Category: Diversions and Distractions

Posts related to hobbies, interests, or activities.

  • Franken-Rye P.A.

    Over the past year, I collected up various leftover grains that were sitting on the shelf waiting to be used. I usually buy a bit more ingredients than I need and so I decided to put a few of these grains together for a mix-and-match beer. I also wanted to use some of the Nugget…

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  • Marketing Hype vs. Reality: Large Breweries Struggle While Craft Breweries Flourish

    If you listen to the Big Boys (AB Inbev, MillerCoors, etc.) then the beer industry in America is in trouble. Despite going merger-crazy and leveraging economies-of-scale, macrobreweries in the US (and around the world) are in trouble. For example, Budweiser is having to give away free beer and “freshen” its image while the number of…

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  • How a Brew Day Goes Horribly Wrong

    The last couple of years, I’ve taken time off from brewing during the summer months due to the fact that I have a hard time keeping my fermentation temps regulated when the weather is warm. Sure, I’ve used a swamp cooler but cycling out the ice packs gets to be tedious and and have a…

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  • Utica and Cooperstown Brewery Tour (June 19-20, 2010)

    Ah June…when a boy’s fancies turn to beer and jam bands. And what better way to celebrate the season than to travel out to Saratoga for Phish concert and stop along at breweries along the way. As we were heading out to Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) for the Phish concert on June 19th, we…

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  • “Robin Hood” review

    Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood was an OK film that lacks the lightness of other previous versions. As Michael O’Sullivan, critic for the Washinton Post put it, Robin Hood is less about a band of merry men than a whole country of really angry ones. Compared to other films by Scott, this one is not an…

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