Dreams Smashed

The men at my house this morning from 1-800-Got-Junk were suprisingly strong for their appearances. They carted away my broken retro deep freeze, after 2 Dads, 2 friends and my husband vetoed the idea of hauling the thing up from the basement, lifting it onto a truck, and driving it to the new house, only to have to fix it anyway. The Junk guys had it out of my basement in5 seconds flat, and I considered trying to bribe them to take it to our new place. But I gave up, and let it go. No retro kegerator at our house, then.

Fail Whale Pale Ale

The name ended up being more prophetic than I would have liked. It's really bad. Like, I don't even want to try anymore. I tried, I did. It smells awesome, but tastes like behonkey. The super low gravity that never rose told me this would be the result a week or so ago, but I really wanted it to succeed. Hope and want are not enough. Perseverance might be. You can get pretty far in a lot of things just by trying really hard and not giving up. I'm pretty stubborn, I don't like to fail, and I do lots of things I was not born to do, so there will be many more attempts.

Boil of a new brew starts tomorrow. In the meantime, I have a lot of cleaning to do. Sigh.

COMPLETELY related note:
I missed out on Amy's brew day today. I really could have used it. Long story, poor me, boo hoo, has everything to do with not so happy neighbors, a landscaping project, and then having to fill in for an employee on a Saturday afternoon/evening.

QUESTION:
That being said, KC brewers, if I can provide an actual venue, a free, private space, a place to gather, consume, discuss and teach/mentor the slower of us (me), would you be interested in an another meet up? The door is wide open. We could even invite home brew stores to come bring us goodies. I work in marketing, people, I will find us free stuff if I need to stoop to that level. Brew club peeps, experts & proven winning brewers (Jeff, I am looking at you) and fans (Bullevard) would you consider it?

I've always had a thing with gravity

Gravity testing on the brew starts now. Then on to moving it from one fermenter to another. Aren't you glad I updated you all on that? I am sure.

I've been kind of busy. Not in a bloggy way. Perhaps a little burnt out at the end of the day, too much time, too little do. Strike that, reverse it, you know. But it is summertime, GORGEOUS, and I have a little positive thing here: I paid a stranger to power wash, strip and restain my deck because I want to enjoy it, and I couldn't face doing it again. Grab a sixer of something interesting & meet me in the backyard, anytime.

Edited to note - This started out around a 1.020, I think. I should have done a better job of reading that specifically. Here's where we are now. Going to 2nd it because it really needs some clarification if my husband is going to drink it at all. :)

Still haven't started

I went out of town to visit my mom in New England for Mother's Day, work's been all consuming, and I haven't had at least 4 hours at home to myself in the past 2 weeks, but I think I may be able to start my brewing experiment tonight or tomorrow night. We shall see.

In the meantime, please read Bull E. Vard's announcement that THERE IS MORE SAISON BRETT AVAILABLE! Oh yeah. Happy.

ATTN BEER BREWERS

I need some advice. I really want to start brewing. I have been goofing around with *thinking* about it for about a year. A friend of mine said he would do it with me, but my foot dragging pushed his impatience, and he started without me last night. He's doing a Cream Ale, from some sort of starter kit, and brewing straight to a keg. Booo. But it seems to have been the competitive spark I needed to get off my duff and start.

I bought this book, and I ended up getting a little more freaked out after reading, since it suddenly felt a lot more like chemistry class than home ec. I can bake, I should be able to brew, but now I am over thinking it. I am definitely starting from a kit from a local homebrew store, and I am STILL compiling a list of equipment I need. I'm recruiting the husband into the hobby, so I won't be alone.

I would love feedback from all you awesome people out there, you award winners, you serious brewers that I admire so much. Here are my starter questions:

1. What are the must have, no messing around, don't bother if you don't own this, equipment that you would recommend?
2. For a first timer, what style of brew would YOU recommend starting?
3. Should I attempt bottling, or is keg brewing easier? I have access to kegs and a kegerator, so I feasibly could do it, but am afraid of ruining so much beer all at once.
4. What are the worst mistakes newbies make, and how can I avoid them?

Thanks guys, I really do appreciate it!

New Years Resolutions

I like to keep things simple, so I don't have a long list. I am putting them here to keep myself honest, to check in on from time to time. Resolutions are very easy to make and very difficult for me to keep.

1. Be healthier, meaning just to eat less crap and get to the gym an average of 3 times a week.
2. Drink less beer, in terms of volume, and better beer when I do.
   
3. Make sure my house is CLEAN, not just picked up, on a weekly basis. (Monkey hate clean.)
4. Start homebrewing this year. (This is more of a process, meaning I have a lot to learn and purchase, and a full dance card otherwise, but it is something I always wished I knew how to do.)

What resolutions did you make?

Sometimes I just steal things

Found via DP, who got it from TastyBooze, and reposted here because if you don't know, now you know. Aren't you glad you aren't a girl?

A post in which I bite the hand that feeds

I got ANOTHER tasty present in the mail this month, from the PR company that does work for Newcastle. I appreciate presents. Who doesn't?! So I'll tell you all about what I got, and I am going to offer my personal 2 cents on the whole thing.

Every now & then the life of a beer blogger includes a good smack on the forehead with the realization that you simply forgot about a brand of beer. Like wiped it out of your memory. Like it was one of your gateway beers in the 90's, when you were labeled a snob for not drinking frat party keg beer, and you haven't tasted it since. Newcastle, Fat Tire, and JW Dundee's Honey Brown all fall into this category for me.

I received a full 6 pack of Newcastle, along with a few sample tips and pages from Newcastle Brown Ale's Holiday MAN-ual. Meaning it's a manual for men to get thru the holiday season. Tips include how to toast (do tell, don't tell), how gifts say a lot about how you feel about the recipient, personal attire tips (Don't wear a sweater that screams, "Look at me, I'm a walking parade float.") and the basics of hosting a party. The funniest thing, IMO, was their recommendation to include wine & liquor in any party, and not JUST serve Newcastle.

The other pages seemed to be printed off of a master book (the Man-ual) included a recipe for something called a beer-nog shooter (yes, a separated shot of beer & egg nog) and a cheese and beer fondue. The fondue DOES include both bacon and beer, and that's manly, right? I want to know, gentlemen readers, would you really make a fondue for a party at your place?

My feedback is personal, because I work in marketing, in the WOM arena, did interactive advertising for years, and still work with others who do blogger seeding now. I'm outing myself, and possibly limiting future presents of the tasty variety. I apologize to Liz in advance, and DO thank you for the free brews. I enjoyed them, and will definitely post a dedicated review.

I appreciate the sentiment, and probably even the brainstorm that took place somewhere in El Segundo to come up with the idea overall. But the name "Man-ual" strikes manly-man beer connotations for me, more like the MGD audience, not Newcastle's perceived refined, educated target. I also strongly believe that the full MAN-ual really should be living online if bloggers are to leverage it well, with the capability for links, for traffic drivers, to generate more interest from a like-minded audience of beer blog readers. It would have been much more beneficial if it had been further fleshed out. I got super busy, & didn't ask for high res images to post here, although they offered. Maybe it would have helped just to post them to a site, and let bloggers access them if they were willing?

Perhaps I am critical because I only see a small window of the whole effort. I hope the MAN-ual gets more support than this small blogger outreach. I still enjoyed Newcastle Brown Ale more than anything else in my fridge, and I PROMISE to post a dedicated review of the beer soon.

If you're gonna drive me crazy, drive me to drink

I am in the middle of closing out my company's fiscal year, so I've been a little caught up. (I know, it doesn't even sound cool. It isn't. Imagine spreadsheets and accounting software and budget projections and nail biting. I fear the tax man. I really do. Did you ever see Stranger Than Fiction? I wanna pull a Maggie Gyllenhaal and scream, "Get BENT, Tax Man!") Soooo, anyway...I haven't been doing the old blogging thing well. There are reviews a-brewin, I promise, so hang in there with me until October. There's a silver lining, and it happens to be good beer.

Storm Preparedness

Winter decided to arrive. And in this area of the country, a 50-60 degree day in the middle of January is almost always followed by a blanket of ice. Yesterday was gorgeous. I am glad that I got to enjoy it a little. Today it is 18 degrees.

In 1996, lots of people lost power. I was at college, in an apt., and managed to escape any damage. In 2002, hundreds of thousands lost power and my wedding was almost cancelled due to "dangerous weather." It wasn't, we celebrated, and promptly ran away to French Polynesia, where ice storms are as foreign as tsunamis are in Kansas. But now we live in a neighborhood with overhead lines and massive trees. I'm not sure we are going to escape this weekend with both heat and light. It seems a lot to ask.


I haven't been to the grocery store, go I guess I will be skating by there on my way home. And stopping by the beer store. Because a weekend like this requires both a porter AND a stout.

Sniff, Cough, Sneeze, repeat

I have a gross, nasty, annoying cold. I have had a cold for a week and a half. I picked it up in Vegas, which just sounds disgusting. I'm living on pseudoephedrine, cough drops and Airborne. I can't taste anything. I needed to whine about it for a moment. Thanks.

B Side

Are we on the flip side yet? I'm exhausted. One more week until we do the Vegas thing, which I am SO looking forward to, I can't even explain. Fall used to be my favorite time of year, as a kid, what with the start of school and Halloween and my birthday. In high school and college it meant crunchy walks and football games. Now it means bagging 60+ bags of leaves and wishing it wouldn't rain again so I could paint the porch. Ah, adulthood. On the plus side, our kitchen is awesome. So awesome. I think I am going to have to learn to actually cook now. Baking and fixing dinner are not the same as really knowing how to cook. When things are happier, we'll have a party of some sort. Post-Thanksgiving, pre-holiday, perhaps? Dark beverages, fattening food, and the like.

Cool Liquour Stores

The Husband has been traveling a lot. Like gone all week, every week. And I've been working late. (It is fall, after all. The life of a media chick doesn't change that dramatically.) Add to that the fact that the Husband's 92 year old grandma is in the ICU, my mom comes to visit on Friday, my house is a wreck, the contractors will actually be destroying the kitchen AND bathroom on Halloween, the day before my 30th birthday, and well, I guess I am trying to say that I've been a little busy. So I haven't been drinking well. But I stopped by Batson Mission Liquor on my way home, and found out that they sell good beer, by the bottle, right up by the register. Tons and tons of cool beers. So if one wanted to try one Chimay, for example, one could. I dig it. I plan to return to grab a selection. Like, maybe in November. See ya on the flip side!

Drinking & Driving

Not together, mind you. It's just the 2 topics of this post.

I was the last car to get hit in a multi-car wreck that took place on a residential street less than 1 mile away from my house. The back of my car is toast, but everything else is fine. Waiting for a check from the insurance company to fix my car....

Last night I went a-drinking, and I made a conscious decision to drink shit beer. Because I knew that I was going to have more than one (see above) and the Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale that I wanted has at least 250 calories in it. Miller Light has less than 100. I had 4. That's 400 calories versus the potential for 1,000. It doesn't taste great, but it is less filling. *sigh*

Take It Or Leave It

First things first. Intro the beer FIRST, and then say who's drinking it in the next post. Yes, excellent idea. And as my post title should tell you, if you don't want what I'm offering, don't take it.

There used to be a tiny little brewpub in this town. It was in a weird space, in a strip mall, owned and completely operated by a guy & his wife. There was only ONE brewing vat, and it was about 3 feet away from the bar, so it was truly a MICRO-brew place. This guy made the best beer I've ever had, and his wife turned out some mean pizza. They moved to Hawaii several years ago, and my life hasn't been the same since.

One of this guys' best brews was a Birch Porter. Yes, birch beer! But not like carbonated soda junk. This was dark, smooth, and I loved it. I haven't been able to find another like it. Birch beers are not all that common, especially in the midwest. I went on a virtual quest to find a birch beer, to order from anywhere & ship to myself, or at least go buy while I am going galavanting around the country this summer. And sadly, I came up empty handed. So if you know of where I can order real live alcoholic birch beer, PLEASE let me know. In the meantime, here's what I'll be tiding myself over with:

Birch Beam
8 oz of Birch Beer (soda)
2 1/2 oz of Jim Beam

Whine. It's just not quite the same.