenge for Lance.  He's battled many phobias in his life.  Loud, bustling places like breweries make him extremely uncomfortable.  Autism is thought to disrupt the brains ability to manage sensory information.  Thus, quiet rooms with a few people chatting away are transformed into a chaotic, crowded places full of loud noises and strobe lights in the mind of the autistic.   Lance may find a certain structure and order by focusing focusing on the endless variations within the world of beer to reach a comfort level he rarely finds elsewhere.

Perhaps the most extraordinary development in this film is that Lance is beginning to open up to world that's become more accepting of him.  As Aaron Rice describes on the project's website, "Lance has autism and has always struggled with social anxiety. When Lance's Brewery Tour began people started calling Lance an inspiration, a hero and a genius and something miraculous happened - for the first time in 55 years Lance opened up to world! It's amazing what can happen when we choose to see people for their beauty and not their limitations."

Encouraged by the initial response, Aaron relaunched a new Kickstarter effort for his film with the more modest goal of raising $15,000 for the film.   If all goes well, Lance will start visiting the breweries that were mere abstractions in his mind this June 15th.    I've pledged my support for Lance's Brewery Tour and hope you'll agree that Lance's story needs to be told and support this project too.