Homebrew Con 2017 Day One (for me)

Well, it's here. 2017 Homebrew Con (previously known as the National Homebrewers Conference) in Minneapolis, MN. I arrived quite late last night but still sampled a couple of the local brews in the hotel lobby bar before crashing. A bit of a lie in this morning but up around 9A and started studying for my BJCP Written Exam this afternoon.

My partner in crime (and beer/mead), Matt Chrispen is due in later today, as is my good friend and BN icon, Mike "Tasty" McDole. My other crazy friend, Ricardo, must be out of his mind as he is taking three, count 'em, three BJCP exams today! I couldn't cope. Best of luck, Ricardo. Especially since UPS lost your final round entries - total bummer.

Time for some lunch to get the day going. I'm meeting up with famous author, Peter Symons  (well, maybe not so famous, but a great guy, and a great book,"Bronzed Brews"), along with good friend and founder/co-owner of Meridian Hive Meadery in Austin, TX, Eric Lowe. Eric is proctoring the BJCP Mead Exam this afternoon. My exam is after the Mead exam - definitely need some fuel for the brain. That Written Exam is grueling, no matter how many times you've taken it. Headed to Brit's Pub, as recommended to Peter by Kristen England. The Steak & Ale Pie that I had was awesome! Steak, mushrooms, puff pastry, chips, and peas, what more could one ask for? In addition, they had a Mild Ale on from Fulton here in Minneapolis, great beer, will possibly try to visit them this evening. Also had beers from Fullers on, the BritHop was sublime!

A bit more studying then the Exam... Tough, as usual. Again, I say, I don't like being tested on how quickly I can write rather than what my real knowledge is. Alas, them's the rules... After the exam, headed to Surly Brewing Co with Ricardo, Matt, Eric, and Toby, the latter two crammed in the back of a Chevy Cruze with me in the middle. :-o Food was great, beers were hit and miss, but let me clarify that, the ones they are known for, great, a little disappointed in the 'interpretations' of some lager biers. Met three other Texans at Surly too, from the DFW area. Early night and all in all, a great day!


Yours Aye!
Neil

Two Years, Seriously?

Man, have I fallen off the edge when it comes to blogging. Actually, I'm finding it harder and harder just to keep up with all the social media updates let alone keep up with the blogs I follow or find time to blog myself. Well, it's time to attempt to get back to it. Part of the issue for me, personally, is what do I post about? There's so much beer stuff out there already on a daily basis, both homebrew and commercial, and there seems to be no end to the number of breweries opening up... everywhere across the planet.

I'm going to try anyway, mainly as a bit of further self indulgence and maybe, someone else will find the forthcoming comments and thoughts interesting. Some things to come quite soon...

I had the great pleasure to spend the day with Mike "Tasty" McDole recently which included a visit to Heretic Brewing Company in Fairfield, CA catching up with my great friend, Jamil Zainasheff. Jamil has made Heretic a serious brewing concern and the ideas in his head for the future are incredibly exciting. Tasty and I had some interesting discussions (as one can imagine) throughout our other stops and I'll comment on at least one quite soon.

The National Homebrew Conference (Homebrew Con) in Minneapolis, MN is just over a week away. Once again Leaky Spicket Brewing and Accidentalis Brewing (aka me and Matt) will be heading up and rooming together for the third year in a row. Maybe this time I'll find the time to actually post some things. Really looking forward to seeing all our friends across the country again at this great annual event.

So, until my next motivation... Cheers!

Yours Aye,
Neil