The Perfect Martini (warning a bit snobbish)

Martinis have been perverted with every sweet, tart, desert variation possible. As much as I love James bond, the films never did this time aged drink any justice. "Shaken not stirred"? a Hollywood attempt to make it sound cooler. a Martini should be stirred, NOT shaken!

Behold the perfect Dry Martini:

2.5 oz of Gin, Hendricks is my perference but tanqueray will do just fine. From the freezer even better

.5 oz of dry vermouth from the freezer

Chilled martini glass. 

Stir in pitcher or large glass with plenty of ice

Strain into martini glass

Garnish with 3 large spanish olives with or without pimientos your choice.

Frank or Dino playing in the back round to enhance ambiance

Accepted variations

"Dirty" variation: 1oz of Olive brine right from the olive container

"Slightly Dirty" .5oz Olive juice right from the olive container

Replace Olives with a piece of lemon skin. Not before twisting and twirling around the glass before straining liquid. 

At the end of it all, it's whatever your heart's desire but the traditionalist in me enjoys the aforementioned method of making a martini. 

R.I.P My Beagle Frankie Greatest dog ever!

We had to put him to sleep last month, he lost his life to cancer. He would have been 11 years old in Oct. We will miss Frankie dearly. He was a good boy, such a sad day, like losing a member of the family. He was my buddy, my confidant and my therapist. He will never be forgotten. 

" He wasn't eating today, so for me that was him telling me it was time. For the last 48 hours he has deteriorated tremendously and it would have been selfish to keep him a day longer. When I got home from work he could barely walk. We stayed with him until the end this way he knew we were with him. I'm crying more than when my grandmother died. The house is empty without him. "

"My wife and I barely slept last.night the house was so empty without him. I was looking a pictures and believe it or not it helps remembering the good times. I also believe being there with him for the last moments was good because he knew we we there for him. Also helped with closure knowing he went quietly and painlessly"

Ruben's smoke Stack

Great place to come and smoke a stogie while getting your oil change at the Goodyear across the street.
What a gem! Great selection in fact right now I'm smoking a new one from my father "Flor de las Antillas". And drinking a Sangia Senioral soda pop. Very relaxing environment very friendly staff!

Ravioli with chicken liver sauce in Cincinnati

A business trip brought me to Cincinnati today where like all business trips we are pressed for time. It's almost noon and we have a meeting that starts a 1pm. At the foot of the hotel where the meeting was taking place there was some swanky but small bar / grill and when we approached the entrance we were turned away because they were at capacity. Those who know me know I get grumpy when shit like that happens. So, we keep walking and a block and a half away we quickly entered the first eatery we see. It could have been a biker bar and we wouldn't have hesitated to walk in that's how hungry we were. Scotti's Italian restaurant would be the name of this place and from reading some of the history on the menu it's been around a hundred years. I would not contest it, there were candles on every table that looked like they have been collecting wax for that long. So we are greeted by the only person in the dining room and I swear it was something out of the Soprano's. My boss couldn't understand the dialect but I quickly recognized that the guy was speaking in a sort of NY but in the Rocky tone of voice accent. We explained our urgency, he asked, " how long you got?" 40 min my boss answered. "Ah, you'll be alright", he said. We were definitely amused! I'll get right down to it. The menu was pick a pasta and then pick a sauce. That was it, nothing else! My boss ordered the ravioli with a chicken liver tomato sauce. I decided since we were in a hurry that I'd be better ordering the same thing as to not complicate shit. Now the food was just decent the sauce was authentic and meaty in flavor, very well done and without all the heaviness that a sauce like that may come with. There were so many pieces of liver that it almost took away from the ravioli which is really the centerpiece of his dish. My boss decided to use the restroom which was down in the basement and when he came up he described it perfectly. He said, " that it looked like the kind of place wise guys came to either become made men or get whacked. I mean chest freezers and all. The whole decor was freaking me out with this mosaic of broken junk tiles all over the wall to the dusty hanging wicker wine bottles on the ceiling. This place was literally a hole in the wall, a dive! I'm glad I came though because it was quite he experience and a pretty cool story. Would I come again? I hope so I'd like to try something different on the menu, but it would be the creepy atmosphere brining me back for sure!

http://scottiscincinnati.com/

Whipped Dog Badger Shaving Brush

Instead of paying 200+ dollars on a name brand Silvetip Badger brush I suggest you try one from Whipped Dog first.
First a little about brushes...
They are meant to prepare your face for shaving. Lathering with a quality soap that is meant to strip the oils from your whiskers so they stick up at attention. The brush plays a big part in comfort, lathering the soap and striping the oils while applying a slick layer of protection on your face. A good brush feels soft on the skin yet with enough backbone to pick up plenty of hard soap onto the tips of the brush. Is any of this making sense?

Whipped Dog brushes are custom made by Larry Anderson to your basic specifications. Your choices of size consists from 16mm thru 30mm. This is the width of the base of the brush. Also to get the needed backbone Larry can drill a bit more into the handle in order to sink the brush in. He can leave it standard at 10mm deep or sink it to 20mm. I suggest sinking on any Silver tip brush order. He charges about 5 dollars more but it's worth it.

Below is my 30mm Silvertip I paid around 45 dollars. A brush like this could easily cost hundreds.

Brand new out of the box

 Same Brush after use shows some "blooming"on the left. On the right is a 22mm Black Badger brush at the standard 10mm deep. 

Whipped Dog Website

The Art of Traditional Wet Shaving

You hold that Mach 357 in your hands and are about to smother your face in gillette super slick nuclear  petroleum gel. A morning ritual that most men just rush though so they can get it over with and get on with their day. Not me, this really is a ritual for me. I take at least 20 min to shave and wake up earlier because of this. It's somewhat of a spa treatment if you will. I know it sounds metro sexual but don't knock it till you try it.
What motivated me? The cost of cartridge razors! I was spending at least 30+ a month because a 4 pack would hardly last me a month. With traditional wet shaving a pack of the sharpest razors I could find cost me 50 bucks for the whole year. So what do you need?

1. Double Edge razor or Straight Razor
2. Blades (unless your using a straight)
3. Shaving Soap or cream
4. Small Bowl
5. Shaving Brush
6. Small Towel

There are a lot of You tube videos that can show you the steps but I recommend if you get started on something like this I recommend you change the way you shave and look at it as beard reduction with every pass instead of just trying to get to a smooth shave at once!

My process for the best shave:
First Pass - down with the grain
Second Pass - ear to mouth across the grain
Third Pass - Up against the grain on neck but across (opposite direction) on face. I never go against the grain on my cheek. Then minor touch up. Baby Smooth Shave!

First taste of the Irish stout

All I can say is wowee! I still don't know what I'm doing in the kegging process but the beer came out plenty carbonated after being on the gas at 30 psi for 2 days and since it aged for awhile in the primary it was a clean and delicious beer. Everything is just how I had planned for except the slightly higher abv. More to come...

The happiest day of my brewing life

Ok, I absolutely hate bottling. In fact I have 2 beers in my basement from 3 months ago sitting in the chamber waiting to be bottled. I have an extra fridge that I can use as a Kegerator. I'm planing on having the faucet come out right on the facing of the door rather than doing a fancy tower set up and with just one tap. I'd also like to rig something simple for mobile use.

Soooo, I finally got a kegging system. I'm starting out with your basic frat boy picnic tap and around June I'm going to get some perilick's and stick them in my fridge. I have a dubbel and an Irish dry stout ready for kegging after I fill the co2 tank tomorrow. \

The Snobs say Guinness is "watery"

Guinness Ahhh.....

Guinness is good beer! Don't listen to beer snobs who are too cool for a Guinness. This beer is true to style and smooth enough to drink for breakfast. Light roast, faint fuggle scent, med body and a super creamy nitro head that remains thick and tan till the last drop.

Converting a Coors style Keg "Keggle"

Ok, So I found a free keg on Craigslist but it was a coors keg with that bulk in the middle and beat to crap. But it was free! Click on this link to see the hole I cut on the top! http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=689378655768792635#editor/target=post;postID=1251898292968926146

The guy left it out on his lawn for me and I went to pick it up. I ordered a sight glass kit from Brewhardware.com  (Bobby). I believe he has the best hardware around especially sight glass kits. I made my own from a copper tube and  compression fitting, I'll take you through some of the steps.


With a Step bit or Unibit I drilled a hole about a 13/16" Hole in the lower sidewall of the keg
This is a picture of the Bulkhead hole but you get the picture. The bilkhead hole I had to keep going up a step until I got the right diameter. So we got our Bulkhead hole and our Sight glass hole. that's it you are done!

I love this Thermometer because it's 3 inches way bigger than the one on my 44qt pot and easier to read. The trick when using this set up is to ask Bobby for the extra elbow fitting to clear the bulk on your keg. Then when setting is up bend the first elbow that comes out of the T fitting to get it closer otherwise the sight glass with stick out at an angle. 

Here is a view of the inside with my copper dip tube. 

As for the bulkhead this one I bought from Brewhardware.com as well. What I love about it is that it comes with a flat high temp washer not the round ones that can slip. 

The sight glass is well built and easy to install. 

I'm very happy with my beat up and ugly kettle can't wait t use it!

Troegs Brewery Visit

Took a day trip out to Hershey, PA to visit the site where some of my favorite beers are made. I wasn't surprise of how big their operation is but it did remind me just how big a player Troegs is in the craft brew industry. We didn't do the guided tour because you have to book that months in advance. Good thing they had a self guided tour in a room where you have visual access to most of their equipment.
Walking into this place you were surrounded by cool Troegs related artwork. A lot of it was Nugget Nectar inspired and done by friends of the brew brothers. There were tons of bottle cap art and sculptures that were submitted via contest entry winners. I told my wife she should definitely enter in the next one her being an artist an all.
Their merchandise shop was great so many cool T-shirts, hats and misc stuff. They also had a snack shop where the food was just great pairings with their beers. We were in for a treat because Mad Elf is the seasonal beer being served. They also had a dedicated growler filler that filled growlers all day long without any waste due to spills or foam. Check out some the pics I plan to visit again with an appointment for the guided tour.

Yeast Lab!

 Tasting Room

OK, Before I forget this thing right here is dedicated room. There are 2 open fermenters that have small tanks in front of them that catches over spilling of yeast at high Krausen. Essentially top cropping yeast for future batches. I thought this was the coolest thing I saw there. They use this chamber mostly for fermenting the one and only dream weaver.

Brewing a Dubbel in My basement

My friends are always asking how I brew so I decided to "capture" by last brew day in which I made a Belgian Dubbel. It's not perfect because I put it together rather quickly. I guess I can make changes as I see mistakes.

Enjoy...