More beard, more beer, raffled beer and a brief rant about Cheeseheads
First and foremost, a toast to the Chicago Blackhawks!
The Hawks finished off the Calgary Flames four games to two, which means they move on to face the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and you now have at least another week to pledge me for the charity Beard-a-thon (back story here). As you can see (as I enjoy an excellent Dark Horse Fore smoked stout), the beard is progressing from the Faith-era George Michael stage to the Jack Black stage. The fundraising has also progressed nicely, as I'm now in fourth place on the Leader Board with $288 raised and a mere $12 away from third place. Thanks to those who have donated so far, and for those who haven't, if you could send $10 my way the local charities who will receive the money would be very grateful, as would I. Click here to make a tax-free donation.
Moving on to beer, our Somethin' Else India Black Ale reached its final gravity 0f 1015 and I racked to the Wiggum keg today. I'm liking the taste, though I wish it were a bit more roasty. It's got a nice balance between piny hoppy and citrus hoppy. At this point I'm leaning towards dry-hopping since there's little aroma. For those of you who dry hop, do you think it impacts the perceived bitterness a lot? I want to dry hop because there's not a lot of aroma, but the bitterness is pretty much dead-on and I'm afraid that the aroma will increase the perceived bitterness and throw it out of whack. Of course, it is an IPA...
Item #3 on the agenda... How would you like to win a bottle of 2008 Older Viscosity? Or maybe some bourbon barrel-aged Angel's Share from Lost Abbey? Well, the folks over at Free the Hops (the organization dedicated to repealing Alabama's ridiculous ABV and container volume limits) is hosting a fundraiser raffle where just about every barrel-aged beer on BeerAdvocate's top 100 is up for grabs. For the full assortment visit drinksprettygood.com (and if you don't get the reference check out this post from Lew Bryson's blog; you'll laugh and cry at the same time). Anyway, it's $4/ticket, 3 for $10 or 5 for $15. So after you donate $10 or $15 to my Beard-a-thon, donate $10 or $15 to Free the Hops and maybe you'll score a bottle of Firestone Walker XII in the process.
Finally, I have to rant about this. Leah and I entered the Green Bay Rackers Titletown Open this past weekend. Yesterday I go to check if the results are posted and I see a headline that reads "15th Annual Titletown Open Results." I think, "Sweet! Let's see if we won anything." And what does the text under the headline say? "The final results will be posted in the following weeks right here, and in the Rackers Forum." What??!! First of all, I see no reason why clubs can't post their results within a week of the judging. But beyond that, why does your headline specifically say "Results" if you aren't posting the results??? I tell you, those damn Packers fans are always one step ahead of me. ;-)
The Hawks finished off the Calgary Flames four games to two, which means they move on to face the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and you now have at least another week to pledge me for the charity Beard-a-thon (back story here). As you can see (as I enjoy an excellent Dark Horse Fore smoked stout), the beard is progressing from the Faith-era George Michael stage to the Jack Black stage. The fundraising has also progressed nicely, as I'm now in fourth place on the Leader Board with $288 raised and a mere $12 away from third place. Thanks to those who have donated so far, and for those who haven't, if you could send $10 my way the local charities who will receive the money would be very grateful, as would I. Click here to make a tax-free donation.
Moving on to beer, our Somethin' Else India Black Ale reached its final gravity 0f 1015 and I racked to the Wiggum keg today. I'm liking the taste, though I wish it were a bit more roasty. It's got a nice balance between piny hoppy and citrus hoppy. At this point I'm leaning towards dry-hopping since there's little aroma. For those of you who dry hop, do you think it impacts the perceived bitterness a lot? I want to dry hop because there's not a lot of aroma, but the bitterness is pretty much dead-on and I'm afraid that the aroma will increase the perceived bitterness and throw it out of whack. Of course, it is an IPA...
Item #3 on the agenda... How would you like to win a bottle of 2008 Older Viscosity? Or maybe some bourbon barrel-aged Angel's Share from Lost Abbey? Well, the folks over at Free the Hops (the organization dedicated to repealing Alabama's ridiculous ABV and container volume limits) is hosting a fundraiser raffle where just about every barrel-aged beer on BeerAdvocate's top 100 is up for grabs. For the full assortment visit drinksprettygood.com (and if you don't get the reference check out this post from Lew Bryson's blog; you'll laugh and cry at the same time). Anyway, it's $4/ticket, 3 for $10 or 5 for $15. So after you donate $10 or $15 to my Beard-a-thon, donate $10 or $15 to Free the Hops and maybe you'll score a bottle of Firestone Walker XII in the process.
Finally, I have to rant about this. Leah and I entered the Green Bay Rackers Titletown Open this past weekend. Yesterday I go to check if the results are posted and I see a headline that reads "15th Annual Titletown Open Results." I think, "Sweet! Let's see if we won anything." And what does the text under the headline say? "The final results will be posted in the following weeks right here, and in the Rackers Forum." What??!! First of all, I see no reason why clubs can't post their results within a week of the judging. But beyond that, why does your headline specifically say "Results" if you aren't posting the results??? I tell you, those damn Packers fans are always one step ahead of me. ;-)
posted by Chibe at 10:44 PM
3 Comments:
The one time I did dry hopping, I found that it balanced out the perceived bitterness rather than increasing it. However, I was using very citrusy hops - YMMV with more piney hops.
YAY HAWKS! Now GO BULLS!!! Also, thanks for putting a stupid George Michael song in my head. If the Hawks win it all you should grow your beard for the rest of the year a la ZZTOP: http://www.planet3rry.com/images/2006/061025zztop.jpg
(Side note: the guy in ZZTOP without the beard has the last name Beard).
..damn cheeseheads.
With the dry hopping I find it does affect the perceived bitterness a fair amount IF you use a ton of hops when dry hopping. An 3/4 ounce of leaf hops does nicely, again in my experience, without effecting the bitterness (or perception I should say) in a 5 gallon batch. Your mileage may vary...
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