What's happening in my world…
I have taken the day off in Colorado Springs, because I have to go into work tomorrow at 1 AM. Yes, you read that right. Augh!
It is 7°F outside as I look out my window seeing all of the snow. I would guess we having around 3 inches on the ground.
I may just have to sit in the hot tub.
Karen came out to Colorado Springs February 10th to join me for Valentine's Day.
Karen got to do some shopping while I was working. And, we got to do some shopping together at the Outlets at Castle Rock. Karen didn't purchase much, but I bought a great deal of clothes. The shopping was great with all the snow on the ground and the sunny skies.
We had a great Valentine's Day dinner at The Warehouse. Karen had the Ginger Soy Glazed Ostrich which she thought was surprisingly great. I had the Antelope which included a potatoe/parsnip hash. We tried the for dessert the banana-nut ice cream, but it was just so so.
Karen got to see snow, but she is missing the 66°F in Huntsville.
She flying back today.
I made it to Bristol Brewing's “Nothing But Stout” Night and had a blast. The evening started out with a cab ride with Yellow Cab so that I could keep the evening safe.
They ran out of sampling glasses, but the guys working the door saved me one of the sampling glasses for me. They felt that since I was the first person to sign up for the tasting that I should get one of the glasses.
Here are the stouts that were on tap:
Artic Brewing's Imperial Milk Stout
Breckenridge Brewing's Oatmeal Stout
Bristol Brewing's Winter Warlock Oatmeal Stout
Carver Brewing's Imperial Stout
Great Divide Brewing's Oak Aged Yeti Stout
Il Vicino Brewing's Chocolate Rye Stout
Phantom Canyon Brewing Co.'s Raisen Stout
Rock Bottom Brewing's Bourbon Stout
Rockyard Brewing's Bourbon Stout
Ska Brewing's Steel Toe Stout
My favorite stout was Il Vicino Brewing's Chocolate Rye Stout
Our first tasting in Huntsville was great! We had over 100 people tasting even more beer.
Don Alan Hankins of Olde Towne Brewery was wonderful to host the tasting at his brewery. He even provided his Hefeweizen and Pale Ale for sampling. A few of us got to sample his Bock beer which is due out around the end of February.
The Rocket City Brewers is the Huntsville area homebrewer club and they had a good showing at the tasting. They brought a big sample of their homebrew, too.
A large number of the Birmingham members of Free The Hops made the trip for tasting, too.
Only bummer of the night was that I didn't have my camera, but others took pictures and I hope to get some to post here soon.
Last night I as listing to a great band play covers at The Furnture Factory restaurant. And they played some great Santana. So, it is time run over to iTunes and get some great tracks off of The Best of Santana and The Best of Santana, Vol. 2.
It amazes me how you can stare at the iTunes stone and you can't think a single song to purchase. But every night out on the town, I hear a band playing a cover of a great song that I would love to have on my iPod.
I will be heading to back to city that inspired “America the Beautiful“.
I will be heading over to Stout Night at Bristol to try out the stout beers of Colorado Springs.
Karen will be joining me for some of this trip which will be sweet! For the times when she not with me in Colorado, we will be working the video chat.
My friends at Free The Hops have their bill introduced in both houses of the Alabama State Legislature. Here is the anouncement from Free The Hops site:
The Gourmet Beer Bill has been introduced to both the Alabama Senate and House. This bill would raise the alcohol by volume limit on beer in Alabama to that of wine, making legal the sale of literally thousands of gourmet and specialty beers already legal in 46 other states and around the world. FTH asks that you contact your Senator and Representative today to ask them to Vote Yes for SB390 and HB530.
Here is the specific part of the Alabama Code that we are trying to change:
BEER, or MALT OR BREWED BEVERAGES. Any beer, lager beer, ale, porter, malt or brewed beverage, or similar fermented malt liquor containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume and not in excess of five percent alcohol by weight and six fourteen and nine-tenths percent by volume, by whatever name the same may be called.
Both versions are identical and you can read them here:
House Version: HB530
Senate Version: SB390
Karen and I put in for our first stay within the Disney Vacation Club. We are planning on staying at the Saratoga Springs Resort for the International Food & Wine Festival.
We used the club's new online reservation request system. I hope everything goes smoothly.
We going to be trying out what DVC calls a One-Bedroom Vacation Home. You can see the layout here on the right. I would say that it is like an Embassy Suites Hotel room, but it is a little nice and better equipped.
We are hoping to get some of Karen family to join us on our trip. I hope they can join us.
The level of buzz is starting to rise for the Free The Hops‘ Beer Tasting in Huntsville. This will be the first tasting in Huntsville for the organization.
It is a great opportunity to try beers NOT available within Alabama due to the prohibition era laws. The laws in Alabama define beer as follows:
BEER, or MALT OR BREWED BEVERAGES. Any beer, lager beer, ale, porter, malt or brewed beverage, or similar fermented malt liquor containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume and not in excess of five percent alcohol by weight and six percent by volume, by whatever name the same may be called.
Free The Hops wants to change this law to allow speciality beers in this state. Many speciality beer are over 6% in alcohol by volume and we want to raise that limit to 14.9%.
You to can join the cause at Free The Hops. If you join, you will get to help bring great beer to Alabamians and you can join us at our tastings.
Here is a picture from the last tasting which was held in Birmingham.
Karen has made the big leap into the world of video chat. We drop down some cash and ordered her an iSight
If you AIM, you will be able to find us both online. You can find me at BrianAllen.
If you got a video camera and don’t have the software, you can get it here for a PC. Macintosh don’t need to download any software.