Had to remove the site search function that was provided by my hosting company as I found it was searching everything and there's no way to configure it to skip the 'blogs.
I'll need to either write a new site search function or (more likely) create a combined function to search the site and/or 'blogs.
...there's good beer.
Cone Smoker is back! After a couple of weeks of suckiness Rich O's has moved onto a new batch of Cone Smoker and it's got the smoke once again.
What a delicious brew! My only complaint and this is only because I'm such a lightweight, is that at 7.3% ABV the Cone Smoker beer is a little too strong for me to build an evening around it. Two 20oz. glasses and I'm done.
Despite the high gravity, I'm still delighted to see Cone Smoker back in its enjoyable form. I've now tasted four distinct batches, and experienced three distinct tastes. To review:
Batch #1: Good, well balanced, with a good smoky taste.
Batch #2: Very strong smoke flavor, a little too strong at first but by the end of the glass the smoke seems just right. Very good batch. My favorite of all.
Batch #3: No smoke at all. Hoppy taste predominates. If I wanted high gravity and hoppy taste I'd just order an Arrogant Bastard.
Batch #4: See batch #1.
This beer is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. Once they pick a style and stick with it it may even surpass Alaskan Amber as my all-time favorite beer.
Tonight, in between glasses of Cone Smoker, I also tried a pint of BBC's Bearded Pat's Barleywine Ale.
This was my first taste of a barleywine, and I suppose it was okay. Just imagine regular wine without any grapey taste, and add a hint of hops. That's what tasted like. It was okay, but I cannot imagine having more than one in an evening. This has been described to me as a "World-class Barleywine" and I trust the source of that recommendation. I'll just add barleywine to the list of beer styles that I've tries and found acceptable but not great.
As a frequent traveler to Alaska during the 1990s, I grew to love one particular Alaska product even more that its spectacular scenery. Alaskan Amber beer was first thrust upon me in a small bar in Juneau and I've loved it ever since. when I can get it.
The problem with living in Indiana is that even the best source for beer (Rich 0's) cannot get me this fine brew, so I've managed to find several other beers that I like almost as much as Alaskan Amber.
Usually my substitute was Newcastle Brown Ale, an excellent beer in its own right. But recently, and for some reason that I cannot fathom even though they tried to explain it to me, Rich O's pulled Newcastle draft from its rotation.
It was about then that I recalled the little tag at the bottom of Alaskan Amber's bottles - "Alt Style Beer" - and something clicked. "Alt" is a class of beer, not just a marketing gimmick. I quickly remember that Louisville's own Bluegrass Brewing Co. has its own beer called BBC Alt.
Well Rich O's didn't have this on tap but they do carry it bottled so I ordered one. Wow. This stuff is so close to the Alaskan Amber that I've been missing that I've been kicking myself for not discovering it sooner. Since then I've made it a point to go to the BBC BrewPub once a month or so to enjoy some real Alt beer on tap.
(draft) That nice copper color was a welcome sight to an old altbier drinker. This beer has a pretty good balance - maybe a little on the bitter side. I also think it's changed a little for the worse since the brewery split apart several months ago.
Last weekend I heard two things about the BBC. They've got a second location in downtown Louisville - much closer to both my home and to my favorite pool hall - and they're experiencing some kind of split within their company. Last night I went to the closer location and enjoyed some BBC Alt on tap. It was as good as ever. The bartender wasn't clear (or wouldn't tell me) which BBC faction would end up with the Alt after the split. It's probably their biggest seller and I'm sure both sides want it.
Congratulations to the October 2nd Hottie of the Day Maura Tierney for her sexy portrayal of Abby on NBC's ER.
Just finished paying my cable, satelite, and telephone bills via the Internet. When needed I can also use the 'Net to pay for my credit card, insurance, and magazine subscriptions. Hell, I can even pay my taxes online if I want.
In fact, the only major payee that I still need to physically mail a check to each month is my electic company. This is made even more of a pain by the fact that I've got something going on with my mail and I only get a bill every couple of months.
This is 2003 people! Just because you're stuck in West Bunghole, Indiana doesn't mean you can't get with the times and offer online bill payment.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world.
Those that understand binary, and those that don't.
Ha Ha.
The September 30th Hottie of the Day is Melissa Yvonne Lewis, who plays Ashleigh on The Joe Schmo Show.
Unbefreakenlievable.
Forgot about the ability to search blog entries. I'll get to that soon I guess.
I've finally wrestled these archive templates to the ground and kicked the shit out of them.
Actually what I did was run screaming from the templates and write my own CGI scripts to handle the archive displays.
Either way, it still works, and I think I can say that I've got the blogs fully implemented.
Now I've managed to cause the blog software to forget how to do any rebuilds. Just trying to add some new categories. If this entry shows up in the "technology" category then I guess I got lucky.
I'm not an idiot, I just play one on the Internet.
