Archive for category Hobbies

Routine of the Day – Run

Posted by bradinator in Fitness, Hiking, Routines on July 16, 2010

Routine of the Day – Run, for time. 3.5KM – Final time was 20:55.

Its a rock.

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Beer Review – Innis and Gunn Canadian Cask Oak Aged Ale

Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Hiking, Travel on July 12, 2010

Name: Innis and Gunn Canadian Cask Oak Aged Ale

Origin: Scotland (Barrels originate from Canada)

Style: Scottish Strong Ale (7.1%)

Appearance: The colour is a crystal clear ruby red, that pours with a nice, medium sized foamy head with excellent retention.

Taste: There are definite notes of raisins and apples in the aroma. The flavours are fruity, with raisins, apples and some subtler notes of molasses and whiskey.

Mouth Feel: A surprisingly light bodied beer for such a high ABV, this Scottish Ale has a refreshing palette overall. Its high ABV and Whiskey cask aging gives this beer a touch of fire.

Final Thoughts (4.0 out of 5): Absolutely fantastic! This beer was made especially for Canada Day by Innis and Gunn and though I am a week late on trying it, I am glad I did. I love Canadian whiskey and I love Innis and Gunns oak aged ales. This is a great combination of both.

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Beer Review – Whitstable Bay Organic Ale

Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Hiking, Photography, Rants on June 29, 2010

Name: Whitstable Bay Organic Ale

Origin: England

Style: Ale (4.5%)

Appearance: This is a crystal clear, amber colour. Head is medium, head retention is low.

Taste: The smell is citrus, mainly grapefruits. There are some initial notes of crackers on the first taste, but the beer is heavily bitter and citrusy so they are quickly washed out. There is also something of a rice-like flavour to this beer. The beer finishes with a lingering bitter citrus flavour.

Mouth Feel: Due to the strong bitterness of this ale, its leans towards a sharper mouth feel. Not filling and a medium body.

Final Thoughts (3 out of 5): Its a fine ale, but I still stand by my “organic is bull-shit” stance. The lack of standards and controls for ‘certified organic’ products sullies the whole market. Any company can slap ‘organic’ onto a fruit and no one is the wiser.

You want an organic fruit? Walk into the fucking forest, find a berry bush and pick it yourself. You are not going to find it in a store. Just don’t get killed by the beer who is also enjoying those organic berries.

Organic fruits can be found here. Somewhere...

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Beer Review – Moslon Canadian

Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Hiking, Photography on June 4, 2010

It’s really important to note that the commercials market this as a patriotic symbol of Canada, even though its now half-owned by an American company. Go figure.

Name: Molson Canadian

Origin: Canada

Style: Lager (5.0%)

Appearance: This beer is a pale, clear yellow that pours with a big foamy head with poor shrinks down to a small, long living top.

Taste: The aroma is grassy, with just some slight notes of lemon-like citrus. The taste is grassy, with some mild herbal hops and some lemon like citrus notes. It finishes with a light cracker-like taste. No sweetness noted. The after taste has some notes of herbal and citrus, not unlike its initial flavours.

Mouth Feel: Soft, easy drinking. Light bodied, leaves a coated feeling in the mouth from its bitter aftertaste.

Final Thoughts (2.5 out of 5): You know its not bad actually. The flavours improve quite a lot when just reaching sub cold temperature, but as it continues to warm from there it becomes quite skunky. Overall I have to admit my impressions of this beer have improved ever-so slightly.

This is a view into the never ending expanses of Canada's boreal forests.

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Bottling Day – Molasses Porter and English Mild

Posted by bradinator in Beer, Experiments, Hobbies, Home Brewing on May 29, 2010

Just a quick update on my last two home brews. I racked both of them today which required me to use every single bottle I own. I could not begin to tell you how many bottles I got, but its probably around 70 pints between the both of them.

Too be honest I kind of rush both of them and did not take an accurate measurement for the priming sugar. It should have worked out to about 1/2 cup of dextrose each, but I kind of eye-balled it.

Molasses Porter –

Born May 2, Secondary May 16th, Bottled May 29
Original Gravity: 1.056
Final Gravity: 1.020 (S-33 SafAle yeast sucks)
ABV: 4.7%, Calories/Pint: 250kcal
Cost per pint: ~$1.00-$1.25

English Mild –

Born May 8, Secondary May 16th, Bottled May 29
Original Gravity: 1.034
Final Gravity: 1.009 (S-04 SafAle yeast rocks)
ABV: 3.2%, Calories/Pint: 150kcal
Cost per pint: ~$0.70-$0.80

Finally I will give both 7-14 days to bottle condition. I have so much beer downstairs right now I do not even know what to do with it.

And here is the real crazy thing… I created an experimental cider today too. I used 2 gallons of cranberry cocktail, 1 can of frozen pineapple juice concentrate and topped it with water. Worst of all I just pitched this on top of the yeast cake from my molasses porter! What was I thinking!? Original gravity is 1.038 and god have mercy on my soul for this monstrosity I am creating.

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Brew Updates – Dark Tower Graff Bottled and Molasses Porter moved

Posted by bradinator in Beer, Hobbies, Home Brewing on May 16, 2010

Today I spent the last two hours cleaning, bottling, cleaning, racking, cleaning and finally more cleaning. All for the sake of beer.

I decided to rack the Dark Tower Graff to bottles early for two reasons. First was that I want to have them ready for drinking before the long weekend, which happens to be the next weekend. Secondly I wanted my other glass carboy freed up so I could move the stagnant Molasses Porter into it.

The Dark Tower Graff read a final gravity of 1.010 which is no change from when I moved it to its secondary one week ago. The ABV is 5.5% and its 230k/cal a pint. I managed to get 37 and a half pints of graff from this batch which works out to about $1.10 a bottle. That is a guesstimate at best as I did not track how much the ingredients actually cost me for this batch. That 1/2 pint will most likely be ‘tested’ tonight as there is no point in carbonating a half-bottle as there is too much air space, which will leave it flat anyway.

I still have high hopes for the Molasses Porter. I am hoping that racking it to the secondary will awaken the yeast and get me at least a few more points of gravity. I want to see it hit a final gravity of 1.010 to 1.014, but that is a long way off in the world of home brewing. This will be getting at least two weeks in its new home as I will not be racking anything next weekend, rather I will be busy drinking my work.

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