chuggnutt.com

Just offloading some things and ideas that have been rattling around.

• CNN ran a story last week entitled, "Nine cool jobs that pay well." (Paying "well" is relative in their article, I guess.) Top of the list? Brewmaster ($42,430).
• And good news if you want to take advantage of how cool it would be to be a brewmaster: Beer is recession proof.
• Where are the open source MySpace/Facebook clones? Are there any? In particular, I'm wondering if there is an open source social networking application written in PHP. There didn't seem to be any last time I checked, so I was half thinking of writing one myself.
  
  ...not with the intent of competing with MyFaceSpaceBook or anything like that; for that matter, anyone can create a free social network on Ning. I was more thinking in terms of, what if I wanted to create a separate, private social network site that didn't rely on the Ning shared hosting paradigm? Or plop that software down on an intranet somewhere, behind a firewall? Any PHP apps out there I can just download and install for that?
  
  Hence my thinking on writing one. Mostly just because.
• "Digital nostalgia." Not sure where I'm going with that yet, but it's sparked by William Gibson's comments about eBay in this interview.

One more day and I'm off to the Oregon Brewers Festival; like last year, I'm going again with the intent of blogging the experience. (You can read all of my OBF-related stuff on The Brew Site here.)

What's different this year, though, is that I, as a blogger, am also recognized as a media/press person; I contacted the OBF press guy and as a result, I get the full treatment: press kit, program, and all. Now I know most media/press folks (and a few pro bloggers) would be entirely blasé about it, but I have to say—I'm incredibly excited about this! Maybe the shine will wear off at some point, but for now, I just think it's too cool.

I'm also hoping to meet other bloggers and writers, and brewers, and, well, anybody interesting. So I'm trying something new; I'll have my cellphone with me but I don't necessarily want to publish my phone number for the world to see and abuse, so I registered a free phone number and voicemail with PrivatePhone—a service from NetZero that seems promising.

How it works is I get a free private phone number, and all calls to it go directly to voicemail. I can check this voicemail via phone or computer.

So here's the deal; if anyone wants to get a hold of me this weekend, call and leave a message on this number: 360-362-1627. I'll check for messages every hour or so, and call you back.

(Yeah, I couldn't get an Oregon area code. What's up with that?)

I'll also try to be checking email, but that won't be happening til evenings, if I get the chance. So don't rely on that if you want to reach me sooner rather that later.

Off to drink beer and blog about it!

I'm taking the day off from work this Friday and going to Portland for the Oregon Brewers Festival! Woo hoo! My original plan was to stay in Portland the entire weekend, but as it turns out I'd already obligated myself to a friend's wedding Saturday evening, so I'll be spending Friday night with my friend Justin (who's also going with me to the Brewfest) and leaving Saturday late morning sometime.

It's going to be an eventful day. Aside from the Brewfest, there's a beer blogger meetup that evening (starting at five) over at the Rogue Ales Public House, so I'll get to meet yet more bloggers from Portland and other far-flung places (Arizona, for one, I think).

Are any other bloggers in the area going to the Brewfest? Let me know.

At any rate, I'll have the camera and notebook and plan on writing a bunch about it. And, Friday right now is looking at an 80-degree forecast for Portland, so that's just about perfect. Three days and counting!

After work today I swung by Newport Market over on the westside for their Thirsty Thursday beer tasting. I just found out about these Thirsty Thursdays recently; they're every, er, Thursday from 3:30 until 6:00. Free beer! Can't go wrong with that.

Today it was a rep from Deschutes Brewery doing tasting of their two newest: Inversion IPA and Buzzsaw Brown. Both good, but the IPA was really good. So I picked up a six-pack of it, and then, to my amazement, found a bottle of Deschutes' Mirror Mirror, which I'd heard about but hadn't seen anywhere. I'm excited! But it's a big barleywine, so I'm saving it for the weekend. Or Friday night.

So remember—Thursdays at Newport Market.

Just a quick note about Chelsea Lane, a nice little wine shop that used to be downtown but is now located at the factory outlet stores on south Highway 97: they're closing! I don't know when the last day will be, but right now they're selling their wines at 30% off, and beer for 15% off. I picked up four normally-spendy beers there the other day.

Get down there while the getting's good. It's really too bad they're closing; I don't really know of any other wine shops in Bend (dedicated/exclusive wine shops—not just wineries or places that also sell wine), except maybe for Vino Mercato.

I started brewing up a batch of my Pumpkin Ale this evening, the details of which I wrote up on The Brew Site.

What? You aren't reading The Brew Site? Why not? :)

Some people just have too much anger:

A woman has been arrested for digging up her dead boyfriend's ashes from a cemetery more than 10 years ago and drinking the beer that was buried with him, possibly out of spite for his family, authorities say....

Detective Jay Yerges said Stolzmann and Hendrickson were living together in the early 1990s, while they were both married to other people. The relationship was stormy, with a pattern of alcohol and domestic abuse, he said.

Stolzmann was present when Hendrickson shot himself in January 1992. Yerges said Hendrickson's family blamed her for his death and she was not invited to his services.

"I feel that her motive was spite," Yerges said.

No kidding.

Although, I have to wonder: why was he buried with beer in the first place, and what kind was it?

Via A Good Beer Blog.

So, even after the bizarre entry pricing, the first annual Bend Brew Fest exceeded my (lowish) expectations. It was a decent event; my dad and I got there about 1:30 when the crowd was still very light, so we had a good run of the place. And it was great weather for it, too: started out sunny and hot, with a nice breeze, and as the day wore on clouds moved in to alleviate the heat.

Decent beers, too. I was pleasantly surprised to find there were beers from breweries I'd never heard of, like Walking Man Brewing out of Stevenson, Washington, and Snipes Mountain, from Sunnyside, Washington. And of course, the "regulars" were there: Deschutes Brewery, Bend Brewing, Cascade Lakes, Rogue Ales, Full Sail, Bridgeport Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing. For posterity's sake, others I remember:

• Old Lompoc
• Lagunitas Brewing Company
• Dick's Brewing Company
• Terminal Gravity Brewing Company (improbably located in Enterprise, Oregon)
• Far West Ireland
• ...and some others I can't remember.

I was a little disappointed to not see Silver Moon Brewing (note to self: talk to Tyler about fixing his 403 Forbidden website error) there, since they're local and all. Oh well, maybe next year.

The crowd grew during the day, and I imagine they had a pretty good turnout Saturday night. The (free) music wasn't bad, either. When we first got there, there was a lone accordian player up on the stage, and it only got better from there.

I also ran into Kasey as we were leaving, which is ironic since we (my dad and I) had been talking about how we hadn't run into anyone we knew, but probably would once we left.

Now, how they can improve upon the brewfest for next year:

• Cheaper admission! Like, at least 10 dollars cheaper.
• More brewers. 20 brewers and 40 beers is a good start, though.
• Space the beer serving stations and tables farther apart; there needs to be more room for people to line up, and/or browse among the various brands.
• Break the beer serving section into two distinct areas, to promote movement and more effectively use the space (put food and general seating in between).
• Complimentary water. The Oregon Brewers Festival has stand-alone water coolers that are self-service; spending three dollars for bottled water doesn't do it for me.
• Set up a website for the event, and list all the brewers and the beers that will be there. Also use it for publishing photos of the event, etc.
• More food vendors. There were six, which isn't terrible for a first time, but more variety would be cool.

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow, August 21st, is the first Bend Brew Fest at the Les Schwab Amphitheater. Also, a sucky note regarding the price: they advertise that if you buy the ticket in advance, it's only $10, versus $15 if you buy at the door. However, if you buy in advance it's not $10, but $14—they add a four dollar service fee to the ticket.

So, it's really $14 in advance, and $15 at the door. What a deal.

After adding the Coopers Ale Yeast to my dying beer last night, I was totally stoked (who uses the word "stoked" anymore?) to find it bubbling away this morning, and by this evening there's a strong, active fermentation churning away.

Coopers rules!

This weekend I made up a batch of Toad Spit Stout, the first beer I've made in probably three years. All went well, I had everything sanitized carefully (sanitation is priority one in brewing), ingredients laid out, everything was textbook perfect. The yeast I pitched was Wyeast #1084, Irish Ale yeast, what seemed like a healthy dose.

I say "seemed like" because three days later, there is absolutely no sign of fermentation activity. None. It's as though I simply poured a vial of water into the wort instead of yeast. Huge disappointment. I've never had this happen before; I've had some beers that were slow starts, but nothing like this.

So I stopped by The Home Brewer after work and picked up a packet of Cooper's Ale Yeast—nice and simple, just to see if I could kick-start fermentation. I pitched it this evening, and I should know for sure if something's happening by tomorrow evening, if not sooner.

Interesting. Apparently July is American Beer Month. Website and all.

July is American Beer Month, a time when every American should celebrate the season by exploring the wonderful flavors of American Beer. No matter what kind of beer you like, there's one that's perfect for your tastes that's made in America.

One of the sponsors is Deschutes Brewery. Right on.

Part of getting ready to move next month is not only packing things up, but also disposing of excess homebrewed beer that's been around for a while. And by "disposing of" I of course mean "drinking." Some thoughts on these beers.

The oldest I have in the fridge right now is a porter I brewed way back in Spokane, about, oh, '96 or '97, I'm guessing—maybe earlier. I had named this "Capricorn Porter," after my astrological sign. It was a big beer; I don't remember everything I put into it, but I do remember licorice, and probably molasses, and a lot more. I was very ambitious and over-the-top with it, but it still turned out pretty good.

Eight years later, I had a sixpack left over and surprise, it's still drinkable. Wouldn't win any awards, but not terrible; it's pretty astringent and you can taste the age. But this last sixpack held up better than I thought it would, considering it's been through two moves and some questionable storage conditions.

This weekend I also drank the last bottle of a batch of Toad Spit Stout that I had kept for a few years. (I don't remember if it's left over from a batch I brewed right before leaving Spokane in 1997, or if I brewed a batch here in Bend since then.) It was pretty good, a little sharper in the roasted flavor than it should be when it's fresh, but enjoyable. If ever there's a signature beer I associate with Charlie Papazian and beginning homebrewing, it's Toad Spit. It's a classic, from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Maybe this will be the first batch of beer I brew when we get moved into the new house...

I also tried a small bottle of strawberry mead that I made for our wedding back in 1998. It has a bit of a kick to it; it's very dry, with a mellow and at the same time lactic-sharp fruit bite to it. Not bad. And hardly any aftertaste, I thought, at all. A good sipping drink, I think, but I'm afraid of drinking too much in one sitting: mead aftereffects can be harsh.

And finally there's some unknown ambery ale in a Grolsch bottle, and I can't remember a thing about it. The fact it's in a Grolsch bottle tells me it was probably a batch of beer I made for my parents (who had an abundance of those and whenever I would brew for them I'd use their bottles), but I'm totally blank on the details. A true mystery beer! I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Amusingly, at the library today I picked up Beer for Dummies. Not because I need to learn more about beer (well, not entirely; beer is one of the few topics I have some in-depth knowledge on), but because I like the "Dummies" books and want to see how well the topic of beer is treated. A quick survey of the contents reveals a decent spread:

• Ingredients
• Brewing and homebrewing beer
• Cooking with beer
• Serving and tasting
• Travel
• Breweriana

Should be an interesting read.

From /dev/beer I just read about the Spring Beer & Wine Fest going on in Portland this next weekend, April 9 and 10. Over a 100 different beers to sample. Sounds like fun, I haven't been to a brew fest in ages. Too bad it's short notice, though. Damn.

Sadly, it appears that The Governator Ale is to be no more. Lawyers for Schwarzenegger basically issued a cease-and-desist. I mean, really. Where's the harm? Arnold should've snatched up a bottle and gotten into the fun: like saying, "Hasta la vista, baby" and then drinking it, or, "I'll be back... for more Governator Ale!"