Frozen Whales – Fantasy Hockey BIF

So earlier this year, I joined a Fantasy Hockey Beer It Forward on Beeradvocate.com    With most fantasy leagues, it is usually a head to head league but we had 11 participants in this league so that was not going to work.   Instead we decided to go with a Rotisserie league, which consists of many categories where everyone stacks up their stats against everyone, then is assigned points for where they place in each of those categories.  In this particular instance, we had 14 categories split between offense (Goals, Assists, Points, Power Play Points, Shots, Hits, Penalty Minutes, Plus/Minus) and goaltending (Wins, Goals Against, Goals Against Average, Saves, Save Percentage, Shutouts).   The point values went from 11 to 1, depending on where your stats compared to everyone else, you were assigned a value for your place for each category, most points at the end of the season Wins.

Now the boxes that you offered were voted upon by the entire league and ranked best to worst…the best box was given the first pick in the draft, the worst box was given the last pick in the draft.  Of course, everyone else offered a bunch of barrel aged beers while I offered a bunch of sours.   The must have full of a barrel aged stout chasing queers because I ended up smack dab in the middle of the pecking order.  Well, my draft was decent and I was happy with my draft after it was concluded.

The prize payouts for the league was that the overall winner got to pick the First, Second, Third, Seventh and Eighth pick of the boxes.  The person that ended up in second place got the Fourth and Fifth picks of boxes and Third Place got the Sixth pick of the boxes.  Those that finished in the top three did not have to offer up their boxes.

Thankfully I started off very hot and was the league leader right from the start…along with some necessary roster moves and some risks, I was able to maintain the league lead for a vast majority of the season.  But in typical fashion, it came down to the very last game of the season…even though I was winning most of the season, it still came down to the very last minute of the very last game.  Ottawa scored an empty net goal versus Boston, giving another guy an added assist, thus tying me for the top spot overall.  Instead of winning five boxes, I got to split the first and second place prizes totaling seven boxes with another person.

Since the league ended up in a tie, myself and BA OddNotion (Jesse) decided that we would settle it with a flip of the coin…which in typical ME fashion, I lost.   I ended up with 3.5 boxes of goodness coming to me anyhow.

Here was my haul from the league…

From BA Retail1Lo…

1 Liter Growlers from Tired Hands Brewing

• Farmhands ~ Saison/Farmhouse Ale 
• Tabula Rasa ~ Saison/Farmhouse Ale
• Eye 4A Face ~ Saison/Farmhouse Ale
• Jittery Tiger ~ Oatmeal Stout
• My Briefcase Says ‘Time is Money’ ~ American Black Ale
• Hop Hands ~ American Pale Ale
• Fauna ~ American Pale Ale
• Pineal ~ American IPA

Tired Hands Brewing is a newer brewery located outside of the Philadelphia area and opened for just short of one year now.  The rumor floating around is that they have been killing it with their beers, so I definitely look forward to cracking these bad boys open this weekend at my tasting.

From BA Crawbee87…

• Cantillon Iris ~ Lambic – Unblended
• Firestone Walker 13th Anniversary Ale ~ American Strong Ale
• RussianRiver Beatification (batch 5) ~ American Wild Ale
• Port Brewing Older Viscosity (2010) ~ American Double/Imperial Stout
• Bruery Tart of Darkness (batch 2) ~ American Wild Ale
• …and a bottle of 2011 Deschutes Abyss that was broken during the shipment

From BA VonZipper…

• Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee Stout (2012) ~ American Double/Imperial Stout
• Goose Island Bourbon County Cherry Rye Stout ~ American Double/Imperial Stout

I am still waiting for another box from a guy in NY State.  It just seems a little weird that the guy that lives closest to me still hasn’t been received yet.  I will post this box once it arrives.

Overall, not a bad haul for three and half months of crazy scoreboard watching.

Damn You #craftbeer, Why Have You Forsaken Me!!!

So, I have been enjoying craft beer for quite a long time now…it has been going on for so long now that I have forgotten about a bunch of beers and places I have gone to a decade ago (my first real craft beer experience was the Milwaukee Ale House in Milwaukee WI in 2000).  When I really started to realize that there was more to life than cheap beer, I was running 3-4 miles per day…rain or shine…sober or drunk.   At the pinnacle of my running days, I was a lean (LOL) 200 pounds and running a 8 minute mile (on average).   Also, at the time, I worked with a bunch of people who were also runners, so I was joining a lot of local 5K races and killing post race parties.    My highlight race was the Erie County Fair 5K where I posted my best official time of 24.16.   Needless to say, I was still a big guy but just in decent shape.   Unfortunately, in 2003 I had hurt my knee pretty bad and was never the same again.  I took up running again in 2006 for about a month when it happened again.   Since then, I have been a lazy piece of crap…..

Fast forward to today…with the amount of retarded travelling I do, plus a 3 year old on top of it, I had amassed enough excuses to continue to be a fat ass.   Well, time to shit or get off the pot!!!  I am not getting any younger or lighter..time to start getting my shit back into shape.  My wife said to me “You could stop drinking beer”….LOL.  (shes adorable…)  While I am not giving up my beloved beers, I do need to start turning this weight thing in the other direction.

Motivation???

• Better Health
• Longer Life
• Better Body

I guess…but here is my real motivation.   http://buffalozombiemudrun.com/

Yup…fucking zombies!   Well, zombies and the fact that I saw Daddy Pig run a long distance to raise money for a new school roof (see Peppa Pig)(I have a young child, what do you expect).

So I haven’t officially weighed myself yet but going to assume that I am in the 260-265 pound range. Yup, I said Fat Ass earlier… I am going to publicly humiliate myself (for anybody that gives a shit).  I plan on being to run this 5K and survive…  I will post my progress on this thread.

 

Plan of Attack:

While it has been years since I have actually ran and have forgotten everything I knew about proper breathing techniques, this is going to be a complete shit show.  I am using this thread as a motivation and way to track my progress (if any).  I plan on doing 2 weeks of One Mile then increasing the distance another half mile every two weeks until I hit the 3 mile mark.  I have downloaded a nice app that tracks my distance, speed, times and GPS mapping.

 

Progress???

Day One – 262.0 pounds (thank you Wii fit) – 1 mile run – 12.10 mile with one long stop (well, walk really) along the way.  I realize that I am way way way out of shape.  Although I did remember my proper stretching techniques, it didnt stop the pain.  Above the knees were shot and lower back was throbbing.

Day Two – 1 mile run – 10.35 mile with two stops along the way.  My breathing is a fucking mess but will find my rhythm soon enough.  Again, above the knees are stiff as can be.  I am too old for this shit….but with that being said, was able to push the pace a little faster when I was running…just need to get that steady pace.

Day Three – Tennis – My legs are killing me and got a call from a friend to play Tennis. 90 minutes in the freakin’ heat (88 degrees)…needless to say, my legs are so stiff.

Day Four – Rest Day – My legs are still pretty sore and my ankle is a little stiff. Not to mention that the temperatures dropped about 25 degrees from 3pm to 6pm and the rain moved in.

California Loving Box

Okay, so it is exactly all California loving in this box but it is pretty damn close and I will forgive those ‘other’ bottles.  For the record, I am a Bruery Reserve Society member and as part of my allocations that come out from time to time, it also the opportunity to purchase other releases of their beer or additional bottles of their RS member allocations.  My good friend Clarky has been a great trading partner of mine for what seems like forever now and is always kind enough to pick up my bottles from the Bruery and send them to me…along with some of these other California Shelf Turds.

From Left to Right (not including the doubles on the far right):

• Bruery Mrs. Stoutfire
• Bruery Saison Tonnellerie
• Bruery Chocolate Rain (batch 3)
• New Belgium La Folie
• Russian River Pliny the Elder
• Drie Fonteinen (3F) Zwet.be
• Cantillon Saint Lamvinus
• Bruery Imperial Lokael Red
• Prairie Artisan Prairie Gold

• Lost Abbey Angel’s Share Bourbon Barrel
• Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomee
• Lost Abbey Red Poppy

..the bottle of Cantillon Saint Lamnivus has been a Top Want for a long time now so I am super stoked to bury it in the basement and never drink it, just like I do with a lot of my beers.  LOL.

I have been trying to be more conscious about my cellar recently and it seems like it is getting to the tipping point now.  Although I have cut back on my bottle purchases, mainly because of the cost of the Bruery bottles and I want to start saving money, it seems that it keeps growing and growing.  Couple that with the two boxes I am getting from my Beer Advocate Sours for Dummies BIF (beer it forward) and the many boxes that I will soon be receiving from splitting the top prize from the Beer Advocate Frozen Whales Fantasy Hockey BIF (fuck you Erik Karlson and your empty netter assist in the last minute of the last game of the regular season) and my cellar is going to be on overflow.

Tasting anyone???   Well, Memorial Day is around the corner and the tasting that comes with it.

April 2013 ~ Monthly Beer Reviews

Is it me or did it seem like it was New Years Eve like two weeks ago…time flies when you are having fun, I guess.  So April was a pretty low key month even though the local Beer Advocates had two tastings in April with the Growler Tasting and the special tasting set up for BA AnotherJoe.   With Cinco de Mayo and Memorial Day Weekend coming up, it is probably a good thing that I kept things low key for April.  But, it doesn’t mean that I stopped drinking at all, here are the top prizes from last month…

Top 5 Beer Reviews for April:

• Cigar City Brewing Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 4.49 /5 Rating
• Evil Twin Brewing Femme Fatale Blanc ~ American IPA ~ 4.34 /5 Rating
• Almanac Beer Co. Farmers Reserve No.2 ~ American Wild Ale ~ 4.29 /5 Rating
• Birra Del Borgo Duchessic Ale ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 4.19 /5 Rating
• CB’S Red Rhino  ~ American Amber / Red Ale ~ 4.19 /5 Rating

The  5 Beer Reviews that sucked in April:

• Sixpoint Brewery Spice of Life – Pacifica~ American IPA ~ 3.35 /5 Rating
• Hopfenstark Boson De Higgs ~ Berliner Weissbier ~ 3.31 /5 Rating
• Widmer Brothers brewing Alchemy Ale ~ American Pale Ale ~ 3.10 /5 Rating
• Lancaster Brewinng Strawberry Wheat Beer ~ Fruit / Vegetable  Beer ~ 3.03 /5 Rating
• And the epic fail of the month was Grolsch Premium Lager ~ Euro Pale Lager ~ 2.86 /5 Rating

If you noticed during the two tastings from last month, we had a ton of killer beers but I have come to realize that you can not do a proper review of a beer just but sampling a quick one or two ounce sample of something, so there weren’t any reviews that came from those tastings…but there were a shit ton of great beers cracked open.  There is always next month….

Cinco de Mayo Infusion

It has been a short while since I threw ingredients into some sort of liquor and I figured that Cinco de Mayo would be the perfect time to try something new.  What better way to celebrate Mexican Independence Day (its was also Pascha, Orthodox Easter) than by infusing some silver tequila.  In case you are wondering why I chose Silver Tequila it is because when using clear liquids, it is interesting to see how the hue changes with the items you are using for the infusion.

The ingredients that I used are as follows:
~ 1.75 Liter Sauza Silver Tequila
~ 3 Clementine Oranges
~ Half of a Fresh Pineapple
~ One Ruby Red Grapefruit

In this particular instance, I decided to use Sauza Silver Tequila and infuse it with Clementine Oranges, Pineapple, and Ruby Red Grapefruit.  Now when using these items, please note that I do not press any of these items as I like to have the flavors naturally infuse into the liquor instead of ‘forcing’ the flavors.  The Clementine Oranges were peeled and broken apart into small slices without breaking the inner skins, dropped into the decanter.  The Pineapple was cut fresh, sliced into one inch thick octogons and placed on top of the orange slices.  Then came the Ruby Red Grapefruit, these things are a pain in the ass, so what I did what was it in half, then take the individual halves, cut them into a square then slice off the remaining skin off the top and dropped those in on top of the pineapple.

After letting the fruit sitting for five days in the tequila, it was unleashed on the party goers…and well received too.  Most people usually will scoff when they hear tequila but you never see anyone shy away from it either.  With this particular concoction, the fruits tooks some of that sharp edge off of the tequila then added a mild citrus bitterness on the back end (kind of like when people do a shot of tequila then follow it up with a lemon wedge, minus the salt).  Needless to say, by the end of the night, there was less than 5oz leftover…not too shabby in my opinion except I have very little left for myself now.

California Craft Beer Refugee Tasting

So back in December, I got a message from a Buffalo transplant named Joe via BeerAdvocate.  Joe is currently in medical school at Stanford University but comes back home occasionally to see his family and friends.  He contacted me to see if there were any other BA’s in the area that wanted to get together around the Christmas holiday.  I gladly welcomed him to my house for my xmas party and share bottles.  Well, he came back this week and looking to get together again and maybe get a good bottle share going, so I rallied the troops and we pulled off an amazing tasting last night.

Here was the great lineup…

Logsdon Farmhouse Ales Peche ‘n Brett ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 10.0% ABV ~ 4.50 /5 Rating
Logsdon Farmhouse Ales Peche ‘n Brett (with 3x peaches) ~ Saison / Farmhouse ~ 10.0% ABV
Logsdon Farmhouse Ales Cerasus ~ Flanders Red Ale ~ 8.5% ABV ~ 3.96 /5 Rating
Logsdon Farmhouse Ales Oak Aged Bretta ~ Saison / Farmhouse ~ 8.0% ABV ~ 4.43 /5 Rating
Brasserie Cantillon Saint Lamvinus ~ Lambic – Fruit ~ 6.0% ABV ~ 4.51 /5 Rating
Cascade Brewing Cerise Nouveau ~ American Wild Ale ~ 8.12% ABV ~ 4.11 /5 Rating
Cascade Brewing Bottleworks XIV ~ American Wild Ale ~ 11.95% ABV ~ 4.40 /5 Rating
Flossmoor Barrel Aged Fireside Chat ~ American Barleywine ~ 11.1% ABV ~ 4.28 /5 Rating
Flossmoor Barrel Aged Hi-Fi Rye Wine ~ American Strong Ale ~ ABV Unknown ~ 4.15 /5 Rating
Brasserie Cantillon Mamouche ~ Lambic – Fruit ~ 5.0% ABV ~ 4.13 /5 Rating
Lost Abbey Sede Vacante Ale ~ American Strong Ale ~ 15.0% ABV ~ 4.29 /5 Rating
Brasserie Fantome Saison ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 8.0% ABV ~ 4.35 /5 Rating
Kuhnhenn Brewing Bourbon Barrel Banana French Toast Mead  (which was just awesome and really tasted like banana french toast)
Horseheads Brewing Domination ~ American Barleywine ~ 12.0% ABV ~ 4.18 /5 Rating
Bruery White Chocolate ~ Wheatwine ~ 14.25% ABV ~ 4.19 /5 Rating
Southampton Black Raspberry Lambic ~ Lambic – Fruit ~ 6.0% ABV ~ 4.49 /5 Rating
Cigar City Brewing Camp Braggot Ghost Stories ~ Braggot ~ 10.0% ABV ~ 3.81 /5 Rating
Firestone Walker Brewing Sucaba ~ English Barleywine ~  12.5% ABV ~ 4.53 /5 Rating
Victory Brewing Oak Horizontal ~ American Barleywine ~ 10.5% ABV ~ 4.06 /5 Rating
Cascade Brewing Noyaux ~ American Wild Ale ~ 8.5% ABV ~ 4.41 /5 Rating
Captain Lawrence Brewing Rosso e Marrone ~ Flanders Oud Bruin ~ 4.48 /5 Rating
Russian River Brewing Pliny the Elder ~ American Double / Imperial IPA ~ 8.0% ABV ~ 4.23 /5 Rating

As you can see, there was no shortage of great bottles or double digit ABV either.  Also, it is kind of sad that I brought the only bottle that did not get opened, I guess nobody wanted to drink this turd… http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2216/17647

Got Great American Beer Fest???

So the bug has bitten me early as my buddy John and I were discussing this year’s upcoming GABF in Denver Colorado.  Although the festival isn’t until mid-October, it is never too early to start planning (and saving those pennies) for the GABF.  Last year I was a complete noob the GABF when I went to Denver, but thankfully I was with several seasoned veterans of the GABF (and the weekend) that helped guide me through the process.  Now that I know what to expect, I can properly plan things out for efficiency.

For those of you that have never had the chance to experience America’s Premier Beer Festival, let me give you some quick background:

There are 4 sessions that span the course of 3 days…

• Thursday Night
• Friday Night
• Saturday Afternoon (Brewers Reserve)
• Saturday Night

Tickets for the three night sessions are all the same price, meanwhile the Brewers Reserve session is actually about 15 dollars cheaper and there are about 1/3 less tickets sold for this session.

While the festival itself is a blast and can make any craft beer enthusiast feel like a kid in a candy store, there is so much more to the weekend than just the festival.  If you really think about it, there are hundreds of brewers (and employees) in town for this event and they are scattered everywhere.  Every place you go is filled with people wearing brewery gear and all local breweries put on their best face and offer up their best beers.

For example, Avery Brewing in Boulder offers several retired beers/one offs every couple of hours for purchase.  When we happened to be there on Wednesday afternoon, they still had their special beers from the 11am release and were just tapping their next releases for 2pm, so we got to experience the best of both timed releases.  Not to mention that you get to chat with people all over the country who are there for the festival too.  I can also remember talking to several small brewers who were staying in our hotel room and they love to talk about beer(Here’s to you Mustang Brewing and Titan Brewing).

While I am really looking forward to this year’s GABF, it does come with a hefty price tag.  I estimate that to attend last years festival cost me between $1500-1700 between my wife and myself.  Thankfully for this year, I have saved up enough airline and hotel points that I should be able to cut into that heavy price tag generously.  Other than the festival tickets, rental car, and daily expenses, I should be able to keep my costs down pretty well.  With that being said, it may come as sticker shock to those that have never attended it before…but those that have been there, need not worry about the cost nor need to be convinced to go.  There is a reason why they return year after year, because it is America’s Premier Best Fest and one of the best beercations that can be had.

http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/