It’s been probably more than 12 years since I last had allergies. Well that all came to an end this past weekend and has lasted this entire week. Talk about miserable, we’re talking about it all - more snot than God ever intended man to have (gross I know), try to get rid of it and you get a bloody nose. Sinus all flaired up and itchy throat, which causes your ears to freak out…tough life, I know. I still managed to get out and lead the Wednesday night ride at Colt’s Neck, which turned out to be a really great ride. Not as much stopping as usual and we took a new option that Lee pointed out last week, only this time I took them up into the technical singletrack off the beaten doubletrack CCT. It’s off camber with a whole bunch of steep ups and downs. It only adds about 0.4 miles, but the real advantage is you get to ride on the dirt and not the pavement. The loop took about an hour, which turned out to be great timing. Turns out this Wednesday was when another one of the local homebrew clubs was having their meeting.
The WortHogs meet at the Hard Times Cafe in Herndon. We got there just in time after the ride for me to enter my beer into the extract brewing competition. Unlike the BURP meeting, everyone who attends the meeting is a judge. This is nice, because everyone gets to try the beers instead of only the certified judges getting to taste the competition beers. I had two things working against me from the start - we had just finished mountain biking, so the beer I was entering wasn’t chilled. Also there was no style guide for an American IPA (a style guide usually lists what to look for in that particular style of beer, like aroma, appearance, taste, etc.), which can probably be good and bad, ha. Anyway, I entered my beer and a group of us sat down, ordered our chili and a pitcher of the Racer 5 IPA. The homebrews we had a chance to judge varied from exceptional to beers I didn’t really want to finish the sample. The expresso Stout was truely wonderful, and at the same time, the Vanilla Stout seemed to taste a lot more like a Belgian Saison. Our table didn’t get to judge my beer…cause that might be a little unfair, ha. At the end of the night, they announced the competition winners. I walked away with a 3rd place for Hop Dog IPA (Steve get’s credit as soon as he makes me a label logo that incorpates the Busterman, ha). So I guess that makes it a blue ribbon and a bronze medal. Pretty exciting and a great end to great all around night.
Yesterday I went ahead and packaged up a couple of bottles and sent them in for the AHA NHC 2006…thats the American Homebrew Association National Homebrew Competition. Damn hobbies! Nothing left to do now, but wait to see how I do…or don’t do. Oh, and of course keep on brewing.
Anyway, with the exception of being sick and having all the pollen in the air, it’s been a pretty good week. Kristin and I have been grilling out on the barbecue a lot. There’s just something that grilling veggies on the bbq that really makes them outstanding. Instead of getting mushy, they stay crisp and yet take on the distinct smokey flavor of the bbq. Paired with some dry rubbed cod and you’re ready to go!
It’s Friday and I’m so ready for the weekend. Possibility of racing down in Charlottesville tomorrow, then Easter dinner with the extended family. If you’ve never met my family, just realize it’s a complete show. It’s usually something like 30 of us, ranging from kids to adults, throwing the smackdown on huge portions of food, catching up with each other, and taking the time to remind each that you’re still family and I can still make fun of you…
DT
Dude. Worse than that, my wife has food allergies to peanuts. It’s severe enough that we can’t even have it in the house and she could have a reaction from my breath after I eat it.
I haven’t had peanut butter in 5 years!
Allergies DO suck.