Have a look right here.

San Francisco – 1905

My Father’s Garden

Marble Machine 3

Drawing in Microsoft Excel

I.M.P.S. – The Relentless

Gadgets of 1983

The Sandpit

How bombproof suits work

Unlimited Detail

Help — I’m obsessed with breasts

Animation
A Gentleman’s Duel

Music
ZZ Top
REO Speedwagon
(the manes of the late ’70s)
Crazy Train
(A chubby-faced Ozzy)

47 years of Ford’s Mustang

Pink Terror

Ferrari based Citroen 2Cv

The Nolan Dairy Farm

Superman Action Comics No. 1

The demented rocket-propelled genius of Turbonique

Happy Pi Day!
(Even though it’s not 2007)

I had been fretting over the loss of 50% of the daily readers on this site. I’ve come to a conclusion that I can live with.

The past readership loss has become a semi-explained logic, part fact, part supposition. There were two things going on at the same time. One was the fact that I had backups scheduled out the wazoo, sucking up computer cycles on the server, slowing things down for the readers. This has been changed. I now receive via email a weekly backup of the database. I can also, at any time, manually start a backup and save it to my desktop computer. Readership has risen a bit over the last week and we’re peaking at over 300 most of the days. That’s fine. It’s something that I’ve finally settled on as an explained phenomenon without really being able to pinpoint any one cause.

Another fact comes from the Site Meter stats coupled with Google Analytics, both of which have embedded Java code here for tracking. At some point, a website which provided links to a lot of Humpday Honeys, suddenly vanished. And that’s OK. It used to be that popular posts, according to the meters were the Honeys. Now it’s more into other posts, what I’d like to call “pure” content.

Site loading time: I used to present 20 posts on the homepage. Now you get only 12. That would be today’s and yesterdays posts. Unless they get out of sync with the week. But 12 posts on the front page should do for cutting down on the time the front page loads. Less home-page posts equal faster loading times.

I also looked into having a dedicated (unshared) IP address for the site. Thanks to an email from oldgomer@wherever, I learned that we share a server along with over 1,940-some other websites. What would a dedicated IP gain for us? First, we’d be able to get an SSL certificate allowing us accept credit card info for billing. Second, it would put us in the unique position to not get blacklisted by Google or any other source, in case some other site on the shared server was blasting spam or other crap. For right now, we’re cool with we what we got online so far. WordPress and HostGator on a shared server.

We continue on. There’s no further interest in migrating over to Squarespace.

Last week, while at the Morris Beer Store, Gail gave me a gift. She said she found it in her basement.It was an 8.45-ounce bottle of Sam Adams Triple Bock, vintage 1994. My research led me to believe that this beer was the first of three batches brewed in ‘94, ‘85′ and ‘97. The ‘97 batch is said to be the best. 17.5% ABV on this one. Perhaps a precursor to the Utopias.

What the hell can I do with a 16 year-old beer? What would it taste like? I decided to bring this ancient bottle of beer to the M*A*S*H Homebrew Club meeting this Saturday to get some opinions as to whether we should even uncork it or just put it on display. After an hour of official business and individual homebrew samplings, the majority wanted to taste this basement beer.

The bottle had a cork which deteriorated over time. Most of the cork parts were retrieved from the neck and the contents of the bottle was doled out to the membership in small quantities. The beer was not a beer, but rather a cordial, a liqueur which had a strong, sweet robust taste. One member stated that it would be great after a rich meal and a tiny amount poured over ice cream for dessert. It was a true taste experience. It was incredible. Thick pouring into the glass, sweet, no carbonation. A cordial, just as the man stated. More of a liqueur than a beer. Wow.

I still have my last homebrew beer in the secondary fermenter. The beer is supposed to be a Tripel with an estimated ABV of 8%. The kit instructions said to leave the wort in the secondary for 2 months! Pfft! I’ve been checking the specific gravity over the last three weeks and it seems that it drops about two points per week. We started out with an Original Gravity of 1.074. Right now, we’re at 1.024 which equates to about 6.3% ABV. Nowhere near the 8% that the recipe called for. But at 6-something, I think we’ll be be bottling soon.

One thing I relish is the fact that it’s hard to classify just what SixPackTech is all about. In doing periodic “ego searches” SPT has been classified as a Beer Blog, a Car blog, anything about Babes, funny video site, etc. We are what we are. From an SEO perspective (Search Engine Optimization), the better I title the content, the more readers will come to visit and buy the stuff I sell. But I sell nothing. I give away, for free,  SPT stickers. Go look somewhere here on this site to find out how you can get one. (Hint: Look just under the USB SixPack.) Communicate.

I’m still at it every day, going on two years in April. Look forward to new headers and maybe even a new top banner.

SixPackTech… I still love doing this shit.

“Raging Bitch came in!” she exclaimed smilingly. (Tom Swift, anyone?) I was taken aback by the sharp tongue of this woman, but she led to a place on the shelf where there was space taken up by a concoction from the Flying Dog Brewery out of Franklin, Maryland. In keeping with their dog-style (!) themed beer names, this beer was called Raging Bitch Belgian-Style India Pale Ale.

Gail had a smile which exposed even her wisdom teeth. I grabbed a bottle and examined the label. On the front was a seemingly obscene illustration of a wild dog by Ralph Steadman who does all the label artwork for Flying Dog. Down at the bottom was a small, terse statement: 8.3% ABV with IBUs of 60!

In those quick microseconds it took to make a decision, I thought IPA, Bleah. Belgian-style, interesting. High ABV, even more so. I also thought that I should investigate the IPA style of beers with a new head of steam. I checked the price. $10.49 for the sixpack. Gail saw me looking at it and said, “It’s a little expensive but we’ve already sold two sixpacks.” Hmm. There were two sixers left on the shelf. I grabbed one and said, “I’ll buy it just based on the name.” Once again, I got a glimpse of wisdom teeth.

Back home, I was able to examine the label closer. The bottle label artwork may be considered by some as obscene, but after all, it is a picture of a female dog, as anatomically correct as Steadman can depict. On the side was the “brewery-speak”, touting the care and effort which went into the making of this beer.

“Two inflammatory words… one wild drink. Nectar imprisoned in a bottle. Let it out. It is cruel to keep a wild animal locked up. Uncap it. Release it….stand back!! Wallow in its golden glow in a glass beneath a white foaming head. Remember, enjoying a RAGING BITCH, unleashed, untamed, unbridled- and in heat- is pure GONZO!! It has taken 20 years to get from there to here. Enjoy!”
Ralph Steadman

How profound! How scary! Perhaps we have a beer that will attack the tongue with fury unbeknownst to mankind. Like a raging bitch. I’m sure we all know someone who qualifies for that title. It’s a fact that along with Steadman, Hunter S. Thompson had some influence on the Flying Dog Brewery as well. Check out this link from their website. Link.

So what are we looking at here? Keywords are Gonzo, Steadman, Hunter S. Thompson, India Pale Ale and raging bitch. This should be quite the adventure. Let us begin.

The beer poured with a slightly orange hue carrying a nice off-white head of about a good half-inch. Lots of large bubbles slowly made their way to the top. The liquid itself was nice, crystal clear. The beer had a very slight aroma which briefly reminded me of caraway seeds in rye bread.

The first sip had a very pleasant flavor of yellow grapefruit accompanied by a bit of maltiness. The beer was light to the tongue and went down rather easily. The 60 IBUs of bitterness did not end at the swallow but rather at the back of the tongue, just before the plunge.

I couldn’t get over how the combination of the malts and the bitterness of the hops made for this nice, pleasant grapefruit flavor. I don’t know whether it was the intention of the brewmaster to make a beer that tasted like grapefruit, or if that’s what you get when you get the proper ratio of hops of to malts. I also don’t know if the Belgian yeasts are responsible for this nice, crisp, grapefruity taste or whether it was the type of hops used in the brewing process. Don’t forget this is only the second IPA I’ve ever reviewed and I’m getting over my trepidation of buying and sampling these high hopped IPAs.

Towards the bottom of the first glass, the bitterness remained but became more subdued. The drink morphed into a rather nice, citrusy kind of brew, still tasting like beer all the way down. A subtle sweetness came forward at the front of the tongue. The more I sipped, the more I liked the taste of this beer.

I may not be over my leeriness of IPAs just because of the memories of Celebration Ale, an IPA from Sierra Nevada. As I remember, it was a beer that tasted like a mouthful of rubber bands. But, then again, I was a little wet behind the ears at the time and not that knowledgeable of beer styles. Perhaps now, after brewing beer in the kitchen and knowing all the ingredients and steps involved in the process, I’m starting to appreciate the more esoteric tastes of these “exotic” beers.

In my opinion, Raging Bitch is a beer for a change of pace. For once, try to get away from the ales and stouts and try something light, but with a little taste kick to it. The bitterness of this beer is it’s forte, but it doesn’t dominate the taste. It makes for truly unique flavor that some would consider hard to pull off. This is only a grapefruit beer for the first half glassful. After that it’s a pleasant, tasty beer with a crisp afternote. Your tongue will thank you later for the nice workout.

The SixPackTech ratings for Flying Dog Belgian-Style India Pale Ale are:

Taste: B+ > Another dimension for the tongue.
Smoothness: B > Sips slip silently south.
Drinkability: B- > A coupla more would do just fine, thanks.
Bang for the buck: B- > Under two bucks a bottle is tolerable in this case.
ABV: 8.3% << Keep this in mind.
Wife’s all-encompassing opinion: (Sip) MM. Oh, it’s perfumey. (sip) OOK. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s gotta tang but.. (sip) I don’t like it. It’s like what Avon perfume would taste like. (Ding-Dong! Check the front door; see who’s calling.)

Tour of the Flying Dog Brewery in 5 parts – Yes, Gonzo is a keyword here.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

I visited the G.I. website which produced this snippet:

Recipe Information:
Style: Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
Alcohol by Volume: 13%
International Bitterness Units: 60
Color: Midnight
Hops: Willamette
Malt: 2-Row, Munich, Chocolate, Caramel, Roast Barley, Debittered Black

A bourbon barrel aged (think Dragon’s Milk) 13% ABV black beer with chocolate, caramel and roasted, bittered extra ingredients brewed as a stout. The price? Twenty Dollars U.S. Cash. Holy shit. A four-pack of high-alcohol beer came to 5 bucks a bottle. However… (there’s always the ‘however’) the online ravings about this beer piqued my interest and my love of the dark beers, so I dug deep into my pocket and cringed as I paid the man. Hating myself for a while, I plunged the beer into a dark corner of my bedroom.

Tonight’s review selection happens to be probably, the most expensive beer I’ve ever purchased. But it serves two purposes: to diversify my own taste experience and to verify what has been said about the beer in question. RateBeer recommends this beer be drunk from a snifter. I think not. The snifter is a bit unwieldy to handle but you can’t beat it for the aroma presentation. I prefer a British pub pint glass. Tonight, a compromise: I broke out the Sam Adams pint glass with the somewhat snifter opening. That would do nicely. (BA)

I grabbed the first bottle of G.I.B.C. Stout, the Sam glass and fired up the Mac. While things were warming up electronically, little did I realize about what would be warming up later. I popped the top noticing that this once a year beer has twist-off cap as if it was a daily drinker. Hmm. Knowing that stouts traditionally don’t pour with a lot of head, I filled the glass with no tipping involved.

The beer poured out of the bottle resembling a thin chocolate syrup, rich and very, very dark. The head came up a nice chocolate brown as well. Holding the glass up to the light, it was impossible to see anything through the liquid. The aroma was a nasal wonder, having notes of deep, dark roasted malts, chocolate and perhaps a tinge of bourbon.

The first sip came with a gigantic WOW! Thick to the tongue, the beer slithered in from the glass. The dark roastiness of this beverage was almost overwhelming. Hints of molasses and maple syrup accompanied all of the above. Then there was the after-swallow roto-rootering of the nose. Man, oh man, what a mouthful!

By the third sip the suds had gone away. The beer sat in the glass taunting me, “Go ahead, punk. Have another sip.” It was as if it was a bubbling cauldron of way over the top flavor. Eye of newt, bat wing, tongue of frog, that sort of thing. This was most assuredly an extreme beer.

The liquid actually felt thick in the mouth. The roastiness and the dark flavors filled every tiny nook and cranny of the mouth with a dark spackle. With each sip, the roasty-toasty scent filled the nose before the liquid even entered. The front, middle and back of the sip was a rush of taste.

As the sips progressed, they got smaller and smaller as if the mouth and nose said, “Please. Make it stop.” But the tongue said, “Thank you, sir. May I have another.” The stomach lit a fire and began singing “Kumbaya”. My mind was also starting to feel the effects of the alcohol.

At three-quarters of the way through the first glass of this monster beer, I realized why it was priced so high, why it was so eagerly anticipated by craft beer drinkers and why it only comes out once per year. Also at this point, I was thinking, “Holy Shit. I hope I can get through writing this review.” This beer was the heaviest, tastiest, most alcohol ridden beer I’ve ever had the opportunity to taste. Holy Cow! as Harry would say.

Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout is second only to Sam Adams Utopias in my tasting experience so far. There may be others, but this one even beats Sam Adams’ Double Bock in mouth flavor, taste complexity and depth. This beer is extreme, way out there, over the top and a taste which you must experience at least once in your lifetime.

This beer is not for the faint of heart nor for the novice craft beer drinker who likes Guinness and other dark beers. This beer is special for special occasions. Thank the gods that it will develop in the bottle for five years. The first purchase of this TNT Stout could be good for the next three years.

Unbelievably rich and dark with deep roasted malt flavor and hints of molasses and maple syrup and other heavy, creamy tastes, this beer will blow your mind. And a small part of your wallet as well. It is a taste experience few will have in their lifetimes. Extreme to the nth power, where n= where no man has gone before. Let the superlatives flow… unbelievable, out of this world, outrageous, out of body experience. You must try this beer! It’s the Darth Vader of stouts.

The SixPackTech ratings for Goose Island Bourbon County Stout are:

Taste: A+ > The most extreme darkness your mouth will ever behold.
Smoothness: A > So slick, so encompassing, so much!
Drinkability: N/A <  Sorry. This will be up to you.
Bang for the buck: A > Yes. Each bottle has 5 bucks worth of taste.
ABV: 13% <- The warning Be Careful! is not strong enough here.

Goose

Island

Bourbon Street

County fair

ezout

Interview with Goose Island’s head brewmaster during a visit to New York
(To be taken with a grain of salt.)

Our Phonies are up next. Note: the last one is NSFW in case you’re at work (and the site ain’t blocked.)

Click to enlarge.