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In the November 2022 edition of “five for five”, the boys drink and review a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout from Guinness, then discuss five topics in five minutes each.

1. Gabby Giffords and the courage to fight gun violence. What is the “courage” here? Who is going around threatening people who oppose gun violence? None of the things her group are advocating for require any courage at all.

2. Qatar’s World Cup. Why is it in Qatar to begin with? Where are all the woke opposing Qatar’s human rights? And to add insult to injury, two days before the start they reverse their position and decide not to have beer in the stadium.

3. The Paul Pelosi story. In two months we get two weird stories about Paul Pelosi, and in neither case do we get the straight story from the media. What the heck is going on? And why the tyrannical insistence that we believe the first-day version of events, which almost always turn out to be wrong?

4. Candace Owens and The Greatest Lie Ever Sold. Once again, the media isn’t playing it straight with us. It’s entirely possible to believe that the officer murdered George Floyd without turning Floyd into a saint. So many elements of the story have been suppressed in the interest of a BLM narrative.

5. Trump is running for president. Will he make it to the election? Will he dominate the Republican primaries? Will his legal troubles catch up with him? The boys give their opinions and make predictions.

The boys drink and review Glacial Drift, a spiced winter ale, then discuss the controversies surrounding Hunter Biden.

Hunter isn’t really the issue. The question is whether the president of the United States has been compromised by foreign powers. It certainly looks that way. It seems that Joe is under the thumb of China and others.

What about the laptop? In hindsight, the old “this is Russian propaganda” thing seems to have “all the earmarks” of a cover-up, and both the FBI and the legacy media seem complicit.

Now it seems beyond dispute that Hunter used Joe’s political connections to get lucrative deals, and kicked back some of the money to Joe, aka “the big guy.”

The new GOP Congress may investigate it, but will anything come of it? Probably not.

The boys finish out the show with an installment of “Just Not Woke Enough.”

The boys drink and review a 2-year old bottle of Raison D’Extra, then discuss proposals to redraw state boundaries.

They start off with a review of federalism, and the idea that the country is a collection of states, not simply a mass of people, which is why tiny Rhode Island and sparsely populated Montana get as many senators as California.

What happens when residents of a state feel they don’t fit in that state?

The idea is being tested in Oregon, where the conservative, agricultural residents of the majority of the state differ drastically from the urban liberals in Portland. They’d rather join up with Idaho.

A similar thing is going on in Maryland, where the conservative eastern and western ends of the state don’t feel represented by the liberals in Annapolis.

But where does this end? Do county lines need to be redrawn? City lines? Neighborhoods?

The solution is not to keep redrawing lines, but to respect minority rights and making most political issues as local as possible.

In this quick episode, the boys share their favorite Thanksgiving foods and thoughts about this quintessentially American holiday, and reflect on why it’s important to be thankful and grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The boys drink and review Imperialis from Avery Brewing Company, then discuss bail reform.

The point of bail is to make sure that an accused person will appear at his court appearances. If you pay the bail and show up, you get the money back.

Unfortunately, bail has been set too high for many citizens, and they have to go through the ridiculous bail bonds process, which is a complete racket.

This has led some jurisdictions to eliminate cash bail in many cases. It’s part of a larger movement that seeks to dial back police power, redefine crimes, and refuse to prosecute other crimes. Homeless camps are allowed to grow in our major cities. There’s public defecation and urination. It’s a horrible mess.

Bail does need to be reformed, but the liberal solution has been a disaster.

The boys drink and review a fresh hop IPA from Stone Brewing, then discuss common biases in the way we think.

Cognitive biases are examples of ways in which our brains can point us down a non-rational path. But why do we have these biases? Why did they evolve?

Could it be that there are situations where it’s better not to be rational?

The boys discuss as they review the following examples.

• Reactance
• The framing effect
• The availability heuristic
• The sunk cost fallacy
• Groupthink
• Declinism
• Self-serving bias
• The Placebo effect
• In-group bias
• The halo effect
• The curse of knowledge
• Anchoring
• Confirmation bias

It’s good to be aware of these departures from strictly rational thinking, but it’s also good to be aware of why we have them in the first place.

Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review two beers from Springfield Manor Brewery, then discuss the disappointing results of the 2022 midterm elections.

The proverb says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,” and that’s certainly the case here.

What in the world happened to the Red Wave?

The modern Democratic Party has gone so far past the insane label that it’s hard to believe anybody would vote for them. But … apparently, a lot of people don’t feel that way.

Republicans severely under-delivered. Why?

Part of it was candidate quality. Some of the Republican candidates were not that great, and some of them were too Trumpy. Abortion also played a larger role in the vote than many polls predicted.

One lesson from the midterm election might be that the country wants normal, and both parties are offering crazy.

Despite the poor showing, there are some good things from the election. First, this might be the end of Stacey Abrams and Beta O’Rourke. Second, Democrats are losing their iron grip on blacks and Hispanics. Third, this might be the beginning of the end of Trump.

Mr. Energy, who knows a bit about wine, returns to the show to review three Chilean Cabernet Sauvignons, and discuss some basics about wine.

The boys discuss white vs. red grapes, vintages, tannins, price vs. value, etc., as they drink their way through three cabs.

What’s the right way to buy wine? Is there a price where you can be sure you’re getting good wine? And what about pairing wine with food? Do you have to drink red wine with red meat?

How should a newbie approach the topic? What do you do if you want to bring good wine to a dinner party?

Wine can get so complicated. What’s the role of aging with wine? Should you turn up your nose at wines with a screw top? What do you do if you try a wine and don’t like it? And what do you do when the waiter comes to the table and presents the cork?

P&C and Mr. Energy try to demystify the topic.

Along with special guest Mr. Energy, the boys drink and review The Glutenberg, a gluten-free IPA, then discuss energy policy.

In a previous episode, the boys made fun of California for requiring more electric cars in the very same week they asked people not to charge their electric cars because the grid couldn’t handle it.

Mr. Energy — an old friend who has covered energy issues for decades — wanted a chance to chime in on the topic.

While he shares some P&C principles, like the need for a market-based approach, an all-of-the-above approach to energy, and the need for a national energy policy, he disagrees with the boys on a few points, especially related to global warming.

The discussion is lively and interesting, and Mr. Energy brings some good news about the future of modular nukes!

With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Bloodline, an IPA by Flying Dog, then discuss Vlad the Impaler and Dracula.

The boys discuss the origins of vampire stories, and the association between vampires and Dracula.

Bram Stoker loosely based his story on Vlad the Impaler, who was a 15th century badass in the general area of modern-day Romania.

P&C review the basic historical situation and life of Vlad, and his reputation for cruelty. Some reports say he was a psycopath, worse than Caligula and Nero.

Stoker’s book (and a few contemporary works) introduced many of the elements of the modern-day vampire story. No reflection in the mirror. Doesn’t sleep at night. Fear of crosses and holy objects. Can change into a wolf or a bat. Is seductive and sophisticated.

The boys then review a series of Dracula movies based, to one degree or another, on Stoker’s work.

To celebrate Halloween, they wrap up the show with a series of 2-sentence horror stories.

As part of their ongoing and popular “shortcut to the classics” series, Pigweed and Crowhill, with special guest Longinus, review Tell Tale Heart IPA, then discuss Poe’s life and works, including his connection to Baltimore, Maryland.

They review several Poe short stories and poems, including The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Raven.

For each story, the boys give a brief review of the basic details, then delve into some interpretation and commentary.

The stories play off common horrors: being buried alive, tortured, crushed to death, betrayed by a friend, falling into madness, your dead body carved to pieces, and losing the love of your life. Poe uses them all perfectly, creating suspense and horror out of common experiences, echoing normal human reactions, but in a unique and frightening way.

P&C drink and review yet another offering from the Pastryarchy — an Almond Brittle Imperial Stout — then discuss the Republican Party’s “Commitment to America.”

Newt Gingrich famously engineered a Republican revolution with his Contract with America. Contemporary Republicans are trying to imitate that strategy with their Commitment to America. It’s an attempt to put forward a positive message.

The boys love the idea but are not impressed with the details.

Overall, the commitment expresses nice sentiments, but it doesn’t provide enough detail. The Contract with America put forward ten specific pieces of legislation which people could read. The Commitment to America is just a bunch of vague sayings with no details.

The Commitment also seems to tread on federalism, promoting to make changes that are not in the federal government’s purview.

Overall, the boys are not pleased with the effort. It seems too wishy-washy.

P&C review Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale, then discuss the annual celebration of Yorktown Day.

Why do we celebrate the day that we declared our independence rather than the day we actually won it?

The boys review the history leading up to the battle of Yorktown, in which the main British army surrendered to George Washington.

During the phase of the war just prior to Yorktown, the Brits moved south, hoping to collect recruits and support from the loyalists. It didn’t work out that way, and they had to hold up in Yorktown. With the help of the French navy and French troops, Washington beat Cornwallis and forced his surrender, which effectively ended the war.

Pigweed believes we should acknowledge and celebrate this victory.

The boys drink and review Pigweed’s D.C. Bro, an attempt to clone D.C. Brau’s India Pale Ale. Then they discuss male employment.

Does it matter if men are unemployed? P&C say yes, it matters. In fact, it’s a serious problem, and our culture is not addressing it.

As a general rule, young men need to be reined in. A successful culture needs to steer the aggressive, competitive instincts of men towards something useful for society.

We’re not doing that. Men are falling behind. They’re killing themselves more, suffering more addiction, and getting less education. They commit more crimes, are more likely to go to jail, and are more likely to be obese. Testosterone and sperm counts are falling. Men are not getting married. This is a societal disaster that no one is talking about.

If women are getting 60% of the college degrees, and aren’t interested in “marrying down,” what’s going to happen to the marriage rates?

This is a crisis, but nobody is paying attention. Why? Pigweed and Crowhill explain.

The boys take a break from beer and do The Vodka Challenge, in which they do a blind taste test between Titos, Skol, Smirnoff, and a mystery vodka.

They start off with a general discussion of vodka — what it is, what it’s made from, how it’s made, etc.

If vodka is a neutral spirit, why should you spend more on expensive vodka? Does it matter? What are the characteristics of a good vodka?

The mystery vodka was simply grain alcohol, diluted down to 80 proof, with a little glycerin and sugar to round it out.

After doing their 4-panel test, they tried another common vodka story, which is that you can transform cheap vodka into top-shelf vodka by running it through a Brita filter.