Chimay!

Chimay Red



Appearance: Burnt Auburn color. Poured a thick white head.

Nose: Sweet, fruity.

Taste: This seemed kind of underwhelming in my opinion for what I was expecting. People have always talked up Chimay to me (Though they said that White was excellent and Blue was a close second (I think)) So I am looking forward to the next. Anyway...

It didn't seem like the yeast character was coming through as much as I was expecting it to. A nice hint of toffee came through, but it was just a mellow sweetness. A bit nutty... not much lasting power on the flavor though.

Mouthfeel: It was nice and mellow, but the carbonation bit me quite a bit at the end... I no likey.

Saturday, July 23rd... Telegraph Tasting, ColLAboration, and 38 Degree Alehouse... NO CAPTAIN AMERICA!!!

The day started off very promising. Wallys Wine was having a tasting of Telegraph beers. I am all about tasting beers from every brewery so I decided to go. The staff that was pouring (not Wallys Staff) there was very knowledgable about the beer and the brewery (That's what they are getting paid for, so they should be) and actually made the experience fun. I found two beers from the brewery that I actually loved, and to find out I had both of those ones before was priceless.

After the tasting it was off to ColLAboration LA.

The first time I went I was highly impressed. ColLAboration is a PopUp beer garden in Los Angeles that has scheduled events all throughout the year in different locations. To get in you buy a glass, and you use the glass to get into each event and then buy tokens in order to drink the beer on tap. Pretty cool concept and things change from each event so it makes it exciting.

This particular event was Belgian Independence Day...

There was not much Belgian beer there. Big let down.

The first time I went was just a random garden next to BluePalms Brewhouse. It was an amazing time. Met a lot of good people there, hung out with some friends, and drank a whole LOT of good beer. Maybe a little too much, but that is all relative.

For the event this week, I assumed that it was at the same location as before, being I thought all the events were the same for the 3 weeks they were running in July. So I drove to BluePalms, paid for parking, and then looked around and was like WTF...

Apparently doing your research has its advantages. I WENT TO THE WRONG PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eff... Luckily the parking attendant gave me my refund for parking even though there were litterally 20 signs that said NO REFUNDS posted all over the lot... but that is our little secret.

Once I felt like a huge idiot, being I drove past the location in order to go to the wrong one, we finally got to the right place... and again, I was not impressed. The prior event I went to had 3 beer trucks and the taps were rotating faster than you could drink a beer. If you found one good one and wanted to have it again, by the time you got back to the front of the line, it was already gone so you had to make a new decision.

At this one, where the "Belgian beer will be flowing"... there were only a few, true Belgian beers... and only 2 trucks... they each had 8 taps on them but nothing struck my interest. I almost got a Sierra Nevada Summerfest because it was the only thing I knew I liked on the whole menu. I avoided it though, because the whole reason I wanted to come was to try new beer.

The selection got old after a short period of time and I was pretty hungry so it was off to 38 Degrees Alehouse! Louie and Monica followed us from ColLAboration to here for dinner.

I got the same Burger I always get, The Kaliwild, (Since they did not have a grilled cheese sandwich not on the kids menu) and a flight of REAL Belgian beers... and one Stout... followed by tasters of 2 IPAs... It was a great night... besides the fact that the HUGE movie theatre next door was not playing Captain America! I mean seriously?!?!?! It is opening weekend and the most American thing you could have done... But oh, they did not have it playing because they had to have 8 screens of Harry Pothead...

I just don't know what to say... I still have to see Captain America...

Lucky Buddha

Yup... Lucky(Buddha). This is a beer that I only bought for the bottle. It is actually pretty cool. I was out on one of my, "Lets find some new beer" trips, and this is not one that made it into my cart by my choice.



Anyway, I cracked this open and was a little surprised but mostly thrown off. My first taste seemed to be a little sour and very creamy. That is not what I was expecting at all. As I went back for another taste, those same initial observations were still there but then I noticed a slight honey flavor and it moved toward the way of toffee.

I expected this beer to be a lot thinner. Maybe that creamyness that I was getting was messing with the beers mouthfeel. Another thing that I thought was a bit weird... It may have just been a bad taste in my mouth, but it seemed to have a slightly bitter finish... I don't have an explanation for that.

I would probably give this one a 2.5 out of 5. It was not bad... Well, there are others that I find worse. I would not buy this one again but I figured what is the worst that could happen from drinking it?... Exactly.

Cheers!

Eureka! Burger & The Back Abbey

For a couple of weeks we were planning to meet a few friends of ours, Louie and Monica, at one of their favorite Craft Beer hangouts and the day finally came to meet them there. I was really looking forward to it because I love me a good Burger and this place was seriously loaded with them! Did I forget to mention they had beer?



Eureka! Burger. Nikkee pointed out that the sign looked like the BevMo! one and I totally agree.


Compare


We planned to get meet there at about 5pm... So, we showed up a little early. Our drive was about an hour vs their drive which was only 20 minutes minus traffic so we figured things would be fine...

We got a table for four and just hung out until they showed up. I started my night off with a Black Market Brewing Company Anglo-American Brown Ale. Pretty good for a brown but it did not live up to the other beers I had from that brewery.

We were sitting there for a bit longer so we decided to order an appetizer. Just some fries smothered in cheese and cooked in some weird oil... They were really greasy and they did not come with enough cheese. I decided next to go with an Irish Red by some company I've never heard of. That one was pretty good as well. I think it was the Packinghouse Brewing Company...

At this time I took a look at the clock :p We have been sitting there for about an hour! I decided to text Louie and see what was going on. He got stuck at work a bit later than expected, so I can't really blame him. Especially since I am not really working at the moment... Or at least the work I do, I do not consider work. So we decided to order our dinner.

I got the Jalapeno Burger with an Egg on it... I love eggs on almost anything. I remember the first time I had an egg on a burger... Heaven, but that is another story. The funny thing about this is, once they served it to me, they brought a knife. I did not know whether I should cut the burger or just pick it up and go at it. I decided to just attack it! On my first bite, I guess I hit the egg in just the right spot and the yolk went FLYING across the room. I felt bad and actually cleaned it up HAHA! I was kind of disappointed though because that is the part I like to eat the most. I totally should have cut the burger so that the yolk fell over every inch... sorry, I was having a foodgasm here...

Shortly after this, they finally showed up. Louie looked beat and Monica looked like she had a ton of energy. The waiter came back to the table and asked what they wanted and he pointed to my glass and said, THAT!


Empty Glass. I drank it too fast for the pic.

One of the reasons we decided to go to the restaurant this night is because every Wednesday, they have a different brew paired with a glass and you "Steal The Glass" after you finish the brew. The Beer for this week was Racer 5 IPA. This was one of the first IPAs that I fell in love with, and one of the few that I go back to.

I really hate the craft beers community and their IPA obsession. There are over 70 different styles of beer out there and this seems to be the most popular. I understand if this is what you like, go out and have it but at least give the others a try. You will be surprised at what you find. At least I was. Then again, if there is a good/great one I order that over anything else I see on the menu... Though I try to taste everything. I mean, how can I talk about a beer if I never had it?

I went through a total IPA phase for almost a month and then a friend of mine introduced me to the Saison. He brewed it himself, (technically I helped but he did all the hard work, i.e. wrote the recipe, brewed it, made adjustments, etc. I won a contest and got to brew it with him and his soon to be brewery! LA Aleworks ~name drop~), and it was my first one. I have never experienced a beer like this and I LOVED it. Seriously, favorite Saison I have had so far, and I am not just saying that. Try it yourself if you can at some point.

Anyway, he livened up after he got his beer and they ate. We left there and literally less than a block away there was another brewbar that sold (almost)nothing but Belgian beers. I was in heaven.

The Back Abbey.



I would say everybody should come out to this place and drink at least something here. I did not have everything on the menu, but I doubt there is one bad beer in the whole bar. No Joke.

There were several beers on the tap list that I recognized and that they have at numerous places but I decided to go with a brew that I never heard of. The Covee Des Trolls.



This beer was better than decent, IMO. Still pretty good. It starts out sweet with a bit of spice and maybe some citrus. I wish I would have taken better tasting notes on this while I was on location but I would definitely get this one again. It had a great mouth feel. It is just one of those beers you want to drink in between familiar brews but over again.

I wish I could have drank more here but I was getting past my limit. We hung out here for a while and then Louie told me to follow him back to his place.

Once we got to his house, we talked a bit and then as we were leaving, he gave me a bottle of Trappist Westvleteren 12 (The Best Beer in the World according to Beer Advocate) and Dogfish Head Hellhound On My Ale. I literally could have kissed him at this point HAHA! Man, they seriously have to be the best friends ever. Expect special reviews on these two brews.

We left them and said goodnight and it happened to actually be Heretic Brewing night at Tonys Darts Away close to our place and I have been wanting to taste their brews so I decided to stop by after my hour long drive home.



They had Tafelbully and Evil Twin on tap. They only have one brew left in their line up that has not yet been released but I am looking forward to it.

It was Evil Twin Batch 2 and Tafelbully 1. I much preferred Evil Twin 2, but wish I would have tasted the first as well. I really look forward to tasting Tafelbully 2, etc and seeing how it taste over time. I thought it was good but there were some harsh malt flavors that really stood out. I wonder if this was a feature of the beer, or an issue with the first batch (not that it was bad, just not my taste) on a huge system rather than a homebrew system.

Did I forget to mention that Heretic is a Homebrewer that made it big time? OH HELL YEAH! Every Homebrewers Dream, including mine. I can't wait to see where they go and I hope I can follow one day. I don't even want a big place. A brewpub would make me happy, but it is what I would want.

Anyway, Cheers! and check out these places and brews if you can.

Brewing With A New Brewer

So today, Nikkee, Kyle, and I got together with Rachel. Kyle met her at a local homebrew club meeting and she was just about to do her first batch, so we figured we would catch up with her and help her out.


Rachel stiring her wort

It ended up being a good thing that we came. Not that she could not have done this first batch herself, but she was sold a ridiculous starter kit that would have caused her more pain than pleasure. She did not end up brewing with all of her own equipment but she is now on her way to nailing down her process.

The issue with me helping at the brew is I know nothing... NOTHING about brewing extract or partial mash. Call me crazy but besides the Mr. Beer kit that got me started all 26 of the batches I have done after that were All Grain. I figured if I was going to brew, I would not do it half assed... did I mention I live in a <500 sq ft 1 br apt?

Helping out on this brew was kind of a learning experience for me as well. I've assisted on a couple of these before but it is totally not my thing. ALL GRAIN ALL THE WAY!


Adding LME

The brew day was pretty much event free, which is a really good thing considering stories of others first times and even my first time but it was so amazing seeing Rachel right after her first hop addition. First EVER! Remember, this is her first brew. Shes never even brewed with another. We caught it on video!


Listen to me in the background acting like I know what I am talking about... I had a few already. YAY BREWDAY!

(I kind of sound like an idiot while all of this is going on... I honestly did not know what I was talking about. I used electric before moving into the new apt and then used gas but I was boiling 7+ gallon volumes... not if that really matters... I have a propane burner now)

The only issue of the night was that the wort chiller Kyle brought over was not able to be used in the kitchen. Since we did not boil a full 5 gallons we just figured it would be best to top up with cold water to drop the temp... That did not work out so well. By the time we left the wort was still at 140 degrees or so. I wonder how long it too the wort to get to pitching temp.


Sorry Kyle, But I had to throw this one up too. You guys should have seen the rest... We found out his spoon is about 2 gallons off HAH!

After we left, we drove out to City Tavern in Culver City to meet up with a buddy, Kip. I found out some amazing new from him today and I really hope that it helps to get LA Aleworks off the ground. Two of their beers won Gold Medals at the California State Fair and they just got the notice!



I had just a few tasters while we were there, (and I heard they tapped something I really wanted right after we left), and I ate their grilled cheese sandwich... I don't know why I like them so much but I have always ordered the grilled cheese at the last few bars we went to.

I guess sometime earlier Kip brought the head chef some hops from his plant that he had been growing and is in its second year now. She pickled them and created a shrimp appetizer with them. Kind of wish I got a picture of it but it was pretty awesome. Tasting pickled hops was quite an experience.

I drank a Hefe from Taps, a Reserve Wheat from Telegraph, Blueberry from Marin, Renegade Blonde Kolsch from Iron Fist, and an Oyster Stout from Craftsman.

None of these brews really stood out to me. The Blueberry had a strong blue taste... not like blue berries, but a strong taste. The reserve wheat was interesting as well as the Kolsch. The Hefe was pretty good but yeah.

I was really looking forward/not wanting to drink the Oyster Stout. I wish I had more information about this beer. It was a very interesting one. It was not bad, but it did not seem like the typical stout to me. It was far more mellow. There was a bit of dark malt toastyness but it was overall very light. I really wish I knew more, or could find more information about this beer. I've heard of people drinking it before but and I didn't want it but I figured why not try it...

Hot Tamales!

Tonight marks my first venture into cooking with beer. Going through the cabinets while packing I found a whole mess of things that I purchased in order to do something with and then it never happened. So tonight for dinner is Chicken Tamales. I do not know if this was such a great idea being I've never even made regular Tamales but Oh, well.

I homebrewed a Nut Brown Ale a while back and I thought that sounded like a good candidate to mix with the rice and I have some Bootlegger Black Phoenix, a Chipotle Stout, that I thought would go well with the chicken being this is a Mexican dish.

I started cooking the rice first. Since I am going to be putting it inside of the tamale, I did not want it to be extremely hot while I was trying to handle it. I threw it in the rice cooker because I figured it would give me the same results as if I did it in a pot... Not just because I am lazy.



1 Cup Brown & Wild rice
1 Cup L's Nut Brown Ale

I then put the chicken breast in with the rest of my bomber of the But brown in order to marinate it for an hour. I intend on cooking it with a Chipotle stout so I hope this does not throw the flavors off too much. I assume it would help, but we will find out.

To make the Tamale outters (technical term) I used 1 pint of Black Phoenix, and 1 Pint of Chicken broth. I just threw everything together in a bowl, minus the baking powder and oil, and mixed it well. After it was all mixed I added the oil and the baking powder... Lets just say this smelled bad as all hell.

4 cups of Maseca
1 pint Black Phoenix
1 pint Chicken Broth
Dash of salt
Dash of garlic powder
Dash of onion powder
1 cup of oil
1 tbsp of baking powder

After pulling the chicken out of the marinade, I threw it in a pan and just cooked it as one normally would. I began cutting into smaller pieces once it would finally give and poured 8oz of Black Phoenix over that and let it sit over heat for about 10 minutes just higher than a simmer.



Once I pulled it off of the heat, I shreded up the chicken and tossed it with the Nut Brown Rice.



I took a sample of the mixture at this point and thought it was ok, just a little bland so I added some taco seasoning that we mixed up a while back. It added a bit of spice and I quite liked it at this point.

Now since all of this was a pretty last minute decision, I did not have corn husk... not that when I was even looking for them though I could find them. So I used Aluminum foil for this next step. I spreaded the outters on the foil and added the chicken and rice mixture.



Then you fold it, etc, etc, I've had tamales before so I knew what they looked like which made things easier.

The only thing left to do after this was to steam them. So, I got a pot of boiling water and steamed them for 75 minutes. YAY! Bored! So I decided to make something else. This had no beer in it.


Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup masa harina
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions
1. In a medium bowl beat butter until it is creamy. Add the Mexican corn flour and water and beat until well mixed.
2. Using a food processor, process thawed corn, but leave chunky. Stir into the butter mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, mix cornmeal, sugar, cream, salt, and baking powder. Add to corn flour mixture and stir to combine. Pour batter into an ungreased 8x8 inch baking pan. Smooth batter and cover with aluminum foil. Place pan into a 9x13 inch baking dish that is filled a third of the way with water.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven F (175 degrees C) oven for 50 to 60 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Use an ice cream scoop for easy removal from pan.


It was an overly complicated process and I found the recipe at allrecipes dot com or something or another. It is damn good, but... well, I won't get into that.

Here is the final outcome.



I thought it looked really good, but there was only one way to tell...

I was not impressed. HAH! The inside was the best part. I've had tamales before so I know I like them. These ones just seemed to have a strange flavor. It could have been the beer or it could have been my base recipe. I mean, they were edible but I ended up removing a lot of the outters and only eating the chicken and rice. Maybe, I made them too thick as well. They were kind of bready and not enough stuffing. O well, I wanted to do it and I ate it. Case closed. That corn stuff was really good though.

My First Trappist

Tasting Notes

Trappistes Rochefort 6

I thought the color on this beer was just gorgeous. A dark brown, almost reddish color.

The nose a bit fruity, yeasty, and a little hot (spicy?... it may have just been the alcohol burning my nostrils).

Taste: Mellow, easy drinking. From the nose I was expecting a wider array of flavors thought it has great balance and a very nice body/mouth feel. Some sweetness that cuts through the dark fruit & maltyness. Love the yeasty undertones as well. Slight alcoholic finish.

Trappistes Rochefort 8

Very dark, clean ruby red color. Very Small, Tan head.

Smells like dark fruits, warm, and you can see the alcohol... a lot :D

Taste: Fruity/Estery, Burnt, malty, sweet, again, nice body with spice. Alcohol finish but not in a bad way. It seems to meld with the other flavors. Probably that of the yeast. A little spicy at first, but it goes well/disappears with the other flavors. Very easy to drink...

Trappistes Rochefort 10

This beer is just dark!

The nose on this one is highly alcoholic, a bit of ripe fruit (I need to figure out what ripe/dark fruits these are).

Taste: Strong Dark fruit flavor, very malty, and almost a burnt caramel taste. It seems to have a thick mouth feel, but not overpowering at all. Melds together quite well. Scary how drinkable it is.

Drinking In DisneyLand!

Ok, so you probably know this as well, They do NOT serve alcohol in DLand unless you are cool enough to get into Club 33. Walt Disney did not like the smell of spilt beer baking on concrete, and to this day they respect his wishes of it being a dry park... Though, After he died, they built California Adventure! (I did find some Stone Levitation inside DisneyLand)



I have not been to DisneyLand since I was like 7 or 8 and I honestly could not tell you anything I did besides hug Mickey Mouse... Yes, I remember that. But I honestly did not expect to have as much fun as I did while I was there. It was honestly one of the best days of my life HAHA! and probably the best in the past year, even with the awesome stuff I did the few days before.

Let it be known that I said, No!, Alcohol does not make everything better. Whoever said that was an idiot... or they've never been to Disney Land.



I won't bore you with the details of my day. For that, just visit the park yourself of ask me about it. The highlights though, were at the end of the night when I saw the REAL Mickey Mouse. I ran into several of his impostors throughout the day but there was a big explosion in the sky and Mickey showed up. He had his sorcerer's hat and everything on. He would wiggle his hand and BOOM!!! Explosion, BOOM! Magic. I love that Mouse :D


(imposter)

Now back to beer... Still Thinking about Mickey... We went over to California Adventure and I was honestly surprised with the selection they had there. Maybe I am just narrow minded, but I expected to only see BMC. There was GREAT beer in the park. Karl Strauss, Sierra Nevada,... I am sure there was another, one but probably not.

I am very disappointed that I missed catching a drink with Golden Pint while he was there, though I did get to talk to him for a few minutes.

We had just finished lunch and I had a Windansea Wheat Hefeweizen. I don't know, maybe it was the environment, or maybe the beer was just that good, But I loved it! I kind of think it was just really well made. I don't usually like Hefes but I would give this one a try again.

I was eating mexican food and the citrus and maltyness of the beer seemed to balance out the spicy/underspicyness of the fajitas... it was pretty warm out, which also made it quite nice.

Later on we caught up with a few friends, Louie and Monica, who are pretty damn crazy for coming to Disney Land after work and still having to get up and be at work at 4am the next day! (Nikkee and I arrived at about 9am and did not leave until 12:30am) but we had a great time with them. They knew the park inside and out, it really added to the experience.

We saw World of Colors with them, and Louie and I both had Torpedo Extra IPA paired with a Jalapeno Cheese stuffed Pretzel. This was pretty amazing too. The show was seriously something you have to see. I do not know how long it is running but a fire, water, and light show... I never imagined such a thing. I want to see it again.

The importance of this day was around DisneyLand, not beer, so I really do not know how to end this post...



Cheers?

Brewery Weekend Part Duex!

To think that was not enough...

We went out to The Bruery the next day. I drank all but two beers they had on their menu. Met up with a few Friends while we were there so that made everything that much better... did not limit the amount I drank though.



The Bruery is pretty much a top notch place. There was not a single beer they served me that I did not like. Well, there was one, but it was just not my style. Salt of The Earth. The first Gose style brew I had and it was far too Salty for my taste.

Don't let that keep you from trying it though. I plan to taste everything else in that style I can find until I decide that it is, or is not right for me. Just think if I kept trying to drink BMC. I would not be the Beer Snob I am today.



I ended up taking home a growler of Iniquitous, a "10% ABV Belgian Golden Strong Ale" that is really only 8.1%. As long as they are consistent, right?

Damn good brew though. I will not take that away from them. I honestly did not want to share, and if you knew me, you would know this is weird as hell. I am known as the guy who bring WAY too much beer to everything. I just think it is a wonderous thing and is meant to be shared with everyone. So, if I am in your neck of the woods expect to have too much beer to drink!

This place seems to know exactly what they are doing. I will miss the LA CraftBeer scene once I am gone. Though, I am sure I will find out that the beer where ever I am is just as amazing.

After leaving The Bruery, we went out to 38 Degree's Alehouse and I had a flight of brews there. They have great food, a great atmosphere, and while all of their servers do not know everything about beer, they are honestly trying.



Alex, our server for the night, admitted he did not know everything about the beer there (but to be fair, they have like 40 rotating taps or something and a huge bottle list, I am surprised he knew as much as he did) but he was always tasting new things and learning everything he could. He was very knowledgeable for how little he said he knew. He was also talking to us about the owner and how he was pretty good with beer and picked some of the best ones available for his restaurant.

If you are ever in the area, I would definetly go out there. It will be well worth your time.

Brewery Weekend

This weekend was a crazy one. I went to Stone, The Lost Abbey/Port, Bootlegger, The Bruery, and 38 Degrees Ale House (ok, so I know this one is not a brewery, but they have a damn good selection of beer and know what they are doing).

First off, I would like to say that Stone is an AMAZING brewery. They are kind of what I imagined every brewery would be like but... as I found out... I was wrong.



Their tour guides are amazing. Jessica Wilson, did a great job with literally everything. Nikkee thought she may have been pregnant with the way she was "nursing" her beer and stuff but what do I know. I was more excited to be inside the actual brewery. I was literally having "beergasms" apparently... but what do I care? I saw pallets upon pallets of beer, grain, a whole closet full of hops, a test batch of 11-11-11 (I was spying), and the bottling line in motion. I was in heaven.



The best part of the tour, was the tasting at the end. The free beer was totally amazing. I have never tasted an Arrogant Bastard that was that damn good. I wish I would have gotten a growler of that, but I guess that is why they are refillable :D



Note: Do not order the Spud Buds. We did not like them at all, the waitress said no body liked them at all, and she did not like them at all. I guess some people must like them but you have been warned...


(sign meant for my mouth)

Here is a video of the bottling line. The first part is cool, but we were rushed at the end.



After leaving Stone, we went to The Lost Abbey/Port Brewing.


Apparently I was talking to The Owner of the Brewery... I wish I would have known that while I was there. I loved talking to him but I just thought he was a bartender (at this point I was NOT drunk, but we had just left Stone literally 5 minutes prior and I began drinking immediately). He was a really cool guy and had great beer suggestions. I did not like his female replacements that came just about as we were leaving... though, one was totally in fish nets... I love fish nets...

I wish I would have picked up on his clues that he ran the place. There were some good little conversations, but I would have went further if I knew who the hell I was talking to.

This place had a really nice environment. Not really a family place, like I thought Stone was, but a really cool place nonetheless. We were sitting on sand bags. Someone told me that this was the old location of Stone's brewery. I honestly cannot imagine that but I guess everyone has to get started somewhere.

This was the first location that I realized that a brewery did not have to be a fancy, "corporation" type of location in order to make a great product. It really opened my eyes to the world of brewers and the making of craft beer.

I left here with a Growler of 2009 Santa's Little Helper.


It was at this point that Nikkee wanted to go to Bootleggers... I did not want to go.. I know my limits and I know I would have passed them... Let me just say I did...

So I don't really want to talk bad about a place but there was only one brew here I liked... and that was Black Phoenix. I knew I liked that one before going, and that is the only one I liked after going...

This night did not end well. I will just leave you with that for now...

A Growler Hunting I Will Go...

I just want to start off by saying, "Happy Anniversary To Me!!!!!!!!!!!"


Anyway, Now that that is over with, Since I guess this anniversay is about me. I want to go get a few Growlers. One from Stone, The Lost Abbey, Bootleggers, and The Bruery. There are others I want but I guess that will have to come another day. Actually thinking about it, trying to get to all of those locations in one day is pretty ambitious... So, why not turn this weekend into a BEER WEEKEND!

I kind of have this Bucket list of things I want to do/places I want to go before I ship off to BCT and since I got all dorky into beer this past year they all pretty much revolve around that.

1. Go To Eagle Rock Brewing Co.
2. Go To LadyFace Ale & Brassier
3. Go To Stone Brewing Co.
4. Watch Ghost Busters.
5. Eat A 12 Egg Omlette
6. Go to Sierra Nevada (hopefully for beer camp)
7. Go to Deschutes... etc, etc.

There are several other breweries and events on there that I want to go to but that list can go on forever. I only have a couple of months left so I have to pick and choose... though, I am doing some that didn't even make the original cut.

Details later.

Beer Camp

Ahhh, Beer Camp. In the craft brew world this has been a topic of discussion since the new variety pack was released. Even more so since Sierra Nevada announced that entries were being accepted for that Golden Ticket allowing one to come to the brewery and have a mystical time partying and drinking with Oompa Loompas. At first I just shrugged off the idea with thoughts like, “I would never win. What is the point of me entering?”, but after seeing numerous tweets from Sierra Nevada that there were literally only 10 entries, I figured what is the worst that could happen?

I am currently going through a major transition in my life, from that of being a Civilian and becoming a Soldier, and what better way to sound off the past than to get myself in the running for this competition. Shortly after I dedicated myself to doing this, I started thinking up ideas for the script. I thought I had the perfect idea, completely dorky and sure to get some attention. But then SWMBO, AKA Nikkee, had something way better up her sleeves. She wrote out the majority of the script one day while I was out for a run and as soon as I got back she began constructing the costumes.

So I am kind of a Super Hero nut… and use a lot of spandex whenever I wear a costume… This brought on the creation of HopMan! He would die for a good brew and fights for those who are against that fizzy yellow beverage that is often passed as beer and the corporate clutches of the evil Bun Light!

I strutted my stuff for a while wearing The HopMan Uniform and then figured it might be a good idea to plan a few things out. We figured the house would be the easiest place to shoot this thing and we could be done with it in no time. We assembled the last of the props and blocked out the whole scene. We had a few issues but once we worked through those, everything was ready to go.

The video is available Here. I hope that you all get a chance to watch it and that you enjoy it as much as I had fun making it. I really hope it catches the attention of the judges. That would be beyond amazing. The event takes place, literally days before I leave for Basic Training. Though this leaves us with one question, Will Craft Beer prevail? Or will Bun Light continue to keep us blinded from the truth? Find out at Beer Camp! (hopefully)

Hooah!