That sounds pretty dreamy, especially if it was in my current setup, where I can bicycle to/from all of it.

As for the kegerator setup, I have hole saws and stuff but there's no garage and no basement, and nowhere to put such a setup. Plus we'll undoubtedly move again in a year and a half, and it's just more shit to lug around.

Actually there is a garage - about 8 feet deep and full of shelves and a desk and tools and stuff owned by the landlord, but I recently discovered slowly but surely that my landlord actually lives in it for the 7 months a year he's in Mass (and not down south, where he goes every winter). This past winter when he was gone I opened it all up and moved his desk and tools, and crammed the motorcycle in there because I had nowhere else to store it... then put it all back just right, before he came back up. I found a bed setup behind a false wall under the stairs, and was all ?!. Now he's back, and I've seen him coming out of it first thing every morning. I know he lives in it, and he now knows I know. We just don't talk about it and everyone does great. Amazingly nice guy and takes great care of us, just a little odd that he's sleeping in something the size of a prison cell.





So I'm not putting any kegs down there.

found a picture. Where the bike is, there's normally a big desk with a PC and about 4 jars of peanut butter on it. In front of the front tire is a wall hatch, behind which is the crawl space under my stairs, which has a thin matress in it.

WTF? Is he a weird dude?

He's not "normal" exactly, but not in a creepy way. He teaches at MIT part of the year, and is Matt Enis like in his open curiosity and happy/gentle demeanor. REALLY smart but not worldly, very bookish and inquisitive. Very theortical. Super curious, no guile whatsoever, really positive and happy and responsive to questions or repair work. Excellent landlord, really. I'm assuming he just decided to save a lot of money and sorta turn the front 8 feet of the garage into a crash pad. He doesn't say anything about it, so you might not knowhe lives down there. I assume he was down there all Fall and I didn't know it, but once I saw the stashed bed during the winter I sorta guessed. And sure enough, he sleeps down there.

Dude, no matter what kind of resume or demeanor he has, that is "damn ol weirdo" behavior.

It's suspect but I got a good thing goin' here. Place suits me.

Back to beer. I spent over $50 this week for sure. I grabbed a bunch of singles (almost 12 but during 2 seperate trips).

Going to an outdoor BYOB function tonight so many of these will be drank.

The various beers:

Great Divide - Hoss
New Belgium - Shift
Great Divide - Colette
Sierra Nevada - Summerfest
Brasserie Dupont - Foret (bomber)
Highland Brewing - Little Hump Spring Seasonal
Victory - Headwaters Ale (growelette)
Harpoon - Summer Beer
Weyerbacher - Double Simcoe IPA

I'm forgetting a couple new ones but I also grabbed some staples; Allagash White, Two Hearted, and a Founder's Dirty Bastard

= Probably the best of the bunch.

That double Simcoe is pretty good, though, just not HOLYFUCK good like I wanted it to be.

Don't sleep on that Headwaters Ale. Big fan.

I haven't seen it... will have to look.

Gonna hold off on drinking any beer til I hit Madison next wednesday night. Watch me grow like 2 inches or something, that would be hilarious.

Yeah. I reviewed it a couple weeks ago. It's really fucking fresh and delicious.

Speaking of Victory, bought some Hop Wallop and its a little on the hoppy side.

You landlord is Laszlo Hollyfeld from Real Genius?



Dumpjack to thread STAT.

I'm slightly alarmed that either a mathematical genius or more rarely a non-creepy weirdo is lively in the bowels of your domicile.

Think before you ask these questions, Mitch. Twenty points higher than me? Thinks a big guy like that can wear his clothes?

Also, I'm nearly ready to consume beer again, so in my trip south I'll be ready for some interesting introductions to US brew.

Has anyone tried Unibroue Quelque Chose? It is a 50% Dark Ale, 50% Brown Ale with Cherries that is supposed to be consumed on ice or hot like Sake'. I consumed it normally, slightly chilled and in a snifter glass, and it was still delicious.

Had one of these Summer Love last night. Too hoppy for my taste.

I saw a new Goose Island beer (Lolita) the other day in the liquor store but it was $20 for a 22oz. Fuck that.

I still don't think I've ever paid over $14 for a 22oz. And I over-pay for some fucking beer, but dammit more than that is "too far."

My landlord does everything I require of him, and is a pleasure to work with. Where he sleeps is ultimately his bidness, I guess. It's a little weird, and I brought it up knowing it would be entertaining because of the weirdness, but he's cool. I kinda like knowing he's down there, sometimes. I've really gotten accustomed to this little chunk of the world, and I like it here in my neighborhood.

Meanwhile, I just bottled the first gluten-free batch today. The sample I pulled to calculate the finishing specific gravity tasted good at first, then had a loooong bitter finish. Fucking sorghum... I hope it mellows a lot in the bottles. Meanwhile I will be reading up in preparation for Attempt #2, whatever it is. I have 5 more 6lb jugs of sorghum to use, but the rules of what tastes bitter and what doesn't are pushing me to brew a belgian for GlutenFreeBrau #2. I need to find a source for gluten-free belgian yeast - it's not easy. All the normal channels send it in a bath of barley, which has gluten. If I can find (or fucking cultivate on my own, with help from the PhD guys I now work with) a good reliable source for gluten-free belgian yeast strains, I could be onto something delicious for those folks... ala Green's Brewery in Brugge.

And on a final note, I just had about 12 ounces of that first batch (double IPA), and have a certifiable buzz. Sweet jesus. It's like having "$12 22oz bomber" grade beer on hand in massive quantities. This shit gets to work.

Obner.

yeah definitely. i need to put another bottle of that in the fridge.

So I racked the hoppy tripel to the secondary fermentor last night, and I dropped 4 little chunks of lightly charred oak into it, just to see how much (if any) of that flavor would come through after another few weeks in there. Fingers crossed, notes taken.

After several weeks and two fermentors, the gluten free beer has "cleared" up to this....



I hope / assume it was the maltodextrine? That or the rice extract, something in there just will not fall out of solution.

I went to a cask party for Great River Hopapotamus, a Double Dark Rye Pale Ale last night, after consuming a can of it during the first round of the NFL draft. It contains six types of Rye Malt and a blend of Northwest Hops. It is pretty formidable at 9% ABV and 99 IBUs. I thought the dry hopped version in the cask was a little more balanced than what I had in a tall boy can, but the Sierra Nevada Summerfest might have done a better job of preparing my palate for it than the Newcastle Summer Ale.
I also split a bomber of Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti with my friends, and the 2012 version is just as delicious as the 2011. I'm glad they didn't make it too dry like they did with some of the other versions of Yeti this year.