Beer coaster wallpaper, Beerfly Alleyfight and more!
Gotta start with the eye candy, right?
For reasons not worth going into, I decided to take a picture of the various beer coasters I've collected over my three tours of Europe and turn it into desktop wallpaper for my laptop. I think it came out pretty sweet, so I figured I'd post it in case anybody else is looking to shake up their desktop background. And if you're curious about what's scribbled on the Schumacher coaster, Düsseldorf brewpubs keep track of how many beers you drink by making a hash mark on your coaster.
Moving on, just a friendly reminder that Beerfly Alleyfight is Saturday. You can read more about it in my previous post here or in a Chicago Tribune article here. It's only $30 to enjoy our Somethin' Else India black ale, some killer bacon mac 'n cheese, the music of Naomi Ashley, and much, much more! And if you go, vote for us! We like winning!
Speaking of winning, at the Green Bay Rackers' Titletown Open we did nothing of the sort. It was frustrating for several reasons. First of all, it means that our streak of never having a beer win two awards continues, as both beers we entered (our Downdraft Helles and F6 Sticke Alt) placed in the BOSS Chicago Cup back in March. Further proof of the arbitrary nature of homebrew competitions, as far as I'm concerned, so I guess it's really not anything to be frustrated about. What I AM frustrated about, though, is the scoring for our Sticke. Both judges said, "Great beer, but too hoppy." I really hate to be a snob, but if there's one style I know it's Alts, and they're SUPPOSED to be hoppy. I guess it's really not the judges' fault that it's virtually impossible to get your hands on an authentic Sticke (or regular Altbier for that matter) in the U.S., but it's frustrating. Also frustrating is that it appears they had roughly 25 beers per flight, while every other competition I've entered has between 8 and 15. Of course, that could explain why neither of my beers placed since it makes it twice as hard to win. So that's that.
Finally, a quick Beard-a-thon update. I've now raised $483 for charity and am solidly in 3rd
place for total money raised. The Hawks are tied 2-2 with the Canucks in their best-of-seven series (and are leading 1-0 in Game 5 as I type this), so there's still time to pledge. And most importantly, as you can see to the right (that's me trying to rock my game face) my beard is actually starting to fill in somewhat. Thanks again to everybody who's pledged so far, and I'd love it if a few more of my fellow homebrewers could send me $10. I bet the charities who receive the Beard-a-thon pledges will love it even more, so what are you waiting for? And, of course, GO BLACKHAWKS!!!
For reasons not worth going into, I decided to take a picture of the various beer coasters I've collected over my three tours of Europe and turn it into desktop wallpaper for my laptop. I think it came out pretty sweet, so I figured I'd post it in case anybody else is looking to shake up their desktop background. And if you're curious about what's scribbled on the Schumacher coaster, Düsseldorf brewpubs keep track of how many beers you drink by making a hash mark on your coaster.
Moving on, just a friendly reminder that Beerfly Alleyfight is Saturday. You can read more about it in my previous post here or in a Chicago Tribune article here. It's only $30 to enjoy our Somethin' Else India black ale, some killer bacon mac 'n cheese, the music of Naomi Ashley, and much, much more! And if you go, vote for us! We like winning!
Speaking of winning, at the Green Bay Rackers' Titletown Open we did nothing of the sort. It was frustrating for several reasons. First of all, it means that our streak of never having a beer win two awards continues, as both beers we entered (our Downdraft Helles and F6 Sticke Alt) placed in the BOSS Chicago Cup back in March. Further proof of the arbitrary nature of homebrew competitions, as far as I'm concerned, so I guess it's really not anything to be frustrated about. What I AM frustrated about, though, is the scoring for our Sticke. Both judges said, "Great beer, but too hoppy." I really hate to be a snob, but if there's one style I know it's Alts, and they're SUPPOSED to be hoppy. I guess it's really not the judges' fault that it's virtually impossible to get your hands on an authentic Sticke (or regular Altbier for that matter) in the U.S., but it's frustrating. Also frustrating is that it appears they had roughly 25 beers per flight, while every other competition I've entered has between 8 and 15. Of course, that could explain why neither of my beers placed since it makes it twice as hard to win. So that's that.
Finally, a quick Beard-a-thon update. I've now raised $483 for charity and am solidly in 3rd
place for total money raised. The Hawks are tied 2-2 with the Canucks in their best-of-seven series (and are leading 1-0 in Game 5 as I type this), so there's still time to pledge. And most importantly, as you can see to the right (that's me trying to rock my game face) my beard is actually starting to fill in somewhat. Thanks again to everybody who's pledged so far, and I'd love it if a few more of my fellow homebrewers could send me $10. I bet the charities who receive the Beard-a-thon pledges will love it even more, so what are you waiting for? And, of course, GO BLACKHAWKS!!!
posted by Chibe at 8:49 PM
1 Comments:
Looks like you're not shaving for at least 4 more games! YAY HAWKS!!!
As far as the beers not winning again, yeah the competition was twice as hard, plus, the beers could have aged...not necessarily oxidized or anything like that, but flavors change over time. I've noticed it with a number of my beers to the point that I now bottle more than I need for contests so I can open one and judge it myself each time before I send it off.
I didn't do that with any contests this year---and that is probably why I have no ribbons this year. I opened a couple after getting the scoresheets back, and definitely noticed some changes. (I should post this to my blog instead of here).
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