Royal Apollo 10-GT and Rorschach Malevolent Benevolence

This time we’ll review a typewriter and a beer that each have a lot of power!

Royal-Litton Apollo 10-GT

This is the third electro-mechanical typewriter to appear on the blog. These are machines that are motorized and plugged into mains power. Keys are triggered electronically via switches, which means that they require very little physical effort. The motor also drives the type bar, providing very even force for each key press. Beyond that, the mechanism of the type bars and carriage are essentially the same as a manual typewriter.

The first electro-mechanical typewriter I found was the Underwood 565 which wasn’t made by Underwood at all, it was a Nakajima design. It had a simple design that was easy to work on, and was a lot of fun to type on. The only down-side was that the Return key sent the carriage flying back at such speed that it felt as though the whole machine might rocket off the table!

This Royal is a very similar design. And also similarly, it wasn’t made by Royal, either. Robert Messenger’s excellent ozTypewriter blog has an excellent article on the Litton company’s move into the typewriter business, in part by purchasing the Royal brand.

The most noticeable difference in using this machine from the 565 is the inclusion of a return lever. This is a welcome change, in my opinion. The motor runs almost silent, too, which is nice because the motor runs continuously. The hum of the motor is a frequent complaint of these kind of machines.

There is only one Apollo 10 on the Typewriter Database and it is a very pedestrian grey/beige colour scheme. This Apollo 10-GT is much prettier. I’m not sure what the GT denotes? While it is quite heavy, it is quite compact. The only real issue is the loudness of the keystrokes. If I feel like I really want to keep this machine I may have to open it up and see if there is space to put in some felt to deaden the sound. It will be fun to see how similar the mechanism is to the 565, too.

These kind of typewriters don’t seem very desirable. I picked this one up at an auction with such a low-ball offer I was honestly surprised to get it! I quite like it, so I will continue to play with it for awhile.

Rorschach Brewing’s Malevolent Benevolence Imperial Stout (2021 Booker’s Bourbon Barrel Aged version)

Wow, that title was a mouthful, wasn’t it? This beer is a mouthful, too! Rorschach Brewing is based in Toronto, quite close to where I live. They make amazing beer! In looking back at previous blog entries I am a little surprised to see I hadn’t included them before.

Malevolent Benevolence is a series of beers that they release throughout the year, each based on the same base imperial stout recipe. Imperial stouts are big beers by nature, and each MB release is over 10% in alcohol. They are sold in 375ml bottles, and I whenever I am there I try whatever new releases they have in this series – from my experience they are all incredible.

They are all full-bodied, often quite sweet, sometimes bordering on syrupy (particularly the Creme Brulee and Churros editions!), but always very tasty. These are drinks to be sipped, for sure – great dessert beers.

This version of the MB was aged in a bourbon barrel, and it was just phenomenal. The barrel aging gives it just a hint of a boozy quality from the bourbon, and the oak aging really mellows it out and blends the flavours together. I dins a big, heavy imperial stout blends very well with bourbons and whiskeys. MB has also been aged in rum, tequila and mezcal barrels in the past, and each edition brings together very different flavour combinations. I can’t think of one I’ve tried and not enjoyed.

Sadly, this series is brewed in small volumes and is not very widely distributed. The next time you are in the East end of Toronto you should drop in and see if they have some on hand. 🙂

Until next time, type swiftly and sip slowly!