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	<title>The Lazy Brewer &#187; Food</title>
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	<link>http://lazybrewer.com</link>
	<description>Homebrewing, technology and other duties as assigned...</description>
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		<title>Century Post!</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2009/07/02/century-post/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2009/07/02/century-post/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:58:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brew Pubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homebrewing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brenda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Colona]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monterey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stout]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=954</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This post marks my 100th post to the Lazy Brewer blog! I wondered if I&#8217;d get here with my little blogging experiment.  It won&#8217;t be too long before I blog about my 100th batch of beer. Last week I picked up a 13 cu ft chest freezer, and Ranco digital temperature controller, for cold keg [...]


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/19/chillin-in-monterey/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Chillin&#8217; in Monterey&#8230;'>Chillin&#8217; in Monterey&#8230;</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/08/11/post-brew-post/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Post Brew Post'>Post Brew Post</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2010/04/25/catching-up/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Catching up&#8230;'>Catching up&#8230;</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This post marks my 100th post to the Lazy Brewer blog! I wondered if I&#8217;d get here with my little blogging experiment.  It won&#8217;t be too long before I blog about my 100th batch of beer.</p>
<div id="attachment_955" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><img class="size-full wp-image-955 " style="margin: 6px;" title="Chest Freezer" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/ChestFreezer.jpg" alt="New Chest Freezer for Keg Storage (and old upright fridge in the background)" width="400" height="300" /><p class="wp-caption-text">New Chest Freezer for Keg Storage (and old upright fridge in the background)</p></div>
<p>Last week I picked up a 13 cu ft chest freezer, and Ranco digital temperature controller, for cold keg storage.  This opens up my existing upright refrigerator as a summer fermenting chamber.  Last Friday I brewed a batch of one of Brenda&#8217;s favorite beers I make, <a title="Colona" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/04/19/time-to-keg-up/" target="_blank">Colona</a>, and it is fermenting away at appropriate lager fermentation temperatures in my brew shed&#8217;s refrigerator.</p>
<div id="attachment_960" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><img class="size-full wp-image-960 " style="margin: 6px;" title="Brittannia Arms Pub" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/BritArms.jpg" alt="Brittannia Arms Pub in Monterey" width="400" height="300" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Brittannia Arms Pub in Monterey</p></div>
<p>Last weekend, Brenda and I celebrated our 29th anniversary in Monterey. We stayed at our favorite Monterey inn, <a title="The Merritt House Inn" href="http://www.merritthouseinn.com" target="_blank">The Merritt House Inn</a>.  As always, the staff there treated us wonderfully and we enjoyed several wonderful fresh fish meals, as well as a couple sessions in one of my favorite pubs, <a title="Brittannia Arms Pub" href="http://www.themenupage.com/britanniaarms.html" target="_blank">Britannia Arms</a>.  We escaped 109+ valley temperatures for two days and enjoyed fabulous mid-70s temps.</p>
<p>Tomorrow I&#8217;ll be brewing another batch of <a title="Black Widow Stout" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2009/02/06/black-widow-stout-on-deck/" target="_blank">Black Widow Stout</a>.  The keg just blew last week, so it&#8217;ll be a month or so before I have a standard stout back on tap.  I do have RIS on tap, so not all is lost, but it is far from a session ale:)  I plan on oaking five gallons of this batch of Black Widow Stout.  Several of my brew buddies have been experimenting with oaking stouts and IPAs lately, and I want to give it a go.  Steve&#8217;s oaked RIS is truly one of the best home brewed ales I&#8217;ve ever had the pleasure to enjoy, and I want to join that exclusive club.  Hopefully I can get an early start on the brew day (not Steve early!) so that I can have a glimmer of hope of chilling the batch.  Even with an iced pre-chiller, I&#8217;ve had problems using summer valley groundwater to get my wort down to suitable initial fermentation temps.  With the Colona still in the fermentation fridge (currently in the middle of a diacetyl rest), this batch will need to start out in the living room, so I do need to get it quite cool to start off well.</p>
<p>With the 4th of July just around the corner, we&#8217;ll be spending the day with the usual suspects!  Happy Birthday, America!</p>
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<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/19/chillin-in-monterey/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Chillin&#8217; in Monterey&#8230;'>Chillin&#8217; in Monterey&#8230;</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/08/11/post-brew-post/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Post Brew Post'>Post Brew Post</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2010/04/25/catching-up/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Catching up&#8230;'>Catching up&#8230;</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Beer Wars Movie</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2009/04/17/beer-wars-movie/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2009/04/17/beer-wars-movie/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:24:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brew Pubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craft Beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beer Wars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CVBG]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=792</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last night a few of the Central Valley Brewers Guild folks and I went to Merced to see the movie event, Beer Wars. There were a total of 10 people in the audience for the movie, and from what I&#8217;ve read, this was pretty typical of the theaters across America. Some theaters experienced technical issues [...]


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2010/06/27/northern-california-beer-road-trip/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Northern California Beer Road Trip'>Northern California Beer Road Trip</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2010/06/19/monterey-beer-festival/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Monterey Beer Festival'>Monterey Beer Festival</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2010/07/14/beer-tour-picture-gallery/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Beer Tour Picture Gallery'>Beer Tour Picture Gallery</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_796" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-full wp-image-796" style="margin: 6px;" title="Beer Wars" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/beerwars.jpg" alt="After Beer Wars..." width="300" height="400" /><p class="wp-caption-text">After Beer Wars...</p></div>
<p>Last night a few of the <a title="Central Valley Brewers Guild" href="http://www.centralvalleybrewersguild.com" target="_blank">Central Valley Brewers Guild</a> folks and I went to Merced to see the movie event, <a title="Beer Wars Movie" href="http://beerwarsmovie.com" target="_blank"><em>Beer Wars</em></a>. There were a total of 10 people in the audience for the movie, and from what I&#8217;ve read, this was pretty typical of the theaters across America. Some theaters experienced technical issues with the viewing, but our theater did a decent job of making it all happen.  I think what I took away from the movie was the absurdity of the three tier system of beer distribution in America. There are breweries, distributors and retailers. Basically, while the brewery may want to get their ale in my hands, ultimately, it is the middle man &#8211; the distributor &#8211; who controls what I will find on tap at an ale house or a retail outlet like my bottle shop or even BevMo. The distributors usually have relationships with one of the big three breweries (AB, SAB Miller/Coors), and so push the products their &#8220;parent&#8221; wants them to sell &#8211; not necessarily what the consumer wants. It a sad state.</p>
<p>The movie itself was interesting, but I had some gripes with it.  They seem to have chosen an questionable story line to follow with Rhonda Kallman&#8217;s Moon Shot.  It&#8217;s a caffeinated beer &#8211; focused at those folks who want to be wired and drunk at the same time.  I just can&#8217;t put this stuff into the category of craft beer.  I understand how it fits in with the theme of the movie, but then I was very confused with her efforts to sell out to the the <em>Big Three</em>.  She&#8217;s not about craft beer &#8211; she&#8217;s about marketing.  Hell, even her old partner Jim Koch, turned her down for financial assistance.  Sadly, much &#8211; too much &#8211; of the movie was showing her efforts to get her foot in the door at the ale house level.  I&#8217;d have liked to see the movie focus more on a couple other craft brewers than her.  Even with all this in mind, I found it uncomfortable seeing the <a title="Beer Advocate" href="http://beeradvocate.com" target="_blank">Alstrom Brothers</a> slam her efforts on a live stage event after the movie.  It was unnecessary.</p>
<p>It was still fun to see some of my beer heroes up on the big screen.  Charlie Papazian, Sam Caglione, Greg Koch, Jim Koch made the film.</p>
<div id="attachment_797" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><img class="size-full wp-image-797" style="margin: 6px;" title="bbbbbq" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bbbbbq.jpg" alt="My Tri-Tip Sandwich and fresh chips" width="400" height="300" /><p class="wp-caption-text">My Tri-Tip Sandwich and fresh chips</p></div>
<p>We started the evening at <a title="Bubba's Big Bad BQ" href="http://www.bigbubbasbadbbq.com" target="_blank">Bubba&#8217;s Big Bad BBQ</a> in Merced.  I had a Tri-Tip sandwich with a couple <a title="Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA" href="http://www.firestonewalker.com/index.php?c=our_pale_ales" target="_blank">Union Jack IPAs</a>.  The food was wondeful and Firestone never fails to please.  We&#8217;re heading back here tonight for a brewery tour of <a title="Rascal Breek Brewery" href="https://www.jasonvogel.com/Rascal_Creek_Brewery.html" target="_blank">Rascal Creek Brewing</a>, where our buddy Don Oliver is currently brewing their ales.  We&#8217;re looking forwad to getting the back story on this from Don:)  We&#8217;ll have dinner and ales again.</p>
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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2010/07/14/beer-tour-picture-gallery/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Beer Tour Picture Gallery'>Beer Tour Picture Gallery</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Lazy Easter Afternoon&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2009/04/12/lazy-easter-afternoon/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2009/04/12/lazy-easter-afternoon/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:36:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Craft Beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Easter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eddy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prime rib]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=779</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We headed over to the Brew Barn for our traditional Easter gathering.  All the regular faces were there:)  I took some ales over for the event &#8211; a Rubicon IPA, a Deschutes Hop Trip Pale Ale and an Oskar Blues Gordon Imperial IPA.  Stephen broke out a special bottle of Sam Adams Imperial White Witbier.  [...]


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/23/off-and-running/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Off and Running&#8230;'>Off and Running&#8230;</a></li>
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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/30/looking-back-at-sac/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Looking Back at Sac'>Looking Back at Sac</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_781" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-full wp-image-781" style="margin: 6px;" title="Easter Ales" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/easterales09.jpg" alt="Easter Ales" width="300" height="400" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Easter Ales</p></div>
<p>We headed over to the Brew Barn for our traditional Easter gathering.  All the regular faces were there:)  I took some ales over for the event &#8211; a <a title="Rubicon IPA" href="http://rubiconbrewing.com/beers.html" target="_blank" class="broken_link">Rubicon IPA</a>, a <a title="Deschutes Hop Trip Pale Ale" href="http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/brews/bond-street-series/hop-trip/default.aspx" target="_blank">Deschutes Hop Trip Pale Ale</a> and an <a title="Oskar Blues Gordon Imperial IPA" href="http://www.oskarblues.com/brew/" target="_blank">Oskar Blues Gordon Imperial IPA</a>.  Stephen broke out a special bottle of <a title="Samual Adams Imperial White" href="http://www.samueladams.com/imperialseries/imperialwhite.html" target="_blank">Sam Adams Imperial White Witbie</a>r.  Obviously, there was also some wonderful homebrew thrown in with lunch.</p>
<p>The weather was wonderful and we ate out on the patio.  Stephen made the most wonderful lunch for us &#8211; prime rib sandwiches, grilled asparagus, several different salads and we took my mom&#8217;s party potatoes.  We shared ales, had a relaxed meal and visited while digesting.</p>
<div id="attachment_787" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-full wp-image-787" style="margin: 6px;" title="Easter Lunch - Prime Rib Sandwiches" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/easterlunch09.jpg" alt="easterlunch09" width="300" height="400" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Easter Lunch - Prime Rib Sandwiches</p></div>
<p>We really wanted to take Eddy, but he has his last round of puppy shots tomorrow the vet has strongly suggested not taking him too far afield until he has wrapped up his vaccinations.  He was glad to see us when we got home.  Lots of slobbery kisses followed:)</p>
<p>It is so nice to have holiday meals where you are considered family.  Thanks buddy:)</p>
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</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Teach a Friend to Brew Day Success!</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/11/03/teach-a-friend-to-brew-day-success/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/11/03/teach-a-friend-to-brew-day-success/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:21:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homebrewing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recipes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BlowMaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TAFTBD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Teach a Friend to Brew Day]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=571</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2008 was a huge success!  The official head count came in at 24 attendees &#8211; and very few raindrops!  We had a very diverse group &#8211; with a gentleman all the way from New Zealand.  Best of all, three of the attendees have all but confirmed that they will [...]


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/11/07/teach-friend-brew-day-2009-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009 A Success!'>Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009 A Success!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/11/03/teach-friend-brew-day-2009/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009'>Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/23/teach-a-friend-to-brew-day/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Teach a Friend to Brew Day'>Teach a Friend to Brew Day</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_573" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/brewcrew.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-573" style="margin: 6px;" title="brewcrew" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/brewcrew.jpg" alt="The 2008 Teach a Friend to Brew Day Crew" width="500" height="375" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The 2008 Teach a Friend to Brew Day Crew</p></div>
<p>Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2008 was a huge success!  The official head count came in at 24 attendees &#8211; and very few raindrops!  We had a very diverse group &#8211; with a gentleman all the way from New Zealand.  Best of all, three of the attendees have all but confirmed that they will start homebrewing, with one more as a strong probable.  Since this is what TAFTBD is all about, I see this as a big victory.</p>
<p>Many thanks to the Two Steves (Stephen V. and Steve H.) for providing hours of teaching and brewing advice to those who listened intently, while I brewed my annual ten gallon batch of <a title="Teach a Friend to Brew Day IPA" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/04/17/taftbd-ipa-on-deck-for-sunday/" target="_blank">TAFTBD IPA</a>.  It was great to have additional homebrewing veterans on hand to yak it up while I tried to stay on task:)</p>
<p>One of the best moments of the day was when Steve H. whipped out three large swingtop bottles of TAFTBD IPA, the recipe we were brewing, for one of those cooking show moments where you pull the fully cooked recipe item out of the oven &#8211; in all its glory!  It was a real eye-opener for everyone to actually taste the ale we were brewing &#8211; it brought it all home for everyone.</p>
<p>Everyone kicked in food and munchies for the day, and special thaks go out to John for organizing the day&#8217;s food and slaving away over the grill.  It was a good thing we had such great food support as my best guess is that we went through 12-15 gallons of ale.  At the end of the day, three kegs were blown (with one more containing only 2 or 3 more pints), the <a title="Old Man Bitter" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/04/30/old-man-bitter-on-deck/" target="_blank">Old Man Bitter</a>, the <a title="Evil Twin Red Ale" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/06/evil-twin-red-ale-on-deck/" target="_blank">Evil Twin Red Ale</a> and the Black Widow Stout.  We need some momento for folks when the blow a keg at Sociables Alehouse.  I&#8217;m thinking of a commemorative T-shirt or something.  Of course, people would have to go a long ways to beat Stephen, who&#8217;s been dubbed, <em>The BlowMaster</em>, for his prowess in killing kegs. <img src='http://lazybrewer.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>A <a title="TAFTBD Photo Gallery" href="http://lazybrewer.com/photo-gallery/" target="_blank">Photo Gallery</a> has been posted of the day&#8217;s activities for your viewing pleasure.</p>
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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/11/03/teach-friend-brew-day-2009/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009'>Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/23/teach-a-friend-to-brew-day/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Teach a Friend to Brew Day'>Teach a Friend to Brew Day</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>You Find Out Who Your Friends Are&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/27/you-find-out-who-your-friends-are/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/27/you-find-out-who-your-friends-are/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:01:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Craft Beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Halloween]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hoptimus Prime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Simcoe IPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Two Hearted Ale]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=540</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;when they bring beer from 3000 miles away that you&#8217;ve been wanting to taste for years! This Saturday evening, we hosted a dinner for our best buddies to join us for dinner and ales in lieu of our neighbor&#8217;s annual Halloween party.  John and Robyn throw the best Halloween party, but after five years they [...]


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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/16/its-in-glass/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: It&#8217;s in Glass!'>It&#8217;s in Glass!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/24/on-a-roll-brewing-again/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: On a Roll &#8211; Brewing Again!'>On a Roll &#8211; Brewing Again!</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8230;when they bring beer from 3000 miles away that you&#8217;ve been wanting to taste for years!</p>
<div id="attachment_549" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/girlsnguy.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-549" style="margin: 6px;" title="Girls n' Guy" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/girlsnguy.jpg" alt="Stephen and the Ladies" width="400" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Stephen and the Ladies</p></div>
<p>This Saturday evening, we hosted a dinner for our best buddies to join us for dinner and ales in lieu of our neighbor&#8217;s annual Halloween party.  John and Robyn throw the <em>best</em> Halloween party, but after five years they took a year off.  We decided to host a dinner party and I put some tri-tip and shrimp in the smoker, and everyone else brought their best to support the meal.</p>
<div id="attachment_552" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/twoheartedale.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-552" style="margin: 6px;" title="Bell's Two Hearted Ale" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/twoheartedale.jpg" alt="Bell's Two Hearted Ale" width="400" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Bell&#39;s Two Hearted Ale</p></div>
<p>But the best of the evening was the ales that Maggie brought back from Washington DC &#8211; particularly the Bell&#8217;s Three Hearted Ale I&#8217;ve been wanting to taste forever.  Maggie brought back well over a case of ale through airport security, and even educated the TSA as to the virtues of homebrewing!  You gotta love someone that can do that <img src='http://lazybrewer.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<div id="attachment_555" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dogfishhead.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-555" style="margin: 6px;" title="Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and Bell's Special Cream Stout" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dogfishhead.jpg" alt="Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and Bell's Special Cream Stout" width="400" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and Bell&#39;s Special Cream Stout</p></div>
<p>She and Steve showed up with lots of <a title="Bell's Two Hearted Ale" href="http://www.bellsbeer.com/index.php/brands.html" target="_blank">Bell&#8217;s Two Hearted Ale</a> (and left me a six-pack), some <a title="Bells' Special Double Cream Stout" href="http://www.bellsbeer.com/index.php/brands.html" target="_blank">Bell&#8217;s Special Double Cream Stout</a>, some <a title="Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA" href="http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Year_Round_Beers/60_Minute_IPA/8/index.htm" target="_blank">Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA</a>, some <a href="http://www.weyerbacher.com/cwo.php?id=7&amp;page_id=46">Weyerbacher Simcoe Double IPA</a> and a bomber of <a title="Legacy Brewing's Hoptimus Prime IPA" href="http://www.legacybrewing.com/beers/" target="_blank" class="broken_link">Legacy Brewing&#8217;s Hoptimus Prime Double IP</a><a title="Legacy Brewing's Hoptimus Prime IPA" href="http://www.legacybrewing.com/beers/" target="_blank" class="broken_link">A</a>.</p>
<div id="attachment_558" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/simcoeipa.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-558" style="margin: 6px;" title="Weyerbacher Simcoe Double IPA" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/simcoeipa.jpg" alt="Weyerbacher Simcoe Double IPA" width="400" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Weyerbacher Simcoe Double IPA</p></div>
<p>The Two Hearted Ale was wonderful (and my clone was pretty much spot-on:), but the highlight of the ales was the Simcoe Double IPA.  It has an ass kicking malt bill, balanced out by a piney, resinous hop character.  Steve and I are committed to try and brew this beast using my Blue Flame malt bill and subbing in Simcoe hops all the way through the brew.  I may brew this on Veterans Day.</p>
<div id="attachment_560" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/hoptimusprime.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-560" style="margin: 6px;" title="Legacy Brewing's Hoptimus Prime" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/hoptimusprime.jpg" alt="Legacy Brewing's Hoptimus Prime" width="300" height="400" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Legacy Brewing&#39;s Hoptimus Prime</p></div>
<p>All in all, the evening was a great mix of friends, good eats and wonderful brews.  The whole evening was like an <a title="It Doesn't Get any Better Than This" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtnMtrEB1-I" target="_blank">Old Milwaukee commercia</a>l -  it doesn&#8217;t get any better than this!</p>
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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/16/its-in-glass/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: It&#8217;s in Glass!'>It&#8217;s in Glass!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/24/on-a-roll-brewing-again/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: On a Roll &#8211; Brewing Again!'>On a Roll &#8211; Brewing Again!</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Teach a Friend to Brew Day</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/23/teach-a-friend-to-brew-day/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/23/teach-a-friend-to-brew-day/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:06:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homebrewing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recipes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TAFTBD IPA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=528</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Saturday, November 1st, is Teach a Friend to Brew Day.  For the fourth time, I&#8217;ll be inviting friends &#8211; and their friends- over to learn how to brew beer.  We&#8217;ll be starting promptly at 9:00 a.m., milling over 25 pounds of malted barley, to make a 10 gallon batch of TAFTBD IPA.  I&#8217;ll have coffee [...]


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/11/03/teach-friend-brew-day-2009/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009'>Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/11/03/teach-a-friend-to-brew-day-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Teach a Friend to Brew Day Success!'>Teach a Friend to Brew Day Success!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/11/07/teach-friend-brew-day-2009-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009 A Success!'>Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009 A Success!</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.beertown.org/events/teach/index.html" target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-530 alignleft" style="margin: 6px;" title="Teach a Friend to Brew Day" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/taf-300x113.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="113" /></a>Saturday, November 1st, is <a title="Teach a Friend to Brew Day" href="http://www.beertown.org/events/teach/index.html" target="_blank">Teach a Friend to Brew Day</a>.  For the fourth time, I&#8217;ll be inviting friends &#8211; and their friends- over to learn how to brew beer.  We&#8217;ll be starting promptly at 9:00 a.m., milling over 25 pounds of malted barley, to make a 10 gallon batch of <a title="Teach a Friend to Brew Day IPA" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/04/17/taftbd-ipa-on-deck-for-sunday/" target="_blank">TAFTBD IPA</a>.  I&#8217;ll have coffee and morning munchies early in the day, as well as sausages and tri-tip (John has offered to be the event&#8217;s GrillMaster:) and lunch munchies in the afternoon.  Additionally, attendees will have full run of the 8 ales I have on tap throughout the day:)  We should be done around 3:00 p.m.  My best guess is that there will be about a dozen attendees.</p>
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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/11/03/teach-a-friend-to-brew-day-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Teach a Friend to Brew Day Success!'>Teach a Friend to Brew Day Success!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/11/07/teach-friend-brew-day-2009-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009 A Success!'>Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009 A Success!</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Score in SF!</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/12/score-in-sf/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/10/12/score-in-sf/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:26:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Craft Beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Acoustic Alchemy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blind Pig]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dogfish Head]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pliny the Elder]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[San Francisco]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tommy's Joynt]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=475</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We just got back from an overnight trip to San Francisco.  We dropped off a care package to Meagan and then headed over to our hotel (after almost getting creamed by a trolley car:).  I saw a BevMo a couple bocks away while we were trying to park, so I made a mental note to [...]


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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/30/looking-back-at-sac/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Looking Back at Sac'>Looking Back at Sac</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/16/its-in-glass/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: It&#8217;s in Glass!'>It&#8217;s in Glass!</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_476" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/tommysjoynt.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-476" style="margin: 6px;" title="tommysjoynt" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/tommysjoynt-300x174.jpg" alt="Tommy's Joynt in San Francisco" width="300" height="174" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Tommy&#39;s Joynt in San Francisco</p></div>
<p>We just got back from an overnight trip to San Francisco.  We dropped off a care package to Meagan and then headed over to our hotel (after almost getting creamed by a trolley car:).  I saw a BevMo a couple bocks away while we were trying to park, so I made a mental note to check them out for some ales I&#8217;ve been unable to buy in the valley.  After checking into our hotel, and enjoying an ale with friends in our room, we headed across the street to a San Francisco landmark, <a title="Tommy's Joynt" href="http://www.tommysjoynt.com" target="_blank">Tommy&#8217;s Joynt</a>, for dinner and ales.  We could smell the wonderful aroma of hofbrau food wafting across the street as we hurried through the cross walk to Tommy&#8217;s.  Inside, the place was hopping, with every seat taken in the lower level, but there was plenty of seating available upstairs.  It was everything I had hoped for &#8211; hand carved meats on fantastic San Francisco sourdough bread!  It brought back memories of my childhood, living in Oakland, and visiting a fantastic hofbrau, at Broadway and Grand, in downtown Oakland (the hofbrau has since closed up).  I ordered a turkey sandwich, a side of stuffing, and a <a title="Speakeasy Ales &amp; Lagers" href="http://www.goodbeer.com" target="_blank">Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA</a>.  The food was heavenly &#8211; hearty and full of flavor.  Dinner for two of us was only $16 for carved sandwiches and sides, and the ales were very reasonable at under $5 a pint.  I&#8217;d go back to Tommy&#8217;s Joynt in a heartbeat, and it is only 6-7 blocks from Meagan&#8217;s dorm on Sutter.</p>
<p>After dinner we walked about eight long city blocks over to <a title="Yoshis Jazz Club" href="http://sf.yoshis.com/sf/jazzclub/" target="_blank">Yoshis Jazz Club</a> to see <a title="Acoustic Alchemy" href="http://www.acoustic-alchemy.net" target="_self">Acoustic Alchemy</a>.  The club was very nice, with awesome acoustics, and Acoustic Alchemy was as good as usual &#8211; very tight and polished.  At the club I enjoyed a <a title="Lagunitas IPA" href="http://www.lagunitas.com/beers/ipa.html" target="_blank">Lagunitas IPA</a> and a Hoegaarden Wit.</p>
<div id="attachment_477" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/score.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-477" style="margin: 6px;" title="score" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/score.jpg" alt="Dogfish Head and Russian River Ales" width="400" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Dogfish Head and Russian River Ales</p></div>
<p>This morning, after a quick contenential breakfast, we headed out for a walk so I could check out BevMo for beer.  They didn&#8217;t open until 10:00 a.m., so we walked a bit futher to a <a title="Whle FOods Market" href="http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com" target="_blank">Whole Foods Market</a> a couple blocks away.  They had all of the ales I was hoping to find at BevMo.  I picked up two 4-packs of <a title="Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron" href="http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Year_Round_Beers/Palo_Santo_Marron/51/index.htm" target="_blank">Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron</a> brown ale and two 4-packs of <a title="Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA" href="http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Year_Round_Beers/90_Minute_IPA/11/index.htm" target="_blank">Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA</a>.  Additionally, they had mini-bombers of Russing River ales, so I got three bottles of <a title="Blind Pig IPA" href="http://www.russianriverbrewing.com/web/brews/blindpig.htm" target="_blank" class="broken_link">Blind Pig IPA</a> and two bottles of <a title="Pliny the Elder" href="http://www.russianriverbrewing.com/web/brews/plinytheelder.htm" target="_blank" class="broken_link">Pliny the Elder Double IPA</a>.  $78 later, and I had twenty-one bottles of high quality ale that will be savored over the coming months.  Score!</p>
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</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Time for a New (Additional) Barbecue!</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/08/24/time-for-a-new-additional-barbecue/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/08/24/time-for-a-new-additional-barbecue/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:21:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brew Pubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craft Beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[barbeque]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BBQ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brenda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hop Sauce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rubicon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smokey Mountain Cooker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weber]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=349</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Brenda and I received a gift certificate for a local department store when we got married 28 years ago, and we used it, plus a few extra dollars, to buy a Weber kettle barbecue that I used extensively for seven or eight years.  Many, many wonderful meals were prepared on that kettle and it actually [...]


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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/07/02/century-post/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Century Post!'>Century Post!</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Brenda and I received a gift certificate for a local department store when we got married 28 years ago, and we used it, plus a few extra dollars, to buy a Weber kettle barbecue that I used extensively for seven or eight years.  Many, many wonderful meals were prepared on that kettle and it actually lasted for over ten years as it was taken to school and used for reward meals for my science students.  I&#8217;m on my second Weber Genesis gas grill and once you get the grill seasoned with a few BBQ sessions, the food is great &#8211; plus, I love the convenience of gas.  You can light the grill and be cooking in ten minutes.  Gas grills are also wonderful for the large pieces of meat I cook for holiday meals like turkeys, New York strips and prime rib.</p>
<div id="attachment_353" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 183px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/smokeymountancooker.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-353" style="margin: 6px;" title="Smokey Mountain Cooker" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/smokeymountancooker.jpg" alt="Weber's Smokey Mountain Cooker" width="173" height="280" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker</p></div>
<p>Lately though, I&#8217;ve been hearing the call of charcoal and wood chunks &#8211; and wonderful slow cooked and smoked meats.  For the last year or so, I&#8217;ve been casually checking out smokers, but now I feel the need to move forward on a purchase.  I saw a tweet today on Twitter from a gent in Washington (hi <a title="Normskibrewer on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/Normskibrewer" target="_blank">Normskibrewer</a>!) who uses Weber&#8217;s <a title="Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004U9VA/?tag=thelazbre-20" target="_blank">Smokey Mountain Cooker </a>for his BBQ endeavors.  He highly recommends the smoker, as do several hundred people who&#8217;ve posted reviews over at <a title="Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004U9VA/?tag=thelazbre-20" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.  There seem to be some manufacturing issues with same of the individual pieces of the cooker, but everyone seems to get those ironed out either with Amazon, or Weber itself.  Norm recommended checking out<a title="Virtual Weber Bullet web site" href="http://www.virtualweberbullet.com" target="_blank"> Virtual Weber Bullet</a> web site for more info and it is a wealth of information for the unit itself, as well as cooking/smoking procedures and recipes for various cuts of meat.  I&#8217;m sold!  I&#8217;ll be picking up a Weber Smokey Mountain Grill this week, either from Amazon, or a local vendor.  Amazingly, a small, independent BBQ shop opened in the last couple weeks less than a mile from my home.  I don&#8217;t mind spending a few extra bucks to support local businesses, but I don&#8217;t know if they carry the Weber Smokey Mountain Grill, and how much more it may be above Amazon&#8217;s very low price.</p>
<p>I want to break in the new smoker over the Labor Day weekend, so I need to get my ducks in a row tomorrow before I head out of town with Stephen on my <a title="Summer of Music" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/12/summer-of-music/" target="_self">Summer of Music Tour</a> to see <a title="Dave Matthews Band" href="http://davematthews.com" target="_blank">Dave Matthews</a> at <a title="Raley Field" href="http://www.raleyfield.com" target="_blank">Raley Field</a>, in Sacramento.  The show may be a bit of a somber event as one of DMB&#8217;s <a title="RIP LeRoi Moore :(" href="http://www.davematthewsband.com/news/" target="_blank">founding members died</a> last week from complications from an ATV accident in late June.  Hopefully, before I have my first <a title="Rubicon's Hop Sauce" href="http://www.rubiconbrewing.com/beers.html" target="_self" class="broken_link">Hop Sauce</a> at <a title="Rubicon Brewing Company" href="http://www.rubiconbrewing.com" target="_blank">Rubicon Brewing Company</a> about 4:30 tomorrow afternoon, I&#8217;ll have purchased the new smoker.</p>
<div id="wherego_related"> </div>

<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/08/16/mystery-date/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Mystery Date'>Mystery Date</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/30/looking-back-at-sac/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Looking Back at Sac'>Looking Back at Sac</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/07/02/century-post/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Century Post!'>Century Post!</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Mystery Date</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/08/16/mystery-date/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/08/16/mystery-date/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Craft Beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Black Diamond Amber Ale]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Concord]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dave Matthews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hop Sauce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Cocker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Macaroni Grill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mystery Date]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rubicon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steve Miller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stupid people]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=310</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Our good friends Eric and Becky took us on a Mystery Date yesterday.  Basically, you just get in the car (you don&#8217;t know where you are going) and give up all control to the person in charge of the Mystery Date.  Those of you who know me know that giving up all control kills me:)  [...]


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/08/24/time-for-a-new-additional-barbecue/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Time for a New (Additional) Barbecue!'>Time for a New (Additional) Barbecue!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/26/the-day-after/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: The Day After&#8230;'>The Day After&#8230;</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/15/paul-thorn-in-nacasio/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Paul Thorn in Nacasio'>Paul Thorn in Nacasio</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_313" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/mysterydate.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-313" style="margin: 6px;" title="Mystery Date" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/mysterydate.jpg" alt="Eric, Becky and Brenda at the Concord Pavillion" width="300" height="400" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Eric, Becky and Brenda at the Concord Pavillion</p></div>
<p>Our good friends Eric and Becky took us on a Mystery Date yesterday.  Basically, you just get in the car (you don&#8217;t know where you are going) and give up all control to the person in charge of the Mystery Date.  Those of you who know me know that giving up all control kills me:)  The <a title="Summer of Music" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/12/summer-of-music/" target="_blank"><em>Summer of Music</em></a> was to expand, unbeknown to me!  We headed west right after work and started our adventure at the <a title="Macaroni Grill Restaurant" href="http://www.macaronigrill.com" target="_blank">Macaroni Grill</a> in Pleasanton. I had a really nice plate of Veal Marsala.  Neither Brenda or I had been to a Macaroni Grill before and we were both really impressed.  Decent prices and great food.</p>
<p>Next we headed over to Concord to the Concord Pavilion (it&#8217;s now called <a title="Sleep Train Pavilion" href="http://www.livenation.com/venue/getVenue/venueId/1503" target="_blank">Sleep Train Pavilion</a>, but I&#8217;ll always call it the Concord Pavilion &#8211; I hate the commercial sponsorship of stadiums and arenas!) to see a show.  It opened with Joe Cocker, who can still kick ass, and was closely followed by a couple hours of the Steve Miller Band.</p>
<div id="attachment_316" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/stevemillerband.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-316" style="margin: 6px;" title="The Steve Miller Band" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/stevemillerband.jpg" alt="The Steve Miller Band at the Concord Pavillion" width="400" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Steve Miller Band at the Concord Pavilion</p></div>
<p>Both acts were really good, and they both still play very tightly &#8211; just like thirty years ago!  Unfortunately, we had some late twenty-somethings sitting two rows in front of us that stood and danced, drank and smoked pot for most of the show, blocking our view.  They were pretty much the only people in our section who stood throughout the whole show, and unluckily for us were right in front of us.  Karma came through about two thirds of the way through Steve Miller&#8217;s set when one of the guys basically passed out and had to be carried out by all his dancing buddies.  They didn&#8217;t return. <img src='http://lazybrewer.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>I had a couple of really large <a title="Black Diamond Amber Ale" href="http://www.bdbrewing.com/Default.aspx?tabid=60" target="_blank">Black Diamond Amber Ales</a>.  Good stuff!</p>
<p>Stephen and I are off to <a title="Raley Field" href="http://www.raleyfield.com" target="_blank">Raley Field</a>, in Sacramento, next Monday to see <a title="The Dave Matthews Band" href="http://www.dmband.com" target="_blank">The Dave Matthews Band</a>.  We&#8217;ll be kicking off the evening with dinner and ales at <a title="Rubicon Brewing Company" href="http://www.rubiconbrewing.com" target="_blank">Rubicon Brewing Company</a>.  I&#8217;ll have a <a title="Hop Sauce" href="http://www.rubiconbrewing.com/beers.html" target="_blank" class="broken_link">Hop Sauce</a>, thank you!  Yum!</p>
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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/26/the-day-after/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: The Day After&#8230;'>The Day After&#8230;</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/15/paul-thorn-in-nacasio/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Paul Thorn in Nacasio'>Paul Thorn in Nacasio</a></li>
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		<title>Summer of Music Continues!</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/17/summer-of-music-continues/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/17/summer-of-music-continues/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:03:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leon Russell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meagan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[P. Wexfords]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The State Theater]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=232</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just found out a half hour ago that I won tickets to see Leon Russell at the State Theater tomorrow night, compliments of the Modesto Bee (thanks, Eric!)!  Woohoo!  I entered their semi-weekly contest via e-mail and was selected this afternoon for the show.  I had hoped that Brenda would join me for the [...]


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/12/summer-of-music/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Summer of Music'>Summer of Music</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/18/leon-can-still-belt-out-the-tunes/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Leon Can Still Belt Out the Tunes!'>Leon Can Still Belt Out the Tunes!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/08/16/mystery-date/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Mystery Date'>Mystery Date</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/leon_russel.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-234" style="margin: 6px;" title="Leon Russel" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/leon_russel.jpg" alt="" width="203" height="189" /></a>I just found out a half hour ago that I won tickets to see <a title="Leon Russell" href="http://www.leonrussellrecords.com" target="_blank">Leon Russell</a> at the <a title="The State Theater" href="http://www.thestate.org" target="_blank">State Theater</a> tomorrow night, compliments of the <a title="Modesto Bee" href="http://www.modbee.com" target="_blank">Modesto Bee</a> (thanks, Eric!)!  Woohoo!  I entered their semi-weekly contest via e-mail and was selected this afternoon for the show.  I had hoped that Brenda would join me for the concert, but she&#8217;s being the <em>Good Mom</em> and staying home to take care of Meagan.  Meggy visited the oral surgeon this morning and had all four of her wisdom teeth removed and is in a bad way.  I called my good buddy Brad, and he&#8217;s committed to be my date for the show.  He&#8217;s not as pretty as Brenda, but he&#8217;ll have to do:)  <a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/pwexfords.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-235" style="margin: 6px;" title="P. Wexfords" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/pwexfords.jpg" alt="" width="190" height="109" /></a>We&#8217;ll head over to <a title="P. Wexfords" href="http://photos.igougo.com/pictures-photos-l12399-s1-p205933-P._Wexfords_Pub.html" target="_blank">P. Wexfords</a> for dinner and ales before the show.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m excited about this show.  I&#8217;ve been a Leon Russell fan for at least 35 years and this guy has played with many legends of the music industry &#8211; George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, BB King, Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter, J.J. Cale and even the Rolling Stones.  This guy <strong><em>is</em></strong> history!  Both <a title="Leon Russell and the Shelter People" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000002TYO/?tag=thelazbre-20" target="_blank">Leon Russell and the Shelter People</a> and <a title="Carney" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000002U04/?tag=thelazbre-20" target="_blank">Carney</a> were two staples of my music collection in the 70&#8242;s and still have a place in my heart.  These were two of the earliest <a title="Vinyl LPs" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LP_album" target="_blank">vinyl LPs</a> I bought:)</p>
<p><a title="Life is Good!" href="http://www.lifeisgood.com" target="_blank">Life is good</a>!</p>
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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/08/16/mystery-date/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Mystery Date'>Mystery Date</a></li>
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		<title>Seabright Brewery</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/10/seabright-brewery/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/10/seabright-brewery/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:56:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brew Pubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Santa Cruz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seabright Brewery]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Brenda and I headed over to the coast to Santa Cruz, to visit one of our favorite getaways &#8211; the newly remodeled Dream Inn.  We&#8217;ve been going here for a long time and the hotel has had various names and been managed by multiple owners, but it is still a nice destination on the coast.  [...]


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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/08/23/dust-bowl-brewing-tasting/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Dust Bowl Brewing Tasting'>Dust Bowl Brewing Tasting</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Brenda and I headed over to the coast to Santa Cruz, to visit one of our favorite getaways &#8211; the newly remodeled <a title="Dream Inn" href="http://www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/dream" target="_blank">Dream Inn</a>.  We&#8217;ve been going here for a long time and the hotel has had various names and been managed by multiple owners, but it is still a nice destination on the coast.  It sits at the head of the Santa Cruz wharf and every room faces the ocean.  Currently, about half the rooms have been redone and they&#8217;ve done a nice job.  Friends of ours, Steve and Nancy, joined us the second day for pool time and general silliness.  The pool bar was serving a local draft brew which was surprisingly hoppy and quite tasty.</p>
<p>Since they have free wireless Internet access, I looked up local brewerys to see if one was nearby.  To my surprise, there was a brewery within 25 minutes waking distance.  It was just across the train trestle the crosses the river beyond the <a title="Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk" href="http://www.beachboardwalk.com" target="_blank">Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk</a>.  <a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/seabrightbrewery.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-169" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Seabright Brewery, in Santa Cruz" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/seabrightbrewery.jpg" alt="Seabright Brewery, in Santa Cruz" width="400" height="300" /></a>We headed over to the <a title="Seabright Brewery" href="http://www.seabrightbrewery.com" target="_blank">Seabright Brewery</a> for lunch and ales early Wednesday afternoon (well, more like late morning:).  We were greeted by one of the owners, Charlie, and were warmly received by our waitress.  I went straight for an IPA, <a title="The Blur IPA" href="http://www.seabrightbrewery.com/beer.html" target="_blank">The Blur</a>, and was not disappointed.  It has a wonderful aroma and nice deep hop flavor.  We ordered lunch and noticed that there was a busy gentleman traveling through the pub, who appeared to a part of the brewery operations.  He was!  Steve and I were treated to a tour of the brewery by the head brewer, <a title="Jason Chavez" href="http://www.seabrightbrewery.com/about.html" target="_blank"> Jason Chavez</a>.  Jason showed us the entire brewery, which was very compact, but a very nice operation.  <a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/jasonandsam.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-172" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Jason and Sam" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/jasonandsam.jpg" alt="Jason and Sam" width="400" height="299" /></a>He and his assistant brewer, Sam, were brewing a batch of their most popular ale, <a title="Pelican Pale Ale" href="http://www.seabrightbrewery.com/beer.html" target="_blank">Pelican Pale Ale</a>.  Jason was kind enough to spend 10-15 minutes talking about Seabright Brewery, and their specific brewing operations.  We had a chance to talk about hops, and the current shortages, and he told us that he is in pretty good shape for the near future, based on relationships he has with various hop distributors.  We ate and I grabbed a growler of their <a title="Sacrilicious Ale" href="http://www.seabrightbrewery.com/beer.html" target="_blank">Sacrilicious Ale</a> to bring home.</p>
<p>All in all, Seabright&#8217;s beers, and food offerings are top notch.  Seabright has won many awards at <a title="Great American Beer Festival" href="http://www.beertown.org/events/GABF/" target="_blank">GABFest</a> and is celebrating their 20th anniversary.  Jason told us that he is just about to brew their 3000th batch of ale in the coming weeks.  I&#8217;d go back and spend a few hours in the pub in a heartbeat.  Thankfully, when we headed back to the Dream Inn, they were serving Seabright&#8217;s Sacrilicious Ale at the pool bar.  I had several more of their ales as the afternoon progressed.</p>
<p>If you ever find yourself in Santa Cruz, with a thirst for quality ale, be sure to look up the Seabright Brewery!</p>
<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/20thanniversary.jpg"><img style="margin: 6px; vertical-align: text-bottom;" title="20th Anniversary" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/20thanniversary.jpg" alt="20th Anniversary" width="400" height="299" /></a></p>
<p><em>Seabright&#8217;s 20th Anniversary</em></p>
<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/salmonbites.jpg"><img style="vertical-align: text-bottom;" title="Salmon Bites" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/salmonbites.jpg" alt="Salmon Bites" width="400" height="299" /></a></p>
<p><em>My lunch, Salmon Bites &#8211; and a pint of The Blur IPA</em></p>
<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/garliccheesefries.jpg"><img style="vertical-align: text-bottom;" title="Garlic Cheese Fries" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/garliccheesefries.jpg" alt="Garlic Cheese Fries" width="400" height="299" /></a></p>
<p><em>Mmmmm!  Garlic Cheese Fries!</em></p>
<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/sienna.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-175" style="vertical-align: text-bottom;" title="Sienna Brown, BrewDog!" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/sienna.jpg" alt="Sienna Brown, BrewDog!" width="400" height="299" /></a></p>
<p><em>Sienna Brown, Seabright&#8217;s official BrewDog!</em></p>
<div id="wherego_related"> </div>

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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/04/12/lazy-easter-afternoon/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Lazy Easter Afternoon&#8230;'>Lazy Easter Afternoon&#8230;</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/08/23/dust-bowl-brewing-tasting/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Dust Bowl Brewing Tasting'>Dust Bowl Brewing Tasting</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Looking Back at Sac</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/30/looking-back-at-sac/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/30/looking-back-at-sac/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:16:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brew Pubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craft Beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brenda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[River City Brewing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rubicon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sacramento]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=142</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We had a really nice trip to Sacramento.  After we tried to check into the hotel, we headed over to Rubicon Brewing Company for lunch and ales.  I was worried about parking, but we were able to park on the street about a half-block away.  The place was pretty busy, with no tables available outside, [...]


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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/08/16/mystery-date/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Mystery Date'>Mystery Date</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We had a really nice trip to Sacramento.  After we tried to check into the hotel, we headed over to <a title="Rubicon Brewing Company" href="http://www.rubiconbrewing.com" target="_blank">Rubicon Brewing Company</a> for lunch and ales.  I was worried about parking, but we were able to park on the street about a half-block away.  The place was pretty busy, with no tables available outside, and only a few inside.  <a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/hopsauce.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-143" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Hop Sauce at Rubicon" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/hopsauce.jpg" alt="Hop Sauce at Rubicon" width="300" height="400" /></a>I started off with a Hop Sauce, an imperial IPA.  It comes in a 10 oz goblet, and they&#8217;ll only serve you two.  They claim that it has ten different hops in it and is a smooth, easy drinking IIPA.  It was very good.  After one Hop Sauce, I had one of the their stellar IPAs &#8211; their flagship ale, with my Cajun cheeseburger.  Finally, I had a cask stout, that was also very good.  This was my first trip to Rubicon, and I was very impressed.  <a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/rubiconbar.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-144" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Rubicon Bar" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/rubiconbar.jpg" alt="Rubicon Bar" width="400" height="300" /></a>The bar is pretty nice and the service was OK (but they were busy).  Stephen and I will be going back to Rubicon in August when we go see <a title="Dave Matthews" href="http://davematthews.com" target="_blank">Dave Matthews</a> at <a title="Raley Field" href="http://www.raleyfield.com" target="_blank">Raley Field</a>.</p>
<p>We went back to the hotel, checked in and than headed over to Old Sacramento, to have a beer on the <a title="Delta King" href="http://www.deltaking.com" target="_blank">Delta King</a>.  The Delta King is a permanently moored river paddle wheel boat that has been converted into a floating hotel and restaurant/bar.  Brenda and I stayed overnight on the Delta King about four years ago.  It was very nice and the restaurant was wonderful.  Their bar had nothing on draft, so I had a Newcastle brown ale and we watched the boats go by on the Sacramento River (man &#8211; there are really a lot of stupid twenty-somethings with boats&#8230;)</p>
<p>Next it was back to <a title="River City Brewing Company" href="http://www.rivercitybrewing.net" target="_blank">River City Brewing</a> for an ale on the patio.  <a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/witnwoodenhead.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-145" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Brenda\'s wit and my Woodenhead" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/witnwoodenhead.jpg" alt="Brenda\'s wit and my Woodenhead" width="400" height="300" /></a>They were out of their Kolsch, so Brenda had a wit and I had a Woodenhead.  I tasted their cask ale again, but found it to be watery and flavorless.  We watched the world go by at the head of the mall and I made dinner reservations for 7:45.  We went back to the hotel and chilled until dinner time.</p>
<p>We shared a <a title="River City Brewing Company's Menus" href="http://www.rivercitybrewing.net/dinner.html" target="_blank">Brewmaster&#8217;s pizza</a> and a Caesar salad for dinner.  The food was very good &#8211; so good to forgot to take a picture:)  We had originally planned on seeing a move, but decided to head back to the hotel after dinner, since there were no movies playing that we really wanted to see.<a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/marknwoodenhead.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-146" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Mark and his Woodenhead" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/marknwoodenhead.jpg" alt="Mark and his Woodenhead" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>We slept in the next morning, and headed over to <a title="Johnny Rockets" href="http://www.johnnyrockets.com" target="_blank">Johnny Rockets</a> for lunch, before heading out of town.  All in all, it was a very relaxing trip.</p>
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</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>28 Glorious Years!</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/28/28-glorious-years/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/28/28-glorious-years/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:05:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brew Pubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craft Beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anniversary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[black diamonds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Johnny Rockets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[River City Brewing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rubicon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sacramento]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=140</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today, June 28th, Brenda and I are celebrating our 28th wedding anniversary.  There&#8217;s no trip planned as adventurous as our trip to Belize (photo gallery) three years ago, but we&#8217;re heading up to one of our favorite local escapes, Sacramento.  We always have a great time in Sacramento, and we&#8217;ve decided that if we had [...]


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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2010/06/27/northern-california-beer-road-trip/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Northern California Beer Road Trip'>Northern California Beer Road Trip</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today, June 28th, Brenda and I are celebrating our 28th wedding anniversary.  There&#8217;s no trip planned as adventurous as our <a title="Trip to Belize" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/09/1barrel-rum-from-belize/" target="_blank">trip to Belize</a> (<a title="Belize Photo Gallery" href="http://lazybrewer.com/photo-gallery/?album=1&amp;gallery=1" target="_blank">photo gallery</a>) three years ago, but we&#8217;re heading up to one of our favorite local escapes, Sacramento.  We always have a great time in Sacramento, and we&#8217;ve decided that if we had to live in a larger city, Sacramento would be near the top of our list.  They have great dining, craft beer, shopping and lots of different social and cultural activities.  When we go to Sacramento, we can be as busy or as laid back as we want to be.</p>
<p>We usually stay at the <a title="Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza" href="http://www.sacramentohi.com" target="_blank">Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza</a>.  It sits at the head of the <a title="Westfield Downtown Plaza Mall" href="http://www.westfield.com/downtownplaza/" target="_blank">Westfield Downtown Plaza Mall</a>, near state capitol, and is just a hundred steps from one of my favorite upscale brew pubs, <a title="River City Brewing Company" href="http://www.rivercitybrewing.net" target="_blank">River City Brewing Company</a>.  I like their ales &#8211; I just wish they had an IPA.  I really do enjoy their <a title="River City Brewing Company Ales" href="http://www.rivercitybrewing.net/beers.html" target="_blank">Woodenhead Ale</a> and <a title="River City Brewing Company Ales" href="http://www.rivercitybrewing.net/beers.html" target="_blank">Kolsch</a>, though.  Their food is second to none as far a pub food goes.  Their wood-fired oven pizzas are fabulous, and they have a wonderful rib eye steak with a huge dollop of blue cheese and crisp onion strings.  Mmmm!</p>
<p>Right above River City Brewing Company is <a title="Johnny Rockets" href="http://www.johnnyrockets.com" target="_blank">Johnny Rockets</a>, easily the best burger chain in America &#8211; even better than <a title="In-N-Out" href="http://www.in-n-out.com" target="_blank">In-N-Out</a>!  Their meals are expensive, but after you have one of their bacon cheeseburgers, half rings &#8211; half fries, and a vanilla malt, you&#8217;ll pay twice what they ask:)  We hit Johnny Rockets <em>at least once</em> every trip for either lunch or dinner.</p>
<p>If you head out of the hotel and go west, instead of going east into the mall area (which has really great shopping opportunities &#8211; Brenda can attest to this:), you immediately go into a walking subway that passes under I-5 and drops you directly into <a title="Old Sacramento" href="http://www.oldsacramento.com" target="_blank">Old Sacramento</a>, with more dining and shopping than you can take in in a single day.</p>
<p>We really like this hotel as the rates are pretty good (and we belong to their rewards program &#8211; this stay is completely free for us:) and the surrounding amenities are second to none!</p>
<p>Right after we check in to our hotel, we&#8217;re going to visit <a title="Rubicon Brewing Company" href="http://www.rubiconbrewing.com" target="_blank">Rubicon Brewing Company</a> for an ale or two and lunch.  Their <a title="Rubicon Brewing Company Ales" href="http://www.rubiconbrewing.com/beers.html" target="_blank" class="broken_link">IPA</a> is easily in my top ten IPAs on earth.  It is such an easy drinking IPA &#8211; very representative of West Coast IPAs without being over the top.</p>
<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/blackdiamonds.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-141" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Black Diamonds" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/blackdiamonds.jpg" alt="Black Diamonds" width="400" height="266" /></a>Shhhhh!  <a title="Zales Diamonds" href="http://www.zales.com" target="_blank">Zales</a> recently had a special on <a title="Black Diamonds" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Diamonds" target="_blank">black diamond</a> earrings, so I got a pair for Brenda as an anniversary gift.  I think she&#8217;ll like them:)</p>
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		<title>Chillin&#8217; in Monterey&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/19/chillin-in-monterey/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/19/chillin-in-monterey/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:43:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Craft Beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stuff...]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aquarium]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brenda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Britannia Arms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DawBoy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monterey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=119</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;both figuratively and literally! It&#8217;s a wonderful escape from the summer heat of the San Joaquin Valley in Monterey. The temps have been in the upper 60&#8242;s and low 70&#8242;s &#8211; with beautiful weather. Brenda is here for a conference in Salinas and we are staying at our favorite Monterey accommodations, the Merritt House Inn. [...]


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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/30/looking-back-at-sac/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Looking Back at Sac'>Looking Back at Sac</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/fuschias.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-121" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Fuschias in the Merritt House gardens." src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/fuschias.jpg" alt="Fuschias in the Merritt House gardens." width="400" height="300" /></a>&#8230;both figuratively and literally!  It&#8217;s a wonderful escape from the summer heat of the San Joaquin Valley in <a title="Monterey, CA" href="http://www.monterey.com" target="_blank">Monterey</a>. The temps have been in the upper 60&#8242;s and low 70&#8242;s &#8211; with beautiful weather.  Brenda is here for a conference in Salinas and we are staying at our favorite Monterey accommodations, the <a title="Merritt House Inn" href="http://www.merritthouseinn.com" target="_blank">Merritt House Inn</a>.  The Merritt House is an old historic adobe that has been converted to a hotel &#8211; but probably more of a bed and breakfast.  It is surrounded by beautiful gardens that always have many flowers in bloom.   We&#8217;ve been coming here for years and we always enjoy our stay.  It is walking distance to the <a title="Monterey Wharf" href="http://www.montereywharf.com" target="_blank">wharf</a> and just a block or so away from a trolly that will take you down to <a title="Cannery Row" href="http://www.canneryrow.com" target="_blank">Cannery Row</a> &#8211; and the <a title="Monterey Bay Aquarium" href="http://www.montereybayaquarium.org" target="_blank">Monterey Bay Aquarium</a>, for free!</p>
<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/fish.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-120" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Fish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/fish.jpg" alt="Fish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium" width="400" height="300" /></a>Since Brenda was off learning new ways to teach writing to middle school students, DawBoy and I took the trolly down to the aquarium and spent four hours looking at the exhibits and taking in the presentations in the theaters. DawBoy took a bunch of pictures of fish and had a great time.</p>
<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/britanniaarms.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-122" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Britannia Arms - our favorite pub in Monterey." src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/britanniaarms.jpg" alt="Britannia Arms - our favorite pub in Monterey." width="400" height="300" /></a>After Brenda was finished for the day, we headed down to <a title="Britannia Arms" href="http://www.themenupage.com/britanniaarms.html" target="_blank">Britannia Arms</a> for a couple pints and dinner. I had a couple nitro <a title="Murphy's Stout" href="http://www.murphys.com" target="_blank">Murphy&#8217;s Stout</a> and a local <a title="Dragon Slayer IPA" href="http://www.englishalesbrewery.com/dragon_slayer_ipa_microbrew.htm" target="_blank">Dragon Slayer IPA</a>.  All good stuff.  The ales are always properly poured at Britannia Arms.  Either a Guinness or a Murphy&#8217;s on nitro takes time to pour, so I always order my next stout when my current one is about half empty.</p>
<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/murphys.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-123" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Murphy\'s Stout - still settling out." src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/murphys.jpg" alt="Murphy\'s Stout - still settling out." width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>The food at Britannia Arms is also excellent.  I&#8217;ve tried a range of their offerings over the years and have always been pleased.  This time, Brenda and DawBoy shared a Fish &#8216;n Chips meal and I had beer battered prawns.</p>
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		<title>Watermelon Wheat in Glass&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/08/watermelon-wheat-in-glass/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/08/watermelon-wheat-in-glass/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:05:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homebrewing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fermentation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[watermelon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wheat]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=102</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Watermelon Wheat has been in carboys now for 3 days. It took off quickly and was off-gassing CO2 within four hours. As with all my wheat fermentations, this one shot out the blow-off tube in less than twelve hours. The wort had an interesting taste &#8211; not really a strong watermelon taste, but I [...]


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</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/boilingmelon.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-101" style="border: 2px solid black; margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Boiling Watermelon" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/boilingmelon.jpg" alt="Boiling Watermelon" width="400" height="266" /></a>The Watermelon Wheat has been in carboys now for 3 days.  It took off quickly and was off-gassing CO2 within four hours.  As with all my wheat fermentations, this one shot out the blow-off tube in less than twelve hours.  The wort had an interesting taste &#8211; not really a strong watermelon taste, but I didn&#8217;t expect that anyway.  Surprisingly, the OG was way higher than I expected (seems like I just can&#8217;t make a small beer:) and came in at 1.069.  The recipe projected an OG of 1.055, so I think another 14 points of gravity were extracted from the sugars in the watermelon, that were released during the boil.</p>
<p>The fermentation was fast and furious and today I pulled the blow-off tubes off and gave both the carboys a good swirl.  I think this ale will be done pretty quickly and carbonated in the keg, in time for the 4th of July.  Wheats are best enjoyed fresh:)</p>
<p>Thanks to Evan for the company, clean-up help and the great taco truck carne asada burrito!</p>
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		<title>Jurassic Amber Ale Brew Day</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/05/17/jurassic-amber-ale-brew-day/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/05/17/jurassic-amber-ale-brew-day/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 May 2008 04:17:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family and Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homebrewing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[American Amber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stephen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stout cupcakes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/?p=89</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Steve showed up ready to brew (but not ready to drink &#8211; he had an encounter last evening with the Blue Flame IPA he recently brewed) this morning and we had an uneventful brew session. Things just kind of played out like they should, with no issues. We mashed in right on target at 152 [...]


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/05/18/jurassic-amber-fermentation/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Jurassic Amber Fermentation'>Jurassic Amber Fermentation</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/12/19/chasing-blue-fairy/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Chasing the Blue Fairy'>Chasing the Blue Fairy</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/05/14/american-amber-ale-on-deck/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: American Amber Ale on Deck&#8230;'>American Amber Ale on Deck&#8230;</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Steve showed up ready to brew (but not ready to drink &#8211; he had an encounter last evening with the <a title="Blue Flame Imperial IPA" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/14/imperial-ipa-on-deck-for-tomorrow/" target="_blank">Blue Flame IPA</a> he recently brewed) this morning and we had an uneventful brew session.  Things just kind of played out like they should, with no issues.  We mashed in right on target at 152 degrees and it just went like clockwork from then on.  The aromas off of the 7 ounces of Columbus, Centennial and Cascade hops permeated the air throughout the boil and hinted at the final product this American Amber will be in 6-7 weeks.</p>
<p><a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/stevenbbq.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-90" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Steve BBQing the brats and veggies." src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/stevenbbq.jpg" alt="" width="266" height="400" /></a>Steve graciously offered to bring lunch.  This guy now has a permanent place in my heart:)  He brought beer soaked brats and the most amazing caramelized red peppers and onions. He also brought a fantastic red potato salad that kicked ass!  Damn! This was some of the finest brew day grub I&#8217;ve ever had the pleasure of eating.  Stephen was able to coordinate his family activities so that he arrived just in time for lunch &#8211; and an ale or two.  Prior to lunch I was able to get some tonic into Steve to ease his discomfort.  Last weekend I cleaned out the keggerator and found a keg of Double Tun Imperial Stout that I had completely forgotten about, that was originally brewed on 01/02/07.  It was hiding in the very back of the keggerator and was a wonderful find.  The Imperial Stout has hints of sherry and the flavors have melded together in the ways that only time can bring about (that is my number one rule of brewing &#8211; Time is your friend:)  After a short cup of Double Tun Imperial Stout, Steve was miraculously cured and ready to face the day!  <a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/bratsnpotato.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-91" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Brats and Potato Salad - and a Summit IPA:)" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/bratsnpotato.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="266" /></a></p>
<p>The lunch served to set an ale foundation and we enjoyed numerous ales as the day progressed.  Steve brought a bomber of his version of the Blue Flame Imperial IPA (spot on to the recipe I&#8217;ve been brewing:) and a great inky black Stout that was enjoyed by all.  <a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/pitching.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-92" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Pitching the White Labs WLP 001 yeast starter." src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/pitching.jpg" alt="" width="266" height="400" /></a>A couple friends stopped by after a round of golf (in 100+ temps!) just as we were dropping the wort into carboys.  They had several beers and enjoyed the brews on tap.  The amber ale came in at about 14.5 brix &#8211; for an original gravity of about 1.058.  One of my brewing faults is that I never seem to be ale to put out a session ale, so this is probably the closest I&#8217;ll come to this in the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>There were two unseen bonuses to the day!  Steve brought his 5.5 month old <a title="Boston Terrier - look at the pup pics - it looks just like Cooper:)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_terrier" target="_blank">Boston Terrier</a>, Cooper, with him today as his wife Maggie was in the air, flying back from DC, so he was on dog sitting duty.  I have never, ever, seen a more well behaved and adjusted pup as Cooper!  He explored the back yard (and had an interesting face to face encounter with our territorial cat) and hung out in his kennel.  Hopefully his presence doesn&#8217;t cause puppy envy in my family:)  The final treat was the stout cupcakes I&#8217;d heard so much about on the Modesto Mashers forums.  Steve and Maggie brought them to the <a title="AHA Big Brew Day" href="http://www.beertown.org/events/bigbrew/index.html" target="_blank">AHA Big Brew Day</a> at Barley &amp; Wine on May 3.  I brewed ten gallons of <a title="Old Man Bitter" href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/04/30/old-man-bitter-on-deck/" target="_blank">Old Man Bitter</a> that day, here in Turlock, so I missed out on the stout cupcakes that everyone raved about!  I was sooooo jazzed to give them try:)  Imagine my joy when I heard Steve mention them, at my place!<a href="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/stoutcupcakes.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-93" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" title="Stout Cupcakes - not!" src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/stoutcupcakes.jpg" alt="Stout Cupcakes - not!" width="266" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>You can drool by looking at their loveliness in this picture. Oh, wait &#8211; there&#8217;s nothing on the plate!   Steve got all the way to Turlock and discovered that he had forgotten to bring them (I think this was caused by his encounter last night with the Blue Flame Imperial IPA:)  Actually, I think the oversight was carefully planned so that he gets another invite to brew!  Next time we&#8217;ll meet him at his car to check the inventory.</p>
<p>Steve hung out, and Brenda and I got to know him much better.  What a guy (other than the cupcake thing:)!  Aside from the heat, it was a great brew day, surrounded by like-minded friends, and in the end, we made beer:)</p>
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<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2009/12/19/chasing-blue-fairy/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Chasing the Blue Fairy'>Chasing the Blue Fairy</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/05/14/american-amber-ale-on-deck/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: American Amber Ale on Deck&#8230;'>American Amber Ale on Deck&#8230;</a></li>
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		<title>The Day After&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/26/the-day-after/</link>
		<comments>http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/26/the-day-after/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:14:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Ranes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brew Pubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craft Beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homebrewing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brenda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EJ Phair]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Little Fox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MoreBeer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paul Thorn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sierra Nevada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[White Labs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[yeast]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/26/the-day-after/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday, we dropped off Brenda&#8217;s car in Livermore, grabbed a rental (a Pontiac G5 &#8211; ugg!) and headed off to Concord. After a quick stop at MoreBeer to get a variety of stuff &#8211; most notably four vials of White Labs Pacific Ale yeast (thankfully White Labs has decided to make this yeast available year-round. [...]


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/15/paul-thorn-in-nacasio/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Paul Thorn in Nacasio'>Paul Thorn in Nacasio</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/19/sold-out/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Sold Out!'>Sold Out!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/22/paul-thorn-at-the-little-fox-theater/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Paul Thorn at the Little Fox Theater'>Paul Thorn at the Little Fox Theater</a></li>
</ol>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yesterday, we dropped off Brenda&#8217;s car in Livermore, grabbed a rental (a Pontiac G5 &#8211; ugg!) and headed off to Concord.  After a quick stop at <a href="http://morebeer.com" target="_blank">MoreBeer</a> to get a variety of stuff &#8211; most notably four vials of White Labs <a href="http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp041.html" target="_blank">Pacific Ale yeast</a> (thankfully <a href="http://www.whitelabs.com" target="_blank">White Labs</a> has decided to make this yeast available year-round.  It used to be one of their seasonal <a href="http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/platinum.html" target="_blank">Platinum strains</a>), we headed off to the <a href="http://www.ejphair.com/alehouse/" target="_blank">EJ Phair Alehouse</a>.  I was disappointed that the didn&#8217;t have <a href="http://www.drinkdrakes.com/our_beer.html" target="_blank">Drake&#8217;s IPA</a> on tap, but they did have <a href="http://www.stonebrew.com/ipa/" target="_blank">Stone IPA</a>, so I had that with their Spicy Steak Wrap.  Good stuff:)</p>
<p><img src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/steakwrap.jpg" alt="Spicy Steak Wrap" align="left" /></p>
<p>We killed some time shopping and then picked up the Jag.  Traffic was light (spring break?) and we got to Redwood City with plenty of time for dinner.  We had Mexican food for dinner, at a place called Margaritas, about a block from the Fox Theater.  As we were finishing dinner, Paul Thorn and the band walked by the restaurant, presumably heading out for dinner before the show.  I waited in line at the box office to pick up our tickets, while Brenda got in the main line to enter the Little Fox.</p>
<p><img src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/marquee.jpg" alt="Little Fox Marquee" /></p>
<p>There was open seating, so we were hoping to get good seats.  There were only a dozen or so people in line in front of us, so we weren&#8217;t too worried:)    Unfortunately, there were having sound board problems, so we had to wait an additional half hour, out in the cold, before we were let into the theater.  At 7:30 p.m., they let us in and we grabbed two seats, literally in front of the center-left side of the stage.  We were <em>so</em> close I rested my feet on the stage for most of the show!  I grabbed a couple of beers for us (I had a <a href="http://www.sierranevada.com/beers/paleale.html" target="_blank">Sierra Nevada Pale</a>).  We kicked back waited for the show to start.  It was a older crowd, and many of the folks had Paul Thorn stories to tell.  Paul and the band came out exactly at 8:00 (I love people that are on time:) and he immediately apologized for wearing an ugly shirt.</p>
<p><img src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/paulthornlittlefox.jpg" alt="Paul Thorn Performing" /></p>
<p>He said he&#8217;d gone out for a run that afternoon, come back to the Little Fox, and was bummed that there was no shower &#8211; so he&#8217;d taken what he called a &#8220;whore bath,&#8221; where you clean yourself with paper towels and water.  Then he discovered that the venue didn&#8217;t have an iron to press his shirt for the show, so he had to wear a shirt that he could pull directly out of his suitcase, and didn&#8217;t need ironing.  It was an interesting shirt&#8230;</p>
<p>He played almost all of the new CD, but the cuts sounded polished, like they&#8217;d been playing them for years.  Paul sang an acoustic set in the middle of the show, to spell the band, and he played one of my favorite unrecorded tunes, &#8220;Might as Well Stay Married.&#8221;  One of the lines goes &#8220;I couldn&#8217;t get laid when I was single, if you threw me in a women&#8217;s prison, so I might as well stay married.&#8221;</p>
<p>All in all, the band played for two solid hours, without a break, and it was the best show I&#8217;ve seen Paul put on.  After the show, Paul met with crowd to sign CDs and take pictures.  He is a gracious guy and took the time to chat individually with everyone who wanted to meet him.</p>
<p><img src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/marknpaul2.jpg" alt="Mark and Paul" /></p>
<p><em>Me and Paul.</em> Aren&#8217;t you glad I Photoshopped  out the <a href="http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/24/wow-wyeast-1388-is-a-workhorse/" target="_blank">bloody eye</a>?  <img src='http://lazybrewer.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><img src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/brendanpaul.jpg" alt="Brenda and Paul" /></p>
<p><em>Brenda and Paul</em></p>
<p><img src="http://lazybrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/thorncd.jpg" alt="Autographed CD" /></p>
<p><em>My autographed CD</em></p>
<p>We were on the road by 10:15 p.m. and home a little after midnight:)</p>
<div id="wherego_related"> </div>

<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/07/15/paul-thorn-in-nacasio/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Paul Thorn in Nacasio'>Paul Thorn in Nacasio</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/19/sold-out/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Sold Out!'>Sold Out!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://lazybrewer.com/2008/03/22/paul-thorn-at-the-little-fox-theater/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Paul Thorn at the Little Fox Theater'>Paul Thorn at the Little Fox Theater</a></li>
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