So, I’m a little bit behind, and I wanted to write a great, from the heart, amazingly tear-jerking blog about our anniversary. Truth is, that I just don’t have the time right now to express how wonderful it is to celebrate my life together with Monika over these past four years. So, here’s some pictures of our annual excursion to Valley Green Inn. Not exactly where it all began, but, where we and 70 or so of our friends declared it was officially a love story.
This month’s home brewers’ meeting was graciously hosted by our friends at Flying Fish Brewery at their brand new, amazingly eco-friendly site in Somerdale, NJ.
Another great time at Iron Hill with my home brew club, brewing hundreds and hundreds of gallons of fine homebrew. I got a hell of a sun burn. I’ll have to try to remember the sunscreen next year. (photos courtesy of Larry Wagstaff)
Well, that was a little crazy, and a lot of fun. Check out the animated photos, and the panoramas. Another great weekend event with my brothers and sisters from Barley Legal Home Brewers.
After work, I met up with a few of the members of Barley Legal Home Brewers to work on our seriously amazing serving booth that was built for National Homebrew Conference, but is being test run this weekend at Yardley Beer Fest. Here, fellow member John Companick is cutting out custom font letters to be wired up with lights like the one in the background near the shed, and hung over the saloon doors.
Meanwhile, President Evan Fritz hooks up the tubing that will serve delicious homebrew to the thousands of thirsty attendees at both events.
And this was my contribution – hooking up all the tubing for the CO2 manifold that will push all that beer out to the crowds.
Another shot of the rough side of the serving facade, with head designer and fabricator Jim Carruthers in the background.
And a quick shot of the front, sans the tap handles, faucets, drip trays and glass rinser. More pictures of a finished product to follow, or find some rough ones buried in pictures of Big Brew Day from a few weeks ago, where the booth took it’s first test run.
But, camaraderie aside, the best part of the night was the test run of Manayunk Brewery’s first ever canned product! Evan brought over a batch that was literally canned a few hours before we cracked them, possibly becoming the first ever party outside of the Brewery to enjoy canned beers from Manayunk. My choice -Monk from the ‘Yunk, a Belgian Triple that comes in at over 9% ABV, and was delicious.
Every first Tuesday of the month, Monika and I have a Barley Legal Homebrewers meeting. Since the meeting is closer to work than our home, we decided to meet for dinner before we headed to the meeting.
Normally we grab dinner or a least a bite to eat at Iron Hill in Maple Shade. But, before the meetings, it gets really crowded at the bar, so instead, we met at Champps Americana. They have great veggie burgers and great beer.
Then, to Iron Hill for our meeting. This month our meeting was actually a testing session for Philly Beer Geek competition. We all participated, and had more fun than business as usual.
and, of course, there was beer tasting. Best part may have been our new, customized, Barley Legal King of the Hill Beer Club mugs. And, I won some beer in the raffle, and that’s always a nice thing – leaving with more than I came with.
Two months ago I twisted my ankle roller blading and have been using that as a great and very handy excuse to not get off my lazy ass. To be fair (to myself), I did go to a doctor, had x rays done, and was told I tore either a tendon or ligament, so it was actually pretty painful, and to this day still bothers me and is still swollen.
But, Spring arrived and my beer belly wasn’t getting any smaller, so I decided I needed to start to working out. I wanted to do something easy, and fun, and I had a basketball I hadn’t used in over a year. Me and craig headed down to the local courts, which are actually really nice, hidden in a park in the woods where no one ever seems to go. So, we can get away with hijinks.
We had decided on a guys night out. First was Yards Brewers in Philadelphia. We took a tour with a delightfully drunk tour guide who worked on the bottling line, and didn’t know a whole lot about how to actually make beer. then we headed to Triumph Brewery on Chestnut Street for some beers and dinner. The up to Mahogany, the cigar bar, where we enjoyed cocktails and cigars with other city folk, and ended up at Franklin Mortgage and Investment Company for some late night classic cocktails.
As always, my home brew club’s all day party/brewery tour started in South Jersey and at an awful time in the morning.
It barely matters how long the journey will last, it’s divided in to three distinct parts, at least for me: This is part I – THE JOURNEY THERE…
…Part II – THE FEATURED DESTINATION. We arrived at Troegs Brewery early, and slightly buzzed from the “tasting” on the way. The staff had not yet arrived when we gathered aimlessly in the parking lot. The new pub/brewery destination lives in a shell once owned by the Hershey Corporation, whose history in this area have literally put the address of the new Togs location in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Once we got in and started the tour, we got the “special” tour. Normally, regular folks get the run-of-the-mill, scripted plaque, this is kind of how we make beer tour. Not us! This is in their grain storage room, which is pretty boring to 99% of people, but for us nerds, this is where the action starts.
fermentation tanks, also behind the scenes, because, there’s nothing to see, except it’s like every home brewers dream to have this setup.
a view of our group.
this is a shot of Monika, taking a picture of their fancy prototype Randalizer/Hop Rocket. I would like here to an explanation of what that means, but none exists, so I guess that is my next Wikipedia project.
damn straight a craft beer brewery still uses the real thing.
well, before they transfer it to the practical things
Mad Elf a little hard to come by? Not here. They might have told everyone it was sold out, but I call Bullshit. They’re holding out.
Perennial favorite Nugget Nektar, a lovely little beer.
a good ol’ bottling line, make me reminisce about Strange Brew!
their aging and sampling room, which we did not get access to, but I hope to return to someday to sample some of their experimental creations.
this is at the end of the tour, which for most people, is the beginning, with our gracious tour guide in the background.
and Part III: the ride home, the part where I sleep because, at the end of a long day, I have to drive home!
Okay, so we had a hell of a party at our house New Year’s Eve. But, for the first time in my life, we decided to try to make it to the Mummer’s Parade in Center City, Philadelphia. It was a groggy morning, but we made it to the train, and made it to the parade.
I’m glad we did, even though it was kind of shot lived. We were a bit hung over, but really, who wasn’t. We got a spot right on the parade line, and tried to hold ourselves together, with the help of a flask.
It truly is iconic, being only a few blocks away from City Hall. I’ve lived in NYC before, but I’ll always feel like Philly is my home.
We got to hang out with my friend Chris, whom we hadn’t seen in a very long time, and it was a great time to reconnect with old friends. Sam decided it was high time to be reckless, jump barriers, do shots, and climb lamp posts. That’s how you know you’re doing it right.
This was after I freaked, and told Sam we were going to get arrested. In reality, we probably weren’t the most drunk people on the parade route, but those bands really know how to party. Eventually, we crawled back to the train and back to Atco. First parade in Philly ever, and I think we should do it again next year. We must gather redemption.
On The Verge of Tears 