I better talk about some beer, right?

I'm really looking forward to this! I'll taste it with you when I can get my hands on some. 

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/03/dogfish-heads-latest-health-beer-is-made-with-quin.html?fbclid=IwAR3jqS-KiqnTiH6oz12FuZuCe1Zx6iv_2YYjAnqh1lnb0oSEpTCBnr5VySw

I stopped blogging in July 2012. 

I didn't think anyone was interested. I wasn't sure if what I was writing had any value. 

I had a bit of a rough few years. 

My mother died in 2010.

My partner's mother died in 2011. 

The beer business started to change. The heights I hit were crumbling. I had to figure something out. I suddenly was making dramatically less money. 

I changed jobs in 2014.

I got the teeniest little bit of cancer in 2015. 

I had surgery and radiation and I was put on an evil medication that makes me sad all the time. 

My new job changed dramatically, and my pay structure was changed. At least I was able to keep the job. 

I am still, I think, in some sort of mourning. I've been feeling for YEARS now that I just can't get it together. 

If the only constant is change, I'm a little tired of it.

I know. I know. I should exercise. I'd feel better. 

So why blog? Why now? To paraphrase every director's notes in every program of every community theater production. 

Why come back now and blog? 

Well, it's nice to have a place to discuss things. I am back selling beer again. As of the beginning of March, I am on the streets, trying to talk people into buying beer from me. Which feels GREAT. Absolutely great. I'm doing what I know how to do, what I'm good at. I'm not necessarily the best salesperson but I know about beer and I know what's good and I know how to show up. 

There are some fantastic beers out there, and I want to talk about them. There are also a lot of not-great beers out there. I won't talk about those. Those will eventually come to their own natural end. And, who am I to say what is good and what is bad? 

So we'll see where this goes. Mostly I'm going to be talking about beers, new and not-new, that, in my opinion, are good. 

Today

There's something due any day, I will know right away, soon as it shows . . . . .
I've got a feeling there's a miracle due, gonna come through, coming to meeeeeeeeeee . . . .
Could it be?  Yes, it could.  Something's coming, something good.  if I can wait . . .

Had my Michigan drinking shoes on last weekend!  It was a good thing, too, since several salesfolks from my company and I went on a whirlwind tour of four breweries in Michigan.  We left at about 10:00 am on Friday.  Several of my colleagues brought beverages for the busride.  In about three hours (we ran into some traffic), we arrived at our first stop, ARCADIA BREWING COMPANY.

Rick Suarez was nice enough to arrange a brewery tour and lunch for us.   Many of us were surprised that Arcadia was such a small brewery.  We also sampled some barrel-aged B-Craft Black.  Nice.

We bought some beer for the road, too, which was a good thing as it was about an hour's drive to Grand Rapids!  Got checked into the hotel and walked to Founders.
We felt pretty damn VIP-ish as we got a brewery tour from none other than Dave Engbers, one of the founders of Founders.  Pretty cool.  We then had a question-and-answer session with Dave in their super-sexy conference room.  The rest of the night is a bit of a blur, but it involved sandwiches at the Founders Tap Room and a visit to Hopcat, a great beer bar just a few blocks away.
I must confess, even though I am a professional, if I start drinking at 10:00 am, I really can't reasonably still be drinking at 7:00 pm.  I just don't have the stamina anymore.  But, got back to the hotel safe and sound and ready to begin again on Saturday!

Saturday morning began with lunch at BREWERY VIVANT!  I loved this little brewery.  We are hoping to bring them to Chicago.  Jason, the owner, gave us a tour of what we discovered was an old funeral home that they converted.  The bar is in what was the chapel, and the brewery itself is in the area where the hearses were kept.  The beers are adapted from Belgian styles, and all really awesome.  The food was great, too.  And they had a beer garden, where our team played bags most of the afternoon -- until it was time to head over to Founders fest.

Founders Fest was lovely!  Very chill, for a beer fest.  Lines were not crazy long.  Really enjoyed it.  I actually bailed out and returned to the hotel after the fantastic dinner that Glunz bought for us.  I figured I would quit while I was ahead.  And I had plenty of beer in me, no worries.
It was a wise choice!  On Sunday morning, everyone else was quite a mess, and I felt juuuuussst fine, thank you.  I was raring to go to New Holland.

I may have been the only member of our little group to still be enjoying beer on Sunday morning.
So you see, children, the moral of the story is, brewery weekends are a marathon, not a sprint.  Maybe I didn't party late into the night on Friday or Saturday, but I lived to drink beer another day.
We go to Great Lakes Burning River Fest in Cleveland next month!  I can't wait!

Hmm.  See what happens?  I don't post for a couple of months and they change the blogger stuff.  It's okay, I'll get used to it.
Tomorrow I am going on a little adventure!  We are going to Arcadia Brewery in Battle Creek, Michigan, to visit and to have a bit of lunch, and then, we are heading up to Grand Rapids!  Founders Fest!
I've never been, so I'll let you know all about it.  On the way home on Sunday, we're going to stop at New Holland.  So I'm packing my drinking shoes.  I'll talk to you all in Michigan!

TOOK IT!! I TOOK THE TEST!

I'm tired! I'm drinking a Bell's Hopslam, and might follow that up with something else from the fridge. And the spiking chemicals from the off-flavor tasting portion of the exam are playing hell with my plumbing.
What can I say? Of course, there was quite a bit of stuff on the test that I was not expecting to be on the test and I didn't study. There was a LOT of stuff I studied and knew really well and was nowhere to be found on the test. That's how tests go. It was about 140 questions: Short answer, fill in the blank, matching, and essay. Then a tasting portion which was divided into three parts. Then a draught component demo. We went over the tasting portion and I only missed one! And it was one where I wasn't sure and second guessed myself. I can safely say there were six or seven questions that I was not 100% sure of on the written portion. So, who knows?
But I have a tremendous sense of accomplishment, if for no other reason than, I have been saying for at least three years, "I'm gonna take that test". And now, I did. And if I do have to take it again, I'll know better what to expect. So, a good day. A very good day.

And read this, and this, and don't forget that, and make sure you know this . . .

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be included in the Chicago Beer Tweetup, a get-together of folks who blog and tweet about beer in Chicago. It was great to actually meet face-to-face so many people whom I previously only knew from a tiny picture. Among the folks I met was Virginia Thomas, who works for the Cicerone program. I wasted no time in asking many questions about what to study, what to expect, and for what to be prepared. She was very kind, despite the many annoying e-mails I had sent her when I was trying to sign up and pay for the exam. She rattled off a number of things I should study . . ."and read Michael Jackson's Great Beers of Belgium, and read Garrett Oliver's Brewmaster's Table, and make sure you know your off-flavors, because you can pass the written portion, but if you don't pass the tasting portion, you fail the whole test . . . " Jesus.

So what am I doing? Reading Great Beers of Belgium. It's a very easy and entertaining read, and it's great to finally be forced to make time for these books that I've long been meaning to get to.

Also this year! I'm gonna drink all this beer I've been keeping. I have an awful lot of beer in my house, and after the Anchor Christmas Vertical debacle of last December (which is another story), I am drinking and enjoying all of it before it goes bad.

Tonight I'm enjoying a Heartwood Symposium, a collaboration beer from several different brewers, brewed in celebration of the Craft Brewers' Conference in 2010. G'Night! Back to reading!