Many things happened today. Or not.

Today I had: 3-1/2 cigarettes. (Mental note: see what phase the moon is in on 06/30/2009) Not really craving one. Want one to a mild degree, but not a problem as it was the other week when I decided to stop. Didn't last four hours that day.

I bummed a smoke from someone at work in the late AM and discovered that after smoking, I was hot and sweaty like I have been since the weather turned hot. Hmmm. I went to Kroger tonite to get some goods and didn't think of buying tobacco or cigarettes until I was in checkout, when I saw the Tic Tacs. I added two boxes of 'Tacs to my bounty of truck. If I feel weak, I will pop tic tacs.

I remembered that tomorrow is Barb's birthday. HBD, Barb! Love yez! I also remembered why I remembered. At least I remembered!~

I loaded Windows 7 RC on a Virtual Machine in my computer the other day and downloaded updates today. It is interesting. But, that's a story for another day....

AAA tastes great!

Probably not less filling, but WTF... I'm a beer guy. It needs to bottle finish about a week more to improve the carbonation level, but the mouthfeel now is pretty good already. Will have to make this again and again!

Tried another bottle of the Biere de Garde.... still needs finishing. I'll let it go another month in the cellar before I try again. Not much carbonation and the mouthfeel is not all that impressive yet. As a worse case scenario, it will make excellent cooking beer: braising liquid, stews, BBQ, etc. if it doesn't turn out well enough to share with my homies.

Fourth and 5th of July is Floyd Fandango. I, and my home brew home boyz & gurls will be attending to pour beer for free admission, and to help Blue Ridge Hydroponics & Homebrew Supplies' owners, Chris & Fran, man their booth. Trish may go... we'll see. If not, I'll camp. This is supposed to be a nice soiree...

Yo-yo-yo...! CyberDave Raps....

I gots me a rap joint to doo-dah on the homies when they starts bustin' a rhyme on me:

(doomp-doomp CHHH, Ch-doomp-doomp CHHH, Ch-doomp-doomp CHHH, Ch-doomp-doomp CHHH-)

My name is CyberDave from the 'C on Willy-D,
Come on in and buy your drink from me;
We got your 'Henny;
We got your 'Patrome' (Patron..),
Come-in-the-house - buy-it-from-me
And You can take it home!

(Ch-doomp-doomp CHHH, Ch-doomp-doomp CHHH, Ch-doomp-doomp CHHH, Ch-doomp-doomp CHHH...)

Now, ev'ry body knows that stealing is wrong;
that's one of the reasons that I wrote this song.
I go a white dog, a a big Samoyed - 
If I see some stealin', she will bites 'em on the head!
..when I say: "Kill, Whitey!"

(Ch-doomp-doomp CHH, Kill, Whitey! - CHHH-Ch-doomp-doomp CHHH...)

So if you do your shoppin’ at
The 'C on Willy-D,
Keep your hands on your ‘unit’ an’ your eyes on what you see:
'Cause if a joint of 'Goose goes into your 7-Day 'Shitters,
I'll say: “KILL Whitey!” and she'll have you for her dinner!
"Kill, Whitey!"

(CHH, Ch-doomp-doomp,
Kill, Whitey!, CHH-Ch-doomp-doomp CHHH...)

The meeting went well...

I entered my Biere de Garde as a Saison, and got 24 out of 50 points, still a "good" beer. I wasn't surprised that the score wasn't higher as it wasn't the style and I got a lot of good feedback on the beer. One thing for sure, I need to cellar the stuff longer to get sufficient carbonation. As a Biere de Garde, it seems to be very close to style, by looking at the BJCP guidelines for the style.

On Sunday I bottled my American Amber Ale. The FG was 1.004... making me wonder whether it will carbonate very soon. Should have bottled sooner, I think. Time will tell. I bottled two plastic bottles to pressure test for carbonation and got 12 bomber style bottles and 24 12 oz. bottles out of the 5 gallons that I drew from the secondary.

During cleanup, I broke my hydrometer. They are always getting broken... should maybe get a case of them one day.

June Brew Club Meeting

Today is the June brew club meeting day. I'm entering my Biere de Garde as a Saison - they are probably close enough to pass - and beside I want some feedback. I tasted one the other night and it tasted cloyingly sweet despite finishing at 1.013, with insufficient carbonation. (Hopefully both issues will improve with age) I used a bottle of the stuff to braise the tenderloin that I BBQ'd the other day. If it doesn't get any better, I can use the Biere de Garde for cooking - one of the benefits of a bad batch: you can use it to cook in many cases. After braising, I poured the juices over the pulled meat to add a little more moisture and fat since the 'loin is pretty lean. Or was it shoulder? I should have read the package. Might have been shoulder, but it was still pretty lean. Anyhow, Trish and I will go to the meeting after I get off of work today. Thank goodness that we're not doing inventory this week; I hate doing inventory after a night of revelry.

Tomorrow I may brew a Blonde ale, but I'll have to get the yeast on Monday after work. Wasn't sure what I was going to brew when I was at Blue Ridge Hydro & Homebrew Supply the other day but after tasting one of Bryan's Blond Ales, I thougth that it was just the thing. More later.

Another Dave in Paradise...

I used a bottle of my Biere de Garde to braise the pork loin that I barbecued yesterday, leaving it in the oven for 5 hours at 225° and in another hour with the heat turned off. It came out fork-tender and it tastes delicious! The beer, however, needs another month to condition, I am guessing. Maybe more. No carbonation other than bottle pressure and cloyingly sweet, despite finish gravity reading of 1.013. I'll enter it as a Saison in the club competition anyway, tomorrow. At least I'll get some feedback.

I could have brewed yesterday but it just wasn't in me after I got rolling in the morning. Besides, the yeast that I have on hand (Munton's Ale yeast) was three years past use by date. Couldn't have been any good. Maybe I'll add it to the AAA when I bottle just in case there is a spark of life left in it. Instead of brewing, I went to Bryan's and kept him company while he brewed, then went to the hardware store for some drain cleaner and then home to to things around the house. Blah. Another wasted day, for all practical purposes.

Strange day...

And another strange day at The Gov'nor's Palace...

But that is another story. For another day. I watched 'Rescue Me' on F/X network tonite and drank Scotch (lacking Irish) along with Tommy. Smoked cigarettes during the commercials. Tommy has the life I want to have -interesting encounters with others, drinking Irish Whisky, working. The working part is the important part - I want to have a job where I enjoy the work; I enjoy parts of the likker peddling trade, but others suck. Like the pay, the part time status, no bennies, the ever increasing petty rules that are handed down by the petty overlords.... it sucks in that respect. I DO enjoy the parts where I communicate with the Pilgrims, though. That is what keeps me sane. Even when I feel like shite, when I parlay with the Pilgrims I get to feeling better. And eventually I AM better. However, I expect to be summoned to the castle at any time...

A customer came in today and said that the White House had taken over NBC. Now as we all know, NBC has been in the tank for Obama since Day One.... but this is a bit frightening: when dictators take over countries, the first thing that they do is to take over the media. Wonder what is in store next? Hmmm....