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I headed down to Calgary to attend the wedding of some good friends. It was a helluva party, lots of people from my university days were there and it was great to catch up with all of them (and drink lots too).
I love weddings.
Except I left my sunglasses and my tie on the table at the end of the night I think.
I also brought an entire cooler full of my beer down to the fine people at my last employer, only fair since I did ditch them pretty bad to be a brewer!
Its going to be a busy and hot week at the brewery. I brew four times, and its supposed to be hot all week. I hate brewing in hot weather. When its 27 C outside, the mash tun sits at 78 C and the boil kettle is of course boiling, I bet the ambient temperature in the brewhouse gets up to like 40 C or so!
Chheerrss
Well, I was going to update my blog tonight with topics such as "Oilers Almost Win Cup", "New beer fridge with taps", and "Damn you all for drinking so much of our summer ale even though its soooo gooood because its hard to brew!". But, when I went down to my favorite local coffee shop (Sugarbowl for those of you who know Edmonton) to get a coffee so I would have energy I ran into some people from the homebrewer's guild. I managed to stay away from the beer for two cups of coffee, but eventually I gave in and had a Leffe. So 1.5 hrs later its now and I didn't do anything I planned to this evening.
But TOMORROW, I'll post some pictues of my awexome new beer fridge... with two taps... and two 20 L kegs in it... and lots of beer bottles.
Cheers.
I awoke with a start, as a voice growled "hey buddy, ya gotta get of now". I quickly calibrated my senses to detect where I was... some kind of train it would appear. Ah yes! My last memory was that of boarding the Southbound LRT in Calgary headed for my parents house to spend what remained of the night (which was quickly becoming the wee hours of the morning). But wait... this isn't good. I'm being told to get off. Oh no! I'm at the end of the line! I was supposed to get off 4 stops ago!! Shit. And this was the last train of the night.
I hadn't really slept in the last 4 days, and I had been out enjoying many a fine beer at the CAMRA Cask Ales festival... followed by more beer at my favorite little pub downtown. I was so tired, but I was being forced out into the night. I was supposed to have stayed on a friend's couch for the night, but at the last second I decided it would be better to go to my parents. I regret that.
I stepped off of the train into the crisp early morning (about 02:30). I pointed my feet Northward and began to walk. I haven't been on the train lines in South Calgary for at least a couple of years, and I guess the added new stops. I didn't recognize any of the area around me, it was some huge strip mall. An hour and 45 minutes later, I finally arrived at my destination.
Moral of the story: Don't fall asleep on the train. But really that should go without saying.
Cask Ales Festival
Well as suggested above, I took some beer down to the Cask Ales festival in Calgary this weekend. A "cask ale" is ale as it used to be... unfiltered, with the yeast still in it, and only natural carbonation. I brought a cask of our Full Moon Pale Ale, which is very highly regarded in beer nerd circles. We had added twice the dry hopping to this particular cask. It turned out very VERY awesome, and tied for first place with another beer.
The things I like most about the festival is that the brewers usually come out and have a good time, plus its pretty much all unique beer you can't buy in any store or pub.
Beer Fridge
I bought a sweet beer fridge with two tap handles on it. I'll talk more about it when I get it to my place.
Cheers!
Ok, so as promised here are some new pictures of my condo. Ignore the mess, I mean I JUST moved in. My unit is on the 10th floor of an older concrete building in Edmonton. The unit is in pretty good condition considering.
The living room area. I'm going to paint and rip out the floors to put in some kind of laminate flooring. It will be pretty, I imagine.
Galley kitchen. I'd like to do some renos here too, but they get expensive quick and if I change one thing I pretty much have to change everything. Which I may. It would be nice to knock out the wall to the left (which leads to the living room), move the fridge to the opposite wall, and open the whole room up a lot, I think it would add a lot of value to the unit.
This is just a night shot of one of the main streets I over look (109 st) in Edmonton. There is always something going on. Some people say they hate the noise... but I love the sound of other humans. You can do some awesome people watching from my balcony.
This is just the Ikea computer desk I bought, partially because its name was "Jerker" but mostly because it was black, simple, functional, and highly adjustable and modular. This is the first real work desk I've had, considering for three months I used my computer sitting on the floor with my computer on a pile of boxes.
My new bed.... also from Ikea. Yeah for some reason I dislike the idea of Ikea since everybody ends up with the same stuff... but at the same time there is a very good reason why they are successful... they make good looking functional stuff for a reasonable price. I saw this simple black bed... seems the one for me. Now I just need an attractive female to fill the empty space.......
This is a shot from my balcony (actually, three photos stitched together). In summer the trees pretty much cover most of the area I overlook, which is pretty cool. To the right the tall buildings are apartment complexes right beside the university. Although covered by trees, this overlooks Whyte ave, the scene of infamous hockey parties that made the news when a few idiots rioted.
So that's it!
Beer news
Hmm... beer. Well I donno... I've pretty much been drinking the stuff I make at the brewery these days. I think I'm actually getting spoiled by being able to drink the freshest beer. For lunch I usually grab half a pint right from the bright beer tanks. Or even the unfiltered beer if I feel like I need some yeast in my diet. Bottled beer even a few weeks old doesn't compare to beer right from the tanks. Although in a few cases the extra month or so of aging does make the beer mellow out a bit and actually nicer from the bottle for some of our beers.
I know... hard life... :P
Cheers!
Holy Ass! What a week!
Finally I'm marginally set up in my new place, I am working on posting pictures et al.
