Homebrew T-Shirts...an idea...

Homebrew bloggers around the world! I'd like to design a Homebrewer T-Shirt (or ten) that we'd all be proud to wear. Remember I'm the guy who thinks everybody in the world should make their own homebrew. Why not? Lets spread the word with some cool T-Shirts.

The first idea that came to my head. Something having to do with the first homebrew blogging day. Maybe we could summarize each person's first brewing experience in a few words and put them on a shirt. Something like.

• Dad taught me to homebrew.
• My wife bought me my first kit.
• Uncle Joe taught me the secrets of making beer.
• College taught me how to brew beer.
• ...

What do you think? Cafepress is free and you could setup your own store with your own T-Shirts. Hell, I'd probably buy T-Shirts from each blogger out there! (As long as my wife said it was ok ;-) Heheh...anyway, what do you think? I'm designing one no matter what. To get an idea check out my fledgling Cafepress store.

Cheers!

Hi Res Pics of Hops Progress

Click on images to see a higher resolution version. This weather seems to be agreeing with the hops plants. Wet then sunny then wet then sunny. :-)

15 Days 'til Homebrew Blogging Day

Just in case you forgot ;-) I am looking forward to it. Gotta get my story about how I got started homebrewing together.

Lots going on in my non homebrewing/beer life right now (what does that meann?). Family getting together, work going well enough I guess, just bought a present for my sons birthday. Right now I'm downloading Puppy Linux to see if I can revive some old hardware laying around. I'm also staring at a basement full of crap. Gotta get it cleaned up before visitors come!

Cheers!

Hops progress pictures...

Sorry, some of the pics are a bit askew...


Cascade










Willamette or Hallertau with new trellis.










Willamette or Hallertau on the left. Chinook on the right.

Go Penguins! I'm buzzed...

Just watched the Penguins beat the Flyers. Pretty cool. I'm a fair weather hockey fan, but, it still feels good to see some good ol' Western PA butt kickin'. Did you see TBL and CBR are having some playoff fun?

Had an East End Three tonight. I gotta tell you it wasn't really something I like. Kinda stinky nose with some good gumball in the middle and a big sweet tang at the end. I wish I could be more technical about it, but, hey that's all I can muster. Penguins kicked butt, East End didn't...c'est la vie.

Anyway, when I have a few to drink I tend to let down my guard and reveal things. Sound familiar? Often we don't talk about the effects of alcohol. Well here goes...

I'm 6 feet tall with blond...heheh! Just kidding. This is about my "stats" ;-)

According to sitemeter I have 50 visits per day on average (whooooooo + sarcasm). Google Ad$en$ is about 10 c3nt$ a day. I'm rich! NOT! Doesn't matter. I'm happy with the way things are going. This site gives me an outlet and I hope it provides a service. I'm happy with the following I have now and I know it will continue to grow incrementally. Also, I have the beginnings of a cafepress store now too. Look over there on the right. Make sure you give feedback. It's very helpful when it comes down to creating things you, my readers, would like to see, read and buy. (the buy part seems awkward)

Oh yeah, slight rant. Ron's Original really needs to get a handle on there $8.50 and $9+ beers. Come on! Get a smaller glass and don't expect a huge margin. I ordered a Stone Russian Imperial Stout and was charged $8.50 for a glass (12 oz I think). Of course there were no prices on the beer list and I was pretty much gonna pay it, but, holy crap! It is delicious, but, not again. I won't do it. I will always ask ahead of time and find a cheaper beer. I did mention it to the manager. Hopefully they will get the message. Also, the service was awesome! Much better than many other places I've been to recently.

Rant over...time for bed.

Cheers!

Tornados & Beer Crier

Interesting BeerCrier activity last night as VADavid was waiting out the storm with his family in their basement. http://blog.beercrier.com/ Looks like everybody is ok. Recently my sister went through a similar experience in Suffolk, VA. Makes you think.

What else did I find out through BeerCrier last night?

• rave reviews of Ron's Schoolhouse & new drafts
• somebody drinking Avery IPA
• another drinking Ballast Point at The Drafting Room

What are beer people doing right now? What are you doing right now? BeerCrier

Cheers!

Drink up fellas the rain will do you good.

Oops! I mean ladies. We don't use the fellas for the brewing. Yeah its raining here. I'm talking to my hop plants (well not really talking to them). I'm sure this will do them some good. (the rain, not the talking) It might help me too. Nothin' like some rainy days to get you brewing in your kitchen again and there are rainy days for the foreseeable future.

So I missed The Big Brew and I've been drinking the Chinookadillo. I think its time to brew a Belgian beer again before I run out. Hmmm...what to brew? Bryan has a Saison brewing and he might be starting on a second. Gotta go look at my ingredients again and see what I have. Then I can go plug it into Beersmith and see what it looks like. Kinda backwards huh? There's a rhyme to my reason though. I don't brew as often if I have to formulate and then go buy. So I just buy a bunch of stuff and store it until I need it. The other side is all about creativity. How can I take the ingredients I have and make them into something that tastes good?

Cheers!

More trellis is up for the last two plants...

So now I have a week or so until they all start growing out over the roof of my shed. Oh and the Cascade hops are going crazy. Shoots everywhere. They're like some kinda green octopus :-)

Three weeks 'til Homebrew Blogging Day - May 30th

More information can be found here...

Homebrew Blogging Day

I also crafted a cool countdown widget for your blog. See the sidebar. Eventually I'll replace the dragon symbol with a new graphic for Homebrew Blogging Day.

Cheers!

NIN released "the slip" record for free :-)

http://theslip.nin.com/