Hey, relax. I’m right here. Been busy.

Holy crap, I haven’t posted since September? Jesus…

Yes, busy. Up the walls with work, who’d have thought adding the Transcript and Journal to my plate would fill it up the way it did? And as soon as one’s done, the other rolls into town. But hey, at least I’ve still got the job…

When I’m not working, I have people visiting. Honestly, that’s been the way of it. As mentioned before, my sis came out for a week, along with her husband Bob. I don’t get to see her nearly enough, so was a treat to have her make the trip, especially with Bob, a bloke I enjoy immensely. (Wait… that sounds wrong…) They had a good time (at least I think they did) with us even introducing them to the SF Giants half the nights they stayed with us! And of course as soon as they headed out, we had a quick weekend of running about doing housey stuff, before our next set of guests showed up. We’ve got Bennie heading out for two weeks (!!) later this month, which we’re excited about.

Brewing’s still been going on. To sum up so far: First batch, Java Brown, hit and miss (some bottles tasted excellent, others tasted like carbonated cold coffee). Second batch, chocholate stout – fecked up big time adding the cocoa powder at the last minute. Third batch, Honey Orange Vanilla Crema – absolutely awful, although Jeret loved it. Fourth batch, Mocha Porter. Here’s where things get interesting. This beer actually came out REALLY well, and tasted great, although over time it developed that metallic/medicinal “twang” the three previous beers had. But that first bottle? Outstanding – which immediately proved to me that we weren’t cleaning our bottles properly, and our beer was gettin’ funky from the brewing. But the real eye opener for this batch, was when we ran out of 12oz bottles at bottling, and we switched to bumpers. There was still a gallon left in the carboy, so for shits and giggles I dumped in a quarter bottle of bourbon, and about an ounce of vanilla. And good GOD, the stuff was tasty!! So much so, I brewed an entire 5 gallon batch of it myself. (Still aging, will let you know how it tastes.) We’ve also got a winter ale (Santa’s Bulging Sack) bottled and aging, as well as an Anderson Valley Summer Solstice clone that’s in the carboy waiting to be bottled. Mmm, beer!

Outside of work, visits, and homebrew, there’s not a lot going on. Holidays are fast approaching, Christmas shopping is done (need to get stuff in the post for Jacqui and the Lehane boys!) and in a fortnight the office shuts down until January 4. Until then tho, I got a magazine to get out, so I best get back to work!

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