It’s back and it’s fabulous! This is where I’ll be tonight -
Belgian Beer Fest
Steve was going to try and make it up here, but we just couldn’t put it all together. Mike and Notte will still be joining me, but if the weather keeps up, it looks like I’ll be the only one biking in tonight. We’re currently experiencing a so called Nor’easter that is dumping continuous rain on us through the weekend. Maybe it’ll let up…yea right, ha. It will only make the funk taste even better!
The local Boston homebrew club, the Wort Processors, had their September meeting this past Sunday. I made the trek down the Minuteman Bikeway, getting off in Arlington and heading over into Medford to lend support for smoking some ribs. I’m guessing I was the only person on the path that day with a growler of IIPA and a hatchet, but hey, somebody had to provide the tools to cut up the apple wood for the smoker.
Ron adding charcoal and apple wood
So what exactly goes on at a homebrew club meeting? Well believe it or not, it’s not just a bunch of fat guys hanging out and drinking beer. We managed to cover a lot of club doings, like the 25th Anniversary brew, a big barrel brew, and Ciderfest (spontaneously fermented cider, hell yea!). Of course it’s not all business, we also manage to taste a few homebrewed beverages throughout the meeting. Schwarzbier, 4 year old Cider, Blonde, IIPA…a lot of quality brews out there. People critique the brews and offer suggestions or in some cases offer nothing but praise. If it leads to a better brew, then it was worth it. Kristin made it out for the meeting portion, as did bunch of other brewsters and significant others.
Some of the Wort members
As far as the club goes, I’m fairly new to the group, but I haven’t had any problems getting in there and mixing things up. The club will only be as good as it’s members and it’s up to the members to speak out on what they want the club to “be”. In that regard, the club is very open to differing opinions, which is great in my book. There’s also a good variety of brewers in the club, from novice to profesional, which makes it educational for everybody. Anyway, I’m looking forward to more club action and watching the club develop over it’s next 25 years.
One of the many generous gifts my brother and sister-in-law gave me over Christmas was a set of Cabela’s MTP Compression Skinz™ Polar-Weight Mock-T and Bottoms. It’s basically Cabela’s store branded version of UnderArmour. The last few weeks have been excellent for testing cold weather gear, hitting -15º on one particularly cold and windy day.
First up is the Mock-T. It’s black, so of course I look dead sexy in that sausage still in it’s casing kind of way. It’s tight, yet it doesn’t shorten up on you while you’re riding, avoiding the dreaded chilly air draft up the back. Tuck it in your pants or leave it out, it does a good job of staying put. The added neck portion at the top seems to be good for keeping a little extra warmth in, but not tall enough to be annoying if you forgot to shave that morning.
Next up are the bottoms, also in dead sexy black. Like the top, they are good at protecting against the cold air, only this time it’s the dreaded crusty ice crack… The bottoms are tight, but loose enough in all the right places. Most importantly, like a set of long johns, you can whiz without having to pull them down, big bonus, especially when riding in the woods. The only problem I have so far with the bottoms are the ankle cuffs being really tight, so it takes a little extra umph to get them on/off, but that might just be due to my fat metal cankles.
Couple of things both the top and bottoms that has impressed me so far:
So there you have it. If you’re looking for some base layer action, this top/bottom set gets a winter thumbs up.
Picked up my new DaKine hydration pack (Black Camo) that I got online from REI-Outlet and had them just ship it to the local REI shop for free shipping, cause I’m cheap like that.
Looks like REI raised the price of the pack since I bought it, from just under $30 to almost $45! Must have been a small rush of people to buy this thing. I know I told some people, who told some people, which resulted in a few buys…right Arleigh. Anyway, just picked up the bag last night and it’s pretty spiffy. I’ve owned one, count it one hydration pack in all of my biking days. It’s a circa 2001, 100 oz. Camelbak MULE. It’s seen it’s fair share of ground crushing wrecks, tree scrapes, and rock rubbing, and it’s lasted a good 7 years. At this point the zippers are broken, holes in the fabric are getting to the point I might actually lose things, and I have to date never cleaned the water holder… Yes, it was time for a new pack. So when I saw the DaKine Drafter (2006 model) for uber cheap, it looked like a good solution.
A few of my requirements:
This pack met all those requirements and upon further inspection, it has a lot of extra things I didn’t think about that will come in handy. Instead of having one large deep pocket to throw things in (like the MULE), it has a long deep pocket with a few small mesh pockets inside to sort gear, which is a godsend when you need something fast. I think a couple of these pockets could also be used for holding 12 oz. bottles securely inside the pack, if you know what I mean. One pocket has a key holder clip, which is also a nice touch.
There’s also a pocket on the outside that is lined with fleece, specifically for sunglasses. The fleece gives you a good way to clean off the glasses if you have the need and at the same time keeps them from getting scratched up while being stored and tossed around. Another outside touch is a removable piece that expands the back of the bag to hold a regular XC or full face helmet. They’ve included a little zip pouch at the bottom just to store this extra piece of bag, so you always know where it is.
The hydration part of this pack is pretty slick too. I believe DaKine uses Nalgene water bags and Nalgene has put in some thought into their hydration design features that will make this pack even more useful. The water in port at the top is covered by a huge screw on lid, so it’s easy to screw on/off and easy to fill with the large hole access. The water tube itself has a quick release, so it can be cleaned by itself or the bag can be stored full without the hose attached. To get water out, there is a bite valve with a lock that looks a lot more secure than my old MULE, which had a simple slit in the end and tended to drip on you when not in use.
All this adds up to what I hope will be a great hydration pack for at least the next 7 years…hoping to push 10 out of this one. Once I’ve taken it out for some good rolling fun, I’ll report back to see if the features are actually useful or all just a show.
Looks like they boys back home made it out to Dremos before closing time. Steve did a nice write-up on his blog. He gives a little history of the taphouse and links back to some older TNS blog posts, which were pretty funny to go back and reread.
Sounds like everyone had a good time, no road rash, no punches, and no car dodging. Seems like they ended a little early, quiting around 10:00 PM, but then again, those 2:00 AM nights made Wednesday work pretty hard. I think Gary may have had to call in sick before, ha.
Anyway, here’s to you TNS Crew! Cheers, hope you keep it up, since we know the TNS spawned from the Winter blues and the need to put in some long cold miles with a burning reward in the middle…
I spent Tuesday preparing for my own future TNNS rides…Tuesday Night Northern Swill. I picked up a new hydration pack (non-riding review to come shortly) and also swapped my CO2 tank for a filled one. Less than $12 a fill is sweet! In homebrewing, just like bikes, there’s always an upgrade…and I’m eying that 20 pound CO2 tank, ha. One day…
So get outside, get active, and reward yourself. Your body and mind will thank you.
Tonight, the boys are taking to the cold streets of DC (yes, 20 is chilly in that neck of the woods) for another TNS ride. I’m jealous, super jealous. For those readers who might be from up north, the TNS rides are Tuesday Night Swill rides. It’s your basic ride - you bike a lot, stop, drink, eat, drink more, ride your bike more, get more to drink, and then ride back home. Sometimes theres more drinking involved, ha. It’s always a blast, good people, good conversation, good arguments, and somebody always throwing down the gauntlet, whether it’s by ordering another pitcher at the end of the night when nobody needs it or picking that hill to ride that crushes your soul a third of the way to the top.
They’ll be heading out tonight and hopefully they’ll be drinking one for me, sounds like Butch is already on it, ha. They should be hitting Dremo’s at some point during the night, since it will be shutdown as of the end of this month. Try to get a pitcher of Chocolate Donut or Anderson Valley Winter Solstice (I think they used less vanilla this year).
I miss our rides into the city to visit Thor at Paradiso. From what I understand, our bike parking tree is no longer there and Thor has been replaced by Greg.
photo by Spearman
Yet they continue to ride…and drink…and ride…the vicious cycle it is.
photo by Gary
So keep it up you all. I hope to bring the TNS to the northerners here soon. The bikes are ready and the liver is willing. Although I might have to trade out the bikes for some skis or snowshoes here for the next couple of months and pack along the goods. Here’s to you all, may your bikes be swift and your beer be tasty…oh and make sure you do DT’s Hill at least twice - even better if somebody throws up doing hill sprints!
Well I guess I know where I’ll be on Saturday…the 4th Annual HopHead ThrowDown. So far they’ve posted a pretty incredible list of hoppy beers and it looks like this:
Bear Republic Apex
Bear Republic Racer X
Bear Republic Racer 5
Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye
Avery Maharajah
Great Divide Hercules
Founders Devil Dancer
Oskar Blues Gordon
Mojo Risin’
Southern Tier Unearthly
Rogue I2PA
Smutty Big A
Portsmouth Imperial IPA
Berkshire Really Lost Sailor
Piraat
Houblon Chouffe
Urthel Hop It
Allagash Hugh Malone
Offshore Stonewall Double IPA
I’m particularly looking forward to the Bear Republic Racer X. Just thinking about it has me reminiscing back to the old TNS rides when Dremo’s had the X on draft. Remember the X boys?
Beer: Bam Bière Farmhouse Ale
Brewery: Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Score: 4.5/5
Notes: Found this in the Portland, ME Whole Foods over the weekend. It was available in 22 oz. bombers or 12 oz. 6 packs. I found a single 12 oz. bottle in the single section and grabbed it since I’ve never had a Jolly Pumpkin beer, but heard good things. The beer poured a pale straw with a nice yeasty cloudiness. You’d be able to tell this was bottle conditioned even if it wasn’t right on the label. Super high carbonation, enough that the head easily filled the chalice it was poured into, had to wait for it to settle a little before finishing off the bottle. The first sniff gave up some citrus notes with an ever so slight sour smell. The taste backed up the smell with a bretty sourness that was tart and refreshing. The hops added a bit of spice. This beer tastes what a true old world Saison/Farmhouse ale probably tasted like back in the day. It was dry and refreshing and tasted damn good with some homemade honey mustard basted chicken overlooking the Saco Bay.
We had company in town this weekend, so I didn’t get to attend the entire BURP meeting this month, but I did manage to get my entry in for the “Extract” competition. One year ago I entered my first brewing competition, the BURP Extract competition of 2006, and I took home the blue ribbon for my Hop Dog IPA. Since then, I’ve moved on to all grain brewing, but I still make a few extract beers here and there. I’m still a firm believer that you can make great beer either way. Maybe in a future post I’ll do a writeup on brewing extract beer tips. Anyway, when I found out the extract competition would again be held in April, I decided to brew another Fat Boy special IPA. The recipe I designed called for a lot of hops, 7.5 ounces and three varieties to be exact. It’s a hophead’s dream, except it also has a really nice balance, which I contribute to the use of some honey malt. Anyway, back to the meeting. I received the ribbon for my 3rd place Scottish 80 from the Feb. Scottish ales competition and to my surprise, won the Best of Show (BOS) for this year’s extract competition. Go me! So if you like a good IPA, this is one you probably don’t want to miss. It might be gone before we are!
DT
We’ve had a turn in the weather here. Cold 40’s, windy, and just enough rain to keep us (well the “us” that have some respect) off the trails. I was able to get a nice ride in with big Gary the night before the storms rolled in. Good ride, conditions were super nice and the trail was running pretty fast. I even managed to goat Gary into taking the loop portion off the W&OD even when he thought he was done, ha. I also managed to clear a log that has plagued me for some time now. It’s not that the log is very big, but it sits up kind of high off the ground. Colt’s Neck is a pretty popular trail, so it’s not uncommon to end up riding with people you don’t know. Well not riding with, but more that whole back and forth thing. Some guys left the parking lot before us, but we ended up passing them, then them passing us, etc. Anyway, kind of near the end they were back on our tail and probably going to pass again. This time I just sucked it up, pulled hard and gave it what I could and cleared the log. I looked back to see everyone come to halt and climb over the log, ha. A little competition can be healthy for the skills I guess. Felt good to know I still got some skills left…even if in my own head, ha. But lately it’s been no biking and even no brewing.
In fact, I haven’t brewed since before we left for the UK! The IPA and the Strawberry Belgian Wit are in their kegs though and in the fridge. Don’t have enough spots on the CO2 manifold or enough picnic taps to dispense all the beer I have right now. Currently sitting at 6 kegs, but probably close to kicking 3 of those. I haven’t tasted the Strawberry yet, but the IPA is pretty kick ass. I actually can’t get it to drop clear, something I can usually do by sticking it in the fridge for a bit of time. But this beer used enough hops that I think it’s going to remain cloudy. It’s just your run of the mill 6.5% IPA, with a little of the kitchen sink method of choosing some steeping grains. I call it Hoptimus Prime, except it’s more evil than the Decepticons. With the full 7.5 ounces of hoppy goodness in it, I should have called it Energon. The bitterness is only mildly covered up by the punch in the face from the flavor and aroma. This is the first IPA of the year and if this is any indication…it’s going to be a good year for IPAs!
Oh yea, it looks like Fat Boy HQ is moving to New England…
DT
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