I had my first mid-life crisis the week before my senior year of High School (1981). To deal with it I did 2 things; I promised myself I would not let myself get bored and I wrote what would be known almost 2 decades later as a "Bucket List". It was really reaching stuff that would require lots of effort. The last time I knew the location of that list, it was sinking to the bottom of Tokyo Bay due to a ship collision. It was an exciting evening.
Prior to the collision, I went to college as a Computer Science major and a Philosophy Minor. Picked the wrong school. Great Phil dept, horrible Comp Sci dept. Got bored, lost motivation, joined the Navy.
Bought my first motorcycle. Couple of years later, I bought my first car. 1959 Chevy Apache pickup. I was a gearhead. Tore down engines and carbs and built street racers out of 60's muscle cars.
Loved the Navy and the life. I was a sonar tech as a specialist in Soviet Submarines, the tactics they use and the noises they make. I got wore down by the bureaucracy and honorably discharged after 6 years. ( I had extended my 4 year enlistment while in boot camp). By this point I had about 1/3 of the items on my bucket list checked off.
I was about to enter Notre Dame as a History major but was declined at the last minute by a admissions officer that told me she was vetoing my admission because she hated veterans. Rudderless at this point, I hung out in CA until the Rodney King riots.
Moved back to the east coast without a job. Wasn't sure where I was going to land. Had to sell the truck before I left. Bought another 4 wheels a couple years later after advice to do so by a VA state cop.
Eventually got married to my first wife. Got 2 daughters in H.S.
I never graduated college but attended lots of them. I love VT. Butt I considir mei selph edmakated. I did teach myself to learn on my own by books, correspondence and online classes.
Ok, interests (not necessarily in this order) and I know I'm going to miss a few. Brewing beer, coffee. Reading. Cooking. Video Games. Motorcycles. History.
Instruments I played decently. Classical Violin, percussion, mandolin.
Sports I played well, soccer, rugby, lacrosse. Sports I played poorly, baseball, basketball.
If cornered, I would describe myself as a contrarian and skeptic, it has served me very well in professional and personal life. Influenced by my early reading across broad topics and advanced by my Phil professor at my first college.
Seems I have to keep having to live life in stages. Interruptions I don't expect, such as something I've alluded to here, a tumor in my spine when I was 35. Initially we thought it was lung cancer due to x-rays because I had a cough I couldn't shake and didn't respond to anti-biotics. 4 months later I was under a knife to remove a fast growing tumor. I got lucky. Expectations was that I might be paralyzed from the chest down. Ended up with 1 more surgery. At that point, all sports ended. I'd been a non-competing body builder or a couple years. This was very life changing. I still have to sleep sitting up.
Got another diagnosis recently that's not immediate life threatening but requires a completely new change in lifestyle.
Places I've lived for any period in no particular order. South Philly, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tokyo region, Tidewater, VA, Richmond, North of Baltimore, Roanoke.
Types of Jobs I had - Retail store, nuclear power plant, Navy, brewer, benchtop computer repair, field service repair and manager, Chief troubleshooter for Dept of Navy computer network. Shift supervisor, company creation and startup.
If you can't tell, my writing style is to write as if it is spoken word.
Thanks to Frosty's Dad for the nomination and to the guys that created and manage this AMA thread, it's been great.
I think that fed the machine enough.
Comments
What's the soundtrack to your life?
What's your favorite personal anecdote?
What's your favorite beer to brew at Chaos Mt?
How many wives have you had or plan on having?
Hey, Lancer, how are ya?
Really mixed. While young it was Genesis, Who, Gentle Giant, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Pink Floyd, Crack the Sky, Rolling Stones, Yes, ELP .
These influences stayed and I added Rock and Roll - Van Halen, etc and the 80's New wave and bar band music that was popular in Southern CA, then added Blues aka Keb Mo' and some old Classics as well as Irish and especially Irish pipes like in The Chieftains. Throw in the oddball stuff that don't fit anywhere like Cowboy Junkies.
Currently I'm listening the Elbow more than anything else.
Can't stand music that sounds canned. I think Autotune has damn near destroyed modern music. I lean towards complex songs an real musicians playing real music.
edit: the most formative line of any music would be from Dark Side of the Moon. "The memories of a man in his old age are the deeds of a man in his prime."
I am lovely. We missed you around Lot 18 last season. Should we expect to see more of you this year?
Yeah. we are going to try but my whole crew has moved away. I'll see if I can get the wife to sneak into the tkp tailgate once or twice.
Yes fits that description well.
That's hard, there are several. I'll tell 2 because 1 is short.
The time in San Diego I got Robin Williams to laugh at one of my offhand one-liners.
The other one was when I climbed Mt Fuji. I had only been in Japan about 10 days, had not even gotten to an orientation session yet. I wanted to learn about using the train and had already been to the World's Fair in Tokyo the previous weekend. I decided to see if I could get to Mt. Fuji.
Turns out you can. Got there about mid afternoon. People were climbing up Fujisan, so I did also. This was actually a bucket list item, climb to the peak of Mt. Fuji.
I was completely unprepared. I was also unaware the climb was about 12,000 ft vertical. It got too dark to climb. There is a periodic vendor hut run by the Shinto temple there. I bought a hiking stick and bell, water and food. I slept on the floor in one of the huts.
Woke up before dawn and waited for people to come up the path that had a light and followed them. Got to the peak before sunrise. Found a big flat rock and watched the sun come up over the Pacific while on the Western side of the mountain it was still pitch black except for the lights from houses.
Shinto priests started a sunrise ceremony which was wondrous. Too late I realized I was in their ceremony area and a priest sat on the rock next to me.
It was too late to move so I made myself as small and unobtrusive as possible.
Later one of the Acolytes? came to me and told me I did exactly correct and had a great chat.
I still have the bell.
There was one of these I forgot.
I got to tell my Commanding Officer he was in command of a boat, not a ship.
I had a habit of casually referring to the ship I was on, a Frigate, as a boat instead of a ship, in the same way you'd call a close friend an asshole.
One day walking through the messdeck I did so without noticing the Executive Officer (2nd in command) was within earshot and he heard me call the ship, a boat. Now recognize it was really unusual for the XO or CO to be on the messdecks outside of an inspection. It was a space for the crew to relax and not be bothered by officers.
He asked me straight up, "Petty Officer ******, did I hear you refer to this ship as a boat?" This was a ribbing type tone.
"Yes, sir, you did."
XO: "Explain yourself, What is the definition of a boat." This is something straight out of bootcamp.
Me: "Sir, a boat is a waterborne vessel that is capable of being carried on another waterborne vessel." Then me ad libbing for the fun."Or, a submarine is colloquially known as a boat, Sir."
XO: "Well, which one is it then, how is this fine Navy Frigate a boat."
Me, thinking fast: "Sir, do you remember the Samuel B. Roberts, the one that struck the mine with her stern in the Persian Gulf." Roberts was the same class Frigate we were on.
XO: "Yes but how is that germane to this conversation."
Me: "Sir, can you recall the manner in which Roberts was transported back to the U.S. for repairs?" It was put onto a large specialized boat that can function as a floating drydock. This one was self propelled and so Roberts was carried, dry, on a ship back to the U.S.
XO:" OMG, you're right. I never put 2 and 2 together."
Just then the Commanding Officer walks by.!
XO: " CO, Petty Officer ****** has some news he needs to pass to you regarding your command." Grinning
CO: "P.O.. **** what is this news of my command?"
Me: "Sir, it seems you are in command of a boat."
CO: catching on we're having a bit of fun. -Shocked face.- "What? How is this."
I explain similarly as to the XO.
CO: curses. "Well hell the I spent my whole career working towards command and these guys slip one by me by assigning me to a boat.$%@#$%"
Later he approached me stating the XO told him that it was I that was the origination of the revelation.
Discussion followed in which I became more than just another guy in blue dungaree uniform to him.
Favorite beer to Brew at Chaos is Theory of Chaos.
It's an 18% ABV Belgian beer that takes 2 days to go from grain to fermenter. Boil is 18+ hours to get enough concentrated sugar to get that high an ABV.
Really nerve racking and daily babysitting. At one time Chaos was the only brewery on the East Coast that was regularly doing a beer over 16%.
ABC once sent a guy to grill me to make sure it wasn't fortified.
It's my favorite because it's so technical to brew and ages very well. We currently have or 2018 an 2019 on tap.
1
Is it true that Soviet/Russian subs are the loudest things in the ocean?
No, not the loudest things in the ocean but, as submarines go they were quite loud, diesel electric subs sound like fishing trawlers when their engines are running. On battery they are much tougher but still not particularly quiet.
Nuc subs all think they are quieter then they actually are.
The Akula class Sov Subs are they loudest Nuc subs but at the time they were the fastest.
I dunno how your acoustics background didn't come up on my AMA. I'm one of two guys on my team that don't have a sonar background, and holy hell is it a steep learning curve.
As to the question at hand, Russian boats have gotten a lot better in quieting. Chinese boats are orders of magnitude louder, but they're relatively new to the party.
For the original question, explosions/implosions are the loudest, but rare. Your average merchant ship is probably the loudest every day thing in the ocean.
Particularly lightly loaded ones, the broaching and rolling really impacts the screw noise.
Also commercial craft have much less proper maintenance performed and are not designed for protection from broadcasting noise.
A merchant lightly loaded on slightly rough seas can be heard hundreds of miles away.
For practice, we would attempt to identify aircraft flying over one of our microphone systems. With practice, prop aircraft that you were used to hearing, you could get it most of the time. A commercial airliner at cruising altitude, no.
Wait, did you do a tour on Dam Neck?
Yokosuka, JN and San Diego. Lots of Western Pacific and Gulf.
I grew up on the north end of the Chesapeake and grandfather's cottage was in Kent Co. on the Bay.
Lived in Va Beach and Chesapeake for 10 years.
Never Stationed on Dam Neck but was on base to do maintenance as a contractor for a few years.
There are some really cool sounds in the ocean.
There's this one, it sounds like a young woman screaming that comes from waaaay off and just passes you by. It makes the hair on your neck stand up. Heard it twice.
Do you have anything else like squatch that you wish was more widely distributed?
Will the IPA madness ever stop?
If you could have lunch with five tkp people, but it has to be all at once, who would it be?
Squatch is my favorite Chaos brew that I have tried in Lot 18.
Our business model has changed, Covid hit us hard and we don't distribute any longer. We lost every tap we had in the state and didn't have the capital to win them all back. then our largest distributor decided they didn't feel like distributing what we won back so, flushed all that cash down the drain.
We have 2 retail establishments now. All retail sales right from the shop.
As for the IPA craze? Yeah, it's ending, kinda.
The name is just being applied to more and more types of beers that just have hops in them. aka milkshake IPA. It's almost a garbage definition now.
"As for the IPA craze? Yeah, it's ending, kinda."
Thank God.
Man, I knew this question was coming but am still unprepared.
My problem is that even the people I don't like, I would still love to have lunch with. I want their perspective, people are all different and I can learn something from damn near everyone. Maybe it is I don't like them because I don't know them and the limitations of the medium which we use to converse.
That and there's not a single person from TKP that I've met that I don't like.
So, my answer would have to be, any 5 random people from TKP that I've never met in person yet.
Great perspective, and something I need to remind myself of more often.
How much you want to bet that admissions officer says they "support the troops" at every opportunity now?
Less sardonic question: What motorcycle did you enjoy the most? Which do you wish you hadn't sold? If you could ride any track, which one and in what car/motorcycle?
No, unless they have to say so to keep their job.
I have actually only owned 2, but I've got over 150,000 on those 2.
1985 Honda Nighthawk 650. Wonderful solid reliable bike. Perfect bike for me at the time. I sold it with loads of miles but starting to have electrical problems. That bike saw some stuff.
2012 HD Fatboy
I've ridden loads of bikes. I recognized real fast that a sport bike I would ride hard until I was a greasy spot off the edge of some canyon. So I'm cruiser or tour bike guy.
Coolest was a bike that never made it to the U.S. as far as I know, a 600 Hurricane Japanese legal model. It was fantastic squat, wide warhorse feeling sport bike. I had to get off it before I bought it.
My buddy in San Diego had a Goldwing that had not bags or fairings. That was excellent.
Any track though. Sears point on every WWII war model motorcycle. If I had to be nailed to 1, HD WWII WLA.
Hey Egbert- hope you are generally well and that your current medical issue isn't too serious-
So here comes the questions I've asked everyone.....
What's the dumbest thing you have ever done?
Whats the nicest thing you have ever done?
What's your favorite sound?
What's your guilty pleasure?
Whats the oddest/strangest thing you have ever seen happen, where you literally said to yourself: 'I cant believe that just happened right in front of me?
If you could remove one thing from existence in the world, what would be? It could be a person past or present, a thing, an emotion, .....anything.
It's serious but not without a solution that just requires life changes, Thanks.
dumbest. Problem is everything is a tradeoff. Turning down a scholarship to attend Penn State for Nuclear Engineering, then again it wasn't what I wanted to do.
Leaving the Navy, but I also couldn't stay.
It may be something long the lines of allowing the Navy to send me back to the U.S. for schooling that they had to give me.
Nicest thing. This is hard but one thing was when I was a senior in H.S. I sat with 2 younger girls that always sat by themselves at lunch. Yeah, it is cliche' but I never remembered doing it. About 30 years after the event one of the girls sought me out to tell me how much it impacted her life in a positive way that I would do that and just be so casual about it. No f0cks to give, eh? So, measuring from a small thing with ramifications, that is probably it.
Favorite sound.
Once I heard Itzhak Perlman play a single note on his violin, drawn out. It was the embodiment of how to create music.
Other than that, it's the sound of Bob Whites in the morning. Reminds me of my grandfather's cottage on the Eastern Shore.
Guilty pleasure - Long trips on the motorcycle by myself.
Oddest/strangest - Saw a volcano erupting in the Philippine islands from ship in the distance in the predawn by the magma flow glow in the dark from miles off. It was a one time thing and awesomely beautiful.
Remove from existence - jealousy I think it's the root of most bad deeds.
You may know a really good friend of mine. I remember him finishing his final project in '92-93 timeframe. VT architecture from Chesapeake, VA. Kirt Lehnus.
I think one of the first people I worked with finished in that time frame. Last name was Canipe.
Sounds vaguely familiar, but that was a loooong time ago.....
Yeah. It was a long time ago.
He's out in Portland now, working remotely I think for a company out of Norfolk.
What's something you've done that was well out of your comfort zone? Was it worth it?
Damn near everything is out of my comfort zone. I think they call it imposter syndrome. Once I get good at something though I get bored and have a need to understand it better, improve it perceptively or move on.
To nail something down though. I was invited to an ASW After Action breakdown with about 50 people and only 2 were enlisted. I was the most junior person there, a 2nd class petty officer but was acting sonar supervisor for my ship. They wanted us there to ask some questions because while we were successful, they were going to use us to show where we made serious mistakes and better courses of action.
I disagreed and in front of the whole group questioned the briefing team and showed how they were incorrect and took some time to show how our course of action saved time and how a singular pivot point made it crystal clear what the situation truely was. That kind of outspoken stuff was definitely not a regular course of action for me. Unfortunately it got more and more common.
TLDR got up and contradicted a whole lot of highly competent people much more senior than I. In the short run it was worth it. In the long run it was worth it. In the medium run, it may not have been.
Keep tellin it like it is!
Whats the connection to VT -- regional rooting interest after settling in VA? Are you from the commonwealth originally?
Let me get a fresh coffee for this.
It starts with the baseball and NFL strikes and Bob Ursay sneaking the Colts out of town.
It shattered the illusion of spot for the love of sport for me.
I continued as an amateur athlete until '99 when I had my spine tumor. College athletics I watched what was local to my family, Penn State, Notre Dame because the family loved them then. Football and track.
In college I was dismissed from the NCAA soccer team because the NCAA had an incorrect rule regarding a test they wrongly believed indicated poor kidney health. Despite numerous letters from doctors, they wouldn't budge. I had to quit soccer and played club rugby instead.
In the Navy in the 80's TV was not available and could not follow any sports regularly. Except for watching an occasional rugby test, I was cutoff from sports fandom.
Fast forward to early 00's. High pressure job as part of the team creating the computer network for all of the USMC. I needed a stress relief and decided to select college football since I had been in the U.S. for a bit and had been paying mild attention to it.
As had become a habit, I researched to select a team, started from scratch.
VT had completely unique colors in maroon and orange. Outside the box. Appealed to me.
From VA. Beamer's story. Lunchpail. Landgrant university. Bud's defense. Defense wins championships theory. Blue collar work oriented. Underdog. Covered on local radio.
I had a house in Richmond I bought built in 1920 from a kit. I spent many a day refurbing that house while listening to VT football on the radio.
On the politics of that house. The local governmental people and historical house people didn't know about that house was a kit home. They had been advertising my street as some of the last remaining Sears kit homes.
Mine was not from Sears. It was from the next major company, I forget the name. I made a presentation that included the original page from the catalogue the year the house was built, photos of the accessories from the accessories page of the catalogue. Photos of the markings on the timber that matched the markings that company used. Invitation to do additional research.
They rejected my request to have it designated as a kit home. Somebody probably was making money from the designation of the Sears homes and they either would have lost that money or been embarrassed.
Foiled again by the minor corruption of bureaucracy.
I went to watch a rugby match ~9-10yrs ago up at Radford. Was going to meet my family at Chaos later that afternoon. So, as I was leaving I thought, "I don't wanna go all the way thru Roanoke just to get there...surely there's backroads that lead to the brewery." Holyyyy shit.
Have you ever taken the not 220 way to Chaos?
LOL, yeah. Adney's gap has recently been graveled but about once a year wreckers have to come in and haul an 18 wheeler out of the valley because some trucker doesn't believe the "Don't use GPS directions" to go over this mountain.
Best way to do that. Go down to Floyd, come up 220 towards Roanoke, turn left at the only traffic light in Boones Mill. Only 7.5 miles from there.
People don't believe me when I tell them we are 3.5 miles from the closest trash pickup and stop sign.
What is your favorite muscle car engine from the 60's?
Are there any interesting beers you have had recently that inspired you, and if so what and why?
Anything on the "bucket list" you look back at and think - why did I write down that?
Small block Chevy. In particular 327. Flexibility and reliability. Block metal is still thick but with a crank change and some milling you can fix lots of errors and to got 350, 400, etc.
Massive number of options and accessories available. It doesn't rain in San Diego and there's no snow so, no salted roads. The junkyards are full of 40 year old cars with no deep rust. Pull an engine and transmission for cheap. Put it on stands, replace all the rubber and gaskets, soak them in oil then clean and rebuild. Solid as a rock.
We did it so often we bought a cherry picker and engine stand.
I remember in about '87 or so Chief Auto announced they would stop stocking parts at each store for Studebakers up to 1940 or so but they would be available next day. They were just going to stock at the warehouse.
Cascade Barrel House out of Portland showed me what a well done sour can aspire to be. But that was several years ago.
Other than that...
Not really. I think there's been a decline in quality in craft beer in the past couple years. The craft beer has been gathering more people liking beers simply because they have more taste than the macros but have been not selecting beers that taste good. There's a massive chase for the next thing. See milkshake beers?!
Sooo many of the New England IPA's just suck but people want them because it's trendy.
IPA's are popular to brew because you don't need to really be a good brewer to make them, all the hop covers lots of flaws. There's a very popular brewery in central VA that I dislike because a;; pf their beers are exactly the same, they just change the hops and the name.
A VA brewery a couple years ago screwed up a simple beer and decided to just toss some random thing in it. They were able to sell the whole batch. This does not help the craft beer industry.
Next time you see somebody saying they put something silly like fruit loops or graham crackers in a beer, understand that except for some very special circumstances, it's crap beer with marketing junk in it.
Many new brewers are entering the fray and making money because of location, location, location.
Most of these new brewers don't know butkiss about water chemistry and it really shows. Simple inexpensive changes to their water and some of the beer would be excellent. Breaks my heart.
Honestly though the first VT beer was one of the very few good examples of the style that has been available for years. It was an excellent first choice for a style as well.
edited for speelink.
Agree on cascade. Went there 15 years ago. Barrel tasted with the blender and it was amazing. One barrel tasted like marzipan.
This is spot on. And I can guess with 99% certainty that brewer as well. Very few people taking the time and energy to really, really craft a good product. Anyone can pull a recipe off the inter webs and change a few things, but to make a good one? Time and effort and even some failures. For the Weizen (technically a bernsteinfarbenesweizen style) we studied various wheat yeast strains for awhile (including some Gutmann yeast from a can), spent a week at Weyermann, Schneiderweisse, Hopsteiner, Barth Haas and more; working with malsters, brewers and hop breeders looking at history and new ingredients.
Thank YOU to caring about your craft!
Thank you guys for helping and for helping me.
Seriously, if you ever have an opening for an assistant or for someone to demonstrate how to properly sweep a floor, drop me a DM.
The Helles was also spot on as well.
I wish I had your resources to visit supplying producers like that.
We've been talking about putting a trip together for interested partners.... Let's strike that convo up again.
This is very well said and largely the reason I've had like 4 beers (glasses not types) in the past 10 years. I've had a good IPA, but for every good IPA there are 1000 kegs of swill some one has brewed. I didn't really care for the large hops beers in the first place but for a while that was the only thing you could get at 80% of places. I also just hate the fads in brewing, Make a good beer and people will drink it. IPAs then Hazys, then sours, then who knows what? If you can't make a good simple lager then how are you in business.
Even the guys that are skilled enough to consistently brew a good lager frequently do that in a manner that simply doesn't perform as the reason why that style exists. Boy, that came out as word salad. Let me try again.
There's a purpose behind a good pilsner.
Over centuries, the people there took what was available to them in resources, local hops and grains and other plant material, yeast and water. They perfected the style and created the fantastic snappy crisp soul quenching and refreshing perfection of color, clarity, foam, aroma and rising bubbles with the perfect glass to take it all in.
A proper pilsner is a wondrous thing of beauty.
Enter American craft brewers. Many are outstanding technically but don't take the time to understand the style and why it exists, why it is a classic style. Why or how it can be so perfect when married properly and perfectly balanced.
Some of the best known and popular American pilsners from large craft brewers are extremely well crafted and then go and use American hops. Sometimes they are the correct hops created by Oregon or Washington to provide a substitute for expensive noble hops but, used incorrrectly.
They were developed to use as a substitute for bittering where the nuances will boil off. They are excellent for this as noble hops are low in bittering and so need to use more plant material in a long boil and also increase loss or wort in the kettle.
But they use these hops all the way through, throwing away their excellent wort building skills by using too much bitterness in the beer as well as losing the true noble hop subtle notes and mouthfeel. Then serve it in a shaker glass. The disappointment is palpable because the promise has been betrayed.
I know, I know, I'm oversensitive on the topic but, until more people get it, American Craft beer can't advance to the next level.
We'll end up with the brewers that miss the point and think the reason for a hazy IPA is the haze and not the biotransformation that bring out the wonderful thiols in modern New World hop varieties.
Best Pilsner I have ever had linked below. So crisp. So quenching. So easy to drink. You wouldn't even know it was high 30s to low 40s IBU.
Riegele HerrenPils
HERSBRUCKER HOPS
I have never had the opportunity to goto Europe. Some day.
Hop selection.
Time.
Patience.
That's frequently the differentiator between a good beer and a great one. Especially in the US!
We will get you over.
Hey brewin- you were nominated below to next- you wanna go?
I'll give it a shot tomorrow. Might need some assistance!
It's easy! Just tell us a little bit about yourself....(it doesn't have to be a novel)...just some basic bagckground stuff. You dont even have to give your first name if you dont want to. We throw questions at you, and you answer as honestly as you can! No one is judging here. The idea of this was just to learn a little bit about each other and all of the diverse backgrounds, knowledge, experiences, and personalities that we all bring to this glorious forum!
Care to elaborate? I know almost nothing about water chemistry, but naively assumed that you had to pick the style(s) of beer that work best with the water you have -- kinda like brewin said about pilsners using ingredients that were readily available locally. Curious to know the kinds of adjustments are you referring to.
You can essentially strip off most of its mineral profile and rebuild it to your liking with certain things. On the home brewing scale, you can get a small reverse osmosis filter to start. There is a spreadsheet online called bru'n water, that lets you input your current water profile, then has additions you can put in until you hit your target.
But, it's often not necessary to do the stripping. You may have the right building blocks and just need to add to it. Ward Labs does a fairly cheap test that caters to home brewers and other small scale home operations. They'll send a report with the water profile. You dump that into the spreadsheet as your base, and attempt to build from there.
When I was living in Wytheville, I couldn't get the town water to do anything I wanted it to do. Mineral profile was awful. And the chloramine levels were ridiculous.
When the brewery craze first started popping in Winston-Salem and several new breweries opened in short order that had beers that were not good. Everything just tasted stale, even when they said it was fresh. After talking to one of the brewers (with a PHD in Chemistry) at Wise Man they had all added a water treatment system, because the taste difference was that obvious.
*edit for clarity
There was a beer in that area that was pretty solid. It was called Black Raven Black IPA (speaking of marketing, do you know what sells better than Cascadian Dark Ale? Calling it Black IPA.) I have a few of their bomber bottles I have used for my homebrew bottling. If I remember right, the brewery went under.
It really depends on where you are and what beers you want to brew. And as mentioned above, sometimes the beer style was shaped by the local ingredients, including water. One of the reasons west coast IPAs are so great is the higher sulfate content of the local water at some of the OG west coast IPA breweries. And same with the soft water for Czech Pilsners.
My guess is that Winston-Salem has some water that is reasonably high in Calcium and carbonate (limestone). If you try and brew a Czech Pils with that water, it won't taste right. But, you can more easily make some great dark beer when the water is high in carbonate (it buffers the more acidic dark grains).
The guys were pretty spot on but I'll elaborate further. I'll use an example but keep it as simply detailed as possible.
Below is a link to the water report from municipal water Roanoke Co. It's just for an example of a very simple one. The one I use has about 15 items on it.
WVWA Roanoke homebrewers report
Star City Brewers Guild was instrumental in getting the gov to post this report, BTW.
The main chemicals in water beside H and O that we concern ourselves with are calcium, sulfur, sodium, Bicarb and magnesium and moving hydrogen measured as pH.
Presence of some of these chemicals will impact mouthfeel, aroma, metallic flavors and perception of other present flavors. Others are necessary for enzymatic action to convert starches to sugars and some for yeast health. Note all of these are metals that are present naturally in water and are available to us in powdered form as salts such as Calcium chloride, Magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) but all dissolve in water.
Note at my house about 10 years ago I had less than 5ppm of calcium. That low was really unusual but, it was too low to do anything. 1 g of CaCl 2 per 5 gal did wonders.
Optimum pH for sugar conversion after grain is added in 5.2-5.4. The various malted and roasted grains will significantly impact the water pH. Usually grain will drop it. Sometimes not. Generally, the more roasted a grain is, the more it raises pH or buffers against the dropping of pH.
Water chemistry in the form of presence of the above chems will change seasonally as increased or decreased rain and temps or ice forces will dissolve ground rocks at a different rates.
Let's take a famous example and tie in our pilsner story. The Brewers of Munchen (Munich) couldn't brew a decent pale lager, let alone a decent pilsner. Imagine being in Bavaria and west of the attached Czecks and not be able to brew a pilsner.
Probably the Best known style for Munich is the Munich Dark. Darker roasted grains had a profound impact on pH and impacted availability of other chems. Pilsner requires very little water chemicals but at least enough calcium for enzymes ad yeast health. Too much and especially sulfur and it sucks bad.
Munich had a different water source. (I forgot how to adjust images smaller.)
Munich's water is the orange in bottom right. Also note it flows east, not north. Bavaria and Czech are not well known for their dark beers Bocks are from south of Hanover and dark wheat beers.
Now, can we think of other cities known for Dark Beers? How about Dublin? Similar persistent water profile.
At the brewery I currently work our water has very small amounts of the above chemicals and also and nearly no metals in copper, iron, etc. I have to add calcium to have enough for enzymes to mash properly. I have to add calcium, magnesium AND sulfur to make a pilsner. To make something like an IPA, I have to add a bunch of water chem.
Some places have to remove them. A previous employer used reverse osmosis filters but that can be really expensive. One way to do it would be to bring in water that has less of all or some of the chem that is too numerous.
Calcium BiCarbonate or hydrocarbonate can be a primary driver of high pH. It can be boiled out. Then the water used. When you have a tea kettle that gets that white flaky stuff after a while or your hot water tank at your house that gets that? It's calcium or magnesium hydrocarbonate.
Beers all taste metallic? It's either poor fermentation or cleaning or high metal contents of the water. A simple activated charcoal system of the water that actually goes in the beer will fix that.
BTW, same goes for coffee. Ever notice that when you goto the beach that the coffee always sucks at your rental? It's not the cheap coffee maker. It's the very high mineralization of the water. Bring a britta filter or a jug of water.
I'll throw my two cents on here, but what blutarsky and Egbert said above are spot on. Brewing Water - you either live with what you have and make a style that works with your mineral profile, or you can change it by adding mineral salts and other food safe compounds to build what you want. And Bru'nWater is an excellent resource, I use it myself and have met Martin a few times (I still sit on MBAA and ASBC committee's).
Example - the brewery I worked at in NorCal did not alter the water at all - but our water came from underground caverns and all the salts we needed to make great IPA's and Pale Ales. However as we grew and used more water, when there was a drought, the municipality would change to surface water and then we would have to make adjustments accordingly. It got to where we had a relationship with the water guys, and they would tell us when they would switch. It was one of the first things I worked out as we were growing - the taste profile was changing, but no one new why? well - the water source would change, which completely changed the pH and ion concentrations, and thus the mash pH, and thus the enzyme activity.... it's a big boulder that you have try and understand even just a bit.
Firestone-Walker - they use a complete RODI system on their incoming water. Which means they strip out all the ions (cations and anions) and then add back in what they want according to style they are making at the time. They have some waste issues, but work with local farmers and land owners to get rid of their strippings. Matt Bryndlison is an excellent brewer - one of my favorite beers is Easy Jack. That beer is damn good.
Water - it's why all the traditional styles are named after the regions or towns where they come from. It's that important.
I did not know that about Firestone Walker. It is one brewery that is consistently good.
One of my favorites in Union Jack.
In a preTLDR "No."
This list died a watery death on Kevin Marlar's birthday on a cold Dec night in '85. I cannot pinpoint some of the things on the list but it lives on in living spiritual form in my head.
Some of these things are no longer available and most of them were real stretch items given my geographical location. I also did not limit to things that I know or thought were actually able to be accomplished.
Example of not available. Visit the Berlin Wall.
Some things from the list that I actually was able to complete so you get an idea of the stretch.
Climb Mt. Fuji.
Dive on a wreck in Guam (History Buff).
Drive a motorcycle in a foreign country (I did not have a motorcycle license at the time.)
Overwinter in Antarctica. I volunteered twice but there was no billet available both times.
Visit Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
Ride in a sub. ( I was surface Navy BTW.)
Some things that are probably doable
jump from a WWII era C40. After my spine surgery I thought this was never doable. I can't dive any longer.
Various European travel things, go To Keith Moon's grave, the surrender railcar WWI. Red Square. WWII airfield Britain, Hedron's wall, Eat oysters and drink Guiness in Galway, Normandy landing zones and physically see a hedgerow, etc.
I'm pretty sure there are parts of the Berlin wall still standing, not large parts but it wasn't completely removed.
Yeah, when I made the goal, it was more of a viewing how man can be so horrible to other man and that Berlin was an island of democracy in a sea of totalitarian state.
I think Checkpoint Charlie was preserved.
I grew up in the cold war, I'm on the older end of the crew here. Graduated HS in 82.
I had assumed you were on the older end when you mentioned seeing Berlin wall. I assumed you meant fully intact.
I can remember it coming down but had no clue what it meant.
One year behind you-USAF brat. I never made it to Berlin but my parents were there in the mid 50s PRE- Berlin Wall. There was still fair amount of rubble even ten years after the war!
Two things my dad told me-one was a time he and another officer were in the back seat of a car being driven by his wing commander who was fairly intoxicated at the time. Said driver proceeded to drive at about 70-80mph directly through the Brandenburg Gate into East Berlin. My dad and the officer in the back seat hit the floor thinking the Soviet guards would fire their machine guns but apparently, they were too stunned by the circumstances and did not. They drove around East Berlin for about 15 minutes before returning to West Berlin- no worse for the wear physically but with a great deal of emotional stress lol.
The second was a story about his experience in 1955 as the OIC of the first team to enter East Germany since the end of WW2 to recover a crashed USAF plane. He wrote a great first hand account that he titled "A Unique Experience"- "I called this A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE because, to my knowledge, we are the ONLY Air Force team to have gone into Communist East Germany and recover a downed jet." Great story about his interaction with the military bureaucracy, the Russians, and the East German citizens they encountered. Happy to share with anyone who is interested.
PS On the subject of beer, my dad told me that he went ahead of my mom to Berlin when he was transfered to Tempelhof there. And about two month after he got there, he woke up at about ten AM one morning with a painful headache. He was puzzled by it until he realized - it was a hangover! it was the first time since he arrived "in country" that he had been completely sober!
That's funny.
"I was about to enter Notre Dame as a History major but was declined at the last minute by a admissions officer that told me she was vetoing my admission because she hated veterans."
NSFW for me to say what I think of that bitch. Thank you for your service.
"Places I've lived for any period in no particular order. South Philly, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tokyo region, Tidewater, VA, Richmond, North of Baltimore, Roanoke."
What are some of your favorite spots and/or dishes in South Philly? How about in Roanoke?
What are some of the biggest challenges you face as an entrepreneur?
What could practically be done to improve the business climate for small businesses in the US?
Hoagie's I once borrowed a car from a girl in Northern, VA. Drove to Philly, ate a Hoagie, got an Italian Special to travel and drove back to Northern VA in time to pick her up from work.
Polish food.In my opinion one of the most underrated cuisines in the world.
in Roanoke the Blue Apron was the best Restaurant I was ever in outside of Tokyo or Hong Kong. Scott had it goin' on.
Italian hoagie at Vito's in Cherry Hill, NJ is one of the best things I've ever eaten. My family is polish, but I honestly did not like most of the polish food I had growing up. Maybe I just did not get the right things though. Outside of kielbasa and pierogis as dinners and Chrusciki as a desert, I did not like much. Any particular Polish dishes you really liked?
Borscht, sauerkraut, red beet horseradish, Rolled walnut filled cookies I forget the name of.
My grandmother couldn't cook anything "American".
When she got with my Mom and her sisters it was elbows and clouds of flour and cabbage. The Chester, PA Polish Ghetto next to the Italian Ghetto next to the Orthodox Greek Ghetto was one of the best smelling places in the world on Sunday afternoons.
Yeah, I was a Vito's after a family event a few years ago. I love Italian Specials.
Rolled walnut filled cookie could either be a Kifli or an Orzewski, both are phenomenal
My grandmother made them with poppyseed simply amazing
Yes, we do Kiflis with walnut, prune, apricot, or poppyseed filling. So so so good
The only one I remember was walnut but possibly its just that it was my favorite.
Orzewski is traditionally walnut and prepared in the shape of a whole walnut. Delicious
These are related.
Biggest hurdle is regulation. I spend the vast bulk of my time doing paperwork and the end of the quarter is something I hate. For example, it takes me longer to get a label approved than to make the beer from grain to glass, and that is if everything goes smoothly. I'm talking just a standard keg collar with standard font, repeat of the last one I submitted, not some full color label with a provocative picture and name on it. That's the easiest thing.
After that, every government needs their cut from feds to local, they all require different paperwork and payment in a different way and god forbid your T is dotted wrong. The hammer of Thor descends.
Get government out of the way.
A perfect example is the craft beer industry. It sprang into existence just in the past decade and a half just because laws against it ended.
The push to make it legal is because the Fed government made it legal to brew beer at home for ones own consumption.
It never rally was illegal to brew beer for your own consumption once 21st Amendment was radified. You just couldn't do it with paying a tax. You had to pay a tax because they forgot to do 1 of 2 things. Set a tax rate for personal consumption or allow hobbyists to get an account to pay it without having to get a commercial license and all that entails.
All Jimmy Carter's guys did was add a line saying that if you brewed less than 200 gallons a year per adult in the household, you were exempt from paying a tax.
Bingo, the hobby became legal, ingredients became possible to obtain. Industries sprung into existence to support the hobby. People learned and taught and formed clubs and societies. Those that grew up and brewed as a hobbyist for 20 years became professionals and quality craft beer in the U.S. came available.
This became a cash cow for governments.
I so feel for you with the regulations. Have heard that anything related to alcohol was a nightmare. I know pharmaceuticals and biotechnology certainly is. Just moving over to Medical Technology and Devices at work and regulations are not as insanely and (sometimes) outright idiotic as they are in pharma, but still not fun.
How do you construct the perfect nacho?
coming back to this.
Preheat the chips in an open oven or over a grill. Dry out the chips so they retain their snap and don't get soggy. Cool.
Select a good melty cheese that is fatty, not watery so it doesn't get the chips soggy. Select a flavorful cheese for topping that. Maybe something like Mzithra,
Good buttery refried beans are a must. Either on top or on the side. Not everyone likes them.
Homemade fresh pico de gallo chunky, not watery.
Meat of your choice, spicy, if selecting anything but beef, it must be smoked or use smoked paprika. Precooked then mixed into some of the pico for additional flavor.
Fresh Cilantro, some don't like so acceptable substitute is Fresh Italian parsley.
Hot oven put the chips back in briefly to heat, take out, put on your fatty melty cheese to protect the chips then the meat and salsa then the flavorful cheese. and any peppers or favorites you have. Fresh cracked black pepper. Return to the oven until melty cheese melts.
Remove, sprinkle on oregano and cilantro as well as hits of fresh lime. finely sliced chive or spring onion all around.
refried Beans, meat, salsa, more peppers, lime wedges and good sour cream on the side.
edit, I forgot fresh grated lime peel all over.
I've worked in nuclear ever since I got out of high school- what did you do at the power plant?
How often are you creating experimental brews? Is there an ingredient you're especially partial to (if it's not a secret)?
First summer was outside maintenance everything from mowing to trash can emptying to laying a new parking lot and washing down and doing maintenance on cooling towers.
Second time was working inside with Health Physics and the mobile turbine gang on outage overhauling the steam turbines.
My Dad was a plant operator at Peach Bottom. He stored the bulk of his training materials in the bookshelves that were outside my bedroom. I was voracious reader so I read all of them at least once. This was pre-internet so I got to read stuff not readily available but not classified like the Atomic Energy Commission (precursor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) report to Three Mile Island and such. Then the movie China Syndrome came out and I was getting into arguments. I learned how much people learned wrong from that kind of stuff.
A fellow BWR guy- nice! I work at Perry, one of the last reactors built before the post TMI-2 freeze (we're a BWR-6, Mark III containment. Peach Bottom is similar enough in design and close enough that a lot of our folks have visited back and forth in one capacity or another despite no business affiliation).
I worked as an NLO/RO for 12 years before we announced bankruptcy/shutdown. I absolutely fell in love with the dayshift job I fell into (clearance writer). The wife already wanted to move for her job, so that turned the tides in her favor. We moved away to a university with a fairly substantial research reactor (Mizzou operates at 10 MW, 6.5 days a week. They actually dropped their Nuclear Engineering program some years back and I believe they're the only university facility that has never held a student license for operation).
Did not enjoy my time there- Perry managed to stay open and the wife was optimistic about the local job market in her field. We up & made the decision to move back last summer. She got to choose between two really good offers.
Started back here just after the new year and life is good. I start SRO class later this month. Rods stick out the bottom; all is right with the world again.
I had the opportunity to really dive into the congressional report on the Browns Ferry fire for my capstone project. I was blown away by how competent congressional representatives could be. (I'm sure they have technical help, but they nailed down the causes with precision in that one).
I know nothing about Brown's Ferry but now I know it's going to be stuck in my head like a bad song until I read up on it. Thanks for that.
At that time, everybody in oversight were highly qualified individuals from a nascent highly technical field that wasn't controlled by paper pushers yet substituting arguments over proper format for the reports instead of the contents. Wait, did some cynical sneak out? Nah, Ok.
Yeah, BWR. So simple to grasp.
Watching stuff like the excellent HBO series Chernoble was outstanding while taking into account people and events had to be compressed a bit in the support of good storytelling.
I remember it now.
Worker using a candle to check for air leaks near highly combustible temporary seal,
Yeah, not a good procedure. I've seen this kinda dumb stuff periodically. People die from this stuff.
They were getting ready to unseal a common cable spreading space for the 3rd unit in preparation for its initial startup, and at the time their annulus treatment system (AEGTS) was already maxed out on their Tech Spec flow limit. So in preparation for any leakage they were going to get from unit 3, they started this huge sealing project to give them some room for error for when unit 3 became unsealed to come online.
A senior engineer field tested the urethane foam a couple times, said it couldn't catch fire. The junior engineer on the project kept seeing/hearing about it catching fire, and kept trying to raise the flag the whole time- kept getting shushed. All of the electricians & interns doing the work knew damn well it was catching fire.
Turns out air rushing past adds fuel that wasn't apart of the field test. And checking leakage with lit candles is just damn stupid anyway.
Definitely felt the junior engineer's pain on this one.
The biggest Ops blunder was unfamiliarity and poor condition of their fire protection equipment. At one point they had been standing around with a charged fire hose for hours and doing nothing with it. It turns out, Ops management was really concerned with electrical arcing with the wires and cables when they turned the fire hoses on. And the local fire chief didn't really realize he needed to verify or communicate this- the plant's nozzles were rated for spraying directly on energized electrical equipment all along. So they really never had that risk, and waited way too long to just go ahead and put the fire out with water. (I don't think the fire chief communicated much of any of this really well, it seemed more like he said his piece once and then just stood around grumpily with his arms crossed most of the time).
The reports of all of the arbitrary valves cycling and equipment turning on and off on it's own was horrifying.
A great deal of re-engineering for redundant remote shutdown capabilities (within each division) was required for all of the plants constructed after that fire.
As frequently as I can is the correct but completely unuseful answer.
Once a quarter we brew something completely new or new to us.
It may not be completely new but finding a way to brew it in an economical way while not compromising is the deal.
It's also very useful to remember that we are not in the business of making beer, we are in the business of selling beer.
So beers like Theory of Chaos may be my favorite beer to make and a significant technical challenge, it's also the most expensive beer to make as well as the biggest risk. There's a reason why Dogfish with their excellent brew staff and head brewer that is a yeast whisperer and in-house lab has stopped brewing 120 minute IPA.
Innovations I have, are more in line with ways to take stocks of homebrew sized yeast caches and growing them up to a batch to do a 5 bbl batch then a 15 bbl batch of 2 different beers on the same yeast like an Alt and a kolsch. This is economic innovation, and finding ways to efficiently use expensive resources inline with adjusting consumer demand.
In other technical ways I was challenged to create from scratch a hard seltzer that was economical and tasted better than others that were left with the horrible sulphery aftertaste. Consistently. Customer demand.... Was able to accomplish it, if I can get the boss to not rush it before it's ready.
Was also able to create and brew a Gluten Free (GF) beer from 100% Gluten Free ingredients that is indistinguishable from a regular barley Pale Ale. Won an award on my first batch. It's gotten better. All this on a system that is used for regular barely/wheat beers and passes test for <5ppm prefermentation and celiac friends test prior to releasing each batch.
These are examples where my natural skepticism and tendency to over research have paid off.
Periodically I am challenged to brew a beer from scratch with existing stock of ingredients. One of these has become Poolside Ale which has been our best selling beer the past couple years. It's got the bones of a Scottish 60 shilling but has pilsner, Maris Otter and wheat malts and honey. But occasionally a substitution. 4.3% ABV. Nothing to hide behind on this beer. It was borne out of a need to use leftover scraps to brew a beer to grow yeast for Squatch but use local ingredients and wheat for a charity.
edit: forgot to talk about favorite ingredient.
Time. Most places don't allow the flavors in the beer to mature. 3 weeks in a bottle or keg will do wonders for the body in the beer.
Other than that, before I went pro, my buddy and I called ourselves the Anal Retentive Brewers Group. ARBG.
Our secret ingredient was a relatively small amount of malted rye. We would retoast the rye for about 10-15 minutes until we started to get the aroma awakened ala Indian spices in cooking. Then cool slightly then grind and mash.
It would be just enough to add a little complexity and people with trained palates would ask what that was waaaay in the background. We wouldn't tell them.
As an addendum, when I started this journey there were no computer programs to assist. I use them now but also have self developed spreadsheets for several things. I don't even trust them as they only provide numbers, there's no nuance. An IBU does not = an IBU does not equal and IBU.
We used a spiral bound notebook to do the math and record our planned steps. By we, I mean my long time brewing partner was a VT architecture grad. He's better at math than I.
I've been doing the research and taking notes and getting a bibliography for a book on creating recipes for brewing. It's my first effort at writing anything long form and so it's something I'm learning slowly. I'm constantly breaking it down into smaller pieces in order to try and control it's scope.
I can already tell I'm going to need a skilled editor.
What is your parenting philosophy? Has it changed over the years?
You mentioned a first wife. Are there any sequels?
I asked about his wife too. He said he's only had the 1.
Missed that. Thanks for clearing that up. It's kinda funny to refer to a spouse as the first when there aren't others.
Our friend Amanda and her husband do this.
Well, she got an upgrade so now she's my ex-girlfriend.
The job of a parent is to instruct then let them fail while keeping them safe.
They have to learn how to fall before they turn 18 (just randomly selected near adult age) so they know how to do it before they start to get brittle as an adult.
It's never really changed.
No, I marry for life and only have 1.
Like a cardinal
I'm not that religious but appreciate the joke.
Oh, Cardinal is a title and so should be capitalized.
If you could have dinner with three people from any point in history, who would you choose and why?
An ancient, a recent past, a modern.
3 wildly different perspectives but thinkers. Assuming we can use a babel fish.
Socrates or Michelangelo I love the Socratic method and find it to be the current best way to have a political conversation without people getting mad and dismissing with ad hominem. Michelangelo could make marble a living creature. This displays a multitude of talents. A true child of the birth of the Renaissance. Close substitute Da Vince, same reasons.
Lincoln- Serious implications for the future U.S. and so many uncorrect "facts" we are taught about him. So many myths, excellent orator. The Gettysburg Address was probably one of the finest pieces of oratory ever written in a time of 3 hour speeches. The wordsmith of the Gods periodically.
Bill Murray or John Cleese. The finest of comedians in different ways. Both intelligently irreverent so much that the people being clowned must laugh and cannot be offended. Very intelligent, quick and masters of language and human condition.
What are 3 things that really grind your gears?
Soup and a sandwich- what are you having?
What's the most almost arrested you've ever been?
Passive aggressive.
People that use crying as a manipulative tool.
Poor communication.
Homemade roasted garlic tomato basil soup and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Simple comfort food.
finally some one with the correct answer! Wait nevermind I read over the ham part ... continue on with your less than ideal sandwich /s
LOL.
My family isn't fond of hot ham sandwiches also so it's normally a very well constructed grilled cheese that includes a salty cheese, as the ham is to provide a slightly smoky salty element and the meaty tooth.
I've done it with leftover smoked brisket but, it was too much smoke and lost balance that way. A mild bacon would do if you wanted some crunch.
Back for this one.
Twice,
Once in the service, I was returning to base sometime after 1 am after visiting a female friend but had duty at 6 AM. I was driving my 59 Chevy pickup after rebuilding the transmission but still had a noise I was investigating.
Nobody around. I was at a stop sign. Got on it a little more than normal but got off it before I reached 20mph. a half dozen base cops flew in and got on my case about being drunk ( I wasn't) and gave me field sobriety tests trying to prove it until I Hopped on one foot and practically did gymnastics in cowboy boots to prove sobriety. It would have meant the end of my clearance.
The other time I got popped on a piss test for cocaine. Except it wasn't me, but I didn't know that.
Got pulled aside by the Master Chief of the command to tell me about getting hit for cocaine. I explained that I had a valid excuse as I had just transferred from hospital command after they administered coke for 3 days trying to alleviate sinusitis that had come to be a bad infection that threatened my eyesight and brain. (No small loss to humanity).
He said he'd follow-up.
2 days later. Hospital never heard of me. They were working on papers to discharge me after tossing me in the brig.
I explained the Navy was wrong and some discussion ensued. I realized that there was official paperwork in my personnel folder re: medical leave and sequences of command assignments.
I got him to call to personnel and have the senior personnelman to escort my personnel folder and pay record to his office.
In it we discovered my medical leave papers and TAD assignment to Balboa Naval Hospital.
If they never heard of me, why did my official papers show me TAD to their command?
Something wasn't adding up, he was satisfied I wasn't 100% full of shit and he'd look into it.
Various problems followed but to cut to the chase.
There was another guy on this relatively small base with my same name and rank. He was the shitbird. The sent his SS# to the hospital, which is why it kicked back WTF while they we simply going by names and those guys knew me.
It shook out in the end but if I hadn't pushed back I'd have been in the hoosgow and then released as a felon.
Wasn't the first time a guy with the same name as me, got me in trouble I got out of due to my own efforts.
Ever wonder why I hate bureaucracy, read this story and realize it's one of many.
This same base was sloppy with records. As another ironic aside, it lead to me having to steal my "Good Conduct" medal.
I never realized how verbose I am. Nobody is going to read these, sorry.
I am.
Me too.
Regarding getting the planned History degree, I did not plan on staying in academics but to use the training provided in research, writing and argumentation in a different field or in the undergraduate pre req for something like law.
How accurate is the portrayal of soviet subs in The Hunt for Red October?
So accurate the Navy investigated Tom Clancy.
He got all his info from open source stuff. It was shocking how close some of guesses were.
After that the Navy helped him with research and reviewed before publication but, he rode ships and had a handshake with the military.
Who ya got in mind for next on the hot seat?
Brewin, if he'll do it.
Paging brewin!
In a wide open field with no cover, would you rather fight 100 duck sized elephants or one elephant sized duck?
One elephant sized Duck.
100 animals I couldn't avoid and die the death of 1000 cuts.
One animal elephant size I could be more agile and focus on the single threat. I could avoid it until I could figure out it's weaknesses and exploit those.
General thoughts on adding dairy products to beers? I know a lot of the NC breweries seem to put them in their hazy IPA's, not just the ones they call milkshake. I like the mouth feel, but I do like to know if it's in there because they also tend to give me gas......
I've heard some add dried milk. I suppose you'll get the protein as well as the lactose but, I don't know for sure. It would be a case of them doing it simply for the haze.
Really I've seen some adding lactose, the sugar in milk and that's an old ingredient used in milk stouts and breakfast stouts (coffee, oats and lactose). That's done for a creamier mouthfeel without added sweetness.
That might give you some gas or, adding too much magnesium sulfate can ad to some gastric changes.
I speculate to the origin of the Schlitz Shitz.
Probably is just the lactose. All I know is a dairy free friend got into it with a brewer who said it should not still affect her after fermentation, and that the other beers she said did not affect her had it too.
That brewer did not know basic biochem.
If the lactose sugar is the problem then it requires bacteria to ferment the sugar. Yeast won't do it. absent a souring bacteria, which I hope the stout did not have, It is unaffected by yeast fermentation.
West Virginian brewing company used to have a great beer float.
Adult Float: Guiness or nice stout plus a scoop of full fat vanilla ice cream. You won't regret it.
What are some of the long motorcycle rides you've taken?
What was your favorite?
If you had unlimited time/funds, would you do a several month Long Way Round-ish motorcycle trip, and where would that be?
One of my favorite rides was one that encircles Mt. Fuji. There are 5 lakes that are on various sides of Fujisan and beautiful loop that is famous with bikers.
San Diego to Monterey Bay then half Moon Bay and back was an annual for me. The nice part was Los Angeles to Monterey on Pac Coast Hwy. This was my first Ironbutt as well.
First time I did that was solo and didn't pay attention that after school starts not many of the gas stations are open on Sundays. My last fill up was in Santa Barbara and coasted into Carmel by the Sea on fumes. I refilled the tank with more than the stated capacity,
I haven't done a multiday trip in a couple decades. Kids dontcha know. Did manage to turn classes at White Labs in Asheville into an excuse to ride down on Blue Ridge Pkwy and 221 last Oct. Enjoyed the hell out of that.
Epic trip I think would be from here to Portland and hang with my buddy for a few then to Alaska and back home by a route east of the Great Lakes.
My wife and I will be driving up the coast/PCH from LA to Carmel (where my buddy RC lives) in October. Gonna hit Santa Barbara, Malibu, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, San Simeon & Hearst castle. Big sur wont happen unless they get the PCH reopened above San Simeon by then. Then up to San Francisco and San Rafael / Muir Woods before coming back.
I heard about that Big Sur section being closed. I hope they are able to get it back up and in good shape. That bridge was cool.
I'd ride that with ya, but after last month's trip, imma need a more comfortable seat. Ironbutt is right.
Yeah, I've dropped lots of weight and my butt is a little bonier and my seat is now a decade old.
I'm just gonna deal with it for right now and look for a new seat for my Christmas present.
Is the 2012 HD Fatboy your current bike? What are some of the local rides you like?
Yes, it is. Got it new with the 103 twin cam engine. It's probably mine until I can't ride any longer. HD tells me that year they made 2 Yellow one with ABS. The other was sold in Orlando, FL.
Favorite local rides.
Blue Ridge Parkway, just about anywhere.
Catawba Rd. Also a great way to get to VT.
Once a week I drive from just west of Roanoke to Natural Bridge on Rt 11. It's become a nice and simple ride for me.
What's your local favorites?
Not really much around where I am, all the good twisty roads are a few hours ride, so I don't do them (yet). Just been riding mostly around my part of the Northern Neck, back roads, but it takes some prep work with Google Maps to figure out a route. Rt 218 from Dahlgren to Fredericksburg is nice, albeit short.
One of these days I'm going to do Skyline Drive / BRP to head down to Tech, but I do worry a bit because I tend to sightsee a little too much when driving something like that. Gonna have to keep my head down on the road (12 sec ahead of course) when I do that drive.
I've done it from Roanoke up to Skyline Dr. Then across to 29 and down to 460 then back to Roanoke.
I'm not a canyon carver either. Speed limit is 45 on BRP so, it's like a treelined comfy drive.
That's right up my alley. Lazy twisties sound just perfect.
If you could eliminate one college from existence, who and why?
If you're a bourbon guy, what are your top three?
Why are lofargrams so fucking hard to decipher?
I wouldn't ban any, you can make the case for every single school at any one time. If they are not correcting themselves, the economy will eventually weed them out.
Yes on bourbon. In no particular order
Woodford - wonderful vanilla notes and caramel, the wood and pot still imparts some wonderful flavors. Fantastically complex.
Eagle Rare - Started drinking this long ago, like 20 years ago, when it was a fantastic bargain for price. I think the price has become artificially inflated by manufactured shortage in VA.
Maker's Mark - Fantastically consistent, not very expensive and clean/uncomplex so an excellent choice for making bourbon cocktails such as Manhattans and Mint Juleps.