Showing posts with label Beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beer. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

National Drink Beer Day

(From the "I forgot to post it" department ...)

🍺  🍺  🍺  🍺  🍺

A real holiday. Its' on the interwebs even!

So to celebrate I combined two of favorite things.


Beer and Birds.


I hope you enjoyed one (or more!) of your favorite brews.

Until next year (Ha! Yeah right.)

Monday, January 18, 2021

The Perfect Brew for Today

This version, a tasty oatmeal stout, was brewed by Attic Brewing Co. in Philadelphia.

The idea was started by Weathered Souls Brewing Co., and any brewery could join in.

Thanks to my friend Marie for sharing this one with me.

Monday, October 5, 2020

More Music

In the Live Music post I noted that the Raising River Band would be playing at Whitesbog this past Saturday. And as it was a fantastic day we went to see them.


Again with socially distanced seating,


A seven member ensemble which plays mostly bluegrass, I enjoyed them, while Patty preferred the two female members Heidi and Sharis, playing alone, as they did the week before. Truth be told I would enjoy pretty much anyone these days. It is great just to be out, with friends, listening to music, eating and drinking. It is almost like the before times.

After the show Patty headed home. She had been there all day, at a table selling her fabric art. Halloween masks were a brisk seller. I headed over to the bonfire, to enjoy a beverage or two, with some friends.


Beverages, check. (Thanks Donna for sharing!)*


Bonfire, not so much.


We fixed it though.

And while a large (record?) crowd went on the moonlight hike, a couple of us stayed behind to tend the fire. And enjoy those beverages.

🍺  🍺  🍺  🍺  🍺

* Now you may be thinking, Whitesbog is in Brendan Byrne State Forest. New Jersey state forests are alcohol free zones. And you would be correct. However, one can rent one of the houses in the Whitesbog Village. And the no booze rule does not apply to residents. And one such resident joined us. Making all legal.

Update: Apparently the above note is incorrect and I was misinformed. It seems that the residents must abide by the rules, and consumption of alcoholic beverages is only permitted in the privacy of their homes. Live and learn. 

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Brig

The last weekend before I reentered the workforce (very sad) we took a trip to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, aka Brig.

Known for the large number of waterfowl and shore birds that congregate there, as can be seen in the image below, we looked forward to a fun day of birding.

Birdless Brig

Hmmm ...

One of the target species, which Patty had already dipped on, was the White Pelican, of which a several had been visiting. Spoiler alert, we did not find them.


We did see a Northern Raccoon out and about. Somewhat unusual behavior.

Finally some birds!


Snow Buntings, which Patty is blocking traffic to photograph.


After which we headed to the Smithville Inn where I enjoyed my new favorite beer in celebration.

A good day after all.

Monday, December 30, 2019

Benefits

One of the benefits of hosting the Winter Solstice Bonfire Music Jam with Yule log Ceremony is the left over beer. I have friends with eclectic tastes, and I quite enjoy discovering new brews.

Like this one.


A surprisingly tasty beer made with convenience store coffee. Very satisfying after a morning of yard work on a winter's day.

🍺  🍺  🍺

And if you look closely ...


... portrait of the artist in a beer can.

Saturday, December 28, 2019

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Fire! Food! Friends! Beer!


And Music! What more could one want?


Yule log? ✔️

Spirit Animals? ✔️

And Beer! Did I mention there was Beer? There was.

🍺 ✔️


We had our third annual Winter Solstice Bonfire Music Jam Yule Log Ceremony, this year with Spirit Animals (mine was the Wolverine, I'm tougher than I think) on the actual Solstice Day this year (how cool is that!).


Russell, on banjo, and Tom, on guitar, were joined this year by Scott on bass (the fellow in blue in the second image from the top). Some mighty fine pickin'.

🔥  🪕  🍲  🍺  🍜  🎸  🔥

A big thanks to everyone who came and made it another fantabulous event. A wonderful time was had by all.

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Keeping Christ ...

... in Christmas!


Bottles Up!


Happy Boxing Day!

🎁  🍺  🎁  🔮  🎁

Two of the gifts Patty gave me for Christmas, a Sixpack and and Lensball. Fun times ahead!

Saturday, November 2, 2019

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things ...

Beer and Birding.


Very yummy.


Although "Go Birding" would be a better name.

(Go G-MEN!)

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Fire!

Sure looks ominous ...


Looks to me like an evil imp running along leaving fire in it's wake.

🌲  🔥  🌲  🔥  🌲

The fire was in the Greenwood Forest WMA, and I took this shot on February 19, 2017 from Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, approximately twenty miles away (and coincidently the fire was about the same distance form my home). Fire is a natural part of the ecology of the NJ Pine Barrens, yet it conjures dread, with good reason, in those who live nearby. Fortunately, in large part due to good management practices which include prescribed burns, we've not experienced the type of disaster where fires have ravaged large areas in California and Oregon.

🔥  🍺  🔥  🍺  🔥

Speaking of fires in California, Sierra Nevada Brewing company has introduced Resilience Butte County Proud IPA all the proceeds of which go to the relief efforts for the Camp Fire of 2018.

From the Sierra Nevada site linked above:

"We sent out the "bat signal" calling our friends in the industry, asking our suppliers to donate ingredients, asking other breweries (our competitors) to donate their time and labor costs, and asking our wholesalers and retailers to carry the beer for free. It was a big ask, and we never could have anticipated the response.

More that 1.400 breweries signed up to brew Resilience. Our suppliers donated ingredients to every brewery nationwide. Wholesalers and retailers agreed to carry the beer and donate every dollar they received. All of them agreed to do this for free to benefit people they had never met."

So if you like beer, or know someone who likes beer, pick up a six pack or two. You'll be happy you did.


I am.

Friday, October 20, 2017

Monday, January 2, 2017

A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With ...

... a Frist Day Hike!


This year the hike was at a local nature preserve, a mere 4.3 miles from my home, but one I had never visited. Nor even knew existed.


It was a surprisingly nice day as we headed out down the trail. Our nominal leader is Mark, the guy in the red shirt. but he is a plant geek and was soon left behind, looking at whatever was growing along the way.

Not to worry, as it was a rather straight trail ...


... along a former railroad right of way.


Which is good, as it was not a particularly well marked trail. Although it may soon be?


Approximately 1.7 miles after we started we came to trails end, at the US Post Office in Birmingham, NJ. Which serves all 33 residents of this village, which is coincidently 33 feet above sea level. (I didn't know this place existed either.)


We relaxed and waited for the rest of the first day hikers to reach the post office, slowly increasing the population of Birmingham by over 100% for a short time (we had 44 hikers).

This is Terry (shown here with a 'wood duck' head she found):


She is the coordinator of this particular first day hike; Thanks Terry! It is one of nineteen hikes, one horse back ride, and one mountain bike ride hosted by the NJ State Park Service. Such events are held in all fifty states, and not just by state park services. Other groups are now getting in on the action. I'm sure you can find one in your area.

🍇🍯🍤🍖🍜🍛🍚🍪🍻🥂🍷🍾

This is our third time joining the first day hike festivities and as is our custom, we bring food and drink to share at the end. As this hike did not have a nearby picnic area we decided to host the after hike gathering at our place. And while we may not have topped the population of Birmingham we did have a nice turnout. With four crock pot dishes, plenty of liquid refreshments, and a variety of salads, dips, appetizers, and deserts.


An appropriate beverage for the NJ Pinelands methinks.

It was a very nice way to start 2017.

🚶🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♀️

About that 1000 mile journey ...

A couple of weeks ago we were at Whitesbog for an owl prowl for which Patty was co-leader (with this guy). This owl prowl was coincident with the monthly full moon hike (it was cloudy, so no moonlight on this walk; no owls either). And Patty was speaking to a women who regularly attends the full moon hikes. And this women told Patty about the '1000 mile challenge', where you walk one thousand miles in a calendar year.

And now we are walking.

And I've less than 997 miles to go!

(Wish me luck ...)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Just Chillin ...

I spent Christmas with my sister and her family, 
and the day after it was nice out. 

(For a while anyways)

So we decided to build a fire.


(My brother-in-law is a bit of a pyromaniac.)


Ah, toasty.


He also likes to cook.

Note the cooler, not really needed ...

(But full of beer!)

((He enjoys a frosty beverage or two.))

(((As do I.)))


Your's truly, enjoying the fine winter's day.

(Time for selsun blue?)

((And another beer!))


The view from the house.

A hardy neighbor joins the party.

(And brought more beer!)

*****

We got six inches of snow here, and were on the edge of the storm. 
Back home snow fall amounts were in the ten to twenty inch range.

We stayed out to the beer was gone.

The fire burned on without us.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Beer!


Technically, this is beer. It is also the result of eight plus hours of work.

It started at 8:00 AM sharp at my friend Russell's house. After a cup of coffee I was put to work. The first job, grinding eight pounds of barley malt. Then a few more pounds of specialty malts, black and chocolate. There was then a lot of boiling and cooling and mixing and siphoning and sanitizing and temperature taking and transferring from one carboy to another.

We avoided calculating how much it cost to make the five gallons you see here. Which even after all this work is still a few weeks from being drinkable.



Well, not all the time was spent working. We had time for music. And food (the walnut 'meatballs' were quite tasty!).


And even a bit of backyard birding.


And of course, we sampled the previous efforts.

We did a lot of sampling.

And I can't wait to sample the brew in the carboy at the top of this post.

It was a great way to spend the day.