What's Brewing?

IPA (India Pale Ale)!

Eric & I used some of our Christmas money from my parents and purchased a brewing equipment kit. We brewed our first batch on Sunday afternoon. It was lots of fun figuring it out what we needed to do together, and we only had one minor disagreement. I think we did everything more or less right, but already figured out better ways to do things next time. Sorry no pictures... I decided I should concentrate on the actual brewing.

The brew is in the primary fermenter, and we will probably put it in the secondary tomorrow night. I will try to take pictures then if I can. It will stay in the secondary for a couple of weeks, then we bottle, and then it will be ready to drink after it carbonates in the bottles for 2-3 weeks.

We are excited to have ParO'Noyd Brewery actually in operation. Mmmm Beer!

Beer Masters

As is typical I am blogging more that a week after said blog worthy events. Last Friday we went to Peoria to visit the Barkers. Both Scott and Tara work for Maui Jim (sunglasses) so we were able to join them at the Maui Jim Luau on Friday night, since each employee is allowed to invite a guest. The Luau is very similar to a company holiday party. We has a great time eating free food and enjoying free drinks, taking free photos and getting air brushed tattoos.

On Saturday both families head to St. Louis. The Barkers were headed to the stadium so Kira could go to the Cardinals Kids Crew event, then the game. The Noyds were headed to where else, a brewery!

After a stop for lunch Eric and headed into STL and made a quick stop at "The Stable". It was a neat restaurant/bar in the historic Lemp/Cherokee district very near Anheiser-Busch Brewery. They are affiliated with Amalgamated Brewery, but they have a few of their beers on tap, but also offer a wide variety of other beers, many being craft brews.

We then went to Anheiser-Busch Brewery to take their "Beer Masters" Tour. I have taken the free tour many times, so I was intrigued as to what the "Beer Masters" Tour has to offer since it cost $25. I think both Eric and I agreed that is was worth the money, especially if you are into beer, definite worth the money at least once.

Our tour started in a private room with a couple of high-top tables and sever leather chairs and couches. There were approximately 10 in our group and we each received a hat, safety glasses, and headphones that connected to a little radio like thing that clipped on our belts. Our tour guide had a headset with a microphone so everything he said we could clearly hear in our headphones. We started out with some brewery history, very much like the free tour. We toured the beechwood aging facility, and got to take a beechwood chip home. We then headed across the street to the brew house. We got to see the wort/mash tanks up close, and were able to see them adding the hops. We also were able to see the various computer monitors in the control room. It was much more in depth and up close than the free tour. From there we went to the bottling and canning building and we were able to tour a bottling line, getting up close and personal with many bottles of Bud Light. We were very close to the action and got to take home a couple of souvenir labels and bottle caps. It was amazing how fast the beer is bottled. Then we stopped at the stable where we were able to go right up to the stalls and pet the horses. The free tour does not get that close. We were able to go in to the tack room, then out the back of the stable where we were able to meet one of the Dalmatian dogs that rides atop the wagon. We walked down to the finishing house, and were able to go inside where it was a chilly 34 degrees. There we were given a free souvenir tasting glass and then able to fill it up with beer directly from the finisher. We drank Bud Light that would be bottled/canned the next day... the freshest Bud Light we would every have. Neither Eric & I are huge Bud Light fans, as we generally prefer ales or stouts to lagers... but right out of the finishing tank at that cold temperature even Bud Light tasted darn good. It was lots of fun, and we both filled our glass a second time. Our tour concluded back in our private room where we had free reign over the refrigerator which was stocked with just about every A-B product. Eric enjoyed a couple of Budweiser American Ales, while I tried a Shock-Top and a Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale.... all of them were very good.

All in all it was a great tour, and we think definitely worth the money. Heck the beer, hat and glass were at least $25. We happened to hear our guide telling another couple about a bar/restaurant that his buddy's parents owned that was nearby so we headed there for dinner. It was a great relatively authentic Irish pub, known as John D. McQurks. The food was delicious, Eric had a steak and I had the lamb. They also had more traditional Irish fare as well. Eric enjoyed a black & tan, and I had a Bass. It was just a cool place.

After dinner we headed downtown to check into our hotel, making sure to get there before the baseball game was over and we had to deal with traffic. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza for $50 on Priceline. Our room was huge, and we had a balcony with a view of the Arch and we could even see a little bit of the stadium.

In Sunday we were headed out to St. Louis Bread Company to meet Nikki and her Dad for breakfast... ironically they were at the game the night before and in STL as well, when we ran into Eric's Uncle Dave and his cousin Lisa and their family in our hotel lobby. What a small world. After breakfast we headed to the Cards game. It was Adam Wainwright bobblehead day so we have another to add to our collection. One day when we get the basement fixed up for entertaining we hope to display all of them. The weather for the game was amazing for August in STL. The high was 68, and I was actually a tiny bit cool! The Cards won and all was good. After the Cards struggled when we went to see them last season, Eric found a winning combination for this season. He wears his new blue jersey (that his thoughtful wife got him for his birthday) and his old standby, the STL floppy hat. The Cards win, and Eric looks cute so I am good with it.

We headed home after the game, and that is when I started to feel a cold coming on. I had a nasty head, then chest cold for most of the week. Then Friday Eric started to get it. I am more or less better, but poor Eric is still suffering from "floating head". Today I got ambitious and started tackling some outdoor work. Our lawn looks pretty good, but we have weeds that are out of control in most every planting bed around our house. Today I tackled the west side of the house, and the bed to the west of our patio. That bed has an incline and is lined with river rock... which is a tumble down the hill waiting to happen. Thankfully I maintained my footing. I am sure I will be plenty sore in the morning because pulling weeds on a hillside uses muscles I didn't even know I had... but it looks much better.

Here & There

The weekend before last Eric and I headed to STL for an impromptu get away. We had vouchers from Cardinal Nation for free tix to see the Cards, and Priceline came through with an inexpensive hotel room, so we hit the road Friday after work. We slept late on Saturday, and then went and checked out Square One Brewery & Distillery near Lafayette Square. It was great. We had a long leisurely lunch which was delicious, and sampled some of their brews. All of them were good, and a couple were very, very good. It was a great place to wait out the rain. Next time we hope to sit in the nice little beer garden, and possibly explore the rest of the neighborhood. It is always a good trip when we can find a good brew pub. That evening we headed to the baseball game. The rain moved off, and we had a very pleasant night. It was August in STL and we weren't sweating! The game was great, two Matt Holliday home runs, and a complete game by Carp, and we realized it was the first Cards game the two of us had gone to by ourselves, which we thought was kind of funny. Sunday we had a big breakfast and then headed to Grant's Farm. It was a lovely day, so it was rather crowded but we enjoyed the animals, and perhaps even more entertaining was the people watching. It was a nice relaxing weekend, and just great to spend time together without the distractions of a household to get in the way.

This past weekend we stayed close to home. Mike & Linda came over for dinner Friday, and we played cards. On Sunday after church we went to Scott County Park just north of Davenport to meet our friends John, Marla and Jeremiah for a picnic. There are friends from C-U (I worked with John at the Assembly Hall) that recently moved to Tipton, Iowa. The park was very nice, a perfect halfway point to meet, and it was just fun to catch up. We talked about all things Illini without getting the "You know you are in Iowa, right?" look and Jeremiah kept us entertained. My favorite was when he pulled out a little basketball out of his bag, and was throwing it about and said "I need a hoop!", but at 2 1/2 his "h's" need a bit more work, so it came out "I need a poop!" Too cute.

The Things You Will Do For A "Free" T-Shirt

Tonight Eric & I headed to Old Chicago to finish up our summer mini-tour, "American Craft Brews". The last one was not so good... the Rogue Chipotle Ale. Eric found the taste more offensive than I, as he doesn't really care much for chipotle in any form, let alone beer. But since we were going to get a free t-shirt for finishing our mini-tour we both somehow felt obligated to finish it.

It is even nastier the second time around... if you know what I mean... lots of Tums will be consumed at Janeric Hills tonight.

Beer drinkers beware... if there is chipotle or any kind of pepper in your beer... step away.

How about that...

In our new world of living and sharing together Jane and I spent a wonderful day doing what we enjoy best. We spent the day together shopping for the house and making plans for our new bedroom. After spending the late morning and early afternoon shopping, we made a quick pit stop at home then headed out for an afternoon and evening of enjoying time together. We ate at Granite City and partook in Duke Ellington IPA, a brew produced by Granite City. We also enjoyed a great meal and the Cubs-Cardinals game from our booth in the bar. We then proceeded down to Modern Woodman Park, home of the Quad City River Bandits, the Low Class A affilate of the Cardinals. We discovered while sitting in the stands the the Cardinals had beaten the Cubs 8-2. What could be better? We enjoyed local craft beers from the Great River Bewery. We were disapponted that Bent River was not at the Park like it was last year. We were greatly pleased this new beer. We enjoyed the beer and a River Bandits come back to go ahead. Then their opponents hit a three run shot to pull back ahead. Our hopes for a Bandit's win were dashed and the Bandits themselves seemed to struggling to generate any offense afterward. Then comes the bottom of the ninth. Domnit Bolivar hit a solo shot into left center field. Afterwhich two more Bandits get on then Niko Vasquez hits a rocket to the center field wall finishing the an exciting 9th innning come back win. How about that for the perfect double header on TV/at Modern Woodman? Cards beat the Cubs and Bandits win a ninth inning thriller 9-8.