The past couple of weeks

I see it's been a while since I posted anything of substance. (As if I ever post anything of substance.) So here's a quick look at what's been going on:

• Wednesday, January 30: Filled kegs. Cleaned a bright beer tank. Drove to Omaha and got four Botox shots in my back.


• Thursday, January 31: Cleaned kegs. Filtered the Bugeater Brown Ale.


• Friday, February 1: Did the state and federal monthly excise taxes.


• Monday, February 4: Cleaned the draft lines. Took the filter apart and ordered new seals for it.


• Tuesday, February 5: Drove out to North Platte (with a lunch stop at Thunderhead in Kearney) for the Governor's Agri/Eco-Tourism Workshop.
  
  
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  Met a farmer from Linwood who found some wild hops growing on his property; he's interested in cultivating hops for sale to Nebraska breweries. Drank entirely too much beer with Zac and Trevor.


• Wednesday, February 6: Drove home from North Platte (with a lunch stop at Thunderhead in Kearney).


• Thursday, February 7: Filled kegs. Continued recovering from the North Platte trip.


• Friday, February 8: Picked up Paris at the Omaha airport. Since her flight didn't arrive until 8:45pm, there was time for stops at Upstream Legacy, Nebraska Brewing, Jaipur, Huber Haus, and Max & Joe's before heading to the airport. Then Paris decided she was thirsty, so we stopped by Max & Joe's again on the way home.


• Sunday, February 10: Took Paris back to Omaha, with a dinner stop at Nebraska Brewing.


• Monday, February 11: Cleaned the draft lines. Transferred eight barrels of Tin Lizzie Hefeweizen to the cellar.


• Tuesday, February 12: Cleaned a fermenter. Made 14 barrels of root beer.


• Wednesday, February 13: Worked out a schedule for the next couple of weeks. Cleaned the picnic taps. Cleaned some growlers.

So that's that. Here are some upcoming events:

• February 18 and 22: Tentative brew dates


• February 23: Extreme Beerfest in Omaha. We'll be pouring our Empress of Darkness.


• February 24: A week in Konstanz, Germany


• March 19: Five days in San Jose to be a Shark for a Day


• April 11-12: Judging the Titletown Open homebrew competition in Green Bay

Incompetent beer hijackers spill precious, precious beer

To be filed under Stupid Criminal Tricks:

Two men attempting to hijack a beer truck in London on Saturday ended up crashing the vehicle only a few hundred yards away, spilling beer canisters into the street and flooding the road with booze.

Read the whole sad story at the Metro.

108-year-old who swore by Coors Light dies

Hmmm...I guess it is good for something after all.

[Alberta] Krieg was 108 when she passed away Thursday morning at Heritage House, Wilkes-Barre.



Krieg had frequently credited drinking Coors Light as the key to her longevity.



“Coors Light keeps me young,” she said in a previous interview with The Citizens’ Voice.



Coors Light was first brewed in 1978, when Krieg was 79. The Coors brewery opened in 1873, just 26 years before Krieg was born.

Read the entire obituary at The Citizens Voice.

Liquor store makes biggest splash

The Guinness Book of World Records has certified that Daveco Liquors in Thornton, Colorado is the world's largest liquor store.

"I kept saying this is the world's largest liquor store, and people kept saying 'You can never prove that,'" said [store owner Henry] Sawaged. "But now people know I am a man of my word."



The 102,000-square-foot Daveco is the size of most supermarkets in the metro area. It includes a customer-service area, 66 beer cooler doors, a walk-in beer cooler, a humidity-and-temperature-controlled 7,500-bottle wine cellar, a wine testing room and a cigar humidor.



There is also a sprawling kitchen and a 5,000-square-foot basement. In all, Daveco features $3 million in inventory including 9,000 types of wine, 2,400 brands of liquor and 800 different beers at the store, located at 16434 Washington St., east of Interstate 25, north of E-470.

Read all about it at the Denver Post.

Expert Tips To Pour The Perfect Beer

I guess for people like us, serving a beer properly has become second nature. But these types of articles still remind me of the annoying television ad:

Voice-Over: How to order a Cuervo Black and cola.

Man (approaches bar): Cuervo Black and cola.

Still, there are some good tips in this article for the currently-uninformed.

"You never want to put a really good beer in a frozen glass. It's a waste of money," [Randy Mosher] says. "The aromas just can't get out. They get locked into the liquid. So at slightly warmer temperatures, they have the ability to jump out of the glass and get into your nose."

Educate yourself at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Mmmm, beer: Help solve one of life's great mysteries

Ice beer!

A local brewing company says the time has come to find an answer to one of life's most perplexing questions: How long can beer sit outside in winter before freezing?



The Great Western Brewing Co. is calling for public submissions into the negative effects of cold weather on their suds. With refrigerator space at a premium, many Canadians leave their beer in the snow when attending parties, said company president Ron Waldman.

Chill out with the entire article at The StarPhoenix.

My filter resumes hating me

Almost a year to the day since the last time, the beer filter started spewing beer all over the floor as I was filtering the Bugeater Brown Ale last Thursday.

I took it apart this morning, and sure enough, the seal is all busted up. So I called Scott Laboratories to order a new one. Maybe I'll have better luck putting it in this time.

Rest of today: Clean the draft lines, do the monthly taxes, make up a schedule for the rest of the week.

Tomorrow: I'll be at the Governor’s Agri/Eco-Tourism Workshop in North Platte.

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