Tuesday, July 22, 2008

RIP Klaus


Klaus
Originally uploaded by fixedgear
This is my buddy Klaus, he died last week. He had cancer. He was a great guy, a real gentleman, always had a kind word for everyone.

He had a dream, to ride his bike across the US. Unfortunately he died before he realized his dream.

The moral of the story is that life is short and we should live our dreams.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

RIP Spectrum, Phila PA


tix 003
Originally uploaded by fixedgear
It's hard to get all nostalgic about a dump like the, errrr, Rectum. But there are 34 Grateful Dead stubs, and 3 JGB, and one Bobby and the Midnites. Not to mention Flyers games, 2 Clapton shows, 3 Yes shows, ELP, Genesis, Kinks, Heart/Kansas(?!), Steely Dan, etc. Lots of good memories in that old building.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Happy Fourth of July


CIMG7306
Originally uploaded by fixedgear
The Lawndale/Lawncrest 4th of July Parade.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

I sampled:

  • Clipper City Heavy Weather 7.5%
  • Flying Fish Hopfish, dry hopped with Simcoe, Amarillo and Chinook
  • Nodding Head IPA
  • River Horse Special Ale, easy drinking British style amber ale, 4.5% abv
  • Stoudts Black Eye PA

    Then we drank a 5 liter can of Franziskaner Heffeweizen and ate veggie hoagies, grilled shrimp and chicken.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Gonna ride my bike here....

Friday the Firkinteenth

In case you are too lazy to click through:

What's cask conditioned ale and why should I care?

Additional hops and sugars or wort are added to cask conditioned ales when they are barreled resulting in a secondary fermentation in the barrel. These ales tend to have very pleasing natural carbonation and are served at a higher temperature than regular draft beer. Due to the oxygen that enters the cask once it is opened, the shelf life is only a few days. This is beer at its freshest.
Cask conditioned ales are dispensed using gravity or a hand pump. Regular draft beer is pushed using either CO2, nitrogen or a combination of the two. Since the barrels will be sitting on the bar, we will be using gravity. We've stocked up on extra gravity for Friday the Firkenteenth; we'd hate to run out of it.

What's a pin? What's a firkin?

Firkins and pins are two sizes of casks. A firkin is 40.8 liters (10.8 US gallons). A pin is 20.4 liters (5.4 gallons). A typical US 1/2 barrel is 15.5 gallons.

How many Friday the Firkinteenth's are there per year?

Every 11 years there are three; 1998 was one of those years, when they fell in February, March and November. 2005 had one in May. 2006 has two, January and October. 2007 has two, April and July.

Was the first Friday the Firkinteenth another First Time in the Northeast for The Grey Lodge Pub?

Sort of. Cask conditioned ales probably first found their way to Northeast Philadelphia about 350 years ago. We are, however, the first to bring them back after an absence of many decades.

How or even better why did Friday the Firkinteenth start?

Scoats wanted start serving cask-conditioned ales at The Grey Lodge, but thought it needed some sort of push to get it going. He saw somewhere, and with enough time to plan ahead, that 1998 was going to have three Friday the 13ths (this happens about every 11 years). The phrase "Friday the Firkinteenth" came to him in a vision and the rest is history.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Record-setting heat could factor in Philly

"Gee, ya think?" department.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Ralph


Ralph
Originally uploaded by fixedgear
I'm gonna blog this because I know he reads my stuff and I don't have enough pictures of him. He's usually saying 'put that camera away and get to work!'