Ran into Baker pro skateboarder, Braydon Szafranski walking down the street in Los Angeles. It was too rainy to skate.
Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category
BRAYDON SZAFRANSKI WALKS IN L.A.
Friday, January 23rd, 2009WIPEOUT I.P.A. OF PORT BREWING
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
Today’s review is WipeOut IPA, a micro brew from San Diego, which I purchased from Whole Foods, West Hollywood.
Appearance: Golden amber, slightly cloudy, not much head, lots of bubbles floating to the top. Noticed some yeast on the bottom of the bottle so it must be a live beer.
Aroma: Dank hoppy aroma, not overwhelming, smooth, with lemon, and slight grass notes.
Flavor: It’s very bitter and very hoppy. The flavor’s much more bitter than one would expect from the aroma. There’s quite an alcohol bite with a strong, sweet, malty backdrop.
Mouthfeel: This lingers on the tongue. Alcohol presence is strong and it’s a little too sweet, which distracts from the hop flavor.
Drinkable: It’s drinkable. Actually, it’s quite good but the alcohol hotness is a little strong. There’s a lot going on here, and the elements seem a little unbalanced. I would be real happy if given this with a slice of pizza in a pub, but I doubt I’ll buy this anytime soon.
GOING ASTRO™
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Before
During
After
Gardenburger from Astro™ Burger at Santa Monica and Vista, West Hollywood. Stupid good for the vegetarian that wants a burger and fries.
SUNDAY MORNING SKATE SESSION
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
Today I got up early to skate in a cage at the Burbank Skatepark. Every once in a while I enjoy skating something made to skate, but most the time I enjoy “natural terrain”. Burbank is fun and the pad nannies are cool. There are a couple of flat bars, a pyramid, a bunch of quarters, and a small but steep bowl in the back. Not really worth the $5 entrance fee but I’m sure I’ll return when invited.
Pretty chill morning, had the park to ourselves for about an hour, and it was in the 70′s. Gotta love winter in SoCal.
HOPPING IMPERIAL I.P.A. THE HARD WAY
Saturday, January 17th, 2009Last week I decided to try my hand at brewing an Imperial I.P.A., which is a strong, ridiculously hoppy beer. When I tested the secondary gravity it was right where I wanted it, coming in about 9.3% ABV. When finished, the IBUs should be 104. That is bitter, but the idea is to have the bitterness counteract the strong alcohol.
It tastes amazing and has a dry finish, which is good for showcasing the hops. It’s really bold. Besides the excessive hop addition in the boil, I’m adding 3 oz to the secondary. This is called “dry hopping” and I’m doing it to give it a strong, hoppy aroma to match the intense, bitter flavor of the beer.
This is the secondary carboy, with ale being racked upon 2 oz Cascade (5.5) pellet hops and 1 oz Amarillo (9.3) fresh hops.
Things seemed good with the airlock intact, but as the hops started expanding, CO2 was forced out of solution causing beer to fill the airlock and overflow.
Problem solved with a small blow off tube. I will leave this alone for two weeks, then bottle.
That was my first dry hop experience. Besides the expanding hops and overflowing airlock, all went well. I could consider racking to a larger carboy when excessively dry hopping, as in this case, to make room for expansion.
