Monday, June 29, 2009

Alefest Columbus - A great time!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by table 18 this year. I met some great people ( Mark and Ian from Bogrolls) and drank some great beer!

A few favorites from this years selections were; Bear Rebuplic's Hop Rod Rye, Moylan's IPA, and a surprise for me, Lion Stout from Sri Lanka. I've seen it around but have never tried it. I was glad I did. There was one more, an English ale I can't for the life of me remember the name. Oh God it was so good.
I volunteered again this year and chose table 18. Again this year I was solo. No worries I don't mind it. I had a break once or twice from some fellow SODZ members (Thanks Matt and Frank) I had to leave the station unmanned once because my bladder was about to blow and I just couldn't hold it any longer. Too much info?
I've never had this much fun working.

Next up the Columbus Microbrew Festival at the Short North Market. Always a damn good time.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Pandora Widget

Check out my new widget from Pandora! ----->
I wish I could get the same thing for my desktop w/o having to pay for it. Maybe Google will come up with something but I doubt it.

Two things coming up this weekend. Alefest Columbus and Transformers II with my oldest boy. I can't wait til I can take both of boys to both events. Ahh cherish the moments says me says I.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Ale Fest Columbus - The Brewer's List

AB Specialty (some decent brews from Annheuser Busch possible)
Abita (some good stuff)
Alesmith (very good beers from these guys, i love the Speedway Stout)
Avery (I don't like thier political leanings but the beer is great)
Ayinger (good German beers)
BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse (always a great selection)
Bavik (no idea, Belgian)
Bear Republic (good stuff from California - I love the Oatmeal Stout)
Bell’s (very good, rarely disappoints, I love the Porter)
Black Sheep (English brewery, famous for Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale)
Blue Dawg Brewing (never heard of them)
Boston Beer Company (aka Sam Adam's)
Brooklyn (always good stuff, I especially like the Chocolate Stout)
Buckeye (one of my favorite IPA's)
Celis (Texas Brewery)
Chimay Trappist (Belgium ales....I love the Blue)
Chouffe ( another Belgian brewery...try the Dobbelen IPA Tripel!)
Columbus Brewing (Hometown brewer always great)
Coors Specialty (Coors? meh to each his own I guess)
Dogfish Head (Love them! I can't rememebr a beer I didn't like)
du Bocq (Belgian - never tried)
Dubuisson (never had the opportunity)
DuPont (I thought they made chemicals?)
Elevator (Hometown brewery - always good)
Erie (Railbender - good Scottish Ale)
Flying Dog (never disappoints, I hope they have the Imperial Porter)
Fort Collins (Colorado - need I say more?)
Founders (great brewery from that state up north)
Franck Boon (no idea)
Gordon Biersch (National Chain but locally brewed - the brewmaster is a helluva guy who makes great beers and an avid homebrewer)
Gouden Carolus (NO IDEA)
Great Divide (great beer from Colorado - get some Yeti if possible)
Great Lakes (One of my favorites. Great Beer from Cleveland)
Green Valley (an organic brewr from California)
Harpoon (one of the first craft brews I ever had, always happy with them)
Heavy Seas (Maryland Brewer - I recommend the Small Craft Warning)
Hoppin’ Frog (Ohio brewed, awesome beers)
Jolly Pumpkin (Belgian styled ales from that state up north, worth a shot)
Lagunitas (California - recommended)
Lakefront (Milwaukee - never tried but look forward to it)
Leinenkugel (not disappointing, try the Berry Weiss)
Lindemans (Belgian brewers specializing in Lambics, try the Framboise)
Lion (African brewer or New Zealand...I forget)
Magic Hat (good stuff from Vermont, never disappoionting)
McAuslan (I've only had the Scotch Ale but it was very good)
Melbourn Brothers (English i believe, never had it)
Michael Plank (German, never had it but am excited to try)
Mortgaat (Belgian Brewery that runs Ommegang)
Moylan’s (California brewery - grab some of the Dragoons Dry Irish Stout OR IPA)
New Holland (A favorite of mine. Never disappoints NEVER, try the Black Tulip, Dragon's Milk or the Existential IPA all awesome)
Ommegang (Cooperstown NY - try the Hennepin)
Orval (Belgian - grab the Trappist)
Otter Creek (Vermont - the Copper Ale is great)
Penn Brewing (no idea)
Pyramid (a decent selection from Seattle)
Redhook ( the ESB's decent)
Rochefort Trappist (Belgium Trappist, the 8 is great)
Rogue (love these guys, in fact I poured for them last year)
Samuel Smith (English brewer - good porter if I remember correctly)
Southern Tier (Lakewood NY, I can't remember ever trying thier stuff)
Spanish Peaks (california brewery, not bad either)
St Louis Framboise (no idea)
St. Peters Organic (English - good)
Stone (always a great selection)
Stoudt’s (decent brewry from PA, give'm a shot)
Thirsty Dog (Akron, Ohio - Old Leghumper Porter is my second favorite porter it's a very close second too)
Tommyknocker (Decent beers from Colorado)
Unibroue (Fantastic Belgian styles from Toronto - a must try)
Van Steenburge (Belgian Brewer, never tried)
Victory (Hop Wollop and Storm King, VERY GOOD!)
Weihenstephaner (Great German Wheat beers)
Westmalle Trappist (the Dubbel is fantastic you have to make the effort to get some)
Weyerbacher (Brewry from PA, the Old Heathen is recommended)
Widmer Brothers (Portland Brewers - what's not to like?)
Wychwood (Cool brewer with an awesome ESB and naming scheme from England)
Xingu (Chinese rice brewer - meh to each his own, not bad)

Giving Blood

As a New Years resolution I wanted to include more trips to the Red Cross and donate. I haven't been that good at the resolution but I'm trying which counts. On my first donation of the year I was asked if I wanted to try a procedure called Double Red Cell Apheresis. Apheresis is a procedure which takes the blood being donated and runs it through a machine. This machine separates what it needs and sends the rest back into the blood stream. This particular procedure lasts about 40 minutes and is relatively easy to do. Doing a 'Double Red' as the cool people call it gives double the amount of red blood cells but donors give less blood in the process. During the procedure an anti-coagulant called Citrate plus a saline solution is passed into the stream. It's a cold sensation that feels wierd at first but becomes less annoying throughout the procedure.
Onto my second donation yesterday. (I told you I wasn't being very good at my resolution but at least the attempt is there.....ok and I had to be reminded by the American Red Cross....can I continue?). I go through the initial setups and interviews and get stuck and seated. I'm all set. About 35 minutes into the procedure I start to get very chilled and a little dizzy. I call the nurse over and within minutes the chills get worse, my stomach starts to feel woozy, my breathing becomes erratic, and I have a general anxious feeling. I have to get out of the seat before I either melt into a pool of hot and cold sweat or get sucked into the machine turing me into a larger pool of hot and cold sweat. I now have a very patient tech/nurse leaning me back further into the seat, and giving me the hyperventalating paper bag treatment. There's another shutting the machine down and getting the needle out of my arm. My brains swearing at her asking what the hells taking so long. My legs feel as though they're going to take off out of the seat without me and at the same time I'm trying to calm myself down to let the two nurses do thier job. I find the eyes of an older woman doing the same procedure across from me and I just know she's either thinking I'm the biggest woos on the planet or if the machines have begun to turn on the humans
and she's next. Either way my simoultaneous journey into giving life and wishing mine was over has ended.
I feel like shit physically and mentally since I couldn't complete the procedure and some of my platelets may go to waste. I can't believe I couldn't go through it. I'm in decent shape, I workout 6 days a week, and have been eating very well for about 5 months now. After the needle is pulled, my heart back down under a 10000bpm, and I stop sweating like a fat guy chasing a runaway M&M I ask the nurse what was the problem. She tells me very few people have a bad reaction to the citrate anti-coagulant and not to worry. She also tells me I should stick to just giving blood. So I'm sticking just to giving blood. At least I'm giving ya'know?

Thursday, June 4, 2009

HOPHEAD ALERT: HOP-IPA-LOOZA IS THIS THURSDAY


Yes I know I'm late on this one folks but get down to Barley's Smokehouse tonight and get your favorite IPA on tap. No cover or fee except the beer and food you get. Hop(e) to see you there!

http://barleysbrewing.com/smokehouse/

Ale Fest Columbus!!!!

It's back! June 27th from 2 to 6pm at the Aladdin Shrine Center Columbus.

View Larger Map

This benefits the Columbus Special Olympics.
$30 Admission includes 20 samples of craft beer (about 4oz)
Over 150 Craft Beers from more than 50 world class breweries
Select Draught Ales and Lagers
Live entertainment


I have a list of breweries and pictures from some previous fests coming soon. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

--virus alert-- Facebook Users

If you get a message within Facebook with this subject

"i saw yyour facee in tthis movie",, ccheck it"

ignore it (don't click the link) but tell the person who sent this to you to change their account password and possibly start a new account.
I was sent something from a friend with this in the title. After I opened it it led me to the following website " w w w dot aibaibia dot com dot br slash coolclip". It proceeded to load a clip that resembled something from YouTube. Then an error popped in and told me I needed to download another plugin to view it. Before I closed the link it started to download the trojan. I never let it complete and was never infected due to the way I have my system set up BUT someone could be fooled into letting this download even without their knowledge! Sneaky little buggers aren't they? There are some very funny things going on here too. If you pay close attention the subject is mispelled. The link is real but once you get to the site and the error pops up it actually tells you to download the latest Adobe Acrobat plugin. Adobe Acrobat plugin for a video? Not very convincing.
From Drop Box