Whine, pout, stomp those feet, cry, do whatever you have to, but make it very clear that your Christmas will totally suck dirty clown balls if you don’t get this personal hovercraft. Hey, it’s only $14,000.00! Has the future ever been more affordable?

Our first batch of OA Bitter is kicking and screaming it’s way through the birthing process as I write this, so it’s time for me to start thinking about bottling this stuff for the second fermentation.

One seriously important step in the bottling process is getting the beer out of the carboy, away from the yeast sediment and kreuzen, and into our bottling bucket that will be filled with a bit of dextrose.

To do this we’re going to be using what the ancients referred to as a Racking Cane. I know there’s a joke in there somewhere, but I’m going to leave that for you low-brow enthusiasts at home to mine.

So here’s a nice little video explaining the sanitation, priming and use of a racking cane. This guy from homebrewingvideo.com runs a little tighter ship then our friend from the previous beer sequence, but his information is good none-the-less.

For extra credit can you name the Replacements song at the beginning of the video? Do you know what 80’s movie it was featured in?

Matty’s post below reminded me of this, one of Thompson’s finest moments on paper, from Hell’s Angels:

With the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin, and no room at all for mistakes. It has to be done right . . . and that’s when the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that fear becomes exhilaration and vibrates along your arms. You can barely see at a hundred; the tears blow back so fast that they vaporize before they get to your ears. The only sounds are wind and a dull roar floating back from the mufflers. You watch the white line and try to lean with it . . . howling through a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica . . . letting off now watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds on the edge . . . The Edge . . . There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others—the living—are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later.

It’s strange these days, friends, as I see almost everyone I know doing “whatever they had to when it came to choose between Now and Later.”

I think we can still get a leeeetle bit closer, though, don’t you?

I was searching the internets, digging around for great beer themed vacations when I hit beertravelers.com and stumbled on a tradition from the small South Dakota town I grew up in, Brookings.

Brookings was generally not a very exciting place, just a regular little prairie town filled with good hearted honest folks of a mild temperament.  However, once a year in late June or early July Jim’s Tap, the best bar in town, hosts a Harley Ride Through Night when a bunch of bikers come to town and ride their bikes from the back beer garden through the bar and out onto main street.  I think it began as a stopping off point for folks on their way to Sturgis but the dates seem a bit early in the season for that these days.

Now, it’s been a good fifteen years since I’ve seen the spectacle and, as I remember, it seemed to get less and less renegade with each passing year but the earliest memories are pretty strong.
Long lines of gleaming bikes up and down both sides of main street, turning the sleepy little drag into a river of steel. Scantily clad women with a wild streak, strung out on the back of choppers lifting their shirts up above the bald heads of barrel chested ex cons as they boomed down the boulevard.  Jeez, I should get a job writing songs for The Boss:

Just watched some videos on youtube of the ride through and its definitely lost the hard, sometimes frightening edge, but why shouldn’t it, the edge is a harder and harder thing to find in this world.

All the same, I’m sticking to my memories and am inclined to believe that they are mostly true. Considering this tradition was started in 1971, I think it’s fair to say that the early population of enthusiasts included some folks who chose the road less traveled.
For what it’s worth Jim’s Tap is also a damn fine bar for a South Dakota town. Ever since I was wee one they’ve offered what they call “around the world” where in a brave soul pays something like $20, probably a bit more now, and gets 12 different brews from different parts of the world.  If you finish it before getting kicked out you get a t-shirt to boot.  I remember it being a popular past time of the ball players when I was a bat boy.  Anyrate, enough of the maudlin reminiscence, if your ever in Brookings get drunk at Jim’s. Tell ‘em I sent ya, I’d be curious to know if anyone in the place would know who the hell I was.

It’s 5:41am on this cheeeely autumnal morning and my fat, broken bones are up and out of bed. That could only mean one thing: DAWN PATROL!

Thas’ right, meestah, me and Trevor are heading down to the Wilson skate park this morning, for the first time in probably a month, to do some slight tearing (as opposed to shredding I guess) of said pool and park.

In honor of this momentous occasion why don’t you lazy sleeping-in sons-of-lichens enjoy this video of the adequately awesome Chris Haslam.

Teton Gravity’s latest in snowporn RE: Session will be showing at a watering hole in the Lake View side of town on November 12th.

Here’s the modest write up from the site, behold their mastery of understatement:

The award winning producers at Teton Gravity Research (TGR) present their newest 16mm and HD film, Re:Session. This project takes viewers beyond the traditional ski and snowboard movie into a revolutionary realm of action sports entertainment. Shot on both film and RED ONE high definition camera technology, Re:Session documents the true wealth of the mountain experience. Follow the crew as they score in one of Alagna, Italy’s deepest seasons on record. Check out forbidden powder in Poland, massive wedges in Colorado, new gap jumps in Utah, and seven weeks of epic riding conditions in Alaska. Re: Session brings the most talented athletes in the sport together into one must-see film. The all-star roster includes TGR regulars Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Seth Morrison, Kye Petersen, Ian McIntosh, Dana Flahr, Dylan Hood, Erik Roner, Wiley Miller, Shroder Baker, Todd Ligare, Mark Carter and Dash Longe rounded out with the fresh faces of Tanner Hall, Sammy Carlson, Rachael Burks, Cody Townsend and Callum Pettit.

Shot on location in: Jackson Hole WY, Alagna Italy, Last Frontier Heli-Skiing, Poland, Slovakia, Haines AK, North Cascade Heli-Skiing, Colorado, Stevens Pass WA, Utah, Montana, and Pemberton B.C.

Wow, I think my laptops balls just dropped.

Anyway, we’ll be there, stop by and make sure we’re drunk.

I promised this recipe in my post about New Holland’s Ichabod the other day. This here pumpkin chili recipe comes to us by way of Dr. Pants Laroo. Send all complaints and questions to her. Thanks Pants!

Ingredients
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup yellow pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons chili powder

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained
2 1/2 cups cooked pork shoulder

1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin {Add more if you really want a pumpkin flavor or use a fresh steamed}.

1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
3 cups chicken broth

Directions
1saute onions, pepper and garlic in oil until soft.
2stir in oregano, cumin, chili powder cook 1 minute and transfer to slow cooker.
3add remaining ingredients.
4cook on low for 7-8 hours.

I haven’t tried this yet, but will most likely make it for next weekend. I’ve also changed Pants’ recipe from a Turkey chili to a Pork chili because, well, pork is way better. I may also add some bacon to this as well. I’ll probably also add cilantro and maybe something for heat, too. Ah yes, and top it off with some manchengo.

I’ll post my updated recipe after I make it.

I like this guy’s style and his laid back approach to the process of home brewing beer. I’m starting with a Malt extract so we’ll be skipping these first two steps. He also skips the yeast starting, which I think is helpful, so I’ll post another video with that in the future.

The Mash:

The Sparge:

The Boil:

Chilling the Wort:

Putting It to Bed:

Last night I had a lovely and surprisingly feminine evening of shopping, sewing, accordian playing and drinking with my wife and a friend of ours who is making our soon-to-be awesome Halloween costumes.

After retiring a decent bottle of Cotes du Rhone I ducked under an umbrella for some beer and cigarettes. The rain was falling in meters and the yellow orange leaves of the city street caught the proper gloss under the moon. I stepped through the tin-frame of the neighborhood liquor store to find our next victim.

I drifted from a local regular, to a semi-local treat before finally landing on New Holland’s seasonal Ichabod. Here’s how New Holland describes it on their site:

Ichabod combines malted barley and real pumpkin with cinnamon and nutmeg in a delicious and inviting brew. A rewarding complement to many dishes, Ichabod pairs well with autumnal foods such as poultry and root vegetables. After dinner, try it with your favorite dessert!

This is the first pumpkin ale I’ve tried that I would ever drink again, let alone drink more than one in a row. And drink them I did. Extremely well balanced, giving a crisp start and finish, the pumpkin and the spice is there only as a shadow, something to be conjured with the proper foods rather than something to be dampened down by another, less obnoxious, brew. The coloring was nice although the carbonation was a bit underwhelming, though this probably was because I was drinking it from a 12oz bottle. Not much of a smell and what was there was not much to write home about.

All in all, this, like most of New Holland’s portfolio, was a surprising and very drinkable beer, one I will certainly revisit before the season is over. And, if you’re looking to serve this with a meal, you can hit up New Holland’s pairing index to get some suggested recipes to serve Ichabod with. I think I’m going to try it with Dr. Pants Laroo’s Pumpkin Chili (I’ll post that recipe later) that me and the wife-o will be drawing out this weekend.

I scrubbed this off the Backpacker.com blog. It’s a delicious soup that is easy to haul with you on hikes or multi-day bike rides.

Quinoa-Mushroom Soup
Serves 2-4,

1/2 cup dry shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 cups baby chard
2 cloves garlic, sliced
12 snow peas or green beans, cut in thirds
1 cup quinoa
1 cube vegetable bouillon
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

At home: if you buy quinoa in bulk, you should wash it before cooking to remove the bitter-tasting coating. Wash with five changes of cold water in a strainer and let dry. (If you buy it in-box, pre-washing isn’t necessary.) Cut up the mushrooms, garlic and carrots and place in a bag. Store the spinach and snow peas separately.

In camp: Place the quinoa, bouillon cube, mushrooms, and garlic in 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes, until the quinoa has begun to soften and the vegetables are cooked through. Stir in the baby chard and snow peas and cook a few more minutes over low heat until wilted. Salt and pepper to taste.

EDIT: I just made a variation of this for lunch and it’s great. I added 2-3 cups of a Belgian Ale, some leeks, carrots, and green onions. Awesome.