A Place of Brightness: jiim koch

Monday, July 8, 2013

Cheers to the Years!

Back in the United States (I write this during my usual Summer in Romania), when we want to drink a beer that celebrates our history, there is no finer choice than a Samuel Adams Lager.

Samuel Adams was a second cousin to our second president, he was a patriot, a statesman, and, yes, he reportedly did make beer.

But the Samuel Adams brand of beer is not made by a company descended

from the efforts of that founding father. It was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch et al. That said, even though I follow the Paleo Diet, when I do go out and want to drink a beer, I always order a Sam Adams.

So, it was with considerable surprise today that I sat in a restaurant in Romania, sipping on a wine from the Recaş (pronounced Recash) Company. I then spied a sign for the brand:

Cramele Recaş - Atestat din 1447
The Recaş Wineries - Attested from 1447

Now, what this really means is that there is a document dated to November 11, 1447 that attests that the Recaş Wineries were purchased and continued in operation under a new management. They had apparently been in operation even before that.

Even as I write this, I am sipping some more Recaş Wine. It's nice stuff. And it comes from a company that has been attested to be making wine for at least 566 years.

And so, I raise my glass, first to our American Founding Fathers. You brought forth on a new continent something much greater that fine wine. You brought Liberty and a New World Order.

Next, I raise my glass to all you have labored in the fine tradition of wine and beer making for millennia. God bless you all.

In Saecula Saeculorum, the 4th Novel in the Valquist Series

In this fourth novel of the Valquist Series, Andrew Valquist is retired (?) from the National Security Agency and teaching Latin at a Classical Academy in the Washington DC area. But in the world of espionage, looks can be deceiving. He's not necessarily happy with the role he has played in all this, but the school was actually a joint NSA/MI-6 Project in which four young people have been unwittingly prepared for a mission to travel back in time to ancient Rome to retrieve information from a library that may save the modern world from certain destruction. They know they have to at least try to save humanity, but can they also save each other?

Next Stop: Spanish, the 3rd Novel in the Valquist Series

This third novel in the Valquist Series can be read as an espionage action-adventure in its own right, but also you can use it as a way to either brush up on your Spanish or learn functional Spanish for the first time! John Valquist needs to learn Spanish. But he's in luck, since his uncle Andrew is a language expert and a former (?) spy who is taking him on a vacation to Spain so he can study the language. In Next Stop: Spanish, you have the chance to see and study the words John studies, and then watch him add more and more Spanish into his dialogue as the story progresses. During this vacation, they get pulled into espionage intrigue (why do these things always happen to the Valquist family?). In the dramatic conclusion, John will need to put together everything he has learned to save his uncle!

Amor Vincit Omnia: the 2nd Novel in the Valquist Series

In this second novel of the Valquist Series, Keith Massey takes you into the halls of the National Security Agency, where he himself worked for four years after 9/11 and an Arabic linguist. You follow our hero Andrew Valquist, as he starts work as a new recruit at the NSA. Little does he know that on his first on the job, he's about to fly off on an unexpected overseas assignment. He'll be even more surprised when he learns that his background in ancient Latin will be crucial to the mission!