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Slater’s 50/50 Backyard Brewfest 2014

Posted on April 22, 2014
beer, beer blog, Beer Event, Beer Tasting, bottle logic, Cismontane, Hangar 24, Noble Ale Works, Photography, slater's 50/50, Travel
Comments: 0

Recently I attended the Slater’s 50/50 Backyard Brewfest in Lake Forest, CA. The attending brewery list was impressive with some trailblazers like Bottle Logic and Hoparazzi, new faces like Legacy and Ensenada Brewing Company. Overall I had lovely sunny afternoon enjoying tasty beers with some very charismatic friends taking some fun pics.

One really great thing about the event is since it’s thrown by Slater’s the food is provided free of additional charge like some other events that may not include food in the price of admission. This means you have no excuse to not eat something while sipping an unlimited amount of beer tasters. I do enjoy the occasional burger and the decadent Slater’s burger complete with a egg on top makes for a messy but satisfying bite.

The beer was wonderful, as per usual. I did really enjoy trying some new brews and can’t wait to see some of these new faces at more events and try different beers! Enjoy some of the fun pics I took from the event:

Firkfest 2014 Recap Video & Pics

Posted on April 16, 2014
#bakeforgood, anaheim, Bake for Good, beer, Beer Event, Beer Tasting, bottle logic, Cask, craft beer, Creative Outlet Studios, DIY, Firkfest, King Arthur Flour, OC Beer Blog, Photography, Travel
Comments: 2

Life has been really hectic as of late. I have made my first video from the multiple pictures I took from Firkfest and edited them to mimic a stop-motion video and it seems like everyone really enjoyed it! I also blogged over at the Harveys blog again, this time for the Floral Crown Workshop at Creative Outlet Studios! I love the pics that we got, they were so cute! I also attended the Slaters 50/50 Backyard Brewfest a few weeks ago and had a blast! Pictures and hopefully another little video (eep!) is coming soon for that event. Finally, this last weekend I participated with King Arthur Flour in their #bakeforgood campaign and if you follow me on Instagram you already got a preview of whats to come in the next few weeks. Let’s just say it was the most exhausting yet rewarding weekend I’ve had in a long time and now my inspiration cup runneth over!

Maybe I have been a little overboard on the whole jumping photos lately… but I love them so much so I don’t care 🙂

First thing’s first with Firkfest. I know, I have been a very bad blogger and haven’t posted a recap until now…but like I said I did post a sweet, sweet video that I am pretty squirreld-up about.

Now that all of you have been properly caught-up, I will elaborate on the experience at Firkfest.

It was a tremendous day filled with a delicious beers, charming friends, and excellent atmosphere. I have never attended an event at the Farmers Park venue in Anaheim and I must say it was perfect! There was plenty of space to spread-out and lots of options for sitting which almost never happens. We were lucky that the day was wondrously mild with the sun occasionally peaking through the grey clouds, which also is my favorite type of weather for picture-taking.

The beers that stuck in my mind was the Bottle Logic Leche Mole with Bourbon Chips that invaded my taste buds with lacto and heat and complexity and the Haven Brewing’s Dry-Hopped Pale Lager that was so yummy and drinkable. There was several other beers that were so tasty but alas, I was too busy taking pics to write them down. The trials of a photo blogger I suppose. I can’t wait for next year’s Firkfest, it was such a blast. Now enjoy the pics!

International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day

Posted on March 27, 2014
anaheim, anaheim brewery, beer, Beer Event, Beer Tasting, bottle logic, Brewery, brewing, Brewing Equipment, CA, DIY, Photography, pink boots society, project venus, Travel, wanderlust, women in brewing
Comments: 4

As you may or may not be aware, March 8th was International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day. The IWCBD was started by the “brewsters” of Project Venus in the UK, and promoted by Denise Ratfield of Pink Boots Society, over a hundred women brewed at approximately 70 breweries that day. Both Project Venus in the UK and Pink Boots Society in America aim to create, train and maintain jobs for women in the craft beer industry and generally promote education and innovation for all women who share a passion for craft beer. Who wouldn’t love getting together with a bunch of like-minded ladies to discuss, brew and drink beers?

I was fortunate enough to run into Barbara from Anaheim Brewery at the Bottle Logic soft opening and she invited me to come and hang out with her, Carolyn Bryant and Caitlyn Beas while they brew the Unite Pale Ale beer that all the participating brewers were brewing that day. The pale ale was designed to be a base beer that could be a blank canvas for the “brewsters” take creative freedom and twist the recipe as they saw fit. In Barbara’s case, she added Belgium yeast instead of a pale yeast along with some cardamom to add interesting subtle nuances to the base pale ale recipe. I love a good Belgium yeast that gives off those delicious fruity esters and adds body and mouth-feel to the beer so pairing that with some floral cardamom is really smart.

Portion of the proceeds from every Unite Pale Ale sold will be donated to the Pink Boots Society’s scholarship program where they aim to send women back to school to further their career in beer. If you see a Unite Pale Ale on tap I hope you will give it a try & raise your glass to this sensational cause!

Anchor Bock Beer Blackberry Muffins

Posted on March 25, 2014
Anchor Brewing Company, Anchor Steam, baking, Baking with beer, beer, Beer Tasting, Blackberry, Cupcakes, DIY, muffins, Photography, recipe, Travel
Comments: 2

I was hit with a surplus of blackberries lately and thus I was faced with the challenge to use them or freeze them and ultimately, I decided to bake with them. I love blackberries because they always remind me of a memory when I was young and my sister and I went blackberry picking in the forest during a camping trip. I still remember squishing them in between my index finger and thumb just to see the stain of purple on my skin and consequently on my shirt. I can only imagine my mother’s look of disapproval when we emerged from the brush with a load of blackberries nestled in our shirts-made-buckets littered with purple blemishes.

Faced with the ever-daunting question of “what should I make” I searched my archives and I don’t think I have made very many muffin variations so I opted to make a blackberry muffin with a crunchy crumb topping. Who isn’t a sucker for a soft and moist cake with a sugar-laden crunch-tastic topping? The census of the collective workplace opinions were very positive and I came home with empty containers at the end of the day so I feel confident in saying they were well-liked. I choose to bake with the Anchor Steam Anchor Bock Beer for it’s sweet, malty notes that will pair well with the sugar and tart berries.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups AP Flour

3/4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/3 cup of veggie oil

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup beer

1 cup blackberries or more if you are feelin’ saucy…I loaded my muffins as much as possible because I am reckless.

For the crumb topping:

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1/3 cup of AP flour

1/4 cold unsalted butter , cut into small cubes

1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Heat your oven to 400 degrees F. Spray your cupcake or muffin tin with non-stick spray and set aside.

2. Whisk together your flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. Whisk together your egg, oil, milk and beer in a separate bowl then combine with the dry ingredients. If you just whisk them into oblivion you will most likely get a tough muffin, and nobody likes a chewy muffin. I recommend folding your wet and dry ingredients so you can incorporate them together gently. Once combined, fold in your blackberries.

3. Fill the muffin wells almost to the top and then combine the crumb topping ingredients in a separate bowl. The crumb topping should be sandy so the use of a fork or pastry cutter might assist with crumbling the butter and incorporating the dry ingredients. You can also opt to use a food processor. Spoon the crumb topping over the blackberry muffin mix and bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating once during cook time.

4. Cook until edges are browned and top is slightly brown. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire rack and then you can either serve warm or allow to cool completely and then store in an airtight container.

Yield: 12-15 muffins

Lasts: 1-2 days

Level: Beginner

Season: All

Firkfest Event In Anaheim About To Sell Out

Posted on March 20, 2014
anaheim, beer, beer blog, Beer Event, Beer Tasting, Brewery, brewing, CA, Cask, Firkfest, Noble Ale Works, OC Beer Blog, Photography, Travel, vacation, wanderlust
Comments: 0

Are you even remotely around the Orange County area and looking for something to do this weekend? Well, never fear because OC Beer Blog is here with Firkfest this weekend on March 22nd from noon to 4pm at Anaheim’s Farmer’s Park. It’s been highly anticipated and the time has finally come to celebrate the beloved cask beers offered by the local craft beer aficionados.

Firkfest is going to be held at Anaheim’s Farmer’s Park, which is located off Anaheim Blvd and in between Santa Ana Street and Broadway, in the park area between Anaheim Brewery and the historic Sunkist Packinghouse. The location is beautiful and bring more beer to Anaheim, which is rapidly becoming the “beer mecca” for forward-thinking craft beer enthusiasts.

The event is $50 (cheaper if you use the promo code MOTHERCOLONY) and that includes unlimited cask beer pours, feeling good about yourself because you donated to charity, and the piece of mind you get from knowing it won’t be overcrowded because it’s a small and classy event with very limited tickets available. I have been personally assured that there will be copious amounts of water to combat the waves of delicious beers rolling into your mouth-hole, which puts me at ease since water is an important factor to my longevity at these types of events.

If all that wasn’t enough, the event is being hosted by my buddy, writer, beer-belly model, scandalous-joke-slinger, all-around good time guy Greg Nagel from OC Beer Blog. We have been friends for a while and words cannot express my love for this guy. I am beyond proud of him for pushing himself and making this event happen on top of all the other balls he is juggling. Let me tell you folks – the best beer events are thrown by experienced beer-event-attendees who have been to many, many beer events and have a deep love for craft beer and since I know Greg has both those qualities I am confident it will be an event that is worth attending. I present to you the many faces of Greg:

From left to right: Sean McNew, Greg Nagel, Nate Squillace of Hangar 24, and Evan Price of Noble Ale Works

Greg from OC Beer Blog showing off his Corndog eatin skills.

Greg #nageling

Location: Anaheim Farmers Park – 400 S Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim, CA 92805

Time: 12pm – 4pm

List of Casks Scheduled to be offered:

Bottle Logic Brewing – “Anaheim, California”, Leche Mole on Bourbon Chips
The Bruery Lemoncello Sour and Summers Eve
Anaheim Brewery – 1888 Pre-prohibition style with extra centennial
Noble Ale Works – English 101, Simcoe Showers DIPA and Man’s Milk Stout
Phantom Ales – Dry Hopped Cider
Cismontane Brewing – Smokin’ Santiago Scotch Ale w/ Chilies and French Oak
Cismontane Brewing – The Citizen w/Apricots
Bootleggers Brewery – TBD, TBD
Tustin Brewing Co – Bogey’s Dry Irish Stout and Old Town IPA w/additions
Valiant Brewing – Moschendo Mint Coconut Lager, Last Flight American Strong w/Grand Marinier, BBL, figs, cherries, vanilla and coffee (17%!!)
Portola Coffee Labs – Natural processed Ethiopia Kochere Coffee in a used Hungarian oak Cab barrel (on Nitro)
Pizza Port SC – TBD

LA/CC

Firestone Walker – Velvet Merlin
Beachwood BBQ & Brewing – Thrillseeke\r IPA
Smog City – Lil Bo Pils + Amiarilla Gorilla IPA
Eagle Rock Brewing – Populist IPA
LA Ale Works – 2 casks of Karma Kolsch w/Jasmine Green and OCBeerBlog collab Chrysanthemum, Kumquat and Masala Chai tea
Haven Brewing – TBD
Golden Road – Wolf in Heat IPA, TBD
El Segundo Brewing Co – Hyperion’s Vanilla Stout on Rum soaked oak
Monkish – SPA-ISH Belgian Single, SHAOLIN KICK Dubbel, and SHE-IST Tripel with a varying mix of fruit, spice and herbs in each
Bravery Brewing – Citra Ghost Rye Pale, Mocharova Milk Stout w/Coffee and Vanilla beans
Strand Brewing – White Sand IIPA w/Simcoe
Figueroa Mountain Brewing – Lizard’s Mouth IIPA w/dried fruits
The Dudes Brewing – TBD
Twisted Manzanita – Oh Nose Brett IPA and Chaotic DIPA w/Galaxy

SD/IE

Belching Beaver – Beavers Milk w/Horchata + Me So Honey w/coffee and coconut
Saint Archer Brewing – Red Ale w/Amarillo
Karl Strauss – Red Trolly Irish Red w/Rose Hips
Hangar24 – Palmero w/date sugar
Ballast Point – Sculpin IPA w/Wai Iti hops
Dale Bros Brewing – TBD
Coachella Valley Brewing – Luke Rye walker Belgian Rye DIPA

Food

Adya – Fresh Indian Flavors – Indian Street Food – Sliders
The Kroft – Gourmet Sandwiches –
K&A – Taco, Nacho cart
Wheat & Sons – Artisan butcher/pot pies,
The Iron Press – Fried chicken waffle sandwich, tater effing tots, grilled cheese

Bottle Logic Brewery Opens In Anaheim

Posted on March 18, 2014
anaheim, beer, beer blog, Beer Event, Beer Tasting, bottle logic, Brewery, Brewing Equipment, New Brew Thursday, Noble Ale Works, OC Beer Blog, Photography, Preview, Travel, wanderlust
Comments: 3

Sorry for the blog silence the last few weeks. Life has been a little crazier than usual. I have started a new job working for Harveys in Santa Ana as their HR Manager and that has been really fun and has kept me super busy. I also attended the Bottle Logic soft opening/media preview and took pictures for a collaboration article with my buddy Greg at OC Beer Blog. It was really fun to be able to just worry about taking the photos and not have the added pressure to write an article as well. Greg’s article was really successful and widely talked about in the internets so there will most likely be more collaboration articles with him in the future. I would like to think we make a good team 🙂 PS. Bottle Logic makes delicious beer so go and visit them sometime soon!

This week I will be doing a “blog takeover” for the Harveys Blog so I will post a link to that once it is live. It’s a window into my work and also fun pics of my co-workers eating my baked goodies. They make some fantastic faces. For now, here are the pics from the Bottle Logic soft opening…enjoy!

Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Posted on February 24, 2014
baking, beer, beer blog, Beer Tasting, Cake, chocolate, Cooking with beer, Cupcakes, DIY, Photography, recipe, Samuel Smith, Stout
Comments: 3

Coffee grounds, cold french-pressed coffee, vanilla extract and cocoa powder might be my new favorite additions to my standard buttercream frosting. I love standard buttercream but sometimes you just need to change it up a bit, right? Well, I wanted to make a mocha-inspired frosting and and the results were delicious.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups AP flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cocoa nibs

3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 large whole eggs plus 2 egg whites at room temp

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cups beer (I used Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout

Frosting:

3 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp

1/4 cup room temp or cold brewed coffee

1 tablespoon of coffee grounds

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (unsweetened dark or light works)

2 lbs powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 vanilla beans (insides scraped)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line your muffin or cupcake tray and set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa nibs and set aside.

2. With a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium to high speed until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the whole eggs (one at a time) then the egg whites. Add the vanilla extract and scrape the sides of the bowl down. Reduce speed to low and start adding the flour mixture in three batches alternating with the beer. Mix until just combined.

3. Pour in batter using a cookie scoop or a spoon into the prepared cupcake tray, filling only 3/4 of the way. Bake, rotating one halfway through baking, for about 20 minutes. If you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean, it’s ready. It should also be slightly browned on the edges. Allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before removing from tray. Cool completely before frosting.

4. To make the frosting beat the butter on medium speed for 3 minutes until fluffy and start adding powedered sugar in 1/2 cup incriments, making sure to sift the powdered sugar so it doesn’t make the frosting lumpy. After you have added about 2 cups of frosting, add the cocoa and coffee grounds and vanilla beans to the mixture. Add another cup of sifted powdered sugar and start adding in the brewed coffee. Add the coffee in while the machine is on making sure to keep a close eye on the “loose-ness” of the frosting. Before you start adding the wet ingredient it was thick and when you introduce the coffee it will begin to thin out the frosting and the trick is to not allow the buttercream to break. If the frosting starts to look soupy stop adding coffee and add a little more powdered sugar. By this time you should start tasting the frosting to see if you want to add more powdered sugar because it tastes too buttery to you or if it’s spot-on. I usually prefer buttercream to be a little less sweet but everyone has their own tastes and there is no real exact science to how much powdered sugar to add since it depends on taste.

5. Put the frosting in a frosting bag with a star tip (or use a ziploc bag with the corner cut-off) and frost the cupcakes from the outside of the cupcake to the inside so it finishes with a frosted peak in the center.

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Season: Any

Level: Beginner

Lasts: 2-3 days in airtight container

These cupcakes were great! The cake was airy and light with a slightly sweet malty undertone without being overly sweet. The frosting was ridiculously delicious with it’s strong flavors of coffee and chocolate with the little crunch of the coffee grounds. The cocoa nibs in the cupcake helped carry the chocolate theme throughout the cupcake and it was a nice balance of flavors. They were a big hit at my work!

Noble 3rd Anniversary Recap

Posted on February 20, 2014
anaheim, beer, beer blog, Beer Event, Beer Tasting, Brewery, Noble Ale Works, OC Beer Blog, Photography, Tom Tait, wanderlust
Comments: 0

Not that long ago we attended the Noble Ale Works 3rd Anniversary party and it was a rousing good time. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect with a bit of a cloud cover in the beginning of the day and a crisp breeze on the nape of your neck combating the pounding sun and unusual high temps for this time of year. I noticed they expanded the fenced area quite a bit from last year and the line to get into the event went a lot faster, which is great! With sizzling meat and sweet malty beer goodness whirling around me as I stepped out of the taxi, you could just tell it was going to be a good event.

After we entered the event and retained our glassware my immediate priority is to fill it with beer, but most of the lines seemed a bit long already so we had to be smart about our approach. We decided to go for the most interesting beer being poured outside and to camp in that line so we didn’t miss-out on the possibility of getting to taste that beer. We had to go for the Lebowski’s White Russian (5.4%ABV) which is Naughty Sauce with cocoa nibs and vanilla bean. I had a cask of this beer at OC Brew Ho Ho and it was just delicious on so many levels: the coffee aroma, the vanilla bean and milk flavor, the hint of roasty chocolate coffee liquor that made you wonder if they actually just spiked the cask with Kahlua, the silky mouth feel that made the beer so rich and velvety…I could keep going. Even if the line was a bit long, we didn’t care because it meant we get to have this beer.

Once we had been given our golden treasure to cradle as we waded through the crowd, we promptly get in line at the next location so by the time we had savored our first beer it would be about the same time we reached the front of the line for the next beer to be had. It’s not rocket science kids…any seasoned event-attendee knows that when a line is long you prepare yourself with beer and the complaints fall by the wayside and suddenly you are having fun and not noticing anything else. Should we blame Noble for being too damn popular? I should probably place some of that blame on myself and to my buddy Greg at OC Beer Blog because we can’t shut-up about our love for Noble and the ridiculously amazing beer they keep producing. It doesn’t hurt that Evan Price (Head Brewer) and Jerry Kolbly (President and Co-Founder) are marvelous to be around and I can almost always run into one of them at the brewery on most nights.

we won a gift card in the raffle!!

Sean and Cameron like hugs

It was rad to see the Mayor of Anaheim, Tom Tait, there representing his love for beer and promoting the city of Anaheim as a beer-friendly destination. It kinda blows my mind that the Mayor of Anaheim is so damn cool and that I have run into him repeatedly at beer-related functions and he is so friendly and laid-back. It’s just like, “Oh, there’s the Mayor of Anaheim standing in line for a beer with his wife…NBD.”

Some of the other beers we really enjoyed was the Bean Bump, an Imperial Naughty Sauce at 12.7%ABV with a ton of coffee added and The Messenger with Yuzu which is a 7%ABV IPA that is super light and citrusy with the juicy grapefruit bomb from the yuzu. I was frequenting the Yuzu Messenger at the end of the event because the line was pretty short and it was so refreshing. A few other ones that stand-out are the Barrel 1 Is Nuts cask which had such an intense nutty quality it was overwhelming and tasty, and the Wood Eye 7&ABV strong ale that is a brewed with some rye malt and has an oak-y character on the finish but is still somehow managing to be light and very drinkable.

The people-watching was spectacular! There was everything from fur coats, zebra pants, short-shorts, Rob Zombie, drunk lady in flower pants who fell down, two dudes hugging it out with an American flag, a guy dancing with crutches and swinging them wildly, Philippe and Chris dancing, Dallas stuffing his face….the list continues. As always, it was really fun hanging out with my beer buddies. They make any event fun but it really is the cherry on top of a wildly entertaining and fun time. Cheers to Noble’s continued success, it’s well deserved. Keep up the good work!

11 Travel Tips From My Honeymoon

Posted on February 19, 2014
Bear, beer, Brooklyn, Destination Wedding, Fyne Ales, Hawkshead, honeymoon, Ireland, Islay, Photography, Road Trip, Scotland, Travel, uk, vacation, wanderlust
Comments: 4

Now that the traveling has died down and all my honeymoon and destination wedding posts are completed, I wanted to share some of my travel experiences and tips with all of you. There is only so much you can learn from those travel websites.

1. Renting a car in Ireland sucks. I thought I was so smart getting such a fantastic deal on a car, but when it came time to pick-up the car they tacked-on all sorts of fees and suddenly $50 became $500 and we were backed into a corner. Other deals will be better than $500 but they will charge your card for over a grand as a “hold” to make sure you could cover any liability damage to the car. Goodbye spending money! You really need a car in Ireland if you plan on staying outside of Dublin and want to see the sights at your own pace. It also is a pain to shell out extra cash for the train/taxi/bus fare if you want to visit anywhere that isn’t within walking distance like when we visited Wicklow or Kilkenny or the Cliffs of Moher. We drove all those times and I can only imagine the stuff we would have missed if we didn’t have a car. Also, bring an AV cable for your ipod or smart phone because most cars have an audio jack outlet which makes long car rides a lot more fun. My solution: fly into LHR (London Heathrow) and take the train or bus to Holyhead or Liverpool port and rent a car from the UK and take the ferry over. We dropped our Ireland car in Dublin and took the ferry to Holyhead and rented a car there for $150 for a week with unlimited miles. Totally worth it. I would just check with the company before you do that just to make sure they won’t screw you over. I think as long as you return it to the same place they don’t care but I haven’t tried this solution yet.

2. There are no toilet seat covers in any of the bathrooms. Be prepared to be tearing off little strips of toilet paper whenever you have to pee (ladies). This was the standard for Ireland, UK, Scotland, and Belgium. This was a constant problem for me because I always wait to the very last possible second to pee because I am a procrastinator. This means I was dancing in a tiny stall trying to make toilet paper art on a dirty bar toilet while desperately holding back the flood gates. You’all just learned something about me today…congratulations.

3. Print absolutely everything you need in advance. Internet and wi-fi is spotty and you can’t always rely on your world phone or laptop to be available to use for directions/confirmations/receipts. I had printed all my hotel/B&B and tickets (ferry, train, airplane, bus) in advance but I didn’t print directions to and from these places. Most of the time we could use our smart phones to get directions but there were a few occasions that the phones weren’t cooperating and it made getting places difficult. I don’t recommend trying to get to your gmail so you can find your directions to a B&B in the dark on a country road with no reception. I am sure most people are savvy enough to be more prepared than my procrastinating self but I wanted to make a point of mentioning it.

4. Don’t get money exchanged in advance. It’s really easy to get money from a bank ATM and it comes out in the appropriate currency being used in the location you are in. For example: we flew into Ireland and went straight to a bank and withdrew euros straight from our bank accounts. Most bank accounts have low fees and the exchange rate is exactly what it should be at the time of the withdrawal. I researched several other options before making the decision to use an ATM upon arrival and the fees that were involved made my head spin. AAA offers an exchange but the percentage went from the current exchange rate of .72-.73 on the dollar to .65 on the dollar and they added an $8 fee per $100 dollars exchanged so essentially they are screwing you out of about $18 per $100 you exchange instead of your bank fee of $2-$3 per transaction. Especially since I had a lot of money I needed to take out of my account immediately to pay for the house we rented in Ireland, the ATM made the most sense. Don’t let these exchange places take your money!

5. Use wi-fi as much as possible. We had a world phone data plan with our smart phones but ended-up paying a ton in extra fees because we went over our 100 MB of data usage allowance per month of world usage. I could use up that 100 MB of data in one afternoon of using Google maps. It is important to point out that even when you connect to wi-fi you have to turn-off your data plan in your smart phone setting because it would still be running and sucking-up data. I typically use between 2-6 GB of data per month on my regular schedule because I have unlimited data and don’t have to worry about usage fees. Also, it helps to shut-down apps that might be running in your background sucking your data like your Weather Channel app that uses at least 20 MB of data just being active on your background.

6. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or for directions from the locals. Most of the people we met were fountains of knowledge and information about rad local spots we needed to see. Everyone would be friendly and more than helpful in pointing us in the right direction. We would’ve never found some of my most favorite locations if we didn’t ask around! My Mom literally knocked on someones door in Ireland asking for the right direction for a horse stable for horseback riding and they gave her step-by-step directions.

7. Always stay in the middle or left lane unless you are passing. The traffic was never really terrible (until Belgium) in most of the places we visited and that was mainly because on the highways everyone would pass on the right and stay in the left lane making passing available for the faster cars. This was such a novel concept because in California (and basically the US) everyone doesn’t give a crap if you want to pass them or even actively make it harder for a speeding car to pass safely. Keep in mind that they drive on the opposite side so this would be as if we actually allowed the left lane to be the fast lane and the right lane for the slow lane as it was intended, making traffic congestion less of an issue. I also noticed in some UK freeways they had a rule where you had to stay at lease a car-length distance between you and other cars, essentially making tailgating illegal. Awesome!

8. There are faults with every airline but British Airlines has no air but great TV/Movie options and United has air but crappy TV/Movie options. I would trade my movies in for a 10 hour flight where I wasn’t sweating profusely. The British Airways planes are also super small and it makes a long flight really uncomfortable, not to mention stinky because it’s hot.

9. For the love of all that is holy, don’t connect your flight through LHR unless you have at least 2-3 hours. LHR is awful and probably my least favorite of airports. The connections sometimes aren’t available until you land and then you find out that you have to take a shaky bus 20 minutes to the other side of the airport then go through 5 more security checks just to get to your connector flight into Dublin that’s only 1 hour in duration. This also means that if your flight is delayed in any way, your connector flight might be missed because you can’t get through the 1 hour security line and run with your luggage through the miles of terminals. Screw that. Never again will I connect through you LHR, unless I have a loooong time to dilly-daddle instead of running in stinky British Airways clothes.

10. Write down addresses for your hotel and any important destination. (This is basically an extension of #3) This seems silly…but it was so helpful. I had a little notebook where I kept notes and I started writing down the hotel’s name and address and the address of the destination we were planning on visiting, especially if we planned to take a taxi. Surprisingly in Belgium and New York most of the taxi drivers didn’t know where anything was and relied on you to either guide them or have the address. Normally that’s no big deal but when we were in Belgium we brought the wrong adapters for our phone and laptop so we were stranded without technology and most people didn’t speak English. We almost didn’t make it to visit Cantillon because we couldn’t find it and no taxi drivers knew where it was. We also tried to go to the delirium bar but the taxi driver didn’t understand so we had to skip it. Even the taxi driver in New York didn’t have GPS and expected me to guide him with my phone. Seriously, write everything you might need down in case your phone dies!

11. Take more detours. One of my main regrets is that I had such anxiety about getting from one place to the next as smoothly as possible. I didn’t really relax until we reached our destination and that means I didn’t want to stop anywhere or go on any detours. The few detours we took were some of my favorite memories and I wish I had just let go a bit more. It’s supposed to be a vacation, right?

Homebrewing With John Holzer

Posted on February 4, 2014
beer, Brewery, brewing, Brewing Equipment, DIY, Homebrew, Homebrewing, John Holzer, New Brew Thursday
Comments: 6

Last Saturday, we were lucky enough to brew a beer with John Holzer. Yep, that John Holzer. Some of you may recognize him from such things as New Brew Thursday and the NBT Brewing homebrew podcast where his alter ego “J-Holz” schools us noobs on how to homebrew like a boss. Seriously folks, he knows his shit. His homebrew set-up is the stuff of legends.

We have previously brewed with John before for our NBTeabag Pale Ale that is made with Irish Breakfast and Earl Grey tea and after fermentation we added pineapple sage and basil and citrus peel. We came over to record a podcast with them and the group of us ended-up killing the keg because it was so tasty. We wanted to make this beer again for the party we are hosting in March to celebrate our marriage with everyone local and John was kind enough to brew the beer with us again. The final beer will be around 5%ABV.

The beer is essentially a pale ale recipe with citra (or citra-like) hops and the tea added to the last few minutes of the boil (essentially at flame-out) and steeped for about 15 minutes. We made a 10 gallon batch this time so we could split it evenly with John. We used 4o bags of Earl Grey and 40 bags of Irish Breakfast to lend a delightful tea aroma to the beer. After the beer ferments the herbs and citrus peel gets added to bring more aroma and spice. The beer blooms into a fruity, light, citrusy, summery beer that is so drinkable and pleasant. It’s like sitting in a rocking chair on your patio in the spring time when suddenly a butterfly lands on you and simultaneously you find 20 bucks in your pocket.

Spending the day in essence watching John command his brew system while sipping some of John’s delicious homebrew was quite fun. We did experience a stuck mash that caused us to dump the first grain batch, but overall everything went really smooth. I enjoyed the fact that John has his own milling machine and we could mill the grains in his driveway. We finished the day with a terrific-smelling wort ready to be fermented and continue it’s journey along the homebrew highway to my mouth.