Author Archive

Jun 23

bringing back the brew

It’s been something like a year and a half or more since I’ve brewed beer. I’ve been thinking about brewing a lot. I’ve talked about brewing a lot, but just haven’t pulled the trigger. Saturday I pulled the trigger.

Lots of beery goodness going on in there.

Wanting to get back to basics, I brewed a recipe that was originally a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone that I found from Brew Your Own magazine, but since I was buying my ingredients online and in set volumes, I decided to alter from the recipe a bit. Here’s the recipe I ended up using:

  • 1 lb Malt – Crystal 40L
  • 1 lb Malt – Carapils
  • 8 lbs Light Malt Extract
  • 2 oz Perle Hops @ 10min
  • Cascade Hops  (5 ounces so far)
    3 oz @ 45min,
    1 oz @ 55min,
    1 oz for dry hopping (with more to come)
  • American Ale Yeast

Thanks to Mario, all of our plants are properly hydrated.

Seeing as brewing has historically been a social activity (women mostly, but in the last century or two men have taken over), I decided to invite some of the guys over. There was beer to brew and beer to drink and I needed help with both. Mario was the first to arrive just as I was cranking up the burner and was a big help. Earl, Ryan and Dilby showed up a little later in the brew day. Even my dad, fresh from the US Open at Pebble Beach, made an appearance.

I got to break out the wort chiller that my brother made for me for Christmas and it worked like a champ. I just wish there was a way to not use up so much water during the cooling down process. Suffice it to say, every single tree, bush and shrub in the front yard was adequately hydrated on brew-day.

All in all, it was a good day. I’m glad I finally got around to brewing. I was able to take a sip of the brew last night as I was dry-hopping with more Cascade hops and moly-moly are we in for a treat. It still needs some time to age, but I think I’m on to something.

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Apr 10

Oh Heineken..Must you tease?

This is the coolest invention ever.. EVER!

Let me start by saying that the 5-Liter DraughtKeg is freaking sweet. Heineken seems to be “thinking outside the box” when it comes to packaging their wares and I applaud that. The Heini-Can, DraughtKeg and now this are completely innovative and, unfortunately, I don’t see any breweries doing that. I tip my cap to you Heineken.

Unfortunately, Heineken blows. Which may be why they continue to come out with these things. Their beer sucks and they need a way to stay “hip” and/or “cool” with “the kids”. The last time I drank Heineken was after Ryan & Lori’s wedding in a hotel room and I was completely plastered, and even then I remember thinking, “Man, this tastes like butt.” Every other brewery spends their time perfecting their beer (sounds crazy huh?) to which re-inventing the wheel, or the bottle in this case, seems rather pointless.

For those of you keeping score at home, here’s the breakdown:

Heineken Innovation? Good
Heineken Beer? Bad

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Apr 08

Oh Noes.. Muh Beer!

Sam Adams Beerz

I know some of you like to drink The Sam Adams. Well, there’s been an incident and you might want to read this before you open your next bottle of “the good stuff”. Don’t say I didn’t warnz ya.

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Apr 07

Hot-Lanta boyeee

Do people from Atlanta actually call it “Hot-Lanta”? Because I gotta be honest, I feel like an idiot referring to it as that. Well, it’s entirely possible I’m an idiot regardless of whether I call it “Hot-Lanta” or not, but I digress.

So the reason I bring this up is that I’m going to “Hot-Lanta” in May and I think I’m going to have a day to do a bit of sight-seeing. So I’m calling out anybody that has lived in or has visited “Hot-Lanta” for some things to do there, places to check out, places to eat, etc. Even if you hate the place, tell me where not to go. I know absolutely nothing about “Hot-Lanta” and couldn’t even tell you 1 thing about the place other than people like to call it “Hot-Lanta” so I am desperately in need of a little insight.

Help me readers, you’re my only hope.

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Apr 01

Dewd.. Gimme some Schweppe’s

Seriously…

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Mar 27

Pay Attention Dammit!

Oh man, you have to watch this.

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Mar 24

Heartbreak City!!!!

I’m leaving this post open for Jeff to comment on how freeking exciting the UCLA game was on Saturday. Holy Bejeez! That game was the definition of a barrel full of monkeys.

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Mar 17

Okay Cervantes is off the hook

After staring deep into Matt’s eyes on Saturday (if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it), I’ve come to the conclusion that he has not stolen my American Beer DVD.  Please accept my most sincere apology, Matt. I hope you can forgive me.

Therefore, since Matt is no longer a person of interest in the abduction of this movie, my investigation must continue on. Any persons with information regarding this missing DVD please contact me immediately. A 1-million dollhair reward goes to the first person that provides information that leads to the recovery of said movie.

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Mar 17

We made it…barely

Thanks to everyone that helped us this weekend, we’re all moved in to our new house. We’re a littele beat up and bruised, and we’ll probably be in bed by 9pm every night this week, but we’re moved. Yay. You’d think we had moving down to a science, and I’m pretty sure we’re not too far off, but its amazing how much energy, physical and mental, moving takes.

Jackie and I both really love this house, so hopefully we won’t be moving any time soon (though I think we said the same thing about the house we just moved out of). The owners of the house are really nice and are planning on moving into this house in a couple of years, and from what Jackie’s told me, they want us to live there until they do. I have no problems with that. This place is plenty big for the two of us and when the time comes (it hasn’t yet) there’s enough room for us to have a kid.

We’ll be having a housewarming party in the next month or so, but the plan is to have poker night in a few weeks (sorry Ben). So keep your eyes peeled and your phone ready, because you may just get the call. And just so everybody knows, Dilby, you’re first on the list of invitees. Can you make it?

PS: I’m going to see if Ryan Stotts can make it. I haven’t seen him for a while and I’d like to know who he’s dating now.

PPS: Happy Birthday Glenn & Brenna!

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Mar 07

Best Nicknames Ever

I can’t believe I didn’t know this before, but apparently “Champ” Bailey, the cornerback for the Denver Bronco’s, has a brother named “Boss” (who also plays for the Bronco’s). Can I become the next Bailey brother, “Chief” or “Sport” or how about “Hoss” – I’d be a dope “Hoss” ? I know I’m not gifted (well, athletically at least ;) ) enough to be a pro football player, but I could be a half-brother from the suburbs or something.

[Editors Note] So I was originally going to write about how the mother of “Champ” and “Boss” Bailey – both pro football players – was a freaking genius for naming her kids, “Champ” and “Boss” But being the diligent journalist that I am, I checked on Wikipedia to see if they had any other siblings with kick-ass names and as it turns out, these are just nicknames. At which point I said to myself, eff that.

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