Purple Palace Brewing had an EPA on tap this past weekend. EPA meaning English Pale Ale. EPA’s are not as aggressively hopped as and IPA. The perfect mixture of hops and malt to make a good full flavored beer. The first swig of this Ale brings out the malty taste, but wait a couple of seconds after you swallow and the hop flavor really comes out. We calculated an ABV(alcohol by volume) or roughly 5%. It comes out to be a nice clear copper color with a thick frothy head. Its been determined that if we start making our own version of an EPA its going to have the name “Good Head”. Mmmmm. Good head indeed. So far we’ve had two beers in the keg now, and this one beat out the Witbier we had for New Years.
Two weeks from now Umphrey’s McGee will be performing 3 shows at 1st Avenue. So why not have some beer on tap for friends before we see the greatest live show around? Our thoughts exactly. Up next on tap is an Octane IPA. If you like lots of hops, and a bitter flavor, this beer is up your alley. The story behind IPA’s goes back to 18th and 19th centuries. The British had made their presence felt in the East Indies. British sailors loved their beers. One problem. It wouldn’t keep on those long voyages. The fix? Hops. Hops served as preservative and the beer kept longer. Long story short, thats where the name IPA(India Pale Ale) comes from. So, we’re hoping to have an IPA with a strong hop presence in that first sip. We also added Oak Chips to the secondary fermentation. We’re hoping it brings a little bit of a musty flavor to it. IPA’s are my favorite and I can’t wait to give this one a whirl.
We still have our Belgian Tripel due out this coming October. Can’t wait for that. It is now in secondary fermentation and we’re hoping for an ABV of around 8-9%. Perfect for those cool October nights over the bonfire. This week I believe we’re going to try a Cream Ale. Something light and sweet.
So the craft beer movement has made its mark with big beer makers. Miller has announced 3 new “craft” beers that are now out in 4 test markets. They are Baltimore. Charlotte N.C., Minneapolis, and San Diego. The beers are a Blonde Ale, Wheat, and Amber. Being in Minneapolis I can’t wait to try them. One beef I have though are those god awful labels. What kind of think tank came up with those? The guys that have brought us hilarious beer commercials for years, and thats the best they can do? Sorry, but those labels are hideous, and show no appeal. For a guy like me that is a beer connoisseur, I can see around the label. I want to see what a manufacturer known for lagers can do in the craft beer market. But what about your average joe schmo beer drinker? Obviously the first thing to catch someones eye is the appearance. These labels are bland and boring. If they decide to put these beers into full time production, I hope that they re-consider the labels they chose.
I’m off. Go Wild
February 2008
February 18, 2008
February 6, 2008
ATTENTION!!!! The NFL season is finally over. I repeat, the NFL season is finally over. We can now watch something sports related on ESPN that isn’t about football. Hell, maybe they’ll start talking about hockey again. This years coverage of the NFL was way out of control. I mean my god, they would analyze anything they can think of. Which shitty sweatshirt is Bill Bellichik going to wear this week? Will T.O. throw a hissy fit? Who is Tony Romo dating this week? And on and on. It got so bad we had to listen to this wortheless banter all week. Lets start at the beginning of the week.
-Sunday mornings are usually my only time to watch Sportscenter. The Sunday morning Sportscenter broadcast is a whopping half hour long. Ater that, its two hours of NFL pregame coverage. OH, lets not forget the NFL coverage that they also have in that half hour of Sportscenter. So my half hour of Sportscenter was really about 20 minutes. Sunday night? Nope, that was filled with hours of recap that we apparently didn’t get from FOX or CBS.
-OK now onto Monday. Fuck Monday, after about 2pm all that was on was football related programs followed by MNF.
-Tuesday was a day filled with recaps from Monday night football. Speaking of MNF, I think Tony Kornheiser mentioned Tom Brady and the Patriots during every Monday night broadcast.
-So now we land on Wednesday. The one night of the week we probably saw the least amount of football coverage, but those bastards snuck it in there at times.
-Thursday. Now we start ramping up for the next week’s set of games. 3 days of non-stop jibberish about who’s going to win and why. Do we really need this much analysis? Don’t even get me started on Thursday night football. Hey!! Is the NHL still going on? If you weren’t a hockey fan, and you watch Sportscenter, I bet you would have no clue. Linda Cohn, HELP!!
-Friday. TGIF right? Nope. We’ve got Saturday night football ahead of us that needs to be picked apart and anaylized over and over again. Remember, Saturday night football is just one game.
-Saturday. More analysis of the nights coming game, and pre-game for tomorrow’s pre-game show. Confused? Yea, me too.
So here we are again, back to Sunday, starting this cruel and long week of football coverage. Folks, we do this for 5 months. 5 MONTHS!!!
ESPN stands for Enternainment and Sports Programming Network. The NFL already has their own station. Don’t get me wrong. I like ESPN and Sportscenter, but this year its NFL coverage has gotten a little out of hand. I still think that ESPN is sticking it to the NHL when they didn’t sign on to cover hockey games after the strike. I also still believe that Barry Melrose is the best sports analyst ESPN has. Why? He shows more passion then any of them. And those badass pin-stripe suits and his killer mullet. What about college hockey highlights? Nope, only during the NCAA tourney. I can only hope that this doesn’t escalate in the years to come. I really was turned off by ESPN this past football season because they didn’t give each major sport fair coverage. I think they need to re-tool their broadcasts and scheduling during the football season, because there are sports fans out there hoping to see some highlights other then the NFL.
