Two words....dry hopped

My dear friend Steve is a great educator. His latest effort has been teaching me all the ins and outs of brewing beer. The one thing I have learned has to be about dry hopping. Now hops are a part of every beer, it's what gives beer it's "bitter" characteristic and is usually introduced in the "wort" part of the process (the boiling of the malt and hops). Most all US domestic beers brew this way. The mass American market is not very hop friendly. I have blogged before about my love of hops here. Steve knowing about my love of hops taught me about "dry hopping". After the boiling of the wort, it is cooled and then more hops are added to the cold wort for the fermentation process. The advantage? Why I'll tell you. The aroma is not destroyed from the heat. It carries over so that when you lift that glass to your nose you are hit with a floral/green essence that enhances the taste like none I have ever had.
The front runners are Hop Devil, Hazed and Confused from Boulder Co. and my favorite as of late is Surly Furious made in MN. What a great beer.
Steve, if I am mistaken in any of my info, please feel free to correct....oh Obi Wan Kanbeerme.

Through Amelia's eyes...

Took Amelia in to the city to have lunch with Mom, Dad and Aunt Virginia. Lunch was fine and more than a few stories of relative situations were shared. I broke out the trusty camera to grab a few shots and Amelia wanted to take some pictures. I hand her the camera and off she goes. Not expecting much, I did a double take at what she captured.
I think we have a future photog in the making. I'm very excited.

Mid March catch up...

It's funny how when I'm sitting around frustrated with the way things are going, all I have to do is look at the recent pictures I have and I'm reminded of how blessed I am.
Here's what's been going on.
1. Still been applying to many job positions, not much return activity.
2. Olive turned one and is now walking a whole bunch.


3. Amelia is well, Amelia. My little buddy, 'nuff said.


4. The weather seems to have broken. Today reached the mid 70's. We took the cover off the rag top and went for a very nice drive.
5. Kim made her pond about 20+ inches deeper to have the ability for me to have a few fish....YEAH, FISH!
6. Craig Lickliter's wife flew him in to town for his 50th bithday and we were able to
pull a few strings to get him in the Sunday morning band.




My Mac guru Brian and myself, decided to shoot a project once a week just to keep busy.
This week we are shooting Brian's different coffee gadgets.
I'll post some of our videos as they come.

Notes from Sunday

Community Christian Church has seven locations. I usually play at the main campus (the Yellow Box). Bill Carroll heads up the music over at the downtown Naperville campus and he asked if I would consider becoming part of the second Sunday regular band. I thought if I could still do a weekend over at the box also, why not?
The killer part is that the regular guys in the band I was asked to join are amazing players. Chris Stell was 3 years old when I first started playing at the church. He's now 23 and a monster player. Wonderful organ parts(on his guitar) to color fills in any style AND rip your face off rock and roll makes this guy a serious force.
Steve Schneck is an solid Bass player that leaves my mouth hanging open every time he plays. Dan Knighten is the new kid on the block. A 20 year old drummer that is rock solid and a humble man. This is one good band and I am a fortunate man.

Chris Stell


Steve Schneck


Dan Knighten

Money, music and meat...

A few friends of mine were comparing "pay for play" situations in our musical lives.
We all have made a little money playing weddings and such but when it comes to being paid for providing music for an evening, my friend John has the best story.
He was hired by a group to play a show in Montana. They paid for his travel and such with the promise of financial compensation after the show.
The show ends and the people sheepishly explained that they didn't make enough on the show to pay him the agreed wage.
They handed him a little money, a used pair of cowboy boots and a bag full of Elk meat.

John wins, how can we ever top that?

An actual rant?

What is it with companies that they are so full of themselves that they can't even send a rejection of a job application? I know there's a glut of people out of work but come on. Out of the slew of jobs I have applied to I finally got a nice rejection letter from a company. You would have thought I won the lottery, I was thrilled. I wrote the HR people and thanked them for at least treating me with enough respect to tell me I wasn't right for them. If I am ever in a situation of being applied to, I hope that I would have the common courtesy to let people down with the utmost of respect.