The coffee is so pronounced in this brew that I’m not sure if I should describe it as an ale with coffee, or a coffee with ale.

I realize now where I goofed. I boiled the coffee before adding it to the second fermentation.

Adding anything to the wort is risky, especially if it’s not sanitized. Not wanting to spoil 5 gallons of good beer, I chose to play it safe. But when you boil crushed coffee beans, you get…coffee!

So in effect, I added a small pot of coffee to the second fermentation. And boy does it make its presence known when you taste it!

I like it. Probably because I’m choosing to think of it as a spiked ice coffee.

I think I’ll focus on good old fashioned ales with my next few brews. Well, a red ale and then a stout. But no added spices or coffee!

(c) MarcPitman.com

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2. Brewing a New Porter: Naming Help Needed
3. F.M.A. - the Independence Day 2009 brew from Pitman Brewing

In just a few days, both Christians and Jews will be remembering the ancient festival of Shavuot (Pentecost). At sunset on May 28, Jews will begin their celebration of Shavuot, remembering the giving of the Torah to seal God’s covenant on Mt. Sinai. On Sunday, May 31, Christians will celebrate the giving of the Spirit at the Temple to seal the new covenant of Christ’s atonement for sin. Jews will have all-night parties to study the Torah together to rejoice that God has given them his Word. As Christians, why not celebrate in a similar way? How can Pentecost be a special time to study the words of Christ?

I love learning about the Jewish tradition about the giving of the Torah on Sinai happening on Pentecost. Dwight Pryor has some incredibly accessible teaching on this. I find it very exciting that the God who wanted to write the Torah on our hearts choose this very festival to pour out His Spirit!

The Torah on tablets to the Torah on our hearts reminds me of a Joyce Meyer teaching I heard years ago, for believers the 10 commandments become 10 promises. Instead of a threatening “thou shalt not” command, they become grace filled assurances. “Relax, you won’t have any God besides me.” “Rest assured, you won’t covet any more.”

So studying this weekend seems particularly appropriate. After all, as my college advisor Dr. Marvin Wilson taught us: study is the highest form of worship.

Here are some suggestions for your studies:

• Consider reading Exodus 19, God’s giving the Torah on Sinai.
• Or reading the traditional Pentecost story from the Christian scriptures, Acts 2. Consider how Acts 2:2 could well parallel Exodus 19:16 -19.
• Perhaps reflecting on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7 is more your speed.
• Finally, you could read the Book of Ruth. As it says on the Wikipedia article on Shavout:
  

  “The Book of Ruth corresponds to the holiday of Shavuot both in its descriptions of the barley and wheat harvest seasons and Ruth’s desire to become a member of the Jewish people, who are defined by their acceptance of the Torah. Moreover, the lineage described at the end of the Book lists King David as Ruth’s great-grandson. According to tradition, David was born and died on Shavuot (Sha’arei Teshuvah to Orach Hayyim, 494).”

As I learned from Dwight Pryor, in the faith of Jesus, redemption isn’t enough. Freedom from slavery is necessary and wonderful, but becoming a people is the goal. Having a new identity, belonging to the One who created us, becoming a member of God’s people, that is the story of Pentecost.

Happy Pentecost!

(c) MarcPitman.com

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14 years by the numbers:

• 5110 days
• 7,358,400 minutes
• 441,504,000 seconds
• 1 trip to India (the other was in the few brief months before we were married!)
• 12 moves
• 3 babies
• 3 states
• 3 employers (and 1 pyscho I worked for when I was self-employed)
• 1 church plant
• 5,000 individuals in the Waterville area shown God’s love in practical ways

What is harder to quantify is the ups and the downs, the curves God’s thrown on our path, the growth that comes from hardship and the joys that come from growth.

But any way you count it, I’m grateful for these 14 years and am looking forward to the next 114!

(c) MarcPitman.com

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Jack, Jack, bo-back,
Banana-fana fo-fack
Fee-fi-mo-mack
Jack!

I started a new batch of beer tonight. This time it’s an Irish Red Ale. And it’s once again time to ask your help in naming my brew.

If I were to use the Name Game song, would it be:

Ale, ale, bo-bale
Banana-fana fo-fale
Fee-fi-mo-male
Ale!

My last ale was a fail, so I’m thinking I’ll name this one “Atonement Ale” to atone for my past.

What do you creative folks think? What other names would go with this theme?

(c) MarcPitman.com

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My wife found this Thriller video done with Legos. It’s a hoot!

[If you want to see how well they did, you can see the original Thriller video here.]

For some reason, she then found the A-Team, Legos style!

The A-Team is a hit with our family so we had to show the A-Team one to the kids. When we did, we found a Lego version of Bohemian Rhapsody!!

As you can see, there’s rarely a dull moment in the Pitman family!

(c) MarcPitman.com

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An inebriated Winston Churchill to a lady at a party: “Would you spend the night with me for one million pounds?”

The lady, hesitantly: “Well…for a million pounds? I suppose so.”

Churchill: “Then would you do it for 50?”

The lady: “50?! What kind of woman do you take me for?!”

Churchill: “We’ve already established that. Now we’re simply dickering.”

This story really hit me.

What would my decisions have established about me?

Would I ever be in the place of having someone say to me “We’ve already established that…?”

Would you?

(c) MarcPitman.com

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Happily, I stumbled across some Irish blessings and toasts. Irish blessings often brighten my day and with all the rain we’ve been getting, those of us in Maine need brighter days!

Here’s one that made me laugh out loud at my desk:

May those that love us, love us.
And those that don’t love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if he doesn’t turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we’ll know them by their limping.

You can find many more at: http://islandireland.com/Pages/folk/sets/toasts.html.

And, if I see you limping, I’ll know why.

(c) MarcPitman.com

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I’m a fan of his books Built to Last and Good to Great so the fact that I loved this article is no big surprise.

Here are some tidbits:

How do you define entrepreneurship?

I take a broad view of it. The traditional definition — founding an entity designed to make money — is too narrow for me. I see entrepreneurship as more of a life concept. We all make choices about how we live our lives. You can take a paint-by-numbers approach, or you can start with a blank canvas. When you paint by numbers, the end result is guaranteed. You know what it’s going to be, and it might be good, but it will never be a masterpiece. Starting with a blank canvas is the only way to get a masterpiece, but you could also blow up. So, are you going to pick the paint-by-numbers kit or the blank canvas? That’s a life question, not a business question.

I like paint-by-numbers. It’s a great feeling as a first born to “get it right.” But, personally, I’d really prefer to create a masterpiece.

Here’s another one:

It has to do with your ability to handle risk, no?

Not risk. Ambiguity. People confuse the two. My students used to come to me at Stanford and say, “I’d really like to do something on my own, but I’m just not ready to take that much risk. So I took the job with IBM.” And I would say, “You’re not ready for risk? What’s the first thing you learn about investing? Never put all your eggs in one basket. You’ve just put all your eggs in one basket that is held by somebody else.” As an entrepreneur, you know what the risks are. You see them. You understand them. You manage them. If you join someone else’s company, you may not know those risks, and not because they don’t exist. You just can’t see them, and so you can’t manage them. That’s a much more exposed position than the entrepreneur faces. But there’s lower ambiguity on the paint-by-numbers path: very clear but more risky. The entrepreneurial path: very ambiguous but less risk. Of course, the truth is that it’s all ambiguous, anyway. If you think you can predict the future, you’re crazy.

Isn’t the difference between ambiguity and risk a helpful distinction?! Those of us who’ve grown up seeing companies layoff employees know that cradle-to-grave security left the social contract decades ago. Having all your eggs in the “job” basket is indeed risky.

Check out the rest of the interview on Inc’s site. Hopefully it’ll spur your thinking as it has mine!

(c) MarcPitman.com

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But, drum roll please.

Announcing the name of my latest beer: F.M.A.!! [the crowd goes wild]

Give the weirdness of the last few brews, my wife asked me to brew one that she would drink. So I named this Irish Red Ale “Förlåt Mig Ale”, which in English is “Forgive Me Ale.” (Cool how the acronym works in both languages, huh? [crowd chuckles in appreciation])

I was going to call it “Atonement Ale” but that sounded too pretentious. And I liked Larry Hehn’s suggestion of calling it “O’Darn” given it’s Irish nature. But I’ve settled on F.M.A.

It’s sort of an apology for the last few. And a celebration of second chances (an third and fourth and fifth chances)! With the last few beers, I felt obligated to explain the history as in the origin of a bock, or the spices used, or why the beer really tastes like an iced coffee.

Not so with this one. It’s just a good beer. Very drinkable, not high in alcohol content, and best of all, I don’t have to explain anything. I can just say, “Would you like a beer I brewed?”

So, bottoms up and I hope you have fun celebrating the Fourth of July in your own way!

(c) MarcPitman.com

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Here’s what I saw on the home page:

Take a look at this close up:

Do you see the book on the right? It used to cost $10 but now Amazon buyers can get it for only $14.04?

I wonder if Amazon’s experimenting with a new pricing structure. Pretty bold in a down economy.

(c) MarcPitman.com

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