Tim Webb, probably the most prolific writer on Belgium Beers and author of Good Beer Guide Belgium
, has a new TV series that is hopefully going to make it to a market near me (and you) sometime next year.

Belgium Beer Boner… Engaged!

So we bottled what may be our best (3rd) batch of an IPA yesterday. The whole process went incredibly smooth from sparge to bottling. We were so happy with ourselves that we felt a celebratory beer was in order. We put the beer in the back of Matt’s car and headed over to the Small Bar.

They had some great pulls yesterday: Surly Furious, Bockor Cuvee Sour Ale, Victory Prima Pils, Half Acre’s Baume, Tyranena’s Dirty Ol’ Man. It was a fine, fine celebration indeed, well armed and strategically executed. We even tried some of Rogue’s Whiskey, which, like Stranahan’s Flying Dog, they make from left over mash from their Dead Guy Ale. Rogue’s Whiskey was remarkably smooth with a touch of sweetness and a salty back end that is probably from them aging it in oak barrels by the Ocean. Though they only age the stuff for a week, so it’s also possible that salty flavor is from their talented marketing department as well.

But I digress. It was a monumental celebration. And goddamn, the Victory Pils and Dirty Ol’ Man were fantastic. Of course, all the beers were great, especially the sour from Bockor, a pitch-perfect modestly bodied sour that makes instantly weak any devotee of the flemish sours. But I hadn’t had the Victory Prima Pils until yesterday, so it really stood out for me.

Victory refers to it’s Prima Pils as a German Pilsner and though it may come off sounding initially a bit derisive, I would call Victory’s Prima Pils an American Pilsner, or maybe a New American Pilsner as I feel this is the first beer that actually deserves it’s name. It’s hop heaviness serves as a refreshing compliment to the crispness of the beer, the stuff practically snaps off and crunches in your mouth. There is some discussion amongst the beer geeks as to whether Victory is stretching the truth claiming they only use German malts in the Prima Pils. Some brewers are convinced the slight sour apple taste – the often undesirable acetyldehyde – on the front end is derived from wheat. There’s also some discussion as to whether this is an all Saaz brew or if there is some Northern Brewer at the bittering point. Wherever the flavors are coming from they are well proportioned. This beer is crisp, bright and hoppy enough to keep my filthy fingers digging back in for more. And I will.

This may be one of only, oh, three or four times I will say this in my life, but… that Dirty Ol’ Man, he was very good to me last night. Strong chocolate notes in a creamy body with just enough roasted character and hopiness to keep the stout from going past it’s surprisingly sessionable self.

And, as always, the food at the Small Bar was great, too. The pork nachos are incredible, the poutine is fucking trascendental, but yesterday we started with their Buffalo Chicken Spring Rolls:

chopped chicken sautéed in our house buffalo
sauce then wrapped with crumbled blue cheese
and fried in a traditional spring roll. served
with carrots, celery, green onion and blue
cheese for dippin

They’ve somehow managed to achieve the impossible and improve upon buffalo wings, making them easier to eat, and crunchier with a deep fried shell to safely transfer them from plate to face.

And as always the staff at Small Bar are some of my favorite people in the world, they always take good care of us.

But, OH SHIT! I forgot! The whole reason we came into the Small Bar to celebrate in the first was because of our beer. That we left in the car. In 20* weather. For now almost 24 hours.

Shit.

I woke up this morning, and while sharing a lovely breakfast with my equally lovely wife she off-handedly reminded me of my orphaned babies in the truck. This is, perhaps, as good as any argument for why I shouldn’t father children as well. It would be a shame to go out and properly celebrate my kid’s learning to ride a bike, or learning to read, or using the toilet only to come to the stark realization the next day that I would up leaving him in the car for 24 hours while I proudly drank in his honor.

But, in my defense, children and yeast are pretty resilient. After moping for a few minutes I hit the Beer Advocate forum and queried the geeks. And in under ten minutes I had 2 responses that put my mind at ease. Essentially, all I needed to do was give the beers a god swirl or two, put them back in the crate and expect full carbonation as if nothing had happened. My fear was, leaving the beer at around 35* for about 10 hours (20 hours in the car in 15-25* weather) that the yeast had gone dormant and wouldn’t get back up anytime soon to eat. But apparently, I have more than one thing in common with yeast, not the least of which is the will to perservere through a decent night’s rest with more than a little bit of snacking.

So, our team of crackhead brewers here at OA have found a new and interesting way to try and ruin our beer. Fortunately, this attempt was a bit easier to recover from than some mistakes of the past have been. I now wait patiently for the next manner in which we can subjugate ourselves on the road to delicious and plentiful beers.

I just scrubbed this from Half Acre’s blog. Sounds awesome, almost awesome enough for me to jump on it despite it being so spendy. Check it out:

Half Acre is taking part in a big collaborative beer dinner on Feb 22, 2010.

Every year, Mindy Segal, owner of Hot Chocolate on Damen, throws a celebratory anniversary event. This is her 5th anniversary and she’s put together a beer dinner that promises be stellar. 7 chefs & 7 breweries.

Check out the lineup of talent:

Benjamin Caulfield of Three Floyd’s passed apps…House made charcuterie
Nick Lessins of Grate Lakes Brewing Co passed apps

Aric Miech…Hot Chocolate (starter) with Half Acre Beer Co

Bill Kim…Urban Belly/Belly Shack (soup) with Lagunitas

Paul Kahan…Blackbird/Avec/Publican/Big Star (Seafood/Fish) Three Floyd’s

Michael Kornick…mk/dmk (poultry or game) Goose Island

Rick Bayless…Topolobombo/Frontera grill (meat) Surly Brewing Co.

Paul Virant…Vie restaurant (composed cheese) Revolution Brewing Company

Mindy Segal…Hotchocolate (dessert) Piece Brewery

Tickets are $150 per person and will likely sell out fast. See Hot Chocolate for details.

Join us Monday, February 15 for another beer dinner featuring a local favorite, Bell’s Brewery.

Chef Todd Davies and the SmallBar Team will be presenting five courses paired with some of the breweries best.

Please call us on 773-772-2727 or stop in and speak with a server or bartender to save your seat today.

Here’s the Facecreep page.
Here’s the Small Bar website.

There is plenty of information in the mediasphere on how you can donate to help the victim’s of the Haitian earthquake, though there is little discussion that I have seen on practical solutions for implementing the financial aid that is pouring in. But then this morning, I noticed the Dangerous Mind’s post on Chicago’s Vinay Gupta’s Hexayurt project.

Cheap, extremely portable, and able to be constructed quickly by a single person, the Hexayurt is a remarkably efficient solution to creating a temporary shelter for disaster areas, refugee situations, construction sites, military installations or festivals.

Vinay developed this for his camp at Burning Man and has been pushing them for the better part of the past decade. We had several plans to interview him for the Viking Youth Power Hour, but never saw that plan to completion though I wish we had. There’s little I enjoy more than seeing an elegant solution to a difficult problem and Vinay’s Hexayurts clearly fit that bill.

This year’s Lake View Polar Club “Celebration of Shrinkage” will be on Saturday January 30th at high noon at the Oak Street beach.

I mean to do this every year, but flake on it for one reason or another. There’s a good chance I’m going to be in Tahoe that weekend snowboarding, but if I’m not there’s a moderate possibility I won’t flake on it this year.

The swim will take place
at Oak Street Beach by the Hancock Building just north of the Magnificent Mile. All participants should plan on arriving by 11:30am
to register, set up camp, and to allow time for pictures prior to jumping in.

The after party will take place that evening at Galway Bay
(500 W. Diversey) from 9pm-Midnight. A generous portion of
the fee associated with the drink special will go towards
helping out families in need. As always, we will also be
having a raffle at the after party. Click HERE for a list of
prizes. Tickets are $2/each or 3 for $5. Tickets can be
purchased in advance, at the beach or at the after party or by
using our PayPal link on the donation page.

Go to their site for all the info.

Don’t lose hope dear internetting ones, we still have every intention of launching the full Outsider’s Almanac website in the near future, it just won’t be quite as soon as we had hoped. We’re pretty insanely busy these days, between writing projects, client needs, body/mind/spirit rehabbing and the pursuit of winter in it’s many splendered and distracting forms, but you should expect to see the site live by around April 1st, 2010.

We’ve got our sites on making Outsider’s Almanac the most exhaustive and user friendly site for all Outsider activities by combining tutorials with expert articles, videos, web based and mobile communication apps, up-to-the-minute live and critical information on sites and conditions, gear reviews, site reviews, events, and so much more.

Like you, we love the Outside, it’s beautiful out here, and boy is it easy to get distracted. We wouldn’t want it any other way.

Here’s the schedule of the Olympic Snowboarding events that I pulled from the official site of the Winter Olympics. I’m not sure why it starts with Day 4 or skips to Day 15 abruptly. Maybe that’s Day N of the Vancouver Olympics?

The 2010 Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) and BrewExpo America® will be held from April 7 – April 10 at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in downtown Chicago. Attendees can expect over 40 presentations from speakers from all facets of the brewing industry. BrewExpo America® will once again be packed with exhibitors offering the latest supplies and tools for your business.

Click here to register or learn more.

It’s like the subject says, just like the subject says. It’s at the Small Bar on Division, too.

Here’s more info.