Beer Advent Calendar: Day 12

Kona Brewing Company Pipeline
12oz.
No Alc. given



Described as a "Porter made with 100% Hawaiian Kona Coffee."

This is one strong, smooth Porter. I don't get many coffee notes, but it has a certain bite and strength about it. Very dark, and very thick, this is proving a great sipping beer after our beef stew. A nice surprise.

C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 11

Anchor Brewing Company Liberty Ale
12oz.
6% alc.



Susan stepped it up a notch today, and had my beer poured and a plate of fried chicken on the table (ottoman) the minute I walked through the front door. I think her having Friday's off is a good thing.

Today's beer is a very nice Pale Ale style beer. Fresh hoppy nose, nice clean body, and a mellow finish. Like a toned down IPA, which I'm enjoying.

C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 10

Sea Dog Bluepaw Wild blueberry Wheat Ale
12oz.
4.7% alc.



A wonderfully refreshing fruity wheat beer. Very strong blueberry nose that stays with you all the way through the finish. Surprisingly fruity from sniff to burp. This went great with a Cobb Salad. The only bad part was the fact I needed at least 2 or 3 more bottles, as I drank it up so quickly.

C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 9

Black Boss Porter
16.9oz
9.4% alc.



Maybe it was the fact I split a pitcher of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale with J-Tizzle after work, but the nose on this Porter was absolutely stunning. Huge deep boozy smell, that I thought would be a bit too much given the 9.4% alc content. But it is impressively smooth. Great smooth body and a nice finish. Lots of chocolate. I have a little more than 14oz to go, so this should be a great topper to a nice dinner with a mate.

C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 8

Grimbergen Blonde Ale
11.2oz
6.7% alc



A totally predictable, and good Blonde Ale. Blondes aren't my favorite, and the nose of this reminded me of Midas Touch, which almost made me convulse. But I worked through it, and found it enjoyable. We had a great dish of spicy spaghetti and meat balls, so it went well together.

C'

Clean as a Whistle!

One of the few times you'll see me with no facial hair:



I think I actually look younger, without all the gray hair on my chin. Look out college girls!

C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 7

Dogfish Head Brewery Midas Touch
12oz.
9% alc.



The web site says: "This recipe is the actual oldest-known fermented beverage in the world! It is an ancient Turkish recipe using the original ingredients from the 2700 year old drinking vessels discovered in the tomb of King Midas. Somewhere between wine & mead; this smooth, sweet, yet dry ale will please the Chardonnay of beer drinker alike."

Midas was paired with a Parmesan Herb Tilapia, with a herb and garlic risotta, and asparagus. Dinner was great, but as my old grandmother used to say: "I couldn't go the bastids" when it came to the beer. I mean, I still consumed about 3/4 of it, mostly because I couldn't get over how much I disliked it. I couldn't stop myself from trying it over and over. Susan, on the other hand, really liked it.

It has a very nice nose, which sucked me in. Sweet, with a bit of honey. Then you sample it. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be experiencing, but I get a sour note, followed by a rough alcohol taste. I guess I wasn't destined to live in Turkey 2,700 years ago, if this is what was being served. Worse yet, the finish lasts about 3 weeks, so I'll have this taste in my mouth until Christmas dinner.

I bet Seans tells me he loves it!

C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 6

Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager
12 oz.
5% alc.



Today's beer was a total surprise, because I've tried not to look at the upcoming bottles. I just leave them in the fridge and let my bar wench do the pouring. Tonight's beer was paired with a pulled pork sandwich and a blue cheese green salad. I've never had a "blackened lager" so I didn't know what to expect.

A nice smooth fairly mild porter is what I got. And it is very good. Rich nose and great color (almost looks like a hearty root beer) smooth out into a nice mild porter body. Not overwhelming in the taste department, possibly even a bit bland after the sniff test. But overall, a nice beer for a Sunday evening.

C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 5

Green Flash Brewing Company West Coast IPA
12oz.
7.3% alc



A very good, and very hoppy IPA. Loads of hoppy nose, hoppy body, but with a smoother finish. Not much bite at the end, which makes it nice to drink. I'm not a real lover of a bitter/hoppy after taste, so IPAs aren't typically my favorite. But this was good.

This went very well with our italian seasoned grilled fish sandwiches, with fries and a nice green salad on the side.

C'

Not Beer, but Still Good

I was craving an afternoon snack earlier today, so we uncorked a surprisingly refreshing Lambrusco, an Italian red wine we picked up last week, as part of our attempt to sample wine varieties we don't normally try.

Of course, just about any drink goes good with a plate full of olives, spicy veggies, and muenster cheese.



I hear dinner being prepped, and I'll have a West Coast IPA to try. Mmmmm.

C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 4

Cucapa Chupacabras Pale Ale
12oz
5.8% alc/vol



Absolutely, totally surprised by this offering. A Mexican Pale ale? Really? This should be interesting I thought...

And it was, in a good way!

http://www.cucapa.com/eng/eng.html

A rich, dark, creamy pale ale. It went awesome with the Spicy Seafood Pasta Susan made for dinner. She seems to be relishing the challenge of matching up dinner with my daily beer.

I think I'm going to try and find a couple other offerings from Cucapa, as this was a very nice surprise.

C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 3

Pyramid Breweries Audacious Apricot Unfiltered Wheat Ale
12oz
5.1% alc/vol



Yes, I know. Another fruity beer. But I love fruity beers! And I love wheat beers. So basically, this is awesome. Wonderful color and turbidity. Great nose, and good pungent Apricot taste. This should go nicely with our dinner of honey mustard chicken patties and fries.

C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 2

Wyder's Dry Peach Cider
11.5oz
5.0% alc/vol



Oh man, I love a good cider. Especially when it pairs up so well with dinner. As it turned out, Susan made a glorious cold pasta salad, with raviolis, diced turkey, calamata olives cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and sliced red onions, all slathered with a lemon, olive oil, and thyme dressing. Oh man. All washed down by a nice cold Peach cider. Nice and tart, with a crisp bite.

Mmmmmmm.

c'

Macau Video

I took my little Aiptek digi cam with me to Macau, and grabbed a few short video clips of the World Touring cars from the hairpin. Note Craig standing on corner exit in the first few clips. He even gets so bold as to be leaning on the guardrail as the cars zip by a couple feet away.



C'

Beer Advent Calendar: Day 1

Guinness Extra Stout
12oz Bottle




Typical Guinness. Nice stout with a slightly bitter finish. I forgot what I was serving and poured it into an iced glass. So while eating my leftover ham, mashed taters and gravy, I let it warm up a bit. What a wonderful dessert! Been a while since I've had a Guinness, so this was a nice surprise.

Leaves can suck it

Our backyard on Sunday, after having mowed all the leaves on Thursday:


After 5 minutes with the mighty Craftsmen mower:


I intend to keep on the leaf removal this year, since two winters ago I didn't, and our backyard became a soupy mess of awesome.

Leaves and Tools pretty much sums up my Thanksgiving.

C'

Beers and Tools

Despite sitting on my ass for the past four days, I managed to do a bit of tool organization and sorting. I pulled out all the hand tools from from three different tool boxes, and sorted them on the living room floor. Thank you Susan, for letting me keep them there for a few days.



Good grief. My tool count included:

9 - needle nose pliers
11- slip joint pliers
7 - wire cutters
12 - 12mm wrenches
32 - phillips screwdrivers
40 - flat screwdrivers

and on and on and on. I have since found homes for everything, including making some little drawer dividers to keep all the sockets and wrenches in their own little home. Properly labeled of course.


And speaking of home, that's where I was today when Susan surprised me with my first Christmas gift. My comment "Man, I'm jealous of Sean's beer a day advent collection" was apparently taken as a hint. So look what showed up today!



Susan made her own beer advent box. Hand picked singles from several sources around town. Mmmm, can't wait to start on Tuesday. Week 1 is already in the fridge.

C'

More Macau

Just a few more snaps from Macau, mostly of random pit action as I sort through photos:

What does a Formula BMW look like underneath?


Expensive step ladder


Crews were very active just before first practice session


Crew pushing the Bufori to the scales. This was a funky little car. Looked like a home built GT using a Toyota 4-cylinder Turbo engine. In a class dominated with Porsche GT3, Lamborghinis, and Ferrari F430s. Alex Yoong (former F1 pilot) was driving.


Even the support races were using full slicks, as shown on this Honda RSX


These guys were checking for leaks, while it was running in gear on jack stands


Everyone was prepared for rain. Luckily the Chinese government sent up 27 "weather rockets" a few days before the event and made it rain to rid mother nature of any moisture the days following


We couldn't resist the American Iron


How many Hong Kongers does it take to work on a Lambo?


Pretty simple method of adjusting the rear wing on the Lada WTCC


C'

Macau!

I'm back from Macau. I'm rolling on about 30+ hours with no sleep, so bare with me if this blog doesn't make any sense. Overall, I had a blast. Macau is an interesting place. The day-to-day look and feel is Chinese, but with a strong European influence thanks to the Portuguese rule up until 10 years ago. All the street signs are in three languages, and even the Police cars/motorcycles say "Policia" on them. Pretty much everyone spoke enough English for me to get by, and those that didn't understood to type the prices into a calculator to show us white folk.

Now, onto the races. We spent 4 days wandering around the entire track, with full "press on course" credentials. Meaning we could essentially stand right next to the track and take pictures. Pretty much wherever we wanted to go. And speaking of photos, here's a bunch to show what we were doing:

Motorcycles at the hairpin corner


At Maria bend

More hairpin action. We would be able to touch the bikes on corner exit if we were dumb enough


Formula BMW at Hospital Hill, one of our favorite shooting locations


Formula 3 car at the hairpin


F3 car lifting an inside front at the hairpin


Ginetta GT car


Gaggle of World Touring Cars through the hairpin after a mess of oil dry was laid down


Chinese Formula BMW driver retired at our photo station. He was hit by a wandering Petronis car. After e helped him over the guardrail, and gave him a bottle of water to drink, his comment was "I'm ok, but the car is fucked." Classic.


Alan Menu's hood lifts open on the Chevy WTCC


Ferrari F430 driver hit a TON.


They had about 30 cranes all around the track, so they could quickly lift the crashed cars off the course to avoid full course yellows. Note the Ferrari in the air about 50 feet, and the Lamborghini racing underneath.


Craig standing in one of our photo locations.


Corners workers assembling the pads for the guardrail for when the motorcycles took to the track.


After I sort through some photos, I'll post tomorrow. for now, I'm just glad to be home.

C'

Christmas Lights!

I got busy today and put up the Christmas lights, both inside and out. Outside consisted of three strings of LED lights running around the top of the fence in the front yard, both inside and outside of the courtyard. In the back we ran some small globe LED lights around the pergola.

Front Courtyard Pics:




Chris H.