Patrick Daniels is the beer program director at McNulty's Bier Markt and Bar Cento in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood. A level-one beer cicerone and craft-beer advocate, Daniels hosts many beer-related events, including dinners, tastings and talks. He and his staff serve local, seasonal dishes that pair with an ever rotating beer list. A student of beer, Daniels spends his off time searching for that next great brew. In honor of Cleveland Beer Week, which runs through Saturday, PDQ's Michael Heaton spoke with Daniels about all things cold and sudsy in Northeast Ohio this week.
Beer Brewing
Do you have a brother named Jack?
I do have a brother, but his name is Phil.
Isn't every day in Cleveland Beer Week?
I think so, although I'm around beer every day, for business and pleasure (often overlapping). As for Northeast Ohioans, there is no other week of the year where they can find such a great concentration of beer-centric events and breweries from around the world coming to showcase their brews. For the beer lover in all of us, this is the time to get out and discover great beer.
You are a level one cicerone. Is that like having a black belt in beer making?
Not quite. The cicerone program is similar in structure to the sommelier program for wine. The program offers three levels of certifications, starting with basic information and increasing to complex and more demanding knowledge about beer. This program includes aspects of beer making but also will test one's understanding of beer service, history, styles, flavors and pairing beer with food.
How does a person become one?
Cicerone.org will have information on test dates, prices, suggested reading, etc.
Do you remember your first beer?
Ha, I do, it was Moosehead Canadian Lager. Of course, I don't remember the details of that day, but I'm sure I acquired the bottle in a similar way to most curious teenagers. For me, though, first beer and first real, gateway beer are two different things. I remember convincing my mother in the grocery store that buying me that one large format bottle of Delirium Tremens (a Belgian strong golden ale of 8.5 percent ABV) was simply research and educational. Bold move for a 17-year-old, but it was the truth. I wasn't in need of a buzz. I was searching for a heightened flavor experience through beer. I was locked in that night, enjoyed the eye-opening bottle, and the rest is history.
What are you most proud of about the local beer scene?
I'm thrilled to be working in a growing and thriving beer culture. I'm proud to offer so many beers from around the world right in Ohio City at Bier Markt and Cleveland brews from Market Garden Brewery. It's a full-circle feeling when beer brewed 3,000 miles away is offered next to beers made by us right in Cleveland. It's great to see people move away from mainstream beers to brewpubs offering fresh, local beers of different complexities and styles.
Do you ever knock back a can of light beer?
I did once. Joking. If I'm offered a beer, light or bright, I'll usually gratefully drink it.
Have you ever met a beer you didn't like?
Well sure. In the same manner that we all sometimes come across meals we don't care for. I've even had beers I knew would be bad or intentionally spiked them with off-flavor chemicals that mimic flavor faults sometimes found in beer. This is how we learn and train our palates.
What are the top three commandments of drinking beer?
For me: Have fun, savor the flavor, and branch out.
Brewing equipment
Have you seen the movie "Beer Fest"?
Yes. . . . I don't recommend trying to drink your way out of a fermenter after falling in, but there is something to be said about all the world's countries coming together for the love of beer.
If you were on a desert island and you only bring one beer, what would it be?
I would say a large-format Saison Dupont, classic Belgian thirst quencher. Plus, 750 milliliter bottle -- more beer. Unless a keg and party pump counts as one beer.
What is the most overrated mainstream beer in the world?
The 'light' offerings of Bud, Miller and Coors. Those billions of marketing dollars should be used for better brewing ingredients and products. Hot chicks shouldn't sell beer; good beer should sell beer.
Where can people find out about beer-week events?
Clevelandbeerweek.org will have the information to guide beer lovers through a weeklong Cleveland beer party, with events going on through Saturday.
What's your favorite event this week?
Culture Yourself. I love cheese almost as much as beer, and this event shows these two fermented products are perfect together. Market Garden Brewery will be hosting 12 breweries and 30 artisanal, locally produced cheeses. This will require the next day off work.
Will you be fighting any other cicerones in a death cage match?
Ya know, I can't see that ever happening. Cicerones, sommeliers and chefs are all here as guides. Beer vs. wine dinners and chefs pitted against other chefs is all good fun, but we still have dedicated ourselves to educating and enlightening to some degree. For me, I view meeting fellow beer lovers and brewers as learning and teaching opportunities. Doing this alone would break my first beer commandment: Have fun. Beer is a sociable drink.
2011年10月17日星期一
2011年1月4日星期二
U.S. raises penalties on Chinese steel trade
WASHINGTON -- The Commerce Department on Tuesday reaffirmed and raised tough penalties on Chinese exports of steel pipe used in oil drilling, upholding relief for U.S. manufacturers and continuing to push China on unfair trade.
The agency announced that it was affirming penalties stemming from its unfair trade investigation and a separate probe on subsidization of Chinese-made drill pipes.
Next, the International Trade Commission, an independent quasi-judicial federal agency, must make a final determination of injury to U.S. manufacturers of drill pipe by Feb. 17. If the ITC agrees with Commerce, Chinese-manufactured drill pipe would be subject to steep trade penalties and a nearly 20 percent tariff because of illegal subsidies.
"We're pleased with the outcome," said Harold Thomas, comptroller for Texas Steel Conversion Inc., a Houston-based manufacturer of drill pipe. "There was significant job loss on our part. ... Jobs were at stake, and some were lost."
The United Steelworkers of America had joined the complaint and welcomed the Commerce decision.
"If we allowed the imports to continue without filing a petition, it would have wiped out the jobs and the companies," said union spokesman Gary Hubbard. "We'll never be able to file enough trade cases to solve the problem of the trade violations that China continues to pursue. So we hope the ultimate result will be paying closer attention to their meeting the standards they're obligated to under the world trade rules."
Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which represents U.S.-based manufacturers, also applauded Tuesday's decision.
"Our manufacturing sector alone has lost 5.5 million jobs in just the last decade - with 2.4 million lost or displaced as a direct result of our massive trade deficit with China. We risk losing our competitive edge as a nation unless strong enforcement of our trade laws occurs when cheating exists," he said.
The ruling Tuesday affects heavyweight drill pipe and pipe collars of iron or steel used in oil drilling operations. The combined value of imported drill pipe and drill pipe with tool joints attached was $119.2 million in 2009.
Texas Steel was joined in its trade complaint by two other Texas firms, an Illinois manufacturer and unions from western Pennsylvania.
A McClatchy Newspapers report from Sharon, Pa., last year highlighted the injury U.S. pipe makers suffered from unfair Chinese trade practices. In some cases, Chinese steel product would skirt U.S. trade penalties by being shipped under false documentation as books or other products. A separate report in upstate New York late last year similarly showed how U.S. makers of copper products are suffering from China's industrial subsidies.
Tuesday's action by the Commerce Department affirmed trade penalties of 69.32 percent on DP Master Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and Jiangyin Liangda Drill Pipe Co. DP Master originally faced penalties of 207 percent, so it saw a reduction, while Jiangyin originally faced a 7.64 percent penalty, seeing its tariff rise dramatically.
Three Chinese producers/exporters qualified for the separate penalty rate of 69.32 percent, while all other Chinese producers and exporters of drill pipe were hit with a dumping rate of 429.95 percent. Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at a price below fair value.
The agency also affirmed on Tuesday the penalties stemming from a countervailing duty investigation into illegal subsidies. It determined that five Chinese manufacturers of drill pipe received an illegal subsidy rate of 18.18 percent, and they along with all other Chinese makers of the steel product will be penalized at that rate. The first determination by the Commerce Department had been a subsidy rate of 15.72 percent.
The other companies emerging victorious Tuesday were Texas-based VAM Drilling USA Inc. and Rotary Drilling Tools, as well as Illinois-based TMK IPSCO, which also manufactures in western Pennsylvania.
Joining the complaint were the AFL-CIO-CLC of Pennsylvania and the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union.
Cast steel , Steel Castings, Cast steel , Steel Casting Machining , Cast iron steel , Steel casting process , Large steel casting , Small steel casting
The agency announced that it was affirming penalties stemming from its unfair trade investigation and a separate probe on subsidization of Chinese-made drill pipes.
Next, the International Trade Commission, an independent quasi-judicial federal agency, must make a final determination of injury to U.S. manufacturers of drill pipe by Feb. 17. If the ITC agrees with Commerce, Chinese-manufactured drill pipe would be subject to steep trade penalties and a nearly 20 percent tariff because of illegal subsidies.
"We're pleased with the outcome," said Harold Thomas, comptroller for Texas Steel Conversion Inc., a Houston-based manufacturer of drill pipe. "There was significant job loss on our part. ... Jobs were at stake, and some were lost."
The United Steelworkers of America had joined the complaint and welcomed the Commerce decision.
"If we allowed the imports to continue without filing a petition, it would have wiped out the jobs and the companies," said union spokesman Gary Hubbard. "We'll never be able to file enough trade cases to solve the problem of the trade violations that China continues to pursue. So we hope the ultimate result will be paying closer attention to their meeting the standards they're obligated to under the world trade rules."
Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which represents U.S.-based manufacturers, also applauded Tuesday's decision.
"Our manufacturing sector alone has lost 5.5 million jobs in just the last decade - with 2.4 million lost or displaced as a direct result of our massive trade deficit with China. We risk losing our competitive edge as a nation unless strong enforcement of our trade laws occurs when cheating exists," he said.
The ruling Tuesday affects heavyweight drill pipe and pipe collars of iron or steel used in oil drilling operations. The combined value of imported drill pipe and drill pipe with tool joints attached was $119.2 million in 2009.
Texas Steel was joined in its trade complaint by two other Texas firms, an Illinois manufacturer and unions from western Pennsylvania.
A McClatchy Newspapers report from Sharon, Pa., last year highlighted the injury U.S. pipe makers suffered from unfair Chinese trade practices. In some cases, Chinese steel product would skirt U.S. trade penalties by being shipped under false documentation as books or other products. A separate report in upstate New York late last year similarly showed how U.S. makers of copper products are suffering from China's industrial subsidies.
Tuesday's action by the Commerce Department affirmed trade penalties of 69.32 percent on DP Master Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and Jiangyin Liangda Drill Pipe Co. DP Master originally faced penalties of 207 percent, so it saw a reduction, while Jiangyin originally faced a 7.64 percent penalty, seeing its tariff rise dramatically.
Three Chinese producers/exporters qualified for the separate penalty rate of 69.32 percent, while all other Chinese producers and exporters of drill pipe were hit with a dumping rate of 429.95 percent. Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at a price below fair value.
The agency also affirmed on Tuesday the penalties stemming from a countervailing duty investigation into illegal subsidies. It determined that five Chinese manufacturers of drill pipe received an illegal subsidy rate of 18.18 percent, and they along with all other Chinese makers of the steel product will be penalized at that rate. The first determination by the Commerce Department had been a subsidy rate of 15.72 percent.
The other companies emerging victorious Tuesday were Texas-based VAM Drilling USA Inc. and Rotary Drilling Tools, as well as Illinois-based TMK IPSCO, which also manufactures in western Pennsylvania.
Joining the complaint were the AFL-CIO-CLC of Pennsylvania and the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union.
Cast steel , Steel Castings, Cast steel , Steel Casting Machining , Cast iron steel , Steel casting process , Large steel casting , Small steel casting
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