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!