Monday, March 30, 2009

OH THE OUTRAGE!!! Funny little politics and question avoidance.

David Gregory asks why all the outrage about the AIG bonuses when in reality Geithner, Congress (well those that actually read the bill), and the President all knew about them before giving AIG the bailout (which in my opinion shouldn't have happened at all). In this segment Geithner avoids answering the questions not once, but three times. Let's watch!

The Dog Joint - Westerville, Ohio


About a year ago my wife brought home a couple hot dogs from a place she found in Westerville called The Dog Joint. It's a small place just inside uptown Westerville on State Street. It seats about 40 on the inside and around the same on the patio when it's open. The staff is very friendly. The place is clean. The dogs are prepared in front of you and made from pure Vienna beef and the toppings can range from chili and cheddar cheese to sauerkraut and 1000 Island Dressing. I haven't had all of them but I think it's a task I'd be willing to take. We decided to meet for lunch last Saturday and I thought I'd write a little something about it possibly enticing you to go for some dogs and people watching. The beer selection is n't great but they have Frostop Rootbeer on draft and frankly you can't go wrong with Frostop.
I had the "Windy City". Yellow mustard, onions, sweet neon relish, tomatoes, pickles, sport peppers and celery salt on an egg bun.

The best Chicago style dog I've had in Columbus and the surrounding areas. My wife had the Southern Belle. Brown mustard, onions, chili and coleslaw.

Great dog. The boys had a regular hot dog and a corn dog. They were also treated to some "puppy chow". From what I understand (ok, I took some I admit it, I was worried it had too much sugar so I did my fatherly duty and saved them from certain sugar overload) it's chex cereal coated in chocolate, peanut butter, and sprinkled with confectionery sugar. Great food, low prices, great location, and a clean friendly staff. If you're in the mood for a 'gourmet' dog this place is worth the trip.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Marzen is Dead - Long Live the Marzen!

Sadly it's gone and I'll have to wait until next the ZegerHaus Zegerfest. Yes it took a while to get rid of it but I don't drink a lot. Happily this opens room for the Imperial Salvic Ale and Raspberry Porter. My taste buds are about to broach over the anticipation.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Columbus Auto Show 2009

My oldest and I visited the Columbus Auto show this afternoon and had a blast. We've visited the show for the last 3 years. My dad usually goes with us but he missed out this year. No special guests or huge crowds. It was a nice leisurely late morning/early afternoon adventure. Here's a few favorites.


I would love to own one of these.
Check out the Dodge Rampage and the Ford F-150 Raptor.


One last bit of muscle before I go.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

I'm German but......


Slainte!
Gone are the days of 'kegs-n-eggs' I s'pose. No matter, my little ones now believe in Leprechauns. No not the awful one from that series of movies a decade ago. By the way who has more movies, him or Jason? Well anyway I'm referring to the one that leaves gold covered chocolate coins on thier shoes. Now who (Nestle or Hershey) thought of this idea? Leprechauns are notoriously cheap aren't they? Whatever happened to "you'll never get me pot-o-gold"? Why are we giving our kids so much candy? Instead of turning this into some off the cuff poli-rant I'll just go and enjoy my beer and call it a night. You guys have a safe night.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Robust Raspberry Porter

Switched/racked this to the secondary fermentor today. Final gravity is 1.018 (OG was 1.070) which gives me an ABV of around 6.8. I wasn't really shooting for this strength but I'll take it. I tasted a sample prior to adding the 3 pounds of raspberry pulp and this is really good. Too good. I've never made a porter and this isn't bad for a 1st attempt in my humble opinion. The raspberries should add a nice fruity flavor.

Cheers!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Stone 10th Anniversary Ale


I was lucky enough to find this at a favorite wine/beer shop a couple years ago. She had one of the last ones is Columbus and gave it to me. If you ever get a chance to stop by and buy stuff from Jaime (From the Vine, Lewis Center Ohio) I highly recommend it. She's awesome and never disappoints with her selection.
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The beer poured wonderfully orange and very thick with very little crown. The aroma is very earthy with strong grassy hops. It tastes great. A very earthy hoppiness to it. Some IPA's are incredibly laden with citrus flavors and aroma's but this is different. There's almost a wood like flavor to it. I wouldn't make this your first IPA but if you love them in all shapes and sizes don't skip this one. If I could find it I would buy it again in a heartbeat. Very good, strong too, 10%abv.
Cheers!

The Top Steakhouse (Restaurant Week in Columbus)

It's only Thursday so you still until the 15 to enjoy 'Restaurant Week' in Columbus.
Last night I took my wife to 'The Top' Steakhouse for her birthday. For around $60 we had an appetizer, 2 surf-n-turf entrees and 2 deserts. I had the chocolate cake and my wife had her favorite - creme brulee. The steak was excellent and the lobster was pretty good, a little tough but good. In my opinion there wasn't much of a difference between medium and medium-well but my wife enjoyed her medium-well nonetheless. The deserts were excellent I know, not very descriptive. What do you want? It's chocolate cake! Beer? No, I asked our waitress for something domestic and she started rambling off the usual bud, bud-light, miller....yada yada yada. I stopped her mid sentence and asked if she had anything from Great Lakes brewing. No. Fact is she'd never heard of it so I knew that was the end of my beer list. I had water.
So was it worth the $75 (tip included)? Yes but only once. It was a nice experiance over all but I don't hink we'll ever go back. It's definitely worth a try for those of you that have never been. It's been in Columbus for 50 years and is rated one of the top 50 steak places in the country.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Pumpkin Ale

It's been a while and I apologize. I've been very busy searching for a job. It's rough out there trying to get a job, start a business, and experiment with food and drink. I found one of my pumpkin ales in the cellar last night gave it a shot. Even though it's been aged for a year it tasted great. Very fruitty 'nose' with hints of cinnamon and maple. There's a splash of pumpkin in end and the 8% ABV is hidden well. :) I may actually try again this year. No maple though, too expensive.
Up next I have a 'set-yer-face-on-fire' Imperial Ale with 200ibu's using 8oz of hops. Yes, I said 8 full oz of hops. That's probably more than what you'd find in a barrel of 'bud'. I'll have to tone it down with about 3 pounds of honey so I'm very excited about the outcome. The other (which will be just as fantastic of course) will be a Raspberry Porter. I'll use 3 pounds of raspberry in this. Some might ask; "Why can't you just brew something normal?" and to that I always reply "why be normal?"
More later and thanks for reading!