SF Beer Week 2016 - Part Two

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Wednesday night, Izzy & I continued our mild SF Beer Week adventures with a visit to Fieldwork Brewing in Berkeley. This brewery is HIGHLY regarded within the brewing circles that we keep, both professionally & amateur… and for good reason. They always have a wide variety of brews on tap (usually at least 12 different options) and they are CONSTANTLY changing… and some very unique options made in-house. For example, when we went on Thursday, they had options such as:

 

·         Mandarina – Tart Saison

·         Good Conduct - Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

·         Olde Dubliner - Imperial Dry Stout

·         Black Thai – Thai Tea Espresso Porter (very nice)

·         Chocolate Milk – Brown Ale with lots of TCHO chocolate & lactose (milk sugar)

·         Amarilloweisse – Dry Hopped Berlinerweisse

·         Coconut Milk – Double IPA with LOTS of hand-toasted coconut & lactose

·         5-6 different versions & levels of IPA with different hop characteristics

 

So yeah, I recommend checking them out if just for the fresh options & variety… and they also have Crawlers now, which are basically 32 oz aluminum cans of their fresh beer that you can take home in addition to their growlers.

 

Thursday night, Izzy & I visited Seven Stills Distillery’s Taproom for a special release of… BEERCEPTION!!! See… it’s a beer within a beer! How you ask? Well, as you may remember, Seven Stills specializes in making whiskey from distilled craft beers. Well… for Beerception… they barrel aged their Whipnose IPA in a Whipnose Whiskey barrel… and dry hopped the barrels with Chinook & Citra hops. Nice little spot… right over by Laughing Monk Brewing too (will check another time, private event Thursday) in the Dogpatch… go check it out… well, in a few months… they’re still getting things put together… it’s a work in progress…

 

Saturday, we did a new first… and that’s a DOUBLE BATCH!!! What’s that mean? TEN GALLONS of beer made… in ONE BREW. BOOM!!! SCALING IT UP!!! Well… sort of… see…this is how we did it different. We basically just doubled the grain bill ingredients (malt extract mostly in this case) to make a SUPER strong wort… and then diluting it down so that it’s ten gallons of wort instead of the five or so that we started with. Why? Because we wanted to make ten gallons of Stout to run a few experiments with… including some souring… and we wanted to cut the time in half (maybe more since we used cold water to dilute at the point where we were trying to cool the hot wort). Here are some pictures from our double batch of Chocolate Stout…

 

Sunday was the day of the big SF Homebrewers Guild / Seven Stills Barrel Aging Competition in which Izzy & I BOTH had entries of our delicious beverages. We had both a barrel-aged hard cider… and a barrel-aged Scotch Ale… and there were over 30 other barrel-aged beers there to try… and a few dozen others… so times were good. Food was provided by Casey’s Pizza Van… and yeah, EVERYBODY had a great time!!! Here are some pictures of the event…

 

Towards the end, they announced the winners for the Top 3 in the Barrel Aging Competition… and top for all of the other homebrew shared… People’s Choice, of course since there were almost all of the beer styles involved & with unique twists like Mexican Chocolate Imperial Stouts and all kinds of stuff. Well… the winners were announced… and some great beers won…

 

 

The Barrel Aged winners were announced… and we didn’t win for either beer… so we were mildly bummed… but then, the non-comp People’s Choice was announced… and somehow… we had won!!! Even though both beers were part of the competition…

 

Does this sound incorrect? Well… it should… apparently when you get a bunch of drunken hipsters together to tally up votes, math goes to the wayside. It’s a mix of Steve Harvey & a Hanging Chad… but when all was said & done… apparently Tricera-Scotch actually won 2^nd Place in the Barrel Aged Competition… and we don’t have a picture with the 2^nd place ribbon because… well, they just took our ribbon & didn’t replace it with anything… so yeah. Then again, I’m pretty sure that everything was just tallied wrong… and based on our feedback throughout the event… I’m pretty sure that we ACTUALLY won… even if it won’t show on the official ledger… regardless, LOTS of great beer & LOTS of great people!!! Even taking home 2^nd Place is pretty f**king amazing… and we’ll take it!!! WOOHOO FOR TERRIBLE LIZARD BREWING!!!

 

Anyway, so a great SF Beer Week 2016… and now we just get ready for the Super Bowl… and the clusterf**k that will be upon the Bay Area for the next few weeks. More on that to come… until then, have a Happy Groundhog Day everybody!!!

SF Beer Week 2016 - Part One

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

The other night we watched… an interesting movie called “The Ice Pirates” starring Robert Urich, incredibly young versions of Anjelica Huston & Ron Perlman… and I’ve now found a movie that stars that Bruce Vilanch guy you used to see on Hollywood Squares. This story is set in the far far future… in space… where water is the most valuable substance of all... which makes sense in a way. Well, a pirate crew led by Captain Jason (Urich) goes around stealing ice (cuz you know… water) and they stumble upon an adventure involving a space princess… and they try to help her find her father… and there’s a lot of robots, bad jokes, time warps, space herpes, swashbuckling, random N-bombs, more robots, space prairie dogs, a steamy “sex” scene in a Holodeck & more. Seriously though… the steamy sex scene… is apparently in a Holodeck that rains a torrential downpour… so essentially making it the most expensive make-out session of all time… you know… in this future world where that’s the equivalent of dry humping in liquid platinum or something. Anyway, this is billed as a space comedy (a few years before Mel Brooks proved it can actually be done with “Spaceballs”) but… it really isn’t funny. Like… I’m not even sure where you’re supposed to laugh half the time. I mean… it’s interesting just from a “What the… What am I watching? Was coke really THAT big in 1984?” kind of viewing… or “Holy sh*t! Is that Ron Perlman?” but other than that… might wanna pass on this one. It’s 80’s crap… but then again, maybe that’s your thing. If so, have at it. Probably not going to be watching this again.

 

Next up was a pair of superhero movies from last year… with vastly different public reactions. First up, I finally watched “Ant Man” starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Michael Pena, and others. This was the Marvel movie that seemed to be in development limbo for the longest time with the likes of directors / writers like Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead”) and Adam MacKay (Will Ferrell’s career) all being involved… but then backing out. Same with the star that would play the titular role… so there was a LOT of questions in whether this movie was going to be worth a watch. Rest assured, it totally is. So the story is about a sort of Robin Hood-esque bank robbing character named Scott (Rudd) who has just been released from prison… and is going straight… and wants to see his young daughter… but it’s hard to get a job when you’re a convicted felon apparently. Well, while doing a heist at the home of a mysterious rich man (Douglas), he stumbles upon a special suit that allows the wearer to shrink in size, yet retain their strength & abilities… maybe even enhances them (that part was very vague & inconsistent throughout the movie). The man who owned/developed it had used it during the Cold War… but feared that it would get in the hands of the wrong people. Well, smash cut to the technology getting into the hands of the wrong people who have taken over his company in the meantime… and now he has to recruit Scott to wear the suit & save the world. I’ll admit, it’s kind of an odd story… but what really sets this movie apart is the GREAT banter between the characters & how it’s executed… and there are also some very interesting (borderline nauseating) action sequences while using the suit and switching between the sizes. I would HIGHLY recommend checking this movie out! Yeah, I’m sure you’ve probably seen it already… but yeah, check it out if you haven’t. I was late to the party… and this will NOT be the Death of Superhero movies.

 

 

 

 

Next up was this year’s re-reboot of “Fantastic 4” starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara & Jamie Bell as the titular group… and Toby Kebbell as Victor Von Doom… spoiler alert… he’s the bad guy. You TOTALLY wouldn’t have seen it coming based on the name. Even if it was an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Instead this movie was directed by Josh Trank (“Chronicle”) and… apparently this movie flopped SO F**KING HARD in theatres… and there was SO MUCH TURMOIL through the production of the movie & his interaction with the actors… that he may never have a big Hollywood movie ever again… and apparently he seems okay with that. It was odd hearing about the development of this movie… but yeah, regardless. You try to watch this movie with fresh eyes. I mean… could it really be worse than the two previous Fantastic Four movies? Or that late 80’s version that I’ve also seen? Both are hard to imagine. Well, the story is about these four SUPER smart teenagers from different background coming together with a sort of government braintrust to develop teleportation technology that… apparently two of these high school kids figured out on their own working in junk yards & stuff. Okay… so they come together to develop it… and there’s this mysterious dirt that comes back on things that are teleported… and it goes to a planet in another dimension (wait… stay with me). Then the government wants to step in to take over the project… because it’s risky. Fact. Well, the kids are unsupervised… have a few beers… and decide that THEY should be the first people to travel to the other dimension… so they start up the teleporter, go check it out… lose one of the team members there… HUGE fiasco… that leaves them with superpowers. The story goes from there… but honestly, the movie wasn’t as bad as everybody made it out to be. Was it enjoyable? Not really. The effects were kind of cool. Probably the biggest problem… was that some of the character motivations & decision making… is just f**king stupid. Also, I REALLY think that Kate Mara was FURIOUS throughout the making of this movie (and given the director’s challenges, very possible) because there is ZERO charisma or chemistry from her AT ALL in this movie. She’s basically a b**ch throughout… and I’m not sure that’s what her character is supposed to be? In the comics, Sue Storm was the binding agent that held the team together, right? It’s been a while… but yeah, stupid decisions being made by supersmart teenagers… but I’d still give it a glance. I don’t see them popping up in Avengers or any crossovers any time soon… if ever. Still, for the subject matter… what can you REALLY expect? Fantastic 4 has always been… a bit of a fantastical stretch for disbelief (GAMMA RAYS!!!) so trying to set it in a live-action true-ish atmosphere is gonna be tough. If this version didn’t do it… then I don’t see it really doing a Christopher Nolan reboot type of reimagining… and after losing tens of millions of dollars, I don’t see it ever getting funded either. Oh well… Marvel will be just fine… as will the respective actors & actresses in this movie. Probably not the director though… sorry Josh…

 

This weekend was also the start of SF Beer Week 2016 (scheduled a little early due to the Super Bowl clusterf**k over the next two week, BTW congratulations to the Denver Broncos & Carolina Panthers!!!) and Izzy & I are taking it pretty low key this year. See… almost everything involved with SF Beer Week is either SUPER expensive considering what’s being offered… or LOTS of people in a little space… but we’re trying to get involved in a few key, fun things. We stopped by BevMo to get some beverages to enjoy throughout… and that’ll be elaborated on our podcast later this week… but there were a few others things.

 

Our first adventure was going to Sessions at the Presidio on Sunday experience the Battle of the Guilds, where professional craftbrewers from San Francisco, San Diego & Los Angeles all came… set up their jockey boxes with some special beers… and basically for $4 per 10 ounce pour, you get to try their beverages… and vote for the city to win… the Battle of the Guilds. We met some great people, tried some great beers… it was a little odd where it’s essentially professional quality beer in a very homebrew presentation with the jockey boxes… yet also in a fairly elegant environment at a nice place like Sessions. Overall, I highly recommend it… and we made it out of there for about $20 for two of us & had a great time.

 

Later on Sunday, we FINALLY kegged our Barrel Aged Scotch Ale for the upcoming SF Homebrewers Guild / Seven Stills Distillery Barrel Aging Competition this coming Sunday. Basically, after trying this… and trying some of Izzy’s Unicorn Drool (barrel aged cider from a month or so ago), we’ve basically decided that everybody else is playing for 3^rd Place… because we’re going to win this thing. We’ll show off the trophy next week… but in the meantime, here are some pictures of the kegging process…

 

We also transferred our Imperial Stout to the then-vacant barrel… so in a few months (possibly around mid-to-late April, wink wink) we should have The Return of $teve’s Birthday Cake!!! Until then, we still have about a case of our first batch from last year to please our palettes. Mmm… come on by & we may share some…

 

Well, a busy week still going on… but plenty of great things to report on in the coming days. Stay tuned! The San Francisco Homebrewers Guild / Seven Still Barrel Aging Competition is going to be hella fun!!! Also, a GREAT way to end SF Beer Week!!! Let me know if you’d like to check it out. I think we may have a few extra tickets. Have a great day everybody!!!

In A World...

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

So a week or so ago, I watched a movie & completely forgot to tell you about it… because I feel like I already did. The movie is called “Brick Mansions” and is probably most famous for being the final film of actor Paul Walker (“Fast & Furious” franchise, “Into The Blue” & a bunch of other stuff you forgot he was in like “Timeline”, “Eight Below”, “The Skulls”, “Joy Ride” & even the timeless classic “She’s All That”). The reason that I felt like I already reviewed this movie… was because I did. The movie is an almost exact remake of the “French” action movie from the mind of director Luc Besson “District B13”. Basically that movie that was a reason for parkour with explosions? You remember, right? There was even the sequel “B13: Ultimatum” that I think I was the only one in America that watched. The story is set in the not-too-distant future Detroit where due to… I guess Detroit being Detroit, they separate a really rough part of the city off behind giant containment walls… but somehow, a crime lord (THE RZA!!!) gets a hold of a few nuclear weapons… and it’s up to an undercover cop (Walker) & some random decent dude who happens to be a be a badass parkour enthusiast (David Belle from the original movies) to save the city… and of course the eye candy girlfriend Lola (Catalina Denis). Look… if you’re looking for plot… look elsewhere, but there’s plenty of jumping from roof-to-roof, using the existing environment to make getaways, implausibly bad shooters, explosions, all that jazz that you look for in an action movie when you just want to shut it off. The acting… eh… the important thing is that they’re pretty… and not completely horrible (well, some of them). All the staple characters are there… nothing really that interesting or distinctive… but kudos to the fight / stunt coordinator for putting it all together. You can also watch the two original movies… but then again, they don’t have Paul Walker. RIP homey…

 

Sunday night, Izzy & I watched a comedy on Netflix called “In A World…” written by, directed & starring Lake Bell (“Children’s Hospital”). It’s about a voice coach (Bell) who is the daughter of one of the most prolific movie trailer narrators in cinema history (Fred Melamed) but when he’s thinking about retiring the Golden Pipes… she wants to step into the limelight… but there’s some stiff competition from her father& his arrogant protégé (Ken Marino). Basically it’s a bit of a “coming of age” movie for a young lady who hadn’t done much… but now wants to be a pioneer for women in an industry that has never really had them. Is it “Norma Rae” with baritones? Not at all… but it’s pretty damn funny and there’s a great cast of comedians like Nick Offerman, Rob Corddry, Demetri Martin, Tig Notaro, even cameos from “real actors” like Jason O’Mara, Geena Davis, Cameron Diaz & Jeff Garlin. I’d say check it out… but you’ll see why it didn’t get a big release in theatres. It has that in-betweener tone of “Is it a rockus comedy? A statement against sexism in any industry? A stirring family emotional relationship pic?” but overall it’s a good 90 minutes with some great jokes… and you’ll be trying out your own movie announcer voice. Guaranteed.

  

Wednesday night, Izzy & I watched a flick that… oddly enough, was the last movie that my dad saw in movie theatres a few months back & he raved about… and of course I’m talking about “John Wick” starring Keanu Reeves and a pretty decent cast including Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Lance Reddick and a few cameos from John Leguizamo & Bridget Moynahan… and the director is primarily a stunt coordinator for movies like “The Matrix”, “300” and such making his debut (Chad Stahelski). The plot is about an ex-hitman John (Keanu) who has recently lost his wife (to Disney disease?) and is grieving… when he receives an odd package a few days later… apparently his wife sent a puppy-gram with a note saying that he would need somebody to love… and so she left him a beagle. Side note: If this is a real thing… then you should all of my enemies must fear getting animals if I pass in an untimely manner. It sounds horrible to me. Arrangements are being made. Anyway, after… maybe a day of having this puppy, he’s out filling up his ’69 Mustang at the gas station… when that prick from “Game of Thrones” (Alfie Allen) as a Russian stooge comes up and ask him how much for the car. It’s not for sale. Well, later that night, he breaks into John’s house… jumps him with the help of a few other goons… and basically steals the car & kills his puppy. There’s only one problem though… he’s John f**king Wick!!! The Ultimate Hitman (which apparently this son of a Russian arms dealer/druglord doesn’t know for some reason) and so then… (quick, deep breaths) RAMPAAAAAAGE!!! For the record, this is a total guy movie… and I f**king loved it simply on the premise when my dad told me about it. That being said… here’s the breakdown:

 

What I Liked:

·         The Premise – It’s awesome in its simplicity. This guy got out of the Hitman game, had a normal happy life… and then somebody took it from him (may be some transpositioning involved with the wife’s death & the puppy being so close, but the puppy was his wife’s last wish/gift for him), now it turns into a simple revenge film. He has nothing to live for… but to kill those you wronged him. I’m also totally down with the antihero with really no backstory other than “He’s John Wick!!! You don’t know? He’s like… the perfect killing machine. You’re all dead!” Just this legendary, seemingly impossibly proficient hitman… and you’re like “There’s no way anybody’s THAT good in real life… but then again… this is an action movie. Let’s watch!” I think I mentioned my infatuation with vague characters in the Buddy Revell issue last time… but yeah, Man wants Vengeance. Done.

 

·         Perfect Role for Keanu – Look, it has been said over & over again… if you need an emotionless character that’s decent looking & athletic, the role has to go to Keanu. Whether it’s the Matrix, Day the Earth Stood Still, whatever else… his best roles are when he’s basically a cold, calculating, systematic, robotic shell of a human being… and that’s basically this role. Yes, there are a few scenes where he kind of breaks down a little & gets furious… but for the most part, with this being a rampage/vengeance movie, 95% of his screen time is just him speaking monotonically & every movement is precise & exact.

 

·         The Continental – While he prepares for his vengeance, John Wick checks into a hotel called The Continental… which basically is like a Sanctuary for Hitmen. All of the biggest badasses stay there in an environment where the Code says that they can’t be attacked by others & their wishes and needs are met by an eager & understanding hotel staff. Need help cleaning up a dead body? “We’ll send housekeeping.” Grotto filled with hot chicks? “Any preferred ethnicity?” Somebody broke the rules? “We’ll take care of it sir.” Medical attention for a few bullet holes in your abdomen? “I’ll send the doctor to your room. Might I also recommend something for the pain? Whiskey perhaps?” Basically, I just LOVE the idea of this hotel… and frankly I almost thought this movie was based on a graphic novel or something a la Sin City since there’s SO much potential for other stories involving the other characters & hitmen in this one location. Sh*t, I’m curious how the guy at the front desk (Reddick) got to that position. I’m sure it wasn’t your typical interview process. He’s seen some sh*t before that gig.

 

·         The Action – Your attention is kept throughout the movie… between all of the fight scenes, even the stuff in between is to the point and keep you watching the screen. There’s no real lulls, which is always good. The fight scenes though… basically they’re greatly choreographed & it’s basically like watching a kung fu movie… but with guns instead of punches most of the time. By the way, the movie is rated R… so leave the kiddies away from this one.

 

What I Didn’t Like:

·         The Music – Now, one thing my dad loved about this movie was the music… and I didn’t particularly care for it. Some of it is really fitting and nice… but there was one song in particular that pops up a few times… great baseline & instrumental in general… but then there’s this super loud, repetitive droning called singing by Marilyn Manson (and I’m actually a bit of a fan) for lyrics like “We got guns (repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat) you better run (repeat, repeat, repeat) We’re killing strangers (repeat, repeat) so we don’t kill the ones that we love” and repeat that sequences a few more times. The lyrics have some meaning and all… and I get that… but it’s just very abrasive to the ears. Whatever, I’m sure the soundtrack sold millions and I’m just an old man…

 

·         Lack of Establishing Character Traits – “$teve, this is bullsh*t. You JUST SAID that you’re okay with characters without a real backstory or that are shown in the film!” Yes, I did. I’m going to sum up the first few minutes of this movie… well, the flashback portion, since the whole movie is basically a flashback, but that’s its own thing… you see John and he has sudden quick flashbacks (yes, within the flashback) of him & his wife… and you can tell that she’s dead because it’s dark & grim but the flashbacks are super bright & sunny for the most part. Anyway, it’s very quick… and basically you’re sitting there thinking like “…wait… was she shot in the head by a sniper? No? She just fell? Okay… oh… she’s dead… okay… wait… that’s it? We didn’t even get to see them share a real moment? Conversation? How do I know that John Wick is even a decent guy that I should be rooting for later on? He may be the world’s most cold-hearted killer & his basement may be full of teenage girls in chains. I don’t know… all I do know from the previews is that he’ll kill anybody for money. Period. Oh… and he’s facial hair Keanu.” Then there’s the puppy sent by courier… “Okay… weird film wish from… what I assume was a mentally unstable dead wife?” and then after… I think like 18 hours with this puppy… maybe a full day… regardless I don’t even think the puppy had its own bowl yet… how are we supposed to know that he developed any kind of real bond with the puppy? Because he let it sleep in the bed with him for about an hour before it was killed? Okay… it’s the wife’s present to him… I get that… but still, should I be rooting for this guy? Or is it just him grieving by deciding “Well… guess I’m going to take down the entire Russian Mafia by myself now. Best case I win… worst-case, I’m killed & don’t have to grieve anymore, reunited with my wife & all that jazz.” That angle of the movie really caught me weird… and I’m just NOW realizing the weird parable between that angle & my dad’s love for it shortly before his own death. I don’t know… it’s weird… and a little quirky… but maybe I’m just overthinking that part & should just keep it to “They stole his car… they killed his puppy… John Wick is Vengeance! Up’ns will come!!!” So yeah, not a huge thing… but just a little thing…

 

Overall: If you like action movies, go see it! It’s better than you probably think!

 

Thursday, I had the day off… you know, because reasons… so Izzy & I decided to FINALLY start up brewing another quick gallon batch of Cider using some fresh-squeezed apple juice that we got during our adventure to the Redlands when we visited her mom… and then of course added the other ingredients (about a third of a cup of brown sugar and a cinnamon stick) heated up to kill any possible contaminants… and then added the yeast once they were in two separate jugs. The reason for splitting them is because if we put the full gallon in ONE gallon jug… then there’s no room for yeast bubbling action to occur… and that’d be unfortunate. Besides… we now have FIVE single gallon jugs for our experiments with this recent Redlands jug purchase… so more experiments are surely on the way. Here are some pictures…

 

Speaking of pictures, some of Izzy’s Art is up for sale on her Etsy site (Untidy Venus)… they’re individually drawn originals, about two inches by three inches I think… and only five bucks a pop… and as you can see, they’re super f**king cute!!!

 

Starting tonight… SF BEEEEER WEEEEEEEEEK!!! That special week every year when the whole Bay Area gets Drunky McDrunkerton all over the place on special release craft beers & the like at nearly every single bar, every single day of the week (and another weekend). Izzy & I have a pretty full schedule too… but it’s on a fairly frugal dime… but more on that later. In the meantime, have a great weekend everybody & I’ll update you when I can!!! Please drink responsibly…