Category: Beer

Categories
Beer Food

Summer day, in spring

Back yardAfter a couple weeks of dark, cloudy, cold, and rainy weather, Portland was hit with a summer-like day, 76 degrees and clear blue skies. I had a few errands to run (picking up my taxes from the accountant, driving to the Toyota dealership to get some warranty work done) and then finally got home and was able to pull some weeds and mow the lawn. I just got back from a trip to the local grocery store, and everybody else seemed to be there for the same thing I was… BBQ fixins and beer. Well, they were there for beer, I have plenty of that. 🙂

Wonderful day. Too bad it’s not going to last. Oh well. I’m sitting at the table pictured, waiting for a sausage to heat up. Have it with a bit of sauerkraut and beer. Yum!

Categories
Beer Travel

Liver reprieve, and Kelly’s Travel Hell

After getting a new Keg on Saturday I decided to give my liver a bit of a reprieve. It needed it, even though the liver is evil. However, tonight I’m left on my own (Kelly left for a work trip to Texas for the next 5 nights) and the keg of Terminal Gravity ESG beckoned. I could no longer resist it’s call.

I’ve been getting texts from Kelly throughout the day, and sadly, she’s been caught up in the American Airlines flight cancellations that have been plaguing airports the past several days. She and a coworker made it to Seattle, planning on catching a connecting flight to Austin, which ended up canceled. As a result, they had to re-route to Salt Lake City, then catch a flight to Houston, where they’ll have to drive the nearly 3 hours to Austin. Last thing I heard is that they weren’t scheduled to arrive in Houston until 11:30pm Houston time. Egads, what a mess!

Oh, and we learned yesterday that Kelly’s sister and her family are moving to Salisbury, England for the next two years. Kelly’s brother-in-law is in the military, and is getting stationed there (one of four possible locations, most a great deal less interesting) and they are all very excited about it. And so are we, I think we already know where our next trip will be (after the one we’ll be taking next month). It’s probably going to be a very interesting struggle, moving a family of four (including two boys) to another country. However, I’m a bit jealous of the eldest son, he’ll probably turn 18 over there. PUBS!

UPDATE: Kelly and her coworker have landed in Houston. Now they just face a long-ass drive to Austin.

Categories
Beer Food

Terminal Gravity, & more Goose

Today I went and picked up a keg of Terminal Gravity ESG, a very tasty ale. I was going to get Guinness, however there isn’t anywhere open on the weekends that will sell the nitro/co2 mix (known as ‘brewgas’) tanks I need. Apparently I need a 75/25 mixture (75% nitro) to get that perfect creamy texture, and there’s not many places in town that even sell brewgas tanks. Hopefully I’ll get one over the next few weeks and have it ready. I did however stop off at the local brewing supply store and picked up the Guinness keg assembly and the fancy faucet I need. Time to start hunting for a Guinness tap handle. 🙂

Tonight Kelly and I met friends at the Goose (three weekends in a row, hooray!). Had fun catching up with J & J, and A & Z. The weather was just warm enough to enjoy their covered and heated patio area, and we kind of had it to ourselves due to the crappy weather outside. The whole pub was fairly slow too, so it meant the service was fantastic. Had a great time out.

Categories
Beer

The saddest sound in the world

Tonight, after spending some quality time with my friends M and T (not to be confused with Mr. T, though if combined, they would surely rival the awesomeness of that infamous bad-ass, foo!) at Shanghai Tunnel, and then heading to my place to sip off my keg, we were witness to the saddest sound in the world… the sound of a dying keg. Never mind the cry of a hungry child, or the whimper of a puppy left outside on a cold night, that “ssshhhhh-ghllghlllghglg” that signals the death of a keg of beer is far, far worse. Especially when it happens before 9:30pm on a Friday. The horror!

I guess I know what I’m doing tomorrow.

Categories
Art Beer Entertainment Food Travel

Goose, work, beer & travel plans

OK, it’s been a bit since my last post, here’s what I’ve been up to:

  • Kelly and I have been to the Goose Hollow Inn a couple weekends in a row, first just Kelly and I, a second time with our friends T & Aymie and Miranda. Good lord I love their reuben sandwich. Mmmmmm….
  • Had an afternoon outing with some co-workers last Friday. The development team at SuperSweetCo were given a few hours reprieve to celebrate the the next big release of SuperSweetCo’s flagship app, and were taken to Grand Central Bowl. And despite my embarrassing high score of 86, I had a good time. Oh, Grand Central is definitely the fanciest bowling alley you’ll ever go to.
  • Still digging on the kegerator, my brother dropped by over the weekend, we hung out in my garage (aka: ‘Ryan N Kelly’s Pub’), had pizza delivered, and generally had fun chatting and sipping beers.
  • Kelly and I have been planning another trip to Europe (Belgium and Netherlands, taking advantage of the direct flights from Portland to Amsterdam)… looking forward to another vacation.

I’ll close with a video I found yesterday, by Trey Parker & Matt Stone (of South Park fame) featuring an audio clip by Alan Watts.

You can watch more of these here.