Alan McLeod’s 2015 Yuletide Photo Contest

Welcome to my yearly (or almost yearly) attempt at being arty and shit. For your viewing pleasure, these are the photos I entered into Alan McLeod’s Xmas Hogmanay 2015 Photo Contest. Bit last minute, really, but that is how things go around these here parts. Anyway, if you’d like to see all the photos from this year, go here and here and here. Oh, and maybe here too. 

I missed entering last year because, well, I don’t rightly recall. I just did. Things happen around the holidays. See above. But here are the photos I sent in, along with a quick run down of each. The first picture came on the way to a early morning beer judging competition in Zanesville. Some one forgot to fill up the tank before we left, so we got to hoof it for gas part way through the trip. Nothing says good times like early morning walking along I-70. I thought the YSB sweatshirt was a nice touch, so I took a picture to entertain myself on our walk. Even with running out of gas, we were only ten minutes late. Yes, there might have been some speeding involved. 

The next picture is from Brugge Brasserie in Indianapolis; we stop in at Brugge pretty regularly after cyclocross races for beer and fries before driving home. I took the picture from underneath the table through the hole for french fries. I love the Christmas lights in the background, the matching colors between beer, copper, and wood, and the warm light on the glass reflecting the slightly hazy beer. 

The third picture is an old wall advertisement from a local Dayton brewery, Sachs-Prudens’ Brewing Company, featuring Diamond Brand Pale Ale, amongst other things. The mural is on the side of a house at 101 McClure in the Saint Anne’s Hill neighborhood in downtown Dayton (it was formerly a saloon and grocery store). For more on the house and the neighborhood, see here. Sachs-Prudens’ opened in 1881; in 1895, Sachs-Prudens’ was sold to the Dayton Brewing Company. The building that originally housed the brewery on Wyandot was for a long time the Hauer Music building, and now houses the Dayton Metro Library Operation Center. 

The fourth picture was from a beer tasting in my kitchen with long time friend of the blog Jeff Fortney. I believe this was the night I tricked him into drinking through a complete run of the beers from the Great Brett Yeast Experiment on a work night. I’m not sure how old the beers were at that point, but I think it was something like a little over a year in the bottle, and I had been hankering to see where everything was at. So Jeff was willing to help out. You know, for science and all. For the record, custersianus is still the best single strain to work work, although the claussenii performed well this night. There are notes somewhere. But not here. The light through the glasses with the bottles and Jeff in the background creates a nice overall image. 

The final picture is from Blue Stallion Brewing Company in Lexington, KY. They were a very pleasant discovery when I was in Lexington for the Craft Writing: Beer, the Digital, and Craft Culture conference in February 2014. They focus mainly on lagers, and do an excellent job at it. and their brewery is gorgeous: almost all copper. Anyway, this was from a later visit after another cyclocross race, where lunch and a couple of crisp clean beers were in order. The open doorway behind the glass helps illuminate the light, and I was happy that I actually successfully made the glass the focus so that the background was blurry—I love the contrast between the beads of condensation on the bright, in-focus glass, and the gloomier, darker, hazy background. 

So there you have it: a quick rundown of my entries for this year’s Xmas Hogmanay! 

(12/15/2015)

Alan McLeod’s 2013 Yuletide Photo Contest

A belated shout out to Alan McLeod’s 2013 Yuletide Photo Contest; you can check out all of this year’s entries posted here and here. While we were again not one of the winners, one of our pictures, taken by my sister-in-law Kerry, made the shortlist. Oh, and here is the list of this year’s winners. This picture was taken on Anderson Island in Puget Sound this last summer; we were down at the beach, and didn’t have a cooler, so we improvised. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the beer is underwater—that 50° F water kept the beers nice and cool while we buried random related nieces and nephews in the sand. Bonus points go out to the first person to correctly identify the two cans!

(1/10/2014)

Bicycle Beer Delivery for New Belgium

Yes, this post is as cool as it sounds: today I helped deliver the first 22 cases of New Belgium beer in Dayton via bicycle. I even foolishly—and intentionally—chose the longest and hilliest of the three routes: up to Belmont Party Supply before rolling down Wayne to end at 5th Street Brewpub. Why, you may ask? Because I’m a glutton for good times! Along the way, we also hit Tank’s, South Park Tavern, and Dublin Pub.

I was told to show up at Bonbright Distributors at 3:00, so I put on all the warm clothes I could find, strapped the panniers on, and rolled out. Once there, we got everyone organized into three groups, and packed up all the beer. Sadly, I did not plan effectively as others in regards to strapping the beer down on the bike (sorry, I was last minute), and instead had to break open the case of deuce-deuces and put them in the panniers. So lame. Thus, I didn’t get to roll around with the beer strapped to the back of the bike. Stupid bad planning! We did take the now empty box along for delivery purposes, though. Once we headed out, it was straight up Steward Street for the long slow climb to Belmont. We took a break on the way up at Tank’s, and then rolled to Belmont, where Gus Stathes happily took our delivery. The one upside after leaving Belmont was that it was all downhill the rest of the way. The one downside to all that free coasting, however, was the wind chill and dropping temperatures from the disappearing daylight. Still, the coast down Wayne Avenue was less
annoying than most other road biking in Dayton as there was a mass of other riders and we were also carrying beer—there was none of the usual honking and cursing I’ve come to expect from my fellow Daytonians for foolishly deciding to ride a bike on the road. One of my favorite moments of the afternoon was watching Rob from Thai 9 and Giri from Cavalier try and hide from the camera when we were delivering beer to South Park Tavern. You know, that whole conflict-of-interest thing. Hilarious! After a quick delivery to the Dublin Pub, we hit 5th Street Brewpub, where we stopped long enough to toast our success and drink a couple of bottles of the Fat Tire we just delivered. Delicious! It was then onto Brixx Ice Co. for Ranger IPA and Fat Tire on tap, and to trade delivery stories with the other two groups, and hear about the trip down to Jungle Jim’s, which would be quite a trip in this weather! After a couple of pints of Ranger, I called it an evening and headed towards home. All in all, a super-awesome event, one that I wish happened more regularly. Tom Helbig, one of the riders in my group, made a video of the event you can find here. Bikes and beer, beer and bikes. Word.

(12/11/2013)

Alan McLeod’s 2012 Yuletide Photo Contest

While we weren’t one of the winners, we were quite pleased that this picture made the shortlist for Alan McLeod’s 2012 Yuletide Photo contest. I almost said secretly, but since we are blogging about it, it is not so much of a secret anymore, is it? Well, unless you actually consider our readership, and then realize that this post is undoubtedly the best kept public secret ever. This year’s winners are listed here, and the grand prize winner for 2012 is here, along with a run-down of previous winners. And if you are wondering why you’ve never seen this picture before, that’s because we didn’t bother to take notes while drinking this particular beer. Hence, no blog post. It happens more often than you might think. So take that. I know you can deal. As well, I would like to send a thank you shout-out to Jeff Fortney for bringing this beer over one evening. And I’m glad to finally have a reason to post this picture—the warm, luminescent light coming through the beer and onto the bottle and down the stem of the glass is spectacular.

(12/27/2012)

Dork Lord Tasting 2006-2012

No, that’s not a mis-spelling.

So tonight I went to the geekiest beer nerd event I’ve ever had the privilege of attending. And I mean the geekiest. Hands down. What made it particularly enjoyable for was that it focused on a beer I don’t know that much about—I have only tried Dark Lord once prior to this evening—as well as an aspect of beer culture that I don’t normally follow either: tracking down and collecting the rare and elusive special versions of already rare and elusive beers, like the Cognac Barrel Aged Dark Lord 2012 or the Cognac Barrel Aged Dark Lord 2012 aged on Ancho Guajillo Chilis, bottles that were both opened this evening. Certainly, I like the idea of both Dark Lord and rare American craft beer, but I do not have the time, or, more importantly, the money, to dedicate to tracking down products like this. But I won’t lie—I’m certainly happy to taste them when they come my way. Very happy. Plus, my overall lack of knowledge regarding this segment of American beer geek culture meant that I got to observe the evening as something of an outsider: I got to enjoy the atmosphere and refreshments while not being quite fully cognizant of the larger conversation regarding Dark Lord that I witnessed. In other words, it was a pure spectatorial pleasure at all levels.

The seven different Dark Lord vintages that were on display made for an enjoyable comparative tasting. There was a significant shift across the beers—with Dark Lord, age certainly does help, as the brightness, sharpness, and alcohol presence in the 2011 and 2012 were a bit much. However, I’m not sure my verbiage can match the gustatory enjoyment expressed by others in attendance. And that, my dear readers, is saying something. I had never thought to use “soy sauce” as a descriptor for a beer, and yet the term fit perfectly with the attributes being described by numerous attendees. My only low point during the Dark Lord portion of the tasting was that my 2007 pour was, I think, the last from the bottle—it was a silty, gritty, chalky mess that in no way matched the conversation I heard going on around me. So I kept quite and took one for the team. After the initial run through the 2006-20012 vintages, the two specialty bottles— the aforementioned Cognac Barrel Aged Dark Lord 2012 and the Cognac Barrel Aged Dark Lord 2012 aged on Ancho Guajillo Chilis—got cracked and sampled. The Cognac version was a delight, although another year or two would undoubtedly further improve the beer, while the Ancho Guajillo Chili version was a bit too spicy for the beer. Which is saying something for a beer that has a FG in the 1.050s. There was also a bottle of Three Floyds Barrel-Aged Alpha Claws something-or-other, but my memory of it is lost in the shuffle of other drinking delights. See how dismissive one becomes when surrounded by such a cornucopia of unadulterated beer porn?

Additionally, everyone who attended brought a bottle of their own to share after the initial round of tasting. I brought a Goose Island Bourbon County Stout from 2009; compared to what others brought, I felt a bit lame. But then again, I am not so sure that there is anything that cool in my basement. I did get to try Westvleteren 12 for the first time this evening as well—chalk it up to another first in an evening full of firsts. My favorite beer of the evening was Arcadia XV, a brown ale aged in wine barrels with Michigan cherries. We also got to try Arcadia 15, which was aged in bourbon barrels, but it wasn't nearly as good. My greatest regret is that I didn’t get to finally try the Bruery’s Black Tuesday—I had to head for home before it got opened. Foiled again. Do enjoy the picture of the spoils that I “borrowed” from Joshua Hatfield.

Thanks, Gus, for an excellent evening. It was super awesome. Oh, and if you’d like to see the video produced during this delightful evening, go here. While not epic (and I do use that term with all its ironic glory), it is, well, posted on the internet.

(11/24/2012)

J. P. Patches

This morning, I got a text message from my brother, Jason. There were no words, just a picture from one of the front pages of The Seattle Times that read “Chris Wedes, 1928-2012: J. P. Patches, a treasure of Seattle childhood.”

“Fuck,” I thought. No, check that. I thought something much more profanity-laced, and longer than I am willing to type out. And while Elli was in the room with me when I got the message, I suddenly felt very alone. Part of my childhood—hell, probably one of the last and largest pieces of my childhood, to be honest—was dead. And that never feels very good. Especially when you have to explain who J. P. Patches is.

So rest in peace, Julius Pierpont Patches. I know I’ll drink one for you, my man, and I hope the rest of you will as well. Here’s to the man who was the man behind the man.

And, thanks, Jason, for passing the news along. While it sucks, it is still better to know.

(7/23/2012)

Ernest Hemingway and Ballantine

“You have to work hard to deserve to drink it. But I would rather have a bottle of Ballantine Ale than any other drink after fighting a really big fish. When something has been taken out of you by strenuous exercise, Ballantine puts it back in.”

Oh hell yes. This morning, I was reading the New York Time Book Review when I came across Tony Perrottet’s end-page essay “Building the Brand” that included a Ballantine ad featuring Ernest Hemingway. Yes, that Ernest Hemingway. You know, of “Get Your Manliness On” fame. While I am sure others in the blogosphere have already noted this, I feel compelled to include my voice in the (hopefully growing) cacophony because, seriously, can you really ever get enough Ernest Hemingway Ballantine ads? But we all already know the answer to that one...

Also, check out the link in Perrottet’s article to Paul Devlin’s “For Whom the Shill Toils” from Slate in 2006. Pure genius.

(5/3/2011)