Das Germany Update!

So, I made it to Munich. It's strange going somewhere and not knowing any part of their language. I have been to Italy, Spain, and France before. My Spanish, at the time, was pretty good. That managed to get me around nicely. Here? Spanish gets me nowhere. What a bizarre language German is...

Anyway, I am staying in downtown Munich, right across from the Central Train Station. It's a seriously bustling city. There are always a lot of people out and about. It seems to be a very touristy area as well. I am about a 20 minute walk from the Glockenspiel (the thing that "It's a Small World" at Disneyland was created after). That make it about 25 minutes to the Hofbrauhaus. That is one of the only places in the world to go see old Germans drink liters of beer while wearing Lederhosen and listening to traditional German music. Unfortunately, the service is terrible. That said, when you drink that liter of clean, crisp German Helles Lager, those memories seem to fade.

Those that know me from back home realize that I really don't like lager beers. Here it is a completely different story. The lagers are bright and clean and extremely drinkable. In the south of Bavaria, the beers tend to have a bit of a sulphur taste as well. I don't mind it. It adds dimension to the beer. Dunkles (or dark lagers) are great as well. Still very drinkable with a hint of that bready, biscuity flavor. The Weissbiers...best wheat beers ever!! Even if you have a German weissbier in the states, it cannot compare to a fresh one straight off the tap from the brewery itself. Again, just a clean drinkable beer. In Bavaria, they favor certain characteristics in their weissbiers and brew certain ways to accentuate those flavors. For example, most wheat beers have a strong banana flavor; an ester from alcohol and an amino acid group. Many wheat yeasts produce huge quantities of this esters. Bavarian wheats have a more phenolic clove taste and smell. This is desired by the drinkers in the area. They will use lower amounts of wheat and very specific yeast strains to achieve that flavor.

Obviously, I am learning a great deal about German brewing here. The instructors are extremely knowledgable. We had a professor who went to school and taught at Weihenstephan, the oldest brewery in the world, for 14 years. He has his PhD in Brewing Technology. Yeah, he knows what he is talking about. He went on and on about how to make beer in the deepest technological details. And he talked about the history of brewing and the history of various styles like it was an everyday conversation. The term Beergod barely does his knowledge justice.

Speaking of Weihenstephan (pronounced "Vine Shtefan" for those that can't pronounce things), a group of us went there on Saturday. It was founded in 1040. Yes, it is almost 1000 years old. They also have an entire university dedicated to food and brewing science there. It's more of a campus than a brewery! It took us about 20 minutes of wandering around before we even found the Braustuberl. I am certainly glad that we did. I had the two best beers of my trip there. The Vitus, a Weissen Bock, and the Korbinian, a Doppelbock. The Vitus won the award for best beer on the planet not long ago. I would not go that far, but to have that out of the tap was definitely an honor. At 7.7% alcohol, it was more of a sipping beer. There was so much flavor that I don't even know how to describe it! Guess you will all have to venture out to Freising, Germany to try it yourself. The Korbinian, on the otherhand, can be described a bit more simply. It was very similar to a Belgian-style Dubbel (which probably originated from the Doppelbock). However, in using the lager yeast for fermentation, the Korbinian have a much cleaner finish and has less of the raisin character. It has huge caramel flavor to it though. Fine fine beverages! I guess you learn a thing or two brewing for 950+ years!

For my April 1st birthday, Gina and I visited Dachau, the WWII concentration camp. That was sobering... It was something that I needed to see. We need to see the attrocities that our species has committed in order to keep from repeating them. What really struck a chord with me however, was the fact that this happen only about 75 years ago! It's scary to think that some in our species still think that it is okay to wipe out an entire race of people.

Okay. Enough of the depressing crap. As I was looking through the tour book and reading about Dachau, I came across a small section on Andech's Monastery. Supposedly it was situated between two lakes south of Munich in the foothills of the Alps that made their own beer. After some deliberation, as it was several hours and another train ticket away, we decided that I needed to go there for my birthday dinner. We boarded a train headed south. About 4 stops from the end of the line (where we needed to get out), we got off to extend our ticket more cheaply. Unfortunately, we had to wait about 30 minutes for the next train to come through. As we stepped on the train, I heard: "I think that's Jeff..." Four of my classmates happened to be going to the same place, on the same train, in the same car, at the same time as Gina and I. Our group of two immediately became a group of six!

Once in Herrsching, we decided to walk to the monastery. We walked about 15 minutes up a tiny street by some gorgeous houses. After that first mile, the road became a trail. We could see the lakes on both side of the hill's ridge. This is what I wanted to see in Germany. I am a nature boy at heart. Eight weeks living in two different concrete jungles have made me miss the outdoors. We followed this trail for about another mile as it rose through a lightly wooded forest and then into a clearing. After we ventured through the clearing, we made a left following the trail down into a river canyon. We could finally see the monastery to our left. The massive steeple stuck up high over the tree top on the next ridge over.

By this time, some of the more hungover/still drunk classmates were struggling. Beauty aside, it was an uphill hike for certain. But, after two more steep climbs, we made it to our destination. The views from the monastery were of the small neighboring community in a valley below with the foothills and the snow covered Alps as a back drop. Unfortunately, as is the case often, my pictures did not do the area's beauty justice.

Andech has two separate biergartens, a cafe, and an actual restaurant (which was sort of like a cafeteria that serves massive slabs of pig meat). After a beer outside, it began getting a bit chilly. It was after 5pm by then. We decided to go in for some food and another drink. Unfortunately for me, I ordered a liter of 7.7% doppelbock. Probably not my smartest moment in history. Additionally, Gina and I ordered about two pounds of pork knuckle, a pretzel the size of my chest, and some potato salad. My friends ordered the same, however they didn't share with one another. Two pounds of deliciously fatty pork is really more than one human should consume. Amazingly, they pretty much ate it all. There are photos of the carnage and of people cheers-ing with half eaten pig legs. I could not have had more fun on my birthday...

...But we were not quite done. The place cleared out rather quickly as they began to close. Strangely, no one offered the noisy Americans a ride back into town to save us the trouble of walking three miles back in the dark. It went by quickly though. We got to the train station by about 8:30. We still had almost 30 minutes before our train would take us back. The best idea anyone could come up with to make the time pass was to all walk into a tiny local dive bar by the train station. When we walked in, it was like a needle coming off the record. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at us like we had grown antlers. Being drunk enough not to care, we charged up to the bar and attempted to order in German (always scary cuz they speak back to you in German!). Finally we all got drinks...right as the train came. Those beers went away very quickly and bottles for the journey back were purchased. Honestly, birthday number 35 will be a hard one to beat!

Next post: Jeff and Gina go to the Alps, a castle, and Bamburg (home of smoked beers)

Beers:

I think I went over this already. The strange thing about Munich is that every bar/brewery makes the same style of beer. And they all taste nearly identical. Obviously, we have our favorites, but it isn't like back home where an IPA at one brewery will be completely different from an IPA at a neighboring brewery. The German Purity Law retail ties the hands of the brewers limiting the amount of experimentation that they can do. Numerous brewers told me that they don't like it and hope it gets repealed soon.

Munich Music:

Parkway Drive (nothing pumps you up on a train ride like some good Aussie metalcore!)

Avett Brothers (never a bad time for those guys)

Angels & Airwaves (still a guilty pleasure...)

Take care everyone. See you in less than 4 weeks!

Prost!

Brew School Part II

Slowly but surely time keeps moving along. Seven weeks in Chicago seemed like a long time. To be honest, the first 4-5 weeks did seem to drag on. Now, here I am, packing up my suitcase, trying to get the next five weeks of my life back into that one red suitcase. I have a little extra room now thankfully. I mailed quite a bit back home and blew out a pair of shoes. Gina also took some stuff back home for me that I didn't end up using. It's amazing how little you actually need (provided you have an on site washer and dryer.

Tomorrow night at 10pm Chicago time, the class and I will get on a Lufthansa jet to fly off to somewhere that I have never been. It would be one thing if I were there for a vacation, but somehow I have to find my way the Doemen's Academy on Monday with no time to wander around lost. Thank goodness for wifi at the hotel where I am staying. Hotel is kind of a loose term apparently. It's more of a hostel (www.euro-youth-hotel.com) with some private rooms. It was one of the least expensive options, and, at this point, that's what I am going for!

The best part of going to Germany is that I get to see the wife again. It's been awhile. The last time I saw her was about a month ago. I miss her quite a lot actually. We have a couple trips planned in the region as well. Bamberg, Fussen, and the Rhine River Valley are the main destinations that we plan to hit while she is there. I know that I am there for school, but why waste the weekends thinking about school when we could be out exploring a country that we never get back to see again?

I realize, for better or worse, that I have not written a whole lot about actual brewing school. Honestly, I probably would have bored most of you to sleep. There is only so much enzymatic activity, secondary yeast flavor compounds, and bottling line descriptions a reader can take before they want to take out their own eyes with a fork. That being said, I am going to actually talk about school.

I won't bore you all with the in depth details as most of them would not apply to even the most excited homebrewer. There were definitely some ups and downs. Most of this had to do with instruction more than subject matter however. Of course, how exciting can class be when you are talking about pipe welds and condensation recovery systems? I can answer that. It isn't, but it actually is all really important. No, the ups and downs were due to the instructors. We had some absolutely fantastic instructors. John Mallett, Bell's Brewery's production manager, taught two separate courses. Some instructors just have a way of getting people to learn. He was one of them. No matter what he taught, dull or interesting, he was able to relate it to us as students. The parts that John taught us are the parts that I know the most about now. Additionally, we had Dr. Graeme Walker, basically a professor of yeast. Since the yeast science and yeast handling was probably the most important part of school, it was good to have such a fantastic instructor. He had a sence of humor about the entire process. It was great in that it helped keep us engaged.

I am not really sure what my point was there. I have just been thinking about everything that we have been through in these past seven weeks. Was this money, effort and time really worth it? I would have to say, the good instruction really made it worthwhile. Between that and my previous training at GoodLife, I think that I could step into a brewery and not be completely lost. I would say that it was worth it so far.

That being said, the best is yet to come. The time in Munich starts tomorrow. This is supposed to be the best part of the school. The rumor is that it is a lot more hands on. We are supposed to actually get to brew, work in the lab, and learn to bottle. However, I am nervous. I was just getting used to Chicago. Getting around was not the chore that it once was. I could navigate the train system, find my way around downtown, and even walk to just about anywhere (I walked about 27 miles this week!) Well, I will have all of three weeks to get the hang of finding bars in Munich and wandering home. At least I know that I am staying near the main station. I have something to aim for late at night!

Anyway, beginning tomorrow evening (3/24) I will be turning my phone off. I really don't need to incur several hundred dollars in random charges while I am there. So, if anyone needs to get a hold of me, TOUGH! Kidding of course. You can always get me on Facebook or e-mail.

Wish me luck! I will continue to update the blog as best I can. Until next time...Prost!!!

Officially Finished the Associates Program! Only 6 Weeks to Go!

<--Yes, that's green beer.

Yes, this is weird art -->

...And the tests finally end! Well, they do for now anyway. I still have a big one after three weeks of hands on training in Germany, but I don't want to think about that now. We are on to the Business of Brewing class. It's kind of like Monopoly meets Dungeons & Dragons with beer, but with much harder math. They also wouldn't let me be the little iron or the racecar. The instructor just sort of look at me with disdain when I asked if I could. Some people have no sense of humor! Actually, it is pretty interesting. The instructor made the whole thing up himself. Why he wouldn't have cool game pieces is beyond me. We are using crappy plastic poker chips instead. I think I will reinvent the game for prison. Maybe I could use cigarettes as game pieces to trade for my toilet hooch. (Maybe not...)

So, before I recap my St. Patrick's Day for your entertainment, I need say something. Drivers in Chicago are terrible. I saw a guy almost get hit because someone decided to be the third car through the red light! That's very common. Light turns red, three cars speed through. How there aren't more accidents I will never know. No one stops for pedestrian, EVER! If I am at a crosswalk where there is no stoplight, drivers will continue to go until I am actually in the street. Then, they will pull up to you and wait very annoyed until you pass. Usually there is some tire screeching as they pull away. Occasionally, there is a honk. I have never been around more inconsiderate drivers in my life. New York, even Los Angeles, the drivers are more considerate. And this is starting to extend to the train! I had to shove a guy into a pole to get off the train because he refused to get out of my way as I tried to make my way around him to get off. A couple weeks back, I had to hockey check someone into the train door to get out because she was in too big of a hurry to wait for me to get off before she got on. I am glad that I went to all those punk shows in high school and college. Moshing taught me something after all. Things are really slow in Bend (too slow for me sometimes). However, I am really learning to appreciate that. Hopefully, Munich will be better.

I digress. So, St. Patty's! Somehow my housemates convinced me that it would be a good idea to go to an all you can eat & drink party starting at 8am. Let me tell you, it is never a good idea to start drinking that early. (One should wait until at least 10am, and that's only okay if you are camping!) We were a little late getting there, so I didn't actually start drinking until 8:30. Things were going well, mostly because they had bacon for breakfast. I made sure that I ate about 6 pounds of that washed down with some wonderful green Bud Light. Ya know, green Bud Light tastes just like regular Bud Light-like slightly dirty water. The downhill slide began when the shots came out. 9am Jameson shots! Again, too early!

The party ended with a fairly buzzed step outside into a blinding and warm day. I figured that we would go home, sober up, and head back out that evening. I was informed that: "that isn't how they roll in Chicago on St. Patrick's Day." Hmmm...silly me. And we went to another bar. Then we went to another bar. Finally, by about 2pm, we settled in at a restaurant for some much needed food. We sat outside for an hour easily soaking up the sun, cramming massive quantities of food into our faces, and sucking down water. It was a really nice break.

And a break it was. The decision was made to go to a karaoke bar. When I heard that, I thought about jumping into traffic so that an ambulance would pick me up and take me elsewhere. I loathe karaoke. I managed to convince one housemate that we needed to go home. Once we got there, we sat out on the back patio, split a Mission St. Anniversary Ale, and enjoyed the sunshine. It had apparently snowed last St. Patty's. It was 80 this year! Eventually, the other friends and housemates made it back.

After a brief rest, we headed out to have dinner and more drinks at The Bad Apple, a great craft beer bar down the road. They also sell a burger called Elvis's Last Supper. It has bacon and peanut butter. Everyone told me how great it was. For some reason, I decided not to get it. Don't get me wrong. I love peanut butter. I love bacon. But, some foods were not meant to touch. I think those were the two. One nice thing about the bar was that they had Racer 5 from Bear Republic on draft. I really miss great IPA's like we have in Oregon and NorCal. It was good to taste one of those again.

I had invited a friend from class to come out to dinner with us. As he was paying his bar tab, a couple people started chatting him up. Turns out they were from Seattle on vacation to see how Chicago party's. Being from the Pacific Northwest too, they invited us to hang out with them. The rest of my group headed home, so the classmate (lets call him Al) and I went with them. They proceeded to buy us drinks until about 2:00am. It was about that time that I lost Al (still don't know where he went, though I know he was in class today so no one murdered him). I was sitting by myself finishing my last beer wondering where everyone went (outside was the answer...) when a rather large hispanic fellow walked away from his friends to talk to me. He was not rude or threatening, but he did want me to know that I "creeped him out." It felt a little like the scene in the Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars where the guy confronted Luke. My expectation was that he was going to tell me that he was wanted on three system and that I had better be careful. So, I was alone in a locals bar "creeping out" large hispanic people and did not have any Jedi back up. Departure Time!!

Still wonder what happened to Al...

One other really great thing that I got to do this week as part of class was a food and beer pairing class. Author and brewery owner Randy Mosher (brewing nerds know who he is), was the instructor. I actually got a lot out of it. We sampled several beers with different cheeses (some of them were scary!) and desserts (not scary!). They were not all great together, but I really have a better respect for the marriage of flavors between food and beer. Here, let me quickly dispell a rumor while I am at it. IPA and bitter beers don't pair well with spicy foods. That is, unless you really want the spicy foods to taste spicier! However, if you don't already, I highly recommend trying to pair food and beers together. They may not all work, but it's fun to figure that out!

Alright, if can remember all of them...Beers of the Week!

Bell's Two Hearted Ale: This was one of those beers that I had heard a lot about, so I needed to try it. They don't claim that it's an IPA, but it is rather bitter with some hop flavor. It did have a nice hoppy aroma as well. I am glad that I was finally able to try it, but it still does not compare to home.

Founder's Centennial IPA: An IPA made solely with Centennial hops. It was not bad, but I found it rather one dimensional. Imagine that! One hop, one dimension.

Old Style: Fizzy Yellow Beer from Milwaukie, WI. This was another one that I had to try. I don't think that we can get it back home. It tastes like you would expect...yellow and fizzy.

New Glarus Fat Squirrel: Fairly basic amber ale. It tastes pretty much like an average amber ale...not a style that I would choose to make or drink. Most of them are just kind of bland to me.

Life's Soundtrack of the week:

Brewing Network (it makes shoving people on trains easier)

Every Time I Die

Pearl Jam (No Code is a great album!!)

Parkway Drive (can you say speedwalk home?!)

Miles Davis (Best. Study. Music. Ever!)

Cheers ya'll! I will be home in less than 6 weeks! I am over halfway there...

Only two more weeks until Germany!

First of all, I never thought this blog would be anything, but a way for me to keep some friends and family updated on this journey. I am at 1200 views in just over 5 weeks. For that, I just want to say thanks to everybody who has read it or passed it on to someone else. It's pretty great to get the support from everyone. So again, thanks!

Now, I wish that I could entertain everyone with some story about getting black out drunk again, but alas, I took it a little easier this week. Feeling as aweful as I did on Sunday kind of made me reconsider how I was spending my time. That, and St. Patrick's Day is this Saturday. I didn't want to ruin myself for the alleged debauchery that takes place here in Chi-Town on that day.

Anyway, on with the story of week 5...
School was...well...let's say it was not as attention grabbing as the first four weeks. We actually spent 3 hours talking about inspecting and cleaning returnable bottles. That would be okay, but here in the U.S. we don't use returnable bottles!!! I guess I will be prepared if I ever go to work in Europe or Austrailia or where ever the hell they use returnables. The main portion of the week was on bottling, canning, and kegging. Not a particularly interesting topic, but reasonable valuable nonetheless. It's good to be well rounded. I think they are trying to get us exposure to everything. It helps with getting jobs as well as if any of us were ever to open our own brewery. And, as it turns out, the brewery where I am hoping to work when I get back (it will remain nameless as I am not 100% sure they will be able to hire me...) is talking about getting a small canning line and bottling line. I was actually able to go into a local brewery here in Chicago and talk to their packaging manager about the canning line that is being considered. It was nice being able to know what I am talking about!

That brings me to my next thought...The brewery where I went to speak about the canning line was Half Acre. I spoke about them a few times before. I went in on Saturday doubting that anyone would be able to talk to me. Not only did I get to speak to the head of that department, they kept giving me free beer and a free pint glass. I could not believe how nice and how accomodating they were. They were very open and honest. In fact, the comraderie between small breweries here in Chicago is really something to marvel about. I really hope to make it back to Bend and experience the same thing. I didn't intern long enough to find out if that is what it's like, but I really hope that it is.

Prior to the trip to Half Acre, a couple classmates and I took a tour of Metropolitan Brewing. (www.metrobrewing.com) Again, an absolutely fantastic group of folks work there! I knew that they would be awesome when they were playing an obscure French heavy metal band while everyone on the tour was milling about and chatting. The head brewer was a Siebel graduate (there seems to be a lot of those around nowadays). They are a production only brewery that specializes in German-style beers. Their Kolsch and Alt beers were especially good. For those who are not from Chicago and are reading this, you may have trouble getting any of their beer. In fact, you are going to have to come to Chicago to get it. They distribute to Chicago and...Chicago. It's great that they sell their beer well enough here in town that they don't need to distribute elsewhere yet.

My Friday was interesting. After ditching the "Plastic Beer Bottle" lecture, (really? Is that really where big breweries are going?) I headed out to Whole Foods. It's the third largest Whole Foods in the country. The main reason that we went to Whole Foods is the bar. It possesses one of the hidden gems here in Chicago. To illustrate, I purchase a PINT of Jolly Pumpkin's Bam Noir for $5. To get any beer in Chicago for less than $6 is a feat in itself. To get a pint of a barrel aged sour beer for $5 is either a mistake or a phenomenon! There also have $2 cans and bottles. These are the same beers that most bars had for at least $5. Even better, you can take that beer and wander around with them while shopping. Brilliant!! (Evan! Time to get that in Bend.)

After the drink there, I wandered a couple miles over to the home the blogger for www.girlslikebeertoo.net. Jessica, her friend Chris, her husband Chris (that was nice for me since I am terrible with names), and I headed over to the Maproom. The Maproom is one of the more well known bars in the beer geek community here in Chicago. They have a pretty epic taplist of hard to find local beers as well as Belgian, English, and German imports. The crowd, even as early as it was, was rather horrific. I made friends with everyone rather quickly as we were all pretty much playing footsy at our tiny table.

A couple tasty beverages were consumed, then we headed to Piece Pizza & Brewery again. By the way, if I didn't mention it before, Piece is awesome! What's better than great pizza and great beer?! After a couple more drinks and me slinging ice at one of my classmates I saw walking to the restroom (probably should have apologized to the couple that I hit behind him...), the pizza arrived. I have never had pizza with an alfredo sauce, bacon, and mashed potatoes, but it was pretty darned tasty! It was no pepperoni and banana peppers like last time, but it hit the spot. While we were there, I started chatting up the couple sitting next to us. The guy was wearing a Fresno sweatshirt. Being from the Central Valley of California myself, I had to start a conversation. In a very odd, but not really surprising turn of events, his wife is a relative of the people that own Lutzer's Deli in Bend. I am firmly convinced that the world actually does revolve around Bend. Seemingly everyone knows someone from there!

It was decided that we would head back to Chris and Jess's house for some homebrew and cellar beers. I poured a delicious Irish Red from their kegerator followed by a dry stout. Both were very tasty. I brought over my New Glarus Cherry Belgian to share with some fellow beer lovers. We cracked that and drank it like it was soda. That beer goes down frighteningly easy. After that, to my surprise and pleasure, they took out a bottle of 2010 Three Floyd's Dark Lord. That beer is sold only one day out of the year. It's so popular that you actually have to buy raffle tickets just to be able to purchase a few bottles! (more on Dark Lord later!)

This is an odd highlight, but I thought it was cool so you have to read it! Jess asked me what I thought of Chicago. I was telling her that one thing that I love about the city is that there are no shortage of crazy people to entertain me. I went on to tell her about the nut-job that told me he could smell shapes. Without missing a beat, her husband says: "Oh yeah, that called synesthesia." Apparently it's a real thing (Porcupine Tree even wrote a song about it)! It has something to do with wires getting crossed in the brain that confuses sences. It's the same thing that happens with people who claim that they see color and waves coming from musical instruments. What an educational experience. I wondered if maybe I was misjudging the populace. Then I got on a bus at 1 am... At the stop after where I got on, a man clad in a cold weather mask (it was about 45 degrees) and a black fuzzy jacket with a matching purse got on. Nope, there are plenty of crazy people.

Sunday was the first really nice day that I have seen here. It was about 60, sunny, and not very windy. Tyler (a room mate), Dave (last week's drinking partner), and I headed out to downtown and to what I was told would be a "brewfest". I really wanted to try some Intelligentsia coffee and go to a free museum before I left. I think we all could have not gone to the museum and still been just as happy as we are now. However, Intelligentsia was pretty phenomenal. To get away with chargin $20 for 12 oz of whole bean coffee, it had better be good! It was a luxury that I could afford, but it was tempting. I will be going back there again before I leave.

We headed off to the "brewfest." I was informed that it would be under the Chicago stop on the Brown Line train. We were a bit confounded when we got there and saw no outdoor venue. Actually, we saw a Starbucks and some homeless people and not much else. As it turned out, the brewfest was at a bar. Essentially, they had 28 local beers on draft and were selling them for $4 a pint. The place was empty. I was supposed to meet Jess and her husband there at 4. We got there just after 1. It actually turned out to be pretty cool. I got to meet some other Chicago beer bloggers, a couple guys opening a brewery soon, and the owner of Metropolitan again. Six hours and ? number of beers later, I headed home.

Beers of the Week:

I counted up every new thing that I had this week. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20. Some of these were only tastes, but to me, it counts! I won't be writing about all of them...sorry!

Three Floyd's Dark Lord 2010: Russian Imperial Stout aged with happiness...a huge vanilla/chocolate dark bomb of a brew. Apparently, it had aged very well. I recommend trying it if you can.

5 Rabbits Cervesaria -5 Vultures: They call it a Oaxacan Style Dark Beer. Whatever it is, it tastes fantastic. It has just a bit of ancho chile flavor, but it is balanced nicely by a sweet malty backbone. It's really easy to drink and really good!

Three Floyd's/Piece Collaboration - Ham on Rye: As much as I thought that I wasn't going like this smoked rye beer, I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted like someone gave me a beer and made me drink it with bacon under my nose. I ended up having two!

Those were my favorites. And that's all you get for now!

Life's Soundtrack:

Eluveitie (a Swiss folk metal band that sings about half of their songs in an ancient dead language)
Porcupine Tree (Chris was nice enough to burn me the two albums that I didn't have)
I discovered more Brewing Network podcasts!
Angels & Airwaves (I am almost embarassed to admit that, but I love those guys)
Every Time I Die (crazy offensive rock/metal hybrid)
Iron Maiden (need I say more?)

Alright! Thanks again for reading.
Be ready for a post-St. Patty's Day blog. I have a ticket to an all you can drink party that starts at 8am and ends at noon. It should be an interesting one!

Cheers!!

It's Been a Month!

Basically, I only have two weeks left of the constant studying. This is an exciting prospect. Making it even more exciting is that fact that the most difficult week is behind us. Last week was almost all microbiology. Even the school's Vice President said that it was an extremely difficult section. The shear number of hours that I spent trying to memorize which bacteria are anaerobic/aerobic, lactic acid producing, CO2 producing, or Gram Stain Positive was mind boggling. I don't hold a lot of hope for another perfect score on the test, but I feel like I did well.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on your perception) we were given reprieve yesterday (Friday). We had a class on the purpose of tasting panels. That was obviously followed by tasting. Which, was followed by drinking. (There is a difference, ya know!) We had a blind test to see if we could tell the difference between Budweiser and Bud Light. There were two cups of Bud and one of Bud Light. You may think that this is an easy task, but the class was split in thirds. Only 13 of the 46 people in the class actually "guessed" correctly. I was not one of them. AB did a good job at making a light beer taste as bad as their regular beer.


Our second test was to blind taste two beers and say which one we liked more. I chose the first beer (along with about 60% of the class) because the second one had a harsh lingering bitterness. Well, it turned out that the second beer was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The first beer was Sierra as well, but it was spiked with diacetyl (a flavor compound released by yeast during fermentation that tastes like buttered popcorn at high doses). You can take away what you would like from that test, but I found that I liked the beer with the "off-flavor" more than the regular version.

After class, we got a tour of Half Acre Brewery (http://www.halfacrebeer.com/). The folks there were most accomodating, especially to a group of almost 50 already slightly toasted brewing students. They gave us each glasses and basically as much beer as we could consume in the hour that we were there. It was quite an interesting place. There is a tasting room up front with the brewery in back. Half Acre is about an 8 person operation with a 15-barrel system (which is quite small), about a dozen fermenters and bright tanks, a keg maching, a canning line, and a bottling line for specialty beers. It was quite the operation. They were extremely busy. Their hope is to do 15000 barrels of production in the very near future. On a system that size, that number will be quite a feat. In fact, they are going to have to do almost three batches of beer a day for the whole year! They were a good group of folks, so I wish them the best.

The night ended (for me anyway) at The Fountainhead (http://www.fountainheadchicago.com/) again. This is one of the only bars that I have cared to frequent. To get an idea why, take a peek at their beer list. Many of my classmates followed as well. One thing that I love about going to this school is that I can just chat with anyone. Most of us have similar stories and we all love beer. I spent a majority of the night talking to a guy from San Luis Obispo, CA who lives next door to Matt Brindelson Firestone's Brewmaster (also a Siebel grad). Obviously, he has a job when he gets back from Germany. I really do wish that I had more time to spend with all the people with whom I go to class.

As many left to go find other watering holes, I decided to stick around and have another drink. At this point, Ray Daniels (one of our instructors and author of Designing Great Beers) showed up with his girlfriend. I really enjoy talking to people away from their place of work. Ray and Keith (the school's VP) are both really nice guys, but when you get people away from being your teacher or supervisor, you really get to know them. It was really interesting to hear that everyone is as afraid of Rick Santorum as I am. I also got to pick the brains of people who are already deep in the industry. Ray's girlfriend works for Lagunitas. It was a very fun and educational experience. The hope that I can have a few nights of that kind is one reason why I decided to go to brewing school.

Update: Blogspot erased half of this post yesterday. I decided to give myself the rest of the day off from writing on Saturday and finish today. Perhaps that was good. I spent much of the second half of Saturday wandering the streets of Chicago with some classmates looking for bars. We found them. Maybe all of them...

The day started at 2:00pm at Piece Pizzeria & Brewery (http://www.piecechicago.com/). They have won numerous awards for their beers. If awards were given for pizza, theirs would win that too. "Connecticut" style pizza is what they make, whatever that is. Thin crusted pizza in Chicago would seem sinful, but it blows everything else here that I have had away. The beer there varied in style from a double IPA to a Belgian strong golden to a number of German-style beers. Everyone was very impressed with the food and drinks.

We wandered to a number of other spots, but the night started getting a bit blurry at a place called The Boiler Room. These guys have a brilliant plan. They are cash only, but, because they understand that no one wants to use an ATM and incur the charges, they offer you a free shot of Jameson with the ATM receipt. That was very unnecessary at that point in the evening, but I didn't want to turn down something free in a city that charges 11.5% sales tax. It's a rare thing. The coolest part of the bar was the men's restroom graffiti. The wall was virtually covered in permanent marker drawings of "Butt" themed art work (read: poorly drawn). We had the "Butt-ler", a drawing of a man in a tux holding a plate of drinks coming out of a butt. We had the "Pabst-Butt-Ribbon", a butt with a ribbon on it. And finally, the "Buttasaurus Rex", a T-Rex emerging from a...wait for it...butt!

Staggering on, a classmate named Dave from Portland and I went to his apartment. Things become rather hazy at this point. We had a beer. At some point there, his room mate's cat scratched the hell out of my hand. I don't remember it happening, but there was a cat there. I have a really creepy photo of it on my phone that I don't remember taking.

It was decided that we would head to Goose Island Wrigleyville. Dave really needed to meet Barry. Gina and I met Barry at Goose last weekend. He is an Irish golf pro at a country club north of Chicago. Apparently, his Saturday schedule includes drinking as much as possible at Goose before his friend picks him up and takes him downtown. The man is a talker. He bought us drinks and regaled us with stories of inbred country Irish folk from back home. Sadly, he left after only about an hour of Dave and I arriving. It was still a very interesting hour.

I vaguely remember walking the near two miles back home in the 25 degree night. Dave told me this morning that he doesn't remember how he got home. This morning I decided to check my phone for missed calls or texts. What I found were some very random pictures (like that of the cat) and some extremely random texts that I had sent (sorry Curt!). I actually sent this text to my wife: "I need to borrow your platypus. So I took your favorite tree." Not only do I not remember texting that, I don't have a clue why I would have sent it. But, it is really funny!

Today I took a very hungover stroll through an amazing cemetary. It may seem creepy, but it is one of the only places that multiple people told me that I can't miss. On a gray day like today, a cemetary seemed like a good trip. Indeed, it was amazing. Giant headstones, pillars tombs, and intricately adorned mausoleums were scattered all over the area. Never have I been to a cemetary that had a tomb that likely cost more than my house. The creepiest part is that they apparently have a resident coyote. I snapped a couple pictures of it before it ran off, but it was always in the back of my mind. As odd as this may seem to say, I think that I will go back before I leave. It was a very peaceful and tranquil spot in a very bustling city.

Beers of the Week:

What I really wanted was the GoodLife 29er India Brown Ale. It was just released and I have heard good things already.

Bell's Kalamazoo Stout: Good! Dry and roasty, it is one of the better stouts that I have had. Bravo Bell's.

Revolution Brewing's Eugene: This was supposed to be one of THE beers to get in Chicago. For me, it was only ok. It was really sweet and malty. It seemed a little out of character for a porter, but it was definitely drinkable.

Piece Brewery's Golden Arm: I have really gotten into Kolsch recently. I jumped at the opportunity to try this award winner. I was not let down. It was light and refreshing, but still had enough kick to let you know that you are drinking a beer.

Piece Brewery's Cap n kickass: I'll admit...I got it for the name. It was between that and the Moose Knuckle barleywine (they were out of the Camel Toe. No really, they were). They claimed it was somewhere between IPA and Imperial IPA. I'd say that it accurate. It would fit in well in Bend or Portland. Another impressive effort from the Piece folks.

New Glarus Cherry Belgian: Holy Cherry!!! It tasted like a cherry Jolly Rancher. I have no idea how much cherry they would have to add to that beer to get it to taste that much like cherry. That was impressive!

Life's Soundtrack:

Blind Pilot (thanks for keeping me company on the way home last night)
Junior Kimbrough
Pearl Jam (of course)
R.L. Burnside
Tyler Stenson (helped me through some grueling studying)
Bon Iver
The Devil Wears Prada (the metal band, not the soundtrack!)
Porcupine Tree

Take care everyone! See you Oregon folks in two months. GoodLife, save me some IBA. I will be home soon!

Brewer Nerd Talk: Or My "Gushing" Apology

Last Christmas, because we have very little extra money and I had no job, I decided to make a Christmas beer for friends and family. My wife even made a great label for it. We called it Two Dog Night Espresso Stout. It actually was quite the tasty beer. But, there was a problem: many unsuspecting friends and family ended up with a beer with foaming problems. They would open the beer and watch as the foam flowed out of the bottle, over their hand, and onto their floor. Well, I just learned why that happened today.

Apparently this is a very common problem. In fact, in Germany a few years back, 61% of breweries reported that this had happened with some of their beers! Of course, the problem was caused by Fusarium (a mold) infested malt. Mine was caused by the inability to cold store the beer.

Between the malt, water, hops, and brewing salt additions, I made an environment ripe for the formation of Calcium Oxalate. If bottled, as it only happens to bottled beer, the Calcium Oxalate sinks to the bottom. When the bottle is opened and the CO2 is released, the beer foams uncontrollably. The Oxalate causes nucleation sites for the CO2 and releases very rapidly and exponentially causing a mess.

Now, if I had cold stored the beer like a good boy would, those crystals would sink to the bottom. The bottom portion of the container does not end up in the bottle. Thus, there would be no over foam.

So, what I want to say is that I am sorry to anyone who got one of the foamy beers. I wish I could have learned this 6 months ago. I also wish I had some way to cold age the beer...

Moral: Only bottle after a good lagering (aging cold). And buy a chest freezer so that I can store everything cold...or buy a canning line. Never a gushing problem with cans!

25% of the way home!

If I had written this yesterday, prior to my test results, you probably would have had a post ranting about how hard it is to sit through classes with people lecturing about yeast; about how complicated yeast can be. And how we had one instructor lecture for 2 1/2 hours about theories of yeast flocculation when the lecture was supposed to be an hour. By the way, I got the same information on Wyeast's website and read it in 10 minutes. And about how I probably missed at least 10 questions on the test (I actually counted 16 that I was unsure about). Yeast are complicated little buggers with their fermentative and respiratory qualities, and their sensitivity to pH and temperature. I know more about yeast than I ever thought I would need to know. And I still thought that I did horribly on the test...

However, I got a perfect score on the test (honestly, I have no idea how that happened). You will hear no more about it.

Anyway, I learned a few new things this week. Ready?

1. I definitely have a space bubble. Being crammed in a cattle car to and from school is getting really old. I don't like having people constantly bumping up against me! I need to find my Zen place. Those that know me, though, realize that I have no Zen place. I only have impatience. Thanks to my iPod and some choice podcasts, I have survived thus far.

2. Watching my wife fend off drunk morons hitting on her is really funny. Gina came to visit this past weekend. She really wanted to see Wrigley Field where the Cubs play. It's quite funny because it is literally in the middle of a neighborhood. There is NO parking. In any case, after she took about 30 photos (as she does), we went to Goose Island in Wrigleyville. Now, Wrigleyville is known locally by some as DoucheBagville for its impossibly high number of jackasses that frequent the local bars. Gina and I had a couple drinks and were getting ready to leave when two obviously fitshaced guys from down a ways at the bar came over and told her they were leaving. They thought that she needed to have the rest of their samples because they had to leave for a show. Then they saw her Black Butte Porter purse. I will be the first to say, that is pretty badass. My wife walks around with a purse made out of a Black Butte Porter bag made out of an old banner. She's pretty awesome. The, until now, reasonably cordial men decided they weren't leaving once they saw the bag. They really thought that she needed to go out with them. Then they decided that they were going to stay and hang out with her. I am about a foot away from all this mind you. Somehow, with a little verbal jousting, she not only managed to get them to leave, but got them to buy her an $8 beer! (Though they comment that they roofied her drink and would find her later...) While this was happening, the bartender brought me another drink on the house to consume "while your wife gets hit on". I do love that woman! She can verbally fend off even the most dedicated A-holes!

3. Seeing Gina was both a blessing and a curse. I would not have traded it for anything, but it's really hard to see her go again. She also brought two cards signed by all my friends from back home encouraging me to keep going. (Josh! Thank you brother! That meant a lot!) It was fantastic to know how much support that I have at home. I miss it all. I miss brewing and having family dinners with my friends at Brood Brewing and the Hendrix clan (corgis included). I miss jiu-jitsu and all my friends there (Brendan...keep the liver trained, I will be home sooner or later!) I miss working with the awesome people at GoodLife Brewing. I miss all my other friends. Jordan, thanks for watching the house, dogs, and keeping my hot tub in use. Mike and Ali thanks for all the texts and taking care of my wife while I am gone. You guys are all the best people I could ever ask to be around. I also really miss the mountains. It is as flat as roadkill here!

Okay. I digress. It was really great to have the wife here. She made me do all the touristy stuff that I probably would not have otherwise done. And I have to say, the Art Museum here is fantastic. A Little Dali and a little Picasso does the body good sometimes. Culture is good...

Interesting fact of the week: I met a guy on my way home from the concert last Sunday who told me that he could smell shapes. Yep...smell shapes. There are so many different kinds of crazy on the trains in the evening that I feel like I should bring popcorn for the show everytime I ride after about 10pm.

Beers of the week:

Two Brothers Bitter End: Drinking it right now actually. I still don't know where these guys are going with their beer, but this one is pretty good. Kind of like an english pale ale with more bitter bite. It's quite drinkable.

New Glarus Two Women: This was an all floor malted beer (look it up!). I was actually expecting more with all the hype surrounding this beer. It was very...meh!

New Glarus Spotted Cow: A "Wisconsin Farmhouse Ale". Basically, it was made with local corn and flaked wheat. It was a very pale beer that was easily drinkable with a little bite at the end. I would do this one again, but seeing as it's only sold in Wisconsin (and I am not going back unless forced) I will not be getting another.

New Glarus Raspberry Tart: No shortage of raspberry in this thing! It tasted like sweet raspberries with a sour finish. I didn't really know what to expect. I was hoping for more sourness, but it turned out to be rather good even without that.

Three Floyd's Alpha King: Ha! They say this is a "Pale Ale". This thing was hopped like it came straight out of the Northwest. It had a little more sweetness than I normally like, but it was really nice to have a "properly" hopped beer. (Man I miss The Descender IPA!)

Gina brought some beers from home too. I need to thank Curt and Ty from GoodLife for the Mountain Rescue. It was really good to have a taste of home.

Soundtrack of the week:

Lots of Brewing Network podcasts. It makes me think, which hurts, but it's probably good for me.

Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree. Just needed some weirdness I guess.

More Bon Iver of course.

Alright, that's it for now. I need to go see if I can figure out what a rectangle smells like. I am thinking chicken...

10 Weeks To Go

Well, week #2 came and went. It strangely feels like I have been gone longer. I have to say that I am really glad Gina is flying out next week because I am really missing home. This, I think, is the point where most everyone starts getting homesick. I just need to push through and keep myself busy.

In any case, I am still here. The information keeps flying at us at an insane pace. The course is designed really well though. Each week one section builds upon the other. It makes studying a little easier (no less time consuming though). This next week is supposedly the most difficult subject matter and test of the whole course. Rumor is that typically the test scores drop a combined average of about 10-15 points from the first two tests. I guess that means I need to keep studying...

This past week we made a trip out to the Breiss malt facility in good ol' Wisconsin. It was a very long day. I left the house at 6am to make the 7am bus. It was a good 3+ hour ride there. Living in the mountains for so long, it is really quite odd seeing sooooo much flat land. When the highlight of the drive is seeing Six Flags Great America, you know there isn't much around. The malt facility was quite interesting. It's still the same structure from 100 years ago. Obviously a lot of the equipment has been updated, but a surprising amount is still the same. Breiss is apparently very secretive about their facility so I was not allowed to take pictures inside the building, which is unfortunate because their grain elevator was really cool!

After the tour, we got back on the bus to a half dozen ice chests full of all kinds of different beers. These were to be our company for the drive back. As you can guess, having nearly 50 brewers on a bus with one bathroom and about 300 beers, chaos ensued. To make things worse, the toilet was in desperate need of dumping. Everytime someone flushed, it filled the back of the bus with the wonderful aromatics of a porta-potty on a sunny day. The drive back was definitely fun filled even if it did smell bad.

Beers of the Week:

I actually had so many new beers this week that I can't remember them all! I will try to highlight some of my favorites...

Goose Island's Allium Roseus: A Belgian-style red ale that was designed to be paired with certain dishes at the restaurant. That was a blow you away good beer. Lots of red fruit and vanilla flavor and a clean finish.

Goose Island's Blonde Trouble: A Belgian Tripel. Not as dry as I am used to with this variety, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Ska Brewing's Modus Hoperandi: They are Colorado based, but it's still new to me. It was probably the best IPA I have had since coming to Chicago. Very highly hopped without a whole lot of maltiness. Just how I like 'em!

Ommegang's Aphrodite: I vaguely remember this one. It was at the end of a very long night. I do remember that it was made with quite a bit of fruit juice and Brettanomyces. I thought it was fantastic...I think.

Three Floyd's Arctic Panzer Wolf: I have to be honest, I ordered this because I thought the name was ridiculously awesome. Turns out it's a 10% Imperial IPA. It was a little much for me, but the name is still awesome!

Haymarket's Belgian Pale Ale: Light and easy to drink. And dry hopped with Amarillo hops. It was a little thin, but it was still a very drinkable beer.

Life's Soundtrack:

This week I have been listening to Blind Pilot's We are the Tide album A LOT! It's such a mellow peaceful album, that walking and listening to that have had a very soothing effect on me.

Junior Kimbrough's Pandora station

Bon Iver's newest album

And, of course, brewing podcasts. The great thing about those is that I can now understand everything they talk about in a much more in depth way. It actually helps keep my mind thinking about brewing and has actually helped my understanding.

Future Soundtrack:
I am actually leaving the house now to go to a metal concert. August Burns Red, one of my favorite bands, is playing at a small club near downtown. I will probably be the oldest attendee, but it will be awesome anyway!

Prost!

Ah yes...The Weekend!

I don't really think that I can top the drunken, midnight blog post from before, but the weekend (well, Saturday) was entertaining.

As you can see, I went to Revolution Brewing. One of the folks that I am staying with found it in her heart to drive us out there rather than making me face the frightening world of bus travel through Chicago. Actually, I hear it isn't bad, but I greatly prefer rail travel to the bus. Anyway...we made it there a little bit before 7pm. One thing has become very apparent to me, the great people of Chicago love them some NIGHT LIFE! Revolution was a huge place with two floors and a huge bar on each level. We could barely squeeze through the hordes just to get inside. We were supposed to meet some of my classmates there; a grand task in that mass of humanity. I began my search by turning around and walking straight into one of them. Well...I guess it wasn't that hard afterall... We pulled a few tables together upstairs and sat down upstairs where the drinking-induced, music-free mosh pit was a bit more calm. The taplist was fairly diverse. They had about a dozen of their own beers on tap, about a half dozen guest taps, and a huge bottle selection.

Here's the rundown of what I had:

Iron Fist Pale Ale: I think this may be the best beer that I have had in Chicago thus far. It was truly a Pale Ale that even a Pacific Northwest brewery would be proud to serve. A very citrusy, hop-forward, but well balanced beer. I really had to applaud them on that one!

Weegene: This beer was actually the second runnings from Hugene, their high gravity Imperial Porter. (If you don't know what second runnings are, I think Siebel still has openings for brew school next year...get on it!) It was a good, roasty english-style sessionable porter with an ABV of only 4.7%.

Then I drank another Iron Fist...and another...What? It was good!

The other photo above (top one for those who are a little slow) is a picture of Revolution Brewing's...wait for it...Bacon Fat Popcorn. No, really. It's popcorn made with bacon fat instead of butter and topped with bacon and sage, I think. I didn't really make it passed where it said BACON FAT on the menu. It was exactly how you might expect, A-mazing!

Most everyone in Chicago (especially considering it is a very big city) are reasonably cordial if not friendly. I had my first experience of male douche-baggery that night however. When we were sitting at our cramped table I had to remove my jacket in an aisle. A knuckle dragging "person" decided that I was in his way and roughly pushed by without as much as an apology. My immediate response was to call him an 'Ass'. He walked on. His friends actually apologized for him though. That made me feel better. Maybe I expect too much. Who knows?

Anyway, enough about my space bubble sensitivity. Here is my write up on other beers:

Two Brothers Domain DuPage: A very interesting French-style farmhouse ale (I think). Those guys actually ferment in giant wooden vessels. Oddly, I didn't get any wood character, just a fairly light-bodied beer that reminded me of a Belgian Pale Ale.

Two Brother Golden Prairie: Hard to describe. It really wasn't like anything that I have ever had. I don't know if that's good or bad. I will have to try it again.

Bell's Oarsman: I had heard so many great things about Bell's, I have to try as many of their beers as I can while I am here. The Oarsman was made using a sour mash (again, enroll in school if that is a new term...or Google it, it's much cheaper). It gives it a very refreshing, Saison or Berlinerweiss type flavor. It would be fantastic to drink during a summer BBQ. Too bad it was 2 degrees with the windchill at that point. Good beer anyway!

Bell's Pale Ale: Meh...Not my style. Very spicy, earthy hop character. An English-style brew for sure. I couldn't find any faults in the beer, I am just not really into that style.

Bell's Brown: Good winter brown. Very malty, not a whole lot of hop character. I enjoyed it, but there was no way I could have more than one or two. It just finished too sweet.

1809 Berlinerweiss: Ok, I know this is not from Chicago. But, I love this style and it was brewed at Doemen's School in Germany where I will be studying in April. It was great. Good, clean sourness without the pucker factor. It was apparently made without any boiling. I really want to try to make this style when I get back.

What else? Oh yeah, I passed my test: 98% (I guess that is why I am here!)

Tomorrow I have to be at school at 6:45am. We are heading to the Breiss malting facility in Chilton, WI. The story is that since the drive is 4+ hours, we basically have an unlimited amount of free craft beer to drink on the way back into Chicago. You will hear all about it I am sure, should I live through the experience!

Until next time...Prost!

(By the way, make sure that you congratulate the folks from GoodLife on their second place finish at the Eugene Brewfest. The Descender IPA took second out of 100+ beers!)

Week One Done!

I am about 6 beers deep this evening. It's probably time to update the blog...

Obviously, celebration was in order today. I finished my first test today! My first week is in the books, and I am one step closer towards being a professional brewer. The results don't come in until Monday, but I am sure I did reasonalby well. This week was all about barley, malt, and hops. How much could I have learned? HA! There is a huge seedy underworld of brewing ingredients that no one knows about! Well, now I know about it! If you ever need to know about how hop extracts are formed by the use of Super-Critical CO2, I am the guy to ask. Who has two thumbs and would be willing to talk about pre-isomerized alpha acid pellets? This guy...

There is an absolutely insane amount of information flying at me in 7.1 Dolby Digital Surround Stereo. I can't remember the last time I had to study this much for anything. Even in college, I could put in a couple hours per class leading up to the midterms and final for each class, and I would still get reasonably good grades. I found myself on a very regimented schedule here.

A typical day looked like this in week one:

7:00am: Wake-up and wish that I had adjusted to the time change a little better
8:10am: Leave for the train
8:50am: Arrive at Goose Island for class
5:00pm: Hustle across *"The Intersection of Death" to Siebel's Bier Stube for a pint of beer

5:30pm: Cry a little bit to myself

5:31pm: Leave the Bier Stube to brave rush hour traffic back home

5:40pm: Climb onto someone else's back in order to get a spot on the train back to my stop

6:00pm: Squeeze uncomfortably between the 12 people standing in front of the train doors and head home.

6:05pm: Make dinner while studying a bunch of stuff that I never knew that I needed to know

6:20pm: Eat and study

6:30pm: Clean and study

6:40pm: Study until I hate the thought that I may actually have to use barley and hops to make beer.

10:00pm: Watch Battlestar Galactica until I fall asleep

*The "Intersection of Death" is the intersection that we have to cross multiple times daily between Siebel and Goose Island. Approximately 17 streets merge at one point. 19 different stoplights send mixed signals to the speeding traffic and bewildered pedestrian. In 5 days, I have almost been hit twice. With that average, I should only be in the hospital for about 15% of my time here...

Yes, my life will probably be pretty regimented (unless I am struck by a vehicle) for the next few weeks, but, honestly, I love it! I have met so many new, cool people who are all in the same boat. Apparently, the guy I sit next to in class was even a customer of mine when I managed the pet store! Small World!!!

Today, we went into depth about water chemistry and how various dissolved solids effect the flavor of beer. Again, much studying will be needed. What is really cool about this is (Brewing nerds get ready...) that Ray Daniels is the instructor. Most folks won't know that name, but he is HUGE in the brewing community and has written one of the best books a brewer could own: "Designing Great Beers". I even nerded out enough to have him sign my copy of it!

I know, "Shut up and tell me about the beer!"

Ok, this week I had several new ones.
Bell's Witbier: Yeah...it tasted like a wit. No complaints. It was at the end of a long night.

Great Lakes Fitzgerald: A very nice roasty porter. Very drinkable. Very dry.

Two Brothers Cain & Able: I had heard great things about this beer. It was a nice dark red with

a hoppy red character. Not bad.

Goose Island Mathilda: I had to try this out of the tap since I love it out of the bottle. Honestly,

I think it needs the time in the bottle to let the Brett get the right flavor. It was good, but I

liked the aged character of the bottled version a bit better.

Goose Island Double B: Goose's pub only Belgian Dubbel...yeah...it was good. I will have it again.

Probably very soon!

For the music nerds out there who keep a "life soundtrack" like I do, here is my Chicago playlist for the week:

Pandora mix: Junior Kimbrough/R.L. Burnside (a lot of this)

Iron & Wine: Creek Drank the Cradle

Several podcasts from Stephan Kesting (Jiu-Jitsu) and Jamil Zainasheff (brewing)

That's it! I look forward to the weekend and to next week. John Mallette, the production manager of Bell's Brewery, will be teaching, as well as another day from Ray Daniels teaching about mashing chemistry. What an absolutely overwhelming experience! I will definitely look back at this when I am done and be very happy that I decided to do this!

Until next time...CHEERS!!! (Someone go to GoodLife for me and have a Pass Stout. I miss that beer!)

The Journey Begins!

Watching the sunrise is always amazing. I just wasn't expecting to be watching it while driving away from the Redmond airport yesterday. As many of you know, I am an absolute curse to airlines. I have been stuck on more runways, re-routed, and tossed around on more planes at a much higher percentage than most. How can this continue to happen to me? I am like a lightning rod of horrible air travel experiences! Sticking to that trend, the beginning of my journey was very short.

After a very hard goodbye to the wife and dogs, I walked in to find that my flight into Denver was already delayed for two hours. After my TSA molestation I found a seat by the other unfortunate passengers waiting for the flight. One gentleman was telling a lady he knew that his family called from Denver. They told him that the storm they were experiencing was supposed to be the worst one in 100 years. Denver, you are welcome. Just let me know if you need snow and I will schedule a flight through there for you. I made a couple phone calls to my wife and changed my ticket to stay far away from the Denver airport. Unfortunately, she had to drive all the way back to pick me up.

Honestly, it was nice to be able to spend one more morning with my wife, making her breakfast for the last time for three months. I got to take the dogs out on a hike as well. The change made for an exceptionally long day, but it really made for an easier goodbye.

My flights after that were not a problem. One was a little late (of course), but no real issues. There was a minute in San Fran where I strongly considered "missing my flight" to spend a night drinking at Beer Revolution with a good friend of mine. Probably for the better, I decided against it. Finally I arrived at the place where I would be spending the next 7 weeks to find one roommate passed out on the couch snoring and the three others tipsy. I knew at once we would get along. We spent the next 3 hours at a neighborhood bar drinking and talking about some very interesting topics (I will leave those out...) I did have my first local craft brew: Daisy Cutter Pale Ale by Half Acre Brewing. Not bad if you like grass. It tasted like a freshly mowed lawn. I will probably not get that one again, but will withhold judgement about the brewery itself.

The education that I have paid and given up so much to receive begins on Monday. I will be getting 7 hours a day of intensive brewery operation information. Fridays are my test days. Life is about to get really interesting...

Two weeks out

Brewing school rapidly approaches. Between making lists of what to pack, interning at GoodLife Brewing Co., spending time with my wife and friends, and reading pre-course work, I have been thinking about starting this blog. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up on it. I really wanted to have a journal for myself as well as keep everyone updated as to my progress. I will be gone for about three months. Today it really set in...this is going to be difficult. I have to go to school 8 hours a day, take tests, and live in a whole new world. Chicago is a long way from Bend. Munich is even further.

I hope this blog allows me to stay in touch with everyone. Thanks for following!