Went to Redhook brewery in Woodinville last night.  Tasted their Sunrye (a little light for my tastes, but would be ok for a hot summer day), a  Raspberry Triple (unpleasant with a funky aftertaste... the one sample I wish I hadn't tried), the Longhammer IPA (solid performer) and their cask-conditioned Longhammer IPA (fabulous!!  Better than St. Arnold's cask-conditioned Elissa, on par with cask-conditioned Tupper's Hop Pocket -- which remains my gold medal standard).

The food was alright -- but the cask-conditioned IPA made the trip to the brewery worthwhile.  If you're a hop head or a fan of cask conditioned ales, I highly recommend it.

Today I'm off to hit a couple wineries, before heading into the city to see Tower of Power at Jazz Alley.  So far Seattle hsa been confusingly sunny.  I thought it always rained here.  Oh well, I'm sure I'll see rain before I heade back home.

Today was highway clean up day with the San Antonio Parrot Head Club.  We had a solid turnout and we collected over 40 bags of garbage on Military Highway, north of 1604.  After the clean up, we went over to Freetail Brewery to enjoy some refreshment.  Oddly enough, we had so many folks turn out for the clean up, we were finished long before Freetail was due to open.  musicbyoscar made a quick phone call to the brewhouse, and they agreed to open up early.  Scott Metzger (the owner) even provided us some nachos as a thanks for cleaning up the highway that runs beside the brewhouse.  Those guys are the greatest.  And their beer is delish!  I'm loving the Danny Mijo. 

musicbyoscar  kegged the IPA while I was out of town last week, and it's drinkable now... Yum!   The Imperial stout I mentioned in my last beer post turned out great -- several of our friends are giving it two thumbs up.  (well, okay, more like a thumb and a half -- they're trying not to spill their beer.)   So, for the first time since I bought him that twin-tap kegerator last year, we finally have 2 beers on tap. It's a glorious thing!

Meanwhile, the Oktoberfest brew is just about ready to move to the secondary fermenter, and it'll most likely be kegged before we finish off one of the current beers, so I think we're finally set for a while.  I've suggested an Irish Red for his next beer.  We'll see what he feels like trying though.

The home brew is coming along.  This morning musicbyoscar kegged his imperial stout, and he just finished racking the IPA to a secondary fermenter.  
Before long we'll have the twin-tap kegerator going full steam!

I just got off the phone with musicbyoscar.  For some reason we had a difficult time understanding each other, and our conversation went something like this:
musicbyoscar:  "you might be getting a phone call today from a company called keg kits."
slycreations:  "cake tits?"
musicbyoscar:  "Yeah, keg kits.  i ordered stuff from them on Valentines, and it hasn't shown up yet.  I'm checking up on my order."
slycreations:   "You ordered 'cake tits' for Valentines?"
musicbyoscar:  "I ordered from their website -- KegKits.com."
slycreations:  "CakeTits.com?"
musicbyoscar:  "yeah."
slycreations:  "I must not be understanding you.  Did you say 'tits' as in T-I-T-S???"
musicbyoscar:  "Kits -- K-I-T-S."
slycreations:  "Oh.  Why did you order cake kits?"
musicbyoscar:  "I need supplies to keg my beer."
slycreations:  "Why would you order beer supplies from a cake website?"

Anyway -- eventually after a few more rounds, I finally understood "keg" and not "cake", and all was well.
Of course, now that I think about it...  perhaps "cake tits" would make an ideal gift for someone you know. 

musicbyoscar  has started home brewing.  So far we have had a few minor beer "incidents" but otherwise things are going well.  His first brew (a pale ale) was very tasty -- and even the guys at the local home brewers group were impressed.  He has a stout that's almost ready, and then he'll be starting a batch of IPA for me.  What a fabulous hobby -- he makes the beer and I get to drink it. 

Went to Freetail this afternoon -- they've added several more beers to their list, and so far we've liked them all.  (Although I'm relying on musicbyoscar to rate the porters and stouts.)    They tap two more brews tonight, but we decided to swing by and try them tomorrow when we get our growler filled before the SuperBowl.  We wanted to stick around until the opened them, but we already had plans for grilling tonight since the weather was nice, and I made a homemade chimichurri sauce to go on the steaks.  Yum.
Meanwhile, the praline truffles turned out fabulous.  We had one for dessert and we'll most likely take the rest to a SuperBowl party tomorrow.

musicbyoscar and I spent New Year's Eve at a murder mystery event in Houston.   It was a fun time -- a big NYE party with dinner and DJ, with a little murder and mayhem thrown in for entertainment.    I drank enough wine to get out on the dance floor, but not enough to cause a hangover the next morning.  (A delicate balance, since I can't dance worth a darn) 

This morning I had a delicious breakfast of smoked brisket, taters, green chilis, scrambled eggs, and salsa -- the Renaissance Houston's signature dish.  If only they had better coffee it would have been perfect.  (Sadly, they now serve Starbucks, and no amount of milk or cream can turn that burnt paste back into a tasty cup o' joe.  Oh well... considering there's a drive-thru Starbucks at the corner of every major intersection around here, I shouldn't be surprised.)

We drove back to San Antonio after breakfast, and enjoyed a few beers and a late lunch at Freetail, which is a new microbrewery that opened on Black Friday.  They've got 4 beers finished now, and one more that will be done in a couple days, along with several other Texas micro-brews.  I've been impressed by them so far -- we've been twice, and the beers are far more consistent than Blue Star, and they have a wider range of beer styles than BJs.  We'll have to go back in a couple days when the Two Timer is ready.  So far I've enjoyed the Rye Wit, the Freetail Ale and the La Rubio, and </a></b></a>musicbyoscar also likes their Torpor Porter.   The Freetail Ale is an "open source" beer -- they've shared the recipe with local homebrewers, and aare hoping to keep improving the taste over time, based on recipe alterations being tested in the homebrew community.  (Where's Bob Tupper when I need him?)  They have other beers they've started brewing, and now we just have to wait for those brews to make it to the taps.  I can't wait until they release their Hopothetical Doubly Imperious IPA.  I should be in Hop heaven.

Anyway, we're back home now, where we can relax and enjoy our long weekend.   All in all, it's been a great New Years Eve/Day spent with my darling hubby. 

Wishing all of you a warm and wondrous new year!

For Christmas---musicbyoscar gave me Wii Fit (and a Wii to go with it) so that I could have fun while trying to improve my fitness. Thanks to the kind folks at San Antonio Homebrew Supply, I managed to give him all the equipment and supplies that he needs to join the homebrewer ranks (I chose an IPA for his first batch).   He plans on starting it this weekend.  I'm looking forward to sampling his creations.

I've managed to work out with Wii Fit every day since Christmas. Since I'm fairly outta shape, and my range of motion is limited by my muscle disorder, I've been trying to spend a good deal of time on the balance and yoga routines each day before I move into the aerobic and strength routines so that I don't overdo it. At first I was convinced that some of those balance exercises were completely impossible, since I kept falling off the balance board. In just one week I've managed to improve my balance enough that I now realize that all of the exercises are do-able, in spite of my initial "this is impossible" complaints.  Cross your fingers for me --- I need to maintain some level of workout so that I can enjoy the new homebrew without putting on extra pounds!

Found out a little more about the Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock that I found so velvety and yummy.  When we tried it at the House of Brews while we were on vacation, it was listed on the chalkboard as a new flavor, and so we tried it.  I assumed it cost around the same price as a typical Sam Adams beer.  At the end of the evening, I never saw our beer tab at House of Brews, because Oscar paid.   So -- I figured I'd look around town and buy us some -- after all, it really was delicious on tap.

I looked for it at the grocery store and found a bottle at our local HEB Plus -- the retail price was around $14 for a 750 ml bottle.  Turns out that the chocolate bock is one of Sammy's high-end specialty brews (its aged on a bed of cocoa nibs). Now I really want to know what we paid for it on tap in Manhattan!  I suspect that this is the most expensive American-made beer I've ever had.   We split it the other night -- and even from a bottle it was yummy. 

We probably won't buy it very often though, unless we find it at a better price.  For that kinda money, I'd rather drink Duchess de Bourgogne (a deliciously sour Flemish Red Ale).

I took today off so that I could run errands and prep for this weekend -- musicbyoscar  and I are having an Oktoberfest party.  Maybe "party" isn't the right word.  Perhaps it's really just a gathering of friends trying to drink away their economic blues, or an excuse to wear my dirndl and pretend to be the St. Pauli Girl, or a warm-up exercise for Wurstfest.  Either way, I've got plenty of food to buy and prep work to do.  The only thing that's ready right now is the Dogtoberfest Marzen in the kegerator.  Yum!

musicbyoscar and I are going up to Boerne today to the Dodging Duck Brewhaus for lunch.  He's been dying to try their newest brew - the Quackinator Doppelbock.   Sounds too dark and sweet for my tastes, but they always have something hoppy that I like, so I'm ready to go.  Besides, their food is delish!