Hops, Barley, Yeast and Squirrel Sitings

Friday night found the newlyweds on a date of sorts. [Sidebar question, do married couples go on dates? I mean, can you really call it a date if you are married? Talk amongst yourselves . . . ]

Mr. Oz and I partook in an ancient and time-honored ritual. We brewed our own beer! For Valentine's Day, I gave Mr. Oz a gift certificate to Vine Park Brewery and this was the weekend to redeem said gift certificate. We hit the brewery and had our very own brew coach walk us through the steps. They had a wide list of beer options and after some deliberating, we landed on a high gravity (that's brew-speak for high alcohol content) libation called Rattlesnake Lager. Here's the description from the beer menu: "The rich dark amber color and high alcohol puts it in the Doppelbock category. Even a relatively healthy dose of hops fails to diminish its malty sweetness." Sounds delicious doesn't it? The brewing experience was cool. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but the process involved a very hot aluminum and copper kettle and a big rubber glove that you had to wear when handling the kettle (protection people, protection). We measured and poured all sorts of liquid barley potions into boiling water, added precisely measured hops, threw in some glucose (i.e. sugar) and finished er off with some yeast. It took us about 2 hours. Our batch spends a week fermenting and then another week chilling in the cold room. Then we come back and bottle it all up. In the end, we will have six cases of our very own beer . . .

In the middle of our brewing, we met some folks who were there bottling their beer. They were a friendly bunch who had been coming to Vine Park for many years now. We were able to sample a bit of their mix and it was yummy. Although the brewing was fun, I think the bottling is where its at. Your friends can join you. They encourage you to bring in snacks and try your beer whilst bottling it up. Fun. I'll post more about our brewing adventure later and will include some pics of us enjoying the fruits of our labor.

All that beer making caused us to build up a powerful thirst. So, we grabbed our pal AKH (otherwise known as poodle) and headed over to St. Paul watering hole Sweeney's. They have a great patio and it was a perfect summer night. I do have some sad news to report, however. On the way in we encountered a very dead and very disgusting mr. squirrel. I tried to take a photo with my phone, but it was too dark and I couldn't get the shot. I thought my buddy over at Hollow Squirrel might appreciate a last commemorative photo of a fallen brethren. Probably for the best as the image was not pretty. Oh, poor little squirrel. I hope your last days were filled with sunshine and happiness and I hope your passing was swift and painless. Know that I was thinking of you as I hoisted a frosty cold one in your honor. And let this be a lesson to all you other squirrels out there. Look both ways before you cross the street and be careful leaping from tree branch to tree branch. It is a dangerous world out there.