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.

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.

This is another "import" from "south Florida".  It isn't from South Florida - it is actually from Eureka, California.  But thanks to my father-in-law from bringing this one back with him.  I actually believe he was the one that contributed it also (either him or Uncle Wayne - sorry guys there were so many beers can't remember who is who).  Any who, this beer is a completely blind taste for me.  I know nothing about it at all.  It does say on the side of the bottle:
"A smooth, Medium Bodied Nut Brown Ale, Hand mad e in Small Batches".  Well you sold me on the small batches... I love anything that sounds like it is just a for kettles in a corner making small beers that are quality.

I did go out to their site at The Lost Coast Brewery.  Their history is great and the fact that they bought and started in a castle is EXTRA points in my book.  I gotta say the labels extravagant, bright and interesting.  Over all, I was intrigued in sampling this one.  Luckily, it didn't leave me down.  I poured this beer and it exploded with carbonation.  The head stayed with the beer through the whole drink.  The color comes across like a finely stained mahogany table top.  It is a very very pretty beer in the glass.  Is is clear and crisp.  The beer comes through with a great nutty brown roasted malt smell.  The first sip or two gives a very interesting impression.  It is "light taste" but medium bodied if that is possible.  The taste has some really great nutty brown sweet taste in the mouth.  I think that "light taste" is really the extra intense carbonation in the glass.  It is bursting with flavors of maybe some cinnamon and rich malty goodness.  Over all this was a great beer.  I would love to be able to find more of their samples.  I wonder if I can find this up north - anyone see it?

Thank you all for for following me and reading.  Please share with your friends and contribute to my posts.  Let me know if I can change/add/modify my post in any ways!  Suggestions and recommendations are welcomed.  I'm 89 days in and plugging away.  I'm doing this till the end!  And I'd love for someone people to get some entertainment in reading it.

Ah, wheat beers... the grand daddy of beers.  Doing a little research I just read on The BeerAdvocate that this style dates back as early as 1040 AD in Germany in one of the world's oldest established brewery, Brauerei Weihenstephan.  This beer was created because wheat was a major product of the time and as with anything else, if the availability of an ingredient is large - why not use it?  These beers are generally brewed with 50-65% wheat and the rest is using the malted barley.  They are many times left unfiltered to leave the yeast in the beer to continue is magic process.  There are many styles of wheat beers out there.  If you want to learn more about wheat beers - please visit the above link to get more education.

I found a nice new bar in Greenfield PA called Hough's last night.  Actually, found they had a link in BarSmart.com - didn't even know that link was around any more.  Anyway, this bar really had its act together.  The beer selection was extremely nice.  For a Wednesday night the crowd wasn't to bad.  I got a great Burger for dinner.  My father in law was a bit unfortunate with his sausage sandwich (it looked to be a little undercooked).  He didn't notice it till it was to late.  Last I heard he survived!  Anyway... I ordered up this little diddy.  Dream Weaver by Troeg's Brewery.

This was a great beer.  I don't find myself drinking unfiltered wheat's often - so I constantly forget to 'twirl the bottle' at the end of the pour to get all the great yeast to come along in your beer.  It is always upsetting because the yeast is what makes the magic happen.  It is the living being that eats this wonderful sugars and creates the magic of alcohol.  Anyway, on first sip or two of this beer - I found myself thinking it was a little pungent.  But as I drank it the flavors started evening out a bit more.  I'll attribute this to drinking an Oberon right before this (one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE wheat beers ever tasted); unfortunately that left a challenge to my taste buds to recover.  Anyway, I powered through the start of this and I'm glad I did.  By the third or fourth sip I started getting all the great fruity esters that come with the yeasts of this beer.  I definitely tasted some hints of banana and citrus mixed.  I did manage to get a few drops of the nice yeast to drip into my glass - leave lava lamp type glumps of goodness floating around my bottle... a fine living being.  I almost felt like I should name the liquid Frank or Bob.  Anyway, it was really a great crisp refreshing beer.  I will definitely be looking for a few more of these in my travels.

Thanks again Troeg's.  I can't wait to make a visit up to Hershey take the tour.  I saw on Facebook today I believe it was the Tours have or are starting soon!  Count me in!  I'm sad to see you guys not in Harrisburg but Hershey is a great second choice to keep it home - maybe you guys can GROW and buy out Hershey Park and make it right and American once again!

The year is 1554 and somethings that went down of importance was:Jan 5 – A great fire breaks out in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Jan 25 – São Paulo, Brazil, is founded.
Feb 9 – Thomas Wyatt surrenders to government forces in London.[1]
Feb 12 – After claiming the throne of England the previous year, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason alongside her husband.
Mar 17 – Princess Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower of London.
April 12 – Mary of Guise becomes Regent of Scotland.
July 23–July 25 – Queen Mary I of England marries King Philip of Naples, the only son of Emperor Charles V, in Winchester, England.
August 2 – Battle of Marciano: Senese–French forces are defeated by the Florentine–Imperial army.
August 12 – Battle of Renty: French forces led by Francis, Duke of Guise turn back an invasion of Picardy by Charles V.
(Accordingly to Wikipedia)

All those crazy things and they left out this recipe that New Belgium brewing company LUCKILY recovered from an age old flooded Belgian text.  Quite possibly this style/recipe is arguably the most incredible finding of its time.  New Belgium Brewing has put together a great beer here.  The beer is a darker style beer.  But it is not thick and completely roasty.  It has a nice rounded flavor to the beer.  It had a nice lingering head retention with some heavy bubble.  It definitely has some porter like qualities with out the heaviness of some darker heavier beers.  In general, this beer was a very drinkable very enjoyable beer.  It was darker in the glass but not black.  You were able to see it was clear and clean.  I will definitely like to drink more of these.

Thank you Chris D for this Donation to the Blute 365 Beer Challenge.  Here at 365 we cherish our followers and donators and put them on a pedestal.  With out you guys, I would be drinking many more cheap brews through this blog.  And you guys add the variety of beers to this site that only friends can do!  Thanks

So, life has been catching up with me - and this website not "saving nicely for me" is frustrating.  So I had a couple things on here about things - but I'm just going to get right to the beers cause I lost all that on a non-save event.  UGH.  Anyway - so here goes:

3/26/12 - Breckenridge Brewery - Pandoras Bock.  I love this style of beer.  I did a little poking and found this site Madison Dining that talks about Bocks being Lent beers.  I wish I could get to the link to show you more - maybe you can.  Looked like it was going to be a nice read.  Anyway, this is a Jan-March Beer.  I always love this season of beer.  It is right up my alley - and always a refreshing change from all the dark stouts and porters that came from Christmas.  This beers are crisp and a bit spicey.  They are fully of thick malty goodness in the glass.  There was light head retention in the glass.  I really really enjoyed this beer.  I love the brewery in general and the style of beer so there is no surprise I would love this beer.  I hope to get a few more of these before the season is completely out (as it already may be gone).  I didn't really notice anything to revealing about the smell but I'm never great with this anyway.  In general - I love Bock Beers and I think if you've never tried one - GO OUT NOW AND TRY IT!  Don't wait till next year... find one and drink one and fall in love like I have!

3/25/12 - Samuel Adams - Irish Red.  This beer poured a nice dark red pour in the glass.  A nice aggressive pour left a pillowy dirty white 2 finger head on top of this beer.  The malt stuck around and clung to the sides of the glass the whole way down the drink.  In general this was a nice beer.  It gave out nice caramel notes.  It had a nice light spicy note to it that I believe came from the hops in the glass.  It had a nice silky texture to the drink as comes with these styles of beers.  This beer was the day after a large drink so I drank this a little later in the evening and enjoyed it slowly.  It was probably just a bit warmer then it needed to be but all told was a nice beer.  As I've found with Sam Adams in general - I have found it hard to say anything bad about their beers.  They make a great beer for every style.  They may not always make the best of the best nor do they often make the most exciting.  But they do make a great quality beer to sit around and drink.  Thank you for a consistent quality in your beer Sam.

3/24/12 - Troegs Brewery - Troegenator DoupleBock Beer.  At 8.2% alcohol this beer brings A LOT to the table.  The definition as per German Beer Institute Site states a DoppelBock as:
Definition:  Doppelbock (literally "double bock") is a stronger and usually darker version of the Bavarian Bockbier. It is exceptionally malty, with very little bitterness. Standard Doppelbocks may have as much as 7% alcohol by volume. In the strongest versions (around 10 to 13%), you can actually taste the alcohol.
So, it is no surprise this is right up my avenue.  There is not a great head retention on this beer.  But the flavor and the malts SHINE through.  The bitterness levels are low and the beer is smooth.  I do get some nice malty notes of smell from the glass (maybe even some hints of cherry).  In general this is a great beer.  I had to cheat and drink this beer once again tonight as the beer from the picture from Saturday is later in the evening after several others and well, lets just say I knew my notes would not be great.  As I said, my best friend was in from out of town and we received a surprise visit from another one of my friends that lives close by.  All 3 of us had some GREAT catch up time Saturday night.  Good times.

3/23/12 - Flying Dog Ales - Road Dog Porter.  This was a great beer.  This beer ways in at a nice 6.0% alcohol.  I didn't save great notes from this Friday night - so going by memory.  I remember I liked this beer.  It was a nice roasty malt flavor.  I don't remember to dark and burnt of a flavor but a nice medium roast.  I remember the head retention stayed with the glass nicely and it drank smooth.  I think the one thing I remember for a porter it was a very light beer in texture.  This lightness really made this a drinkable beer.  Made it nice and enjoyable.  A friend of mine recommended this one and though it was good - it wasn't one of my favorites.  Again, I'm not really a porter or dark stout type drinker so this shouldn't surprise.  All told it was a nice drinkable beer.  And the beer was enjoyed as the kickoff to a great weekend with my best man/best friend/buddy from high school.  It was a good time, Friday night was even another Wine Cupcake making session for my wife and a friend of hers.  So the lightness of this beer when really well with the winey goodness of her cupcakes.  Text me if you want her recipes and/or more information on those cupcakes.

Wow, so this was a long post - I'm going to hold of posting today's beer (blogging this on 3/27/12) till at least tomorrow.  But I had an enjoyable weekend and am glad I stayed with the challenge.  I am excited about tomorrow as I am checking out the call from last Friday - again - if the news works out I'll talk more about this later.  There is a lot to be considered and discussed.  In the end if it works out and I move forward with it.  This blog will be the FIRST (well second as my wife will probably be the first ;) ahah) to know!  Thanks for listening and until the next blog!