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I'm Officially caught up with my blog again as of tonight if I can finish this writing before falling asleep.  So here I sit, trying to figure where the past 2-3 weeks have gone.  The past few weeks of my life we've spent having our house on the market, looking at new houses,  a wonderful Easter Holiday weekend, work has been extremely busy lately, not to mention I've picked up a part time job and yet I don't know if time is standing still or flying by.  Of all the things in the past, I think parenting has been the largest challenge lately with the two beautiful daughters I have.  There has been several challenges every day bringing a new lights, thoughts and experiences.  Although I know we are not supposed to compare each child to the other, this has been a challenge to avoid.  As life builds from childhood to teenager to adult, you grow/learn from experience.  You learn in school and college that EXPERIENCE is the best weapon to accelerate and excel in everything you do.  Unfortunately, I do not recall any parenting classes in High School or College and worse off, the whole concept of experience leading you to the top thrown out the window with parenting.  Though experience helps, experience with one child means very little for the other.  They are both individuals and both need to be handled like a delicate fragile shipment each with their own needs and requirements.  Each year they grow older and gain their own experiences and knowledge and absorb their own personality which tweaks everything you've learned to date and makes you modify you game plan going forward.  Here I am 10 years of parenting "collectively" with a 6.5 and 3.5 year old child and I couldn't feel more like a newbie.  It speaks volumes that as I grew up and out of my own parents house I never knew or appreciated the challenges that they had to over come with me and my sister..  I thank them and have an all new appreciation for them moving forward.

Now onto the beer, this one brought to me from Aaron from Richmond, Virginia ( one of the St Patrick's Day buddies that come into Pittsburgh for that crazy weekend).  Thanks again for your contributions they are always appreciated.  Devil's Backbone Eight Point IPA comes from Lexington, VA to be specific.  The first pour of this into a glass the hops came screaming out at me.  I could tell that this was going to be a tough one to get through just by smell.  I am thinking that which ever hop is used as the main hop of this beer - it is the one that I really do not like.  This beer proves my "Why IPA's are over rated" theory.  It is simply a glass of liquid hop.  I get very little body from the beer.  And even worse there is no malty characteristics to distinguish this as a malted beverage that I can tell at all.  The smell burns my nose a bit of the hops so strong in the glass.  It is very clear yellow color in the glass.  It is very light and not very refreshing in my mind at all.  This was a tough beer to finish.  To finish my theory, some IPAs and some people think that no matter the recipe if you add enough hops it will be an IPA and it will sell.  That is sort of my thought of this beer.  I'm not sure - is this possibly a centennial and or cascade hops.  I'm not sure specifically which one I don't like but it really kills my taste buds.  I hope this wasn't one of Aaron's Favorites that he presented to me as I do not mean to offend.  We all have our likes and dislikes, this is a DISLIKE for me.

Well, it is growing late and I have to do some studying for my next day at the brewery this Saturday.  Although, I know the science of brewing a bit better them the average joy I do not speak as professionally on the subject as I would like.  I would definitely like to be a bit more well versed for my day 2 of the brewery position.  Good night all and thanks for listening.

 
4/9/2012 - Avery Brewing Company - Old Jubilation Ale - This English Strong Ale is a winter limited addition collection.  It is a bit higher alcohol at 8.3% alcohol.  Just reading the tasting notes and information on their site this is an extremely impressive beer.  The amount of flavor, spice and interesting notes of nuttiness come from 5 specialty malts.  The website speaks of mahogany color and spice notes with a mocha and toffee finish.  I couldn't agree more.  I picked up all that and more with this beer.  I probably didn't relax and enjoy this beer quite as nicely as it was prepared and meant to be enjoyed.  My days have been long and reviewing and writing about beers has been a bit of a challenge.  I'm continuing my challenge to myself but it has been difficult.  This beer deserves more time and energy spent on it and I would love to be able to do a do over with this one.  I'll definitely be looking for this one out and about again.

4/8/2012 - Innus & Gunn Beer - Oak Aged Beer - This is an extremely COMPLEX beer.  It has huge hints of toffee, vanilla and oak flavors just as the bottle and website state.  It is medium bodied with low amounts of carbonation.  The beer had a very strong liquor characteristic to it which made it a bit warm to drink.  The alcohol content is 6.6% which isn't as high as it sort of tastes.  This came from my wife's uncle in Miami as a gift to the challenge and I want to thank him for this addition.  He has also suggested (and claimed its one of the best beers he tasted) I try the Rum Cask version which I just saw in the grocery store yesterday.  I will definitely be going back to pick up a 4 or 6 pack of that as soon as I can.  Thanks Uncle Wayne!

4/7/2012 - Polar Beer - Pilsner Stye - OK, though I couldn't find a website for these guys I found that this beer is brewed by Cervecería Polar Los Cortijos (found this at BeerAdvocate).  If you do a google image search you might find some very attractive adds for this out there as well.  Which surprises me that I couldn't find a website for them.  Anyway, this was another beer brought up from my father-in-law from his trip to Florida.  This beer is actually brewed from Venezuela.  The beer was very nice and crisp with a hint of "creaminess" to it.  It was actually a little smoother and nice then I originally thought.  I was pleasantly surprised.

4/6/2012 - Dogfish Head - Aprihop - As you can see from the picture below - this beer was enjoyed the way a good beer should have been - with good food and loved ones.  We had a nice quiet night on Friday night at home.  My littlest fell asleep early and left my wife and my oldest daughter quietly down stairs to watch a movie and enjoy some nice treats.  This beer was enjoyed with two trays of cheese - one Italian and one French, some crackers and pretzels.  These trays also included dried apricots of all things.  It had a nice fruity ester smell to it with a bit of hops.  The hops were not really harsh on this beer.  Dogfish found a very nice way to mellow out the hops and make them almost soft.  The malt and hops worked well together.  It was a nice medium bodied beer that worked well with the foods that we had that night.

4/5/2012 - Smutty Nose - IPA - I actually never made any real notes on this.  We actually had this over at my friends house.  The girls had off from school on Friday so the mom's decided to take them Bowling.  After the bowling we all met up at our friends and hung out for a bit before the Easter Holiday Weekend.  I marked this as being a 3.25 in my book so it must have been nice.  Being an IPA I have been finding more I've enjoyed lately.  Unfortunately no good notes were taken on this one - Please go out and try it when you get some time.
 
Not here to discuss beers exactly at this moment; here I sit at 11:30pm on a Sunday night.  Monday morning staring me in the face after a long nice weekend away from my work computer.  I start to remember and think about the things that are waiting my return; paper work, projects, power points, bugs, customers, tickets, ect.  You know it, and it is just waiting for my return.  I unfortunately, am not really interested in being there.  This weekend was my first "official" run in the business of Beer.  I actually got my first run and I think I did pretty good.  I have a lot to learn - and Brian the head brewer at Copper Kettle Brewing definitely seems to have a lot to teach.  Greg, the owner/operator of the place, is a great guy and also very knowledgeable about good beer.  The brewery is attached to a nice little sports/beer bar in Greenfield, PA.  If you get a chance - swing by to check us out.  I'm planning on working very part time on Saturday's and some Sundays.  From the business I saw yesterday, Brian and Greg were definitely in need of some help.

As far as my history, I've been home brewing off and on for about 6 years.  I've made a good amount of beers with a decent amount of accuracy.  I've only had 2 or 3 beers I've brewed that I really didn't like.  I've had 2-3 that I can remember to this day.  And the rest fall somewhere in between.  In general, I really enjoy the craft.  I really want to dive into the business side of it and see if I possibly have what it takes to make this dream a reality or not.  Luckily, this opportunity Copper Kettle has provided me is a great chance at this.

So, my first day was yesterday and it was a long one.  I worked with a great group of customers all day.  I assisted in brewing anywhere from about 120-150 gallons of great tasting beer.  The basics concept is a shop that allows people of all levels of brewing experience (from none to brewed multiple batches) to come in, pick a recipe, and learn all the steps from A to Z on brewing a good healthy yummy beer of their choice.  We provide all the ingredients and equipment needed for you to have a great time and produce a wonderful product.  I worked with couples, coworkers, family members, there were all types of people that came in.  There were even a few people that were in from out of town.  I was on my feet for about 7 hours, little to eat, and little to eat and over whelmed with all the knowledge being thrown at me - but either way, I had a GREAT TIME.  I can't wait for my next day which will be this coming Saturday.  It is a complete education.  And you really have a great time.  I hope my own schedule permits me to stay with this and continue to learn and grow.

If you are in the Pittsburgh Area (or coming for a visit) please, call and schedule an appointment and work with us to brew a great tasting beer!  You will not be disappointed.  We keep it fun yet informative.  And basically just have a good day meeting new people all day long.

Hope you can stop by and set up an appointment.  Message me if you have any questions.  Or check out this article from the Post Gazette for more information.

Again, thanks for reading.
 
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I have no excuses.  I have not given this blog its fair share lately and for that I apologize to all the faithful readers out there.  Life has been getting in the way of fun and fun has taken a back seat lately.  We've been house hunting, visiting my parents in York PA, and oh yea, my full time job (that has kept me busy the past three days).  Have no fear - I have drank my beers; each and every one.  Unfortunately, I have little to link them to and even fewer pictures.  Which is weird since I thought I've taken pictures of every one of my beers on my phone since the beginning.  I'm wondering if a certain little 3 year old may have anything to do with the disappearance of a few of those pictures.  So, tonight - I bring you catch up night... no not Heinz Catchup!  The procrastinators guide to 365's beer challenge.  I'll mention the good the bad and even the ugly to keep with consistency around here.  One thing I will not do is judge on quality / taste / mouth feel / color ect.  Quite frankly that part of this blog is starting to really bore me!  I'm not into that.  I feel to pretentious or something.  And quite frankly I don't think I'm that good at it.  So for a round out of this past weeks beers:

4/4/2012 Long Trail Belgian White - I bought this case a few weeks ago and have been TRYING hard to finish this.  I was sort of excited about this but terribly let down.  The beer is HIGHLY (EXTREMELY) carbonated.  It has a really strong citric bite to it.  It is a challenge for me to take each sip.  It is almost like a champagne consistency.  I still have a few left in my house and they are going down very slow.  I have a hard time throwing away any beer... but honestly, I don't know - this is one I consider dumping every day.

4/3/2012 Dogfish Head Brewery Indian Brown Ale - "A clean well hopped brown ale - brewed with caramelized sugar and hopped liberally and often".  The pour in the glass was dark brown to black color with low carbonation.  It was a bit lighter body then I expected.  It was sort of a chocolate taste with a bit of caramel and coffee hints.  It also had sort of a heavy roasted almost burnt flavor.  I downloaded the BJCP app for my iPhone and was doing some research.  I was checking the English Pale Ales.  I saw a Southern English Brown Ale that seemed to fit this bill.  It didn't totally hit the biscuit flavor.  It definitely had a bit of hop characteristics that maybe are not as typical but for a Dogfish didn't surprise.  In general, I didn't care for this beer.  I knew that Dogfish beers were not always going to be enjoyable for me so this is one of the first I've found that I didn't like.  I probably would try this again sometime but definitely will not be rushing out for more anytime soon.

4/2/2012 Southern Teir Douple IPA - This beer was a VERY STRONGLY hopped beer.  The head retention was big.  There was actually a decent caramel backing to this beer in the malt department.  It was balanced well for being a DOUBLE IPA.  In general, I really enjoyed this beer on draft.  Ordered this from Rockefellar's in Kennedy Township.  We don't make it up there enough these days.  They usually have a few good beers on draft and the food is pretty good also.  Nice local place.  I'm slowly coming back into liking a NICE good IPA and this beer sits nicely up there on the Must Drink IPAs.  If you make it to Rockefeller's be sure to get the Dry Rub Cajun Wings extra Crispy; one of my favorites.

4/1/2012 Coors Original Banquet - Thank you father in law Bill!  We drove a long way from York to Pittsburgh.  Bill is always there to have a nice cold one ready for me after a long drive.  It was nothing to write about so - I'm not going to!

3/31/2012 Spring House Brewing 7 Gates Pale Ale - This was a nice beer!  I've been waiting a long time to get this beer.  I recently read an article in Beer Advocate about these guys.  I also was a neighbor of one of the guys involved with this company.  Great look to a brewery and wonderful concert of doing local legends for their beers.  In general this was a great beer.  It had a very nice hop character with the malty goodness to back it up and balance it out.  I had bought a 6 pack of this in York while out visiting my parents.  I do not believe I actually captured a picture of this which is a bit upsetting.  Either way, it was nice beer and I think they have a great thing going.

3/30/2012 Flying Dog Snake Bite IPA - Actually, as I recall this beer was good.  It was definitely hoppy no doubt.  I recall thinking that hop heads abroad would LOVE this beer but to me - its the bad kind of hop beer.  It must be the style of hop that is not my flavor.  In general, this is the sort of hop style that steered me away from IPAs to begin with.  It is crisp and clean but just to hop flavored with out enough malt body to it.

So, I started this 4 days ago - and now I have 4 more beers to catch up on.  Obviously, this blogging thing is really catching up with me!  Its tough but I am really trying to catch up and really do a better job with.  Well, I know I still have people visiting the site and checking out Facebook.  If anyone is looking for more, different, something specifically - please request.  I recently got a new role in life that I'm TRYING out that I hope is going to work for me.  May delay the blogging a bit - but I'm going to attempt to blog at least once a week.  Those that are BETTER I'll try to blog better but who knows.  Let me know what if anything you'd like different.