Learning More

 Miscellaneous  No Responses »
Nov 082010
 

In trying to start my week off in a completely different way than I usually do, I spent a good part of the afternoon in an online seminar learning about draft systems and beer service in general. The thought of sitting through two hours of anything is usually something I don’t look forward to, but this was different.

Though much of the discussion was about information already familiar to me, it was great to get those few little nuggets that I had not thought of before. Even some of the things I knew already were explained in a way that made it all more clear to me. It always makes sense to get the basics correct and have them embedded in your memory before going on to more involved areas.

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Glassware and head retention and . . .

Here are a few random highlights of the topics covered . . .

  • First the one that made me laugh the most. There was a picture of an air compressor with a note that said never to use compressed air for your draft system. Has anyone ever tried that?! It was likely not meant for a laugh but it made me chuckle to start the session, which was nice.
  • It takes 24 hours to chill a keg down to 38 degrees . . . the typical temperature that draft systems are set to operate at.
  • The vinyl hoses is a draft system have a life span of about a year, so they should be replaced accordingly. I wonder what that means for the ones I have been using for my home brewing?
  • You can use salt to test the cleanliness of a glass into to which you want to pour beer. Of course that would mean rewashing the glass after the test.
  • The heel in heel out method is the best way to rinse glasses when washing by hand (in the three basin setup). That is if you want to ensure that the glasses are entirely rinsed.
  • There is a strain of hops that is resistant to skunking (contact your favorite Miller employee for more information). Not sure why I was not aware of that one before.

There was much more relayed during the two hour presentation, but you can ask questions if you are curious about anything else. Of course I may or may not be able to answer them.

Cheers!

 Posted by Lucas at 7:00 pm  Tagged with: , ,

A Few Questions

 Food, Miscellaneous  4 Responses »
Oct 112010
 

A simple question does not a post make on this site, so first comes some photos of a visit The Wife and I made to a local farm located in a unique agricultural neighborhood not far from our home. It was surprising how rural it felt despite being only a handful of miles from downtown Orlando. Here is a little from our time there:

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Thankfully there were none that chased me this time.

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A local food supporter and rock star and local bar champion and horse whisperer all in one.

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Reminds me of our dog.

As a little surprise, we ran into some familiar faces upon our arrival, giving The Wife a chance to finally meet Erica and enjoy some of her Whiskey Truffles! Having enjoyed some of her German Chocolate Cupcakes the night before, I left the sampling that afternoon others.

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Whiskey truffles anyone?

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Making a new friend

During our short time there we were made aware of the move by a local university to potentially change the zoning of that area, possibly putting the farmsteads there in jeopardy. As supporters of local produce and local products in general, it is an issue we will be keeping track of going forward for sure.

Now then, onto the questions of the day.   I am interested to see if I am alone in my feelings on this one.

Yesterday I spent a short time in a Irish-themed restaurant slash bar here in the area as I waited for The Wife to finish a class she was attending. I am sure that the service jaded my opinion of the place severely (as I don’t expect to sit with an empty glass for five minutes when there are two bar tenders and only 6 people sitting at the bar), but it was another issue that lead to my questions for this Monday.

When I first sat down at the bar I ordered a Boddington’s, figuring that a nice English pub style ale would be good to sit back and watch football with for a bit. Knowing the name of the place and seeing other tap handles for beers like Newcastle and Smithwicks I had a certain expectation of what would be set in front of me. Fast forward a few moments (as the beer was being poured properly) and what do I get in front of me, but my Boddington’s served in a straight (Shaker) pint glass!

I understand that those glasses are used for many reasons – they stack easier, they are cheaper, they don’t break as easy, etc. Many places, including really good beer bars (like the one I work at), use them for certain beers. My problem in this case is the implied environment and what I specifically ordered. When I go into an Irish bar stacked to the ceiling with whiskey and order a nice English Ale I would expect that it go in a nice Imperial pint glass like an English Nonic or Tulip style.

After voicing my displeasure to The Wife later after meeting up with her again, the dreaded term of “beer snob” came out. I was terrified as I constantly do my best to not exemplify what that term implies to me. My reviews on this site are pretty basic and have only become more specific as I learn more along the way in an effort to educate myself about good beer. On top of that I always encourage people to drink what they like since I don’t want anyone telling me what beers I should drink. In short, I never want to be considered a beer elitist like that term suggests.

With the background for them now explained, here are my questions . . .

Does having that glassware expectation make me that thing I never want to be? Which side of that argument do you fall on? Were my expectations unreasonable? Maybe I am the crazy one?

Cheers!

 Posted by Lucas at 7:00 pm  Tagged with: ,

Better Overall

 Miscellaneous  No Responses »
Aug 302010
 

Brace yourself for another one of those posts where I am thinking out loud quite a bit.  Welcome again to some of the inner workings of my mind.

As I have mentioned numerous times before, this site started as a beer journal of sorts for me.  With that I think I can make the site a better overall reference for all things beer, both for myself and for everyone else who stops by.  I do not always enjoy searching around on the web or through the books on my shelves to double check one detail I am curious about so it is time for me to transition some of that information onto this site for easier access.

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Doesn't it seem to have a glow?

I have no idea how long it will take to get all of what I want to do finished, but here is what I am thinking of starting with.  Not that I am at all bored and looking for extra things to do, but I think these few additions will make a great difference over time.

One thing I want to do is to tackle documenting my glassware and give it a page all to itself.  I am thinking of maybe having pictures of each type that I have and discuss what styles go in each and why.  I could also discuss which types I have not added to my collection yet, though I do not think I am missing many.  Just maybe I will even do a few pouring videos to show how I do it and perhaps also to make it possible for someone out there to tell me why they think I am not doing it correctly.

If nothing else it would help me document exactly what glassware I own before I have to move any of it to a closet somewhere to make room for the new stuff.  It will also be a good way to revisit some of the My Tasting Ways posts that I did so long ago.

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Not a great photo, but a beautiful sight.

The other thing I would like to do is give descriptions of all the beer styles a permanent home on a page here.  I have to assume that many if not most people who visit this site do not have a copy of the BJCP Style Guidelines or even as many beer books lying around as I do.  I can usually just spin around in my office chair and get my hands on the answer to the beer question I am looking for.

Of course it would make no sense at all for me to merely transfer information directly from the BJCP Style Guidelines (for example).  What I would like to do is a kind of simplified summary based on what I understand from reading various references along the way.  On top of becoming a good reference here it will help me study up as I have to actually write that stuff down on my own.

This is, however, a far more daunting task than tackling a glassware rundown if only because of the numbers.  If you break down the 23 main styles of beer into all of the sub-styles, that would be 80 different styles to cover (by my count).  That is even without eventually getting to the meads (3 main, 9 total) and ciders (2 main, 9 total).  No matter how I break the task up it will take some serious time to get through.  Maybe I will draw numbers out of a hat to keep it interesting for me?

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Also a beautiful sight.

On top of those two things I think I will be moving some pages and other things around to make the site easier to use and to give me more flexibility in the future.  I try to plan out my attack here, but it is often a case of making it up as I go so a few renovations now and again become necessary to keep things moving ahead smoothly.

I am not sure exactly when I will get started on those tasks, but it should be sooner than later.  Stay tuned!

Is there anything else or any other information that you would like to eventually see on this site?

 Posted by Lucas at 7:00 pm  Tagged with: ,
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