Too much? Nah...

My cold stash, 4-6 deep.

 Sometimes I think I'm a little too into beer. I mean, check out my stash. It's getting a little out of control. I think at last count I had about 120 bottles in my apartment. People who don't know me very well might think I have a serious drinking problem after seeing that number. Trust me, I'm not. At most, I'll have 3 beers after work a couple times a week because, hey, apparently drinking beer moderately actually lengthens your lifespan!

Anyway, I love, love, love beer. (Quality, not quantity. Except when I'm in Rolla.) I get into a new beer style about every two months or so it seems like. My beer journey went somethin' like this: German Wheats, then schwarzbeirs, then dunkelweizens, then pale ales, then brown ales, then IPAs, then fruity beers, the stouts, then the occasional scotch ale, then Belgian ales and now sour beers. And I know what people might think after reading that last one, "WTF is a sour beer? Sounds disgusting!" Well, admittedly, sour beers aren't for everyone. I'd just like to say that most of them are actually quite tart and sweet and the 'sour' portion of the name comes from how it is fermented (I won't get into the nitty gritty, but it's through spontaneous fermentation in a barn in Belgium, no joke). If you would ever get a wild hair and want to try a commercial version, try a Lindeman's Lambic. Yeah, it's expensive, but it's worth it.

My storage stash.

To get to my point: I hope this all-consuming hobby can turn into a career. I listen to podcasts at work about brewing (without them I would fall asleep of boredom) and I have been accumulating a small library all about making better beer. I've learned so much since I've started just a few months ago. Once I get to the point where I can consistently make great beer, I look forward to entering competitions. Maybe I'll even go back to school and get a degree in Brewing Science, who knows. Either way, I'm pretty excited about the small possibility of having a future in the beer industry. Wish me luck!

Next brew day? Pale Ale / IPA double brew day with my dad and Pastor Rob. I'm teaching Rob to brew this Thursday. Should be awesome!

I have a like/hate relationship with this town.

I work in what I would call a "big-small" town. It's about 26,000 people, which is twice the size of Rolla (which isn't saying much). We have a Wal-Mart, two Walgreens and a race track. There are a few churches and a few 'mom and pop' resturants. The downtown square is undergoing a major rehab and is actually a fun place to go. So here's the real reasons why I have a like/hate relationship with this town.

1) I'm here. By myself.
I didn't think it was going to be a huge deal moving to a new town. I usually make friends pretty easily and try to get along with the people around me. I did it before in Kansas City, so no big deal, right? Well, I forgot that this was rural Illinois. A place where most everyone in the town grew up with everyone else and I don't know anybody. Sure, I hang out occasionally with my home brew club or some of the guys from work but not only are they in their 30s to 50s, but they just don't stack up to the amazing friends I've had over the past few years.

2) This job is boring.
When I was in school, no one ever told me that you could be paid to design ditches, the same ditches, over and over again, for 4 months. If they had, I would have run away screaming. So guess what I do at work? I design ditches. That's it. I almost like it because it's super easy but I hate it because it's super easy. The first assignment I got, my (awful) boss told me that engineering takes time, so don't rush it. I get that, but I'm not the kind of person that does things slow. I take an hour long test in 20 minutes and still get a good grade on it. So when I finished my first task "too quickly", he was really surprised and said, "Are you sure you did it all correctly?" And then made me redo it. I didn't change a thing, sat on my ass for about 2-3 hours and then gave it back to him. He reviewed it and told me how well I was learning. WTF. Since then, I've learned to space out my ditch designing. I'm really not the type of person to enjoy working at a leisurely pace. I love it when I'm on a deadline, I have to make it to a meeting, or have oh, I don't know, ANY responsibilities of any sort. I have none of that here. I guess I should be happy that I'm getting paid to do virtually nothing, but it feels kind of stupid.

3) I get paid.
I really quite like this aspect of being out of college and my job. Who wouldn't? It allows me to take my parents out to dinner/beer festivals/whatever, buy almost whatever beer/beer making equipment I want, buy a brand new car, live in a nice part of town, etc, etc. (Please don't take this like I'm bragging about the money I make.) I don't actually make a lot, but when you don't have kids/responsiblities/a spouse, it's hard to spend it on something worthwhile. Which brings me to my next point.

4) This place is CHEAP.
Rent and housing here is ridiculously inexepensive. For instance, you can buy a house in the historic district for around $100k. Something like that would cost anywhere from $500k upwards in the St. Louis area. In fact, a co-worker just sold his house (albeit run down) in the historic district for $15,000. I literally bought my car for more than that. WTF. Also, pints of beer at bars are $2.50 on FRIDAYS, and not during happy hour either. That's like Grotto prices. Although, the price of a six-pack of Schlafly Pale Ale is $10 at the liqour store. I might like Schlafly, but there is no way in hell I'm paying $10 for six of them. I'll wait until I get into St. Louis.

5) Traveling.
Because I don't spend a lot of money here, I have the amazing oppourtunity to travel the country. I probably wouldn't want to travel as much if I lived in St. Louis, but I can always go for an excuse to fly to Denver to visit breweries or KC to hit up the Flying Saucer!

6) Traveling.
Because I live in rural Illinois, I have to travel to get anything or see anyone of even remote importance to me. Let's say that I want to buy fresh ginger root for a beer I'll be brewing. Or I want to find some simple lab equipment for harvesting yeast. I can't get it here. I have to drive at least 30 miles to the nearest city or wait until I'm in St. Louis again.

7) My workplace
Beyond my glorious and highly regarded duties as a ditch designer, my workplace is strange. Which sounds weird, but let me explain. First off, you would actually have to try to get fired from this place. At first this sounds like a great thing, but it's a real motivation killer. For instance, the fat guy next to me told the Preseident of the company that he wasn't going to clean his desk(s) because he thought it was stupid. (Side story: his office looks like it could be on an episode of Hoarders. It has even spilled over into two of the offices across the hall.) Had that been said to any of my other bosses, well, it wouldn't have been pretty. Promotions are based on how you know the President of the company and not work performance too, so there's another motivation killer. Secondly, we have scheduled breaks at 9:30am and 2:30pm, a scheduled lunch from 12pm to 1pm and can only work from 8am to 5pm. Flex time is HIGHLY frowned upon. I've never worked anywhere that hasn't encouraged flex time. I'm sorry if I am more productive at 6am than I am at 5pm, I figured you would want me to work when I am most productive. No? Okay then... anyway, I have to nearly beg my boss to let me come into work early for an hour so I can leave an hour early on a Friday. And then when I do, I get shit about it all day from nearly everyone. It's not like I'm a doctor that is scheduled for open-heart surgery all day, I design ditches. The office will still keep chugging along if I come in early and leave early. GEEZ.


All in all, I think I would like this place a lot more if I wasn't in my 20s and single (because it's actually a nice, inexpensive, crime-free town) and if I wasn't designing ditches for a company run by the 'good old boys'. But for now, I think I'll stick to livin' cheap, making beer and having weekend adventures.

233 days until my lease is up.

Relaxing Weekend

After the past two weekends in Rolla, I needed a relaxing weekend to recuperate and let my bruises heal. I mean, hell, I got punched in the back of the head several times by a crazy woman while trying to stop her friend from beating one of my best friends over the head with her fat fist. So yeah, I needed a break.

Forest Park Balloon Glow

This past weekend was two great St. Louis events: the Forest Park Balloon Glow and Schlafly's HOP in the City. On Friday, Leah and I went to Forest Park with her sister and mom to see the balloons. And wow, were we unprepared. We just went to walk around and look at the hot air balloons. Clearly, what we should have done was pre-gamed at the park and then stayed all night. So Leah and I began plotting how we could "do it big" next year. You know, like, lawn chairs, dogs, coolers of beer, maybe a homebrew keg... well, we walked by a group of older couples who literally had THE WORKS. The were dressed nice, brought wine, chairs, tables, table clothes, table runners, (it keeps getting fancier) candlesticks in candelabras, flowers and a centerpiece. I literally stopped and applauded them. We are most definitely doing that next year, candelabras and all.

Saturday was a great day. It was the day of Schlafly's HOP in the City. It's an annual beer festival they put on every September where they bring out 40 of the beers they make (including a fest beer, more on that later) and serve them on tap. I brought my two beer drinkin' buddies, Mike and Myles with me as well as my mom and dad. Normally you wouldn't bring your parents to something like this, but ever since I brought them home my first bottles of homebrew, they've been really supportive in me trying/brewing as much beer as possible. Plus, the both of them needed to get out of the house and I was happy to help with that.

Myles, myself and Mike

Now, the fest beer was called Oud Bruin. If you know a small amount about Schlafly, you've probably noticed that they don't name their beers anything creative. A pale ale is called Pale Ale and so forth. The only one they didn't do that with is No. 15, their 15th anniversary beer. ANYWAY, Oud Bruin literally translates as 'old brown'. It's a Flanders-style, Belgian Ale that's been soured with tart cherries. And sour beers just so happen to be my new thing. I love, love, love them. I even went back for three tasters of this one. It was that good. Only problem? It was the fest beer, so I'll never be able to get it again. Sad times.

Pumpkin Beer: BREW DAY

Brewed a pumpkin beer for my dad's 50th birthday party coming up in a month. I used a recipe from homebrewtalk.com to base mine off of. As usual, things really didn't go as planned but I think it may turn out okay anyway.

Here's what I brewed:
8 lb 2-Row
1 lb Caramalt
1 lb Marris Otter
1 lb Torrified Wheat
1/2 lb Molasses

1 oz Northern Brewer
1oz Hallertaur

"Dash" of cinnamon at 5 minutes left in boil because I forgot to buy all the other spices before I started this. I'm dumb.

So I'm going to add the allspice, ginger, cloves and nutmeg in the secondary and see what happens. I kind of just fly by the seat of my pants when I'm brewing so I'm not really too worried about it. As Charlie Papazian would say, "Relax, don't worry. Have a homebrew!"

The yeasties just started up an hour ago. And now I'm realizing that I forgot to take an original gravity reading... oops. Guess I'll have another homebrew!

Being the "Old Balls"

When I was in college, I tended to judge the people who graduated but then came back to school on the weekend to party. Well, I'm now one of those people. And now I get it.

I thought I would move to a big city, work at a big company, make work friends, etc, etc. But now that I've moved to a small town working for a small company and only know 30 & 40 year olds, I've begun to realize that I left the best friends I could ever ask for back in Rolla.

My roommates found me at what was (hopefully) the worst time in my life, took me in and were nothing short of amazing. When I came back from class, there was at least one person in my room either watching TV or waiting for me to get back from class. I'll never forget when I walked into my room and there were 4 people in my bed and one in the recliner and everyone one of them yelled, "Roommate!" like I had been gone for months. Or when we called Taco Bell shortly after at 10am to see if they were open. (Yes, they are open. And yes, we did go to Schlaco Hell at 10:15am.) Or any of our adventures during St. Pats. Or the nightly sleepovers. I will never be able to pay my roommates back for the no-judgement always-loving attitude they always seemed to have.

In short, I'm not ashamed to be the "Old Balls" that comes back to college even after they've graduated. The thing is, these girls are really only going to being in the same place until December of this year. After that, they'll be spread out arcoss the country. And $50 in gas to Rolla is much cheaper than a $500 flight out to California!

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale; St. Louis, MO

For those of you who don't know, fall has become my favorite time of year simply because of fall seasonal beers. Pumpkins, Oktoberfests, etc, etc. Basically, if it has cinnamon and nutmeg in it, I'll probably love it. That being said, there are obviously some beers that are just better than the others. One of those beers is Schlafly's Pumpkin Beer. I literally judge all other fall beers by this one.


Serving type: Bottle (Bottled with love on August 27, 2010.)
ABV: 8.0%
Appearance: Pours a somewhat cloudy deep orange/red color. Has a 1+ finger head that dissipates quickly into a small ring with little to no lacing.
Smell: Pungent cinnamon, nutmeg and clove aroma, no hop aroma to speak of.
Taste: Tastes like a liquid pumpkin pie! The maltiness is balanced well by the spices. Some may find the spices overwhelming, but this is really what I love about this beer.

Overall, I'd recommend this beer to many people, even those who don't really like beer. I've pushed it on a few of my roommates with great success... hehehehe... I "secretly" advocate the craft beers whenever I can. Watch out. It hides the 8.0% ABV incredibly well. You could easily get secret drunk after a few of these, so watch yourself. But then again, who's judging if you get a little secret drunk? Not me, that's for sure.

What's a malted barley?

I used to be one of those girls who hated beer, one of those who would never drink it even if it was free. That was a long, long time ago by my standards and thankfully so.

I started liking beer after a trip to the Flying Saucer in Houston, TX. (If you haven't been to one, please go and be adventurous. All craft beer may not be for everyone, but I'd be willing to bet that you can find at least one beer there that you'll find palatable.) I had one of their "flights", or sample trays of 4 oz. glasses of beer, and Well's Banana Bread Beer. That experience changed my whole outlook on beer. It could be good! Really good! Who knew?!? From then on, I tried as many different beers as possible. So many, that I've lost count and memory of all of them. (Which is part of the reason for this blog... for my own memory. Hahaha.)

In February of this year, I got into home brewing. This was about the time that I became completely enamored with beer. If you don't know me very well, that might sound like an 'inner alcoholic' coming out, but I'm much more interested in quality not quantity. Which is not to say that I don't have a ridiculous amount of six-packs in my apartment, but that's another story for another day.

This brings me to the question, "What's a malted barley?" Beer, in it's pure form (and according to the Reinheitsgebot... look it up, I don't know how to link just yet) is malted barley, hops, water and yeast. When I brew I don't just love to smash my nose into the hops, like Jim Koch does on that Sam Adams commercial, but I love to have a sampling of the barleys I'll be brewing with. It's my own way of 'stopping to smell the roses.'