Beer, friends & a fantastic 3 day weekend.

Just got back from Numazu.
Saturday to Monday with nothing but friends and beer.
Lots of both!

Big shout out to DH & Chris Poel.
You guys rock.

Good times.

More info in upcoming posts, with pics and tales of adventure that will no doubt bore you stupid.

Kanpachi.

Enjoying my time in 'Tha Zu'!

Numazu, to be more precise.

FINALLY made it there after multiple delays on the Tokkaido line.

Arrived to find DH, his lovely other half (not Nate- not that Nate isn't lovely! Not that I think Nate is lovely. Lord,where am I going here? Not that I'm confused with my sexualiuty. I'm doing it again. not being confused, well ,yes, just not sexually.I'll stop now.), Chris Poel, Bryan Baird and Nevitt Reagan enjoying a few beers.

It was good to finally meet Mr.Reagan.

I'll have to hook up with he and his freind who I know but for the life of me I can't remeber his name (I'm a faces guy - not saying that in a disgusting Japanese adult orientation in terms of where a 'certain act' finishes, rather I remember faces - urgh. Often, I say too much).

Here they are: It was good to finally meet the man/men.

The beer last night was nice. Alas, some beers I wanted to drink had been drunk and finished by DH.
Grrrr! The Chuwy curse struck again!

The imperial IPA was nice. The 6x2 was gone, as were the simcoe, centennial and others.

I had the rye, the imperial pils, the imperial IPA, the yabaiyabai scotch ale, the kurofune and some Kentucky ale.

Nice!

I forgot to bring my silver balls, so I did an alternative. I took a small mikan/yuzu/lemon(?) with which I had previously tried to impress the barmaid by juggling and dropping on the floor and squeezed it into my DIPA.

The aroma was nice but the flavor didn't infuse.

Still either way it was a nice beer. Had a few of those last night! DIPAs, not mikans.

Played some kind of game DH brought. Not sure how, but I built up the winning score. Must have been drunk.

Gotta post now. My time in the internet cafe is up! Out in the sun for breakfast and adventures!

Beers4Books today!

Dry hop, in your pint!! - The hop-no-kin-tama!

Man, I looooooove thee hops!!!!

(this pic was taken from the BrewRepublic website. Not a bad read.)

A thought occured to me.
Just one.
I didn't want to overdo it.

It wasn't "Where are all the baby pigeons?"

It was, " Why can't I dry hop any beer I like, any time I want to?"

I am a hop head, you see.

Many beers I can get in Japan already have sh*tloads of hops in them. Take Sculpin, 13th Anniversary, Idiot, Ruination, West Coast IPA, etc...

However, sometimes I get a beer and I just want it to have a bigger hop aroma and flavor profile.
What can I do about that?

Well, after years of painstaking research in the labs, I came up with this idea:

I call it the tea infuser hop-no-kin-tama.

Kin-tama is Japanese for silver ball (it also means testicles).
So, just like your testicles, you never want to leave home without them!

Just dip your balls into your beer, any time you feel like it.
It doesn't even to be in the privacy of your own home or in a speciality bar any more.

Now, you can feel confident that you can be anywhere and just take out your balls and drop them into your pint glass. Let them infuse for a few minutes then pick them up, let them drip dry, wipe them off with a soft cloth or paper tissue, then put them back in your pocket.

You can experiment with your balls in public.
Watch people gasp as you take out your balls and drop them in a glass of beer - a cup of coffee (warning: using freshly boiled coffee may result in scalded balls) - even a juice or fruit shake!

You can leave your balls in the beer for as long as you feel comfortable.
This could be about 5 seconds in a hot cup of coffee or up to 5 minutes or more, in a nice, cool beer.

For best results, I recommend dangling your balls and swirling them around for a while, to get that 'extra flavour'.


Don't believe this works?

Well, why not try it on a friend!
The next time your best friend gets up and goes to the toilet, why not take out your balls and dunk them in his beer!
Swirl them around in the beer for a few minutes, the take them out and put them back in your pocket.
Just wait and see the look on your friend's face, when he takes a sip of his beer.
I guarantee you, he will want to get his hands on your balls.
He'll be begging you to put your balls in his beer, every time!!

The hop-no-kin-tama - put your balls in your beer!

Right then, time for another brew, isn't it!

I bottled my first ever beer, my IPintheA, last Tuesday.
I'll blog on how that all went, from start to finish, soon.

Now, I jsut have a few hours, so I think I may brew up something interesting.
I am using the simple beer kits found at Tokyu Hands and other online stores.

I use the Black Rock kits, from New Zealand:
They seem basic but not too nasty.
My first one was using the East India Pale Ale.
I didn't know it but I think that that beer is not really an IPA, rather a weak pale ale of sorts.
I used separate ale yeast to make a better fermentation.
I added crap loads of fuggles hops as well as pride of ringwood and cascade to the beer.
The batch size was only about 2 gallons - very small!
So far, multiple taste tests mean it tastes a little weak bodied and strange.
No problem.
My second beer may turn out even worse!

The one thing my beers have going for them is that they contain 'approximately' 1% alcohol.
I say approximately, as that's the the limit the law allows, for home brewing.
So, when I say it's approximately 1%, you may understand how flexible my definition of approximately may or may not be.

My 2nd batch is going to be based on the Black Rock Miners' Stout kit:

I'm going to ump up the ante and add in a bit of dry malt extract, both light and medium color/roast. I'm also going to add coffee, cocoa, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and black pepper.

The onlyproblem is the yeast.
I've read that we shouldnt use the kit yeast, for best results.
Well, I spent over 2.5 hours, rusing from Tokyu Hands in Yokohama to teh one in Lalaport, to the Kawsaki one and no yeast!
I'll just have to use the packet from this one and the packet from the East India Pale Ale that I still have, in my fridge.
Hope it ferments ok.
Let's see what THAT ends up like!


This will be my first ever stout. A miners' stout, too!
I come from Wales and we are proud of our mining heritage.

Here's a couple of boyos from the valleys:

Look at them! Perfect specimens - and they're only 12!

Right, the time for talk is over.
Unless it gets too hot, it's time I got back in that kitchen.
Wish me luck...

Guy Fawke's Night in Aldgate - it was fireworks!

Literally.You need proof?

I had a great night.

A GREAT night.

I got there late. Around 9:30 - 10pm. The free food started being served from 9.
I knew big English Tim was there, plus a few other 'hunter gatherers', so I was worried that there would be no food left for little hungry me.
Never mind.
At least no food means nothing in my stomach to compete with my old nemesis, Mr.Al(cohol).

Mr.Al and I go back a long, long way.
Always competing for dominance and overall control of the elusive 'Chuwy mind'.
Some say it exits.
Some say it doesn't.
Some say they've even seen it in action.
Others put it down to a fortunate, otherwise random series of events and lucky choices, made by a deranged lunatic.
Both Mr.Al and myself believe the Chuwymind does indeed exist and we strive to get control of it first, before it's gone.

Who knows who will get there, in the end?
Who knows even if the Chuwymind will still be there, by then?

So, I got to the Aldgate and it was nicely packed full of all kinds of people.
Japanese boys, Japanese girls, English men, Candians, Americans, Scots, Jamaicans, Siberians, Lesser pandas (ok, so I may have made the last 3 up - but they could have been there), anyone who was anyone (and most people are, let's face it).

I made my way through the throngs of thongs and was immediately accosted by a fellow drunk, the Russian looking 'Oblamov'.
I think he had grown a beard and wore his trademark furry sweater, in an attempt to not look like Bruce Springsteen.
Nice try, Oblamov, but you can't fool me.

Here is a photo of Oblamov, taken after he removed his sweater and proceeded to get ready to use the toilet: As you can see, he does look a little bit like Bruce Springsteen.Please do tell him that, if you see him. He so much likes being reminded of that.

I got past the advances of 'The Boss' and made my way to the back of the bar.
I found friends in abundance!
It's awesome, being the last to turn up to a bar when others are drunk and waiting.
Everyone turned and shouted out 'CHUWY!!'
Man, I felt like a rockstar.
Oblamov, it must be awesome to be you.

All my good new friends were there and some older ones. It was so good to see so many familiar faces in one place.

The beers were coming thick and fast. The mian beer of choice for the evening was undoubtedly the Ballast Point Sculpin IPA. It was very, very good.

With your first pint, you got a sparkler stuck on the end of it. It was a nice idea for Guy Fawkes night.

Some of my friends, however were not content to just drink ONE pint at a time!
I think this particular person took his t-shirt too literally!

One skull splitter, coming up!

The beer was flowing and the live music was playing. It really was a good night. There had to be at least 50 people in there. It was more or less packed. Good business. With each pint you bought, you got a 150yen off token for the next time you visited The Aldgate.
Business was so good, in fact, that they later ran out of said coupons and had to instead offer 100yen off the price of each pint - not so bad!

Even Oblamov was happy.

I brought some of my not near ready homebrew to give my friends a taste. A lot of people there were very knowledgeable about beer so I valued their opinion.
I think I brought my first ever beer before it was anywhere near ready. It hadn't even finished fermenting yet! Some friends were brutally honest. Others were very kind in their feedback. It's my first batch. No worries. It's my first baby and I love it, no matter what.
I've recently bottled the stuff and after 5 days dry hopping and almost 3 weeks in the primary fermentor, it definitely has some alcohol (aproximately 1%! Wink wink), so at the very least, it will get me blotto!

Just like this wild man:

Showing The Boss how to rock and roll!

My first beer was a Gallowsgate IPA (Swan lake IPA). Nice but still too malty sweet. Not very balanced with the hops.
I decided I wanted to try the Murphy's Irish Stout next.
She came out very creamy:
I didn't mind. Something smooth to slow me down. Very nice she was, too.

A nice, happy beer.

It was around then that I met up with a new friend. Tim.
He told me he read the Boozelist. After that intial shock set in, he thanked me and offered to buy me a pint. It took him a long, long time to finally wear down my resistance to that idea and about 5 seconds later, he ordered me a Rogue Hazelnut Brown ale.

Thanks, Tim!

The weird thing was that the first friend who walked by was also called Tim.
I introduced them to each other and then the next guy who walked past was called...

...can you guess?

Yep, Tim!

So weird, that the two beer friends I wanted to meet my new friend, Tim, were both Tim!
That weirdness, coupled with the fact that someone had just bought me a pint, led me to believe that I must be in some strange dream.
I wasn't.

I decided I need another pint. I went for the Sankt Gallen stout.
What a weird, freaky stout she was, too!
Jeez. Check out that freaky head! She tasted a tad strange. Not horrible, but strange. Sankt Gallen have never been known for their consistency. Occasionally they make great beer, but they also can give you something awful.

After talking, chatting and having a great time with friends my last beer for the night was to be the much talked about Ballast Point Sculpin IPA.At 1500yen a pint, I could only afford the one and decided to have it last, to savor it.
She was a beauty.
lovely. Big hop flavor and aroma. Tropical fruits and mangos. Good gently malt backbone to it and she goes down nice. As you drink more and more, you like it more and more. Towards the end, you just want another. It was very good.


It was almost time to go. Just time for a quick shot of the 3 Tims, posing after the famous 3 monkeys image:
Good drinking with you, Tim, Tim & Tim!
I'm not sure when anyone will see such a congregation of Tims again. Possibly not in our lifetimes. I feel fortunate.

Here's some of the gang, as we left for our last trains:

The guy on the right, in glasses is the guvnor. Great guy. Great pub. Great beer.
Great evening.

Maybe see you guys next Guy Fawkes.

Until then, have a blast!