Goodbye Mr. Blue Sky

What a crazy summer!  Crazy enough that I haven't posted on here since June, and while I'd like to say I'm sorry about that I'm not really sorry at all.  First off I did get that Job with the brew shop that I was talking about and no I don't work there no more, probably should have stayed but that is neither here nor there.  I got scared, I mean on one hand I saw the potential for it to be fun, but on the other hand I saw the potential for shear bordem in the retail buisness.  OK, OK, so the money and the benifits got to me as well, more so because I didn't like working retail.  Do I enjoy what I'm doing right now?  Well not really but it pays the bills and I think I have conviced my employer that I should have permenant 4-10 work weeks so all is not lost.  

So I bought a new motorcycle this summer and from the above picture you can see that I have greatly enjoyed it.  The wife and I and other friends and family rode to John Day in June and I have been on various other rides and have commuted with the bike all Summer.  It's sad that Summer has come to an end as I will likely not be one with my bike for some time.  I could be all hardcore and ride in all kinds of weather but around here that is crazy and frankly just unsafe.  I've been riding the last couple of days to work and it's supper dark in the morning, talk about depressing.  

  Other than that I've done the usual things, make beer, cook, and try to keep up with the garden (although it looks like hell right now).  Harvest of all things tasty has been good and actually we'll be buying another freezer to store all of our tasty food.  I'm a little worried that we don't have enough fire wood to get us through the winter but hopefully we'll be cutting some more soon.  Fall is one of my favorite seasons hopefully this can be a good one.  Well here's saying buy to Mr. Blue Sky once again. 

Left me sour

Stumptown Tart from Bridgeport Brewing was kind of like my day yesterday, bad, I mean I don't think I have ever dumped 3/4 of a bomber down the drain before, I'm pretty sure that's a first for me. Upon poring this beer I saw some Marion berry pieces actually floating in the slightly purplish fluid, I got to say I thought that was pretty neat. I had my hopes up for this one since there had been so much hype and all, but ratebeer and beer advocate really didn't give it high scores, course a lot of times those ratings are all out of whack so I pretty much take them with a grain of salt. The beer pores with a slight white head that diminishes fairly quickly, aroma is of Marion berries and sweet tarts?? Mouthfeel is not much on this one, very dry and crisp. It doesn't taste like it's the 8.3% abv that is stated on the bottle, I think the sourness has covered up the alcohol very nicely. Now if I wanted to drink sweet tarts crushed in sparkling water I would have purchased a red bull or something, this beer has a sort of cidery flavor to it but as you continue to drink the sourness just fatigues you and your taste buds and your left with a horible tart wine cooler. I'm not going to even be as nice as ratebeer and beer advocate I would give this a 1 0r 2 out of ten, nice try Bridgeport but next time make a real Belgian style and don't half ass it.

Take the road less traveled

I guess I've beat this one to death on this blog but I really don't like my career. I've actually found myself getting mad at myself and people I like working with because they seem happy and I am not, I wonder why. Truth is I don't know if I'll ever be truly happy where I work but I guess part of me thinks I have to try something else in hopes that there is something out there. It's logical that I would want to pursue something beery since I am such a beer fanatic but I also wonder if I would want it to be work since it is recreation at this point. Maybe doing something I really like would be great as a job, maybe it would taint my idea of fun, I don't know. Long story short I'm at a "fork in the road" as it were, waiting in the cue. Funny thing is I actually talked myself into making that first step in making a 180 in my career life. I make good money, well good for me, but I applied for and talked to the owner for a job in the fermentation industry that pays less than half what I make right now and has no benefits (well in the medical coverage sense). Benefits is a relative word because I have health benefits and retirement benefits but will I live long if I have a bad attitude toward my career for the next 30 years? What is the leading cause of heart failure? Lets all say it stress!!! And maybe not just the type of stress that forces you to work harder and harder but the stress caused by no fulfillment in your life. I have read that somewhere around 80% of the population is dissatisfied with their current employment, but we all get stuck, we get mortgages and kids and then we're stuck. I don't have kids I don't have a mortgage so I have some leeway, but as we all know you can't live on minimum wage these days. My wife and I have discussed it and we can cut back and make it work, now all I have to hope for is the chance to get the job.

It's alive!

So I completed my kegerator project this weekend, finally. As you can see from the picture I have installed 4 taps, not being one to waste my time with the cheap stuff I bought four forward sealing Perlic Faucets. So far I have been very impressed with how well they flow, my foam is way down due to less restriction. I'm not totally done, I still need to add another port to my CO2 manifold and mount the manifold to the new collar but other than that I'm done throwing money at this project. Oh I'm also really looking forward to making some tap handles with my lathe, just need to get more practice and some nice exotic woods and I should be well on my way.

Mixed 12

So as I have said before I love my home-brew shop Corvallis Brewing Supply for instance just yesterday I emailed them to see if needed supplies where available and in mere minutes I got an email from Joel (the owner) that yes they did have these and that I could once again spend my money on Spaten Optimator (ah what a fine brew it's like crack to me). Anyway a couple of weeks ago I purchased, or rather my wife purchased, one of Joel's now famous to me anyway "mix sixes" usually this consists of 6 bombers (22oz) of higher priced specialty beers. The last mix six that I purchased had fine brews from both Ninkasi from Eugene, OR and Beer Valley from Ontario, OR I actually still have the a bottle from Beer Valley of the Imperial Stout, which I''m keeping for this Memorial Day. This particular mix six was actually a mixed case of 6x2 beers from Decheutes and 6x2 beers from New Belgium breweries. I worked out a deal to share the beer with a cooworker thus reducing the price and giving both of us 1 beer each of most of both breweries popular beers. Here is the list from Joel.

New Belgium

Mighty Arrow, Pale Ale, 5.2% ABV, $1.45 / 12 oz. btl

Heaps of fresh Cascade and Goldings hops with a sweet honey malt backnote. Named after the famed Border Collie, Arrow, who was "boss" of the brewery for quite a few years. Sound familiar?

Mothership Wit, Organic Wheat, 4.8% ABV, $1.45 / 12 oz. btl

Taste bud sensation with citrus and coriander spice and thirst-quenching tartness.

Blue Paddle, Pilsner-Lager, 4.8% ABV, $1.45 / 12 oz. btl

Czech-style bier with fresh Noble hops and crisp malt breadiness.

Abbey, Belgian Dubbel, 7.0 % ABV, $1.45 / 12 oz. btl

Horse chestnut red color, rich, smooth and elegant!

Spingboard, Blond, 6.2 % ABV, $1.45 / 12 oz. btl

Contains Gogi berries, Wormwood and Schisandra for a Chinese herbal smorgasbord!

Trippel, Belgian Style Ale, 7.8 % ABV, $1.45 / 12 oz. btl

This deceptively strong ale has fruitiness overtones and complex malt and spice character.

Deschutes Brewery

Mirror Pond, Pale Ale, 5.0 % ABV, $1.65 / 12 oz. btl

Classic brew with heaps of Cascade hops.

Inversion, India Pale Ale, 6.8 % ABV, $1.65 / 12 oz. btl

Layers of soft caramel malt and huge amounts of hops

Bachelor, Extra Special Bitter, 5.3% ABV, $1.65 / 12 oz. btl

Toasted malt profile and soft, balanced hop bitterness.

Obsidian, Stout, 6.4 % ABV, $1.65 / 12 oz. btl

Smooth and black with rich roastiness and lingering espresso and chocolate flavors

Black Butte, Porter, 5.2% ABV, $1.65 / 12 oz. btl

Easy-drinking dark beer with chocolate and assertive hoppiness

Cinder Cone, Red, 5.4% ABV, $1.65 / 12 oz. btl

Spring seasonal beer on the way out for summer! Reddish hue supported by caramel malts and smooth Amarillo and Tettnang hops!

Tonight I'm sampling my first beer the New Belgium Trippel. It pours a straw color with a half inch white head. Aroma is fruity maybe a bit citrus . Flavor is not what I would expect from a trippel some fruity almost raisiny flavors but there is a great deal of alcohol heat left in this beer (I would think aging would remedy this) this heat covers many of the subtle flavors that may be hidden. I have never actually had a trippel but Spaten Optimator is a Doppel and it has more complexity in the sense that it has more of a malty backbone, a wonderful aroma, and that signature Belgian raisiny grainy flavor. I would expect a trippel to be even more of this only with more kick. I'm not going to say this beer is bad actually as I write this the beer is warming and I'm getting more flavors over time, I think however it should have more of a malty background (could benefit from a decoction mash) and definitely some more aging. I'm going to give this beer a 7/10.

Not more beer!

I suppose I get a little paranoid at times, but lately I've been wondering how good my beer actually tastes outside of my tight nit group of my wife and I. See my aunt and uncle make fruit wine, and every year they give it out as gifts, which is nice and all but it tastes awful. So every year I hear the same thing again and again from all the other family members "oh thank you Mark, that is very nice of you!", when really you know they are thinking "I will be dumping this down the drain as soon as I get home." To a certain extent that is a tragedy because I know from experience that they put a great deal of time into making their wine, but on the other hand sometimes working hard doesn't necessarily mean a better end product. Most people are inherently nice so my uncle thinks people like his wine because everyone always says how good it is to make him feel good about his accomplishments. So now he's getting his license so he can legally sell the stuff and I feel like we have done him an injustice. We should have been more critical so as to not set him up for disaster but alas there is no turning back now and likely he will fall under a critical eye and may be disappointed at the results. Enter my beer, I wonder if I'm a lot like my Uncle, do people really like my beer or do they just say that to make me feel good? I tell people that I want them to be honest, but you know as well as I do that that is easier said than done for most. I took some beer to a family BBQ last night, and I received no comments on my beer as a matter of fact my grandfather in-law drank half of one of my reds and then proceeded to drink a Fat Tire. I'm at this point thinking my beer sucks, but no one will tell me. I had some positive feedback from some coworkers this morning, even though my red was flat for some, but come on people be honest, it will only hurt me if you are not.

I can't stop

So I pulled the trigger on more goodies for my kegerator. Seeing as I received my tax return last week I as many Americans thought "I should spend that on something I want". Sorry mom I know you have always ingrained into my being the "want versus need" conundrum, but you know sometimes you just have to have fun with your money. As one of my good friends always says "it's only money, you can't take it with ya" true, so true. So I'm guessing your wondering what I bought. I was tired of opening my kegerator and using the picnic taps, so I am going to build a collar on the top and install the 4 new stainless steel Perlic front sealing faucets I ordered and never again worry about opening that sucker unless I need to refill the beer or the CO2. I am calling this my "green" retrofit to my kegerator as I will no longer be letting the cool air escape into the atmosphere every time I want a beer. Maybe I can LEED certify this sucker if I attach some solar panels!!