Happy Halloween!

Anyone that knows me knows that pumpkin beers just aren’t my thing, but it is Halloween so when in Rome…

Tonight you should try to find a fall or autumn beer or go for the full monty and have a pumpkin brew. Either that or scare the bejesus out of the neighborhood tricycle motors.  😉

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Reservoir Bourbon

Some time back a buddy turned me on to a Richmond, VA distillery named Reservoir. I checked the price at a Richmond liquor store and it was $40 a pint!!! I don’t care how mind-blowing your product is, to me it would not be worth that price of admission. So last night I spotted the pint bottle on the shelf at a restaurant and figured it might be worth seeing what all the fuss was about. My first thought when the neat shot arrived in a sniffer glass was alcohol. Behind that was a nice oak and vanilla, but mostly alcohol. Then I took a drink and the flavor was nice until the alcohol kicked it in and then it ruined the whole party. I shared the shot with a friend and we both agreed this is not something either of us wanted to have again.

Truthfully it reminded me of Bookers and I cared for it just about as much. At $80 a fifth for Reservoir, Booker’s blows the doors off it, but both of them are a hot mess. I’m going to call my buddy later today and tell him just how little I liked the Reservoir. In truth I think he said someone gave him the pint as a gift. I guess for free it wouldn’t be bad, but I still would not really enjoy it and it doesn’t make sense to be mixing something that expensive just so you can finish the bottle. Sorry Reservoir, you’re off my list as well.

How Many IPAs?

Now that is a great question. Yesterday the website quiz How Many IPAs Have You Consumed Since You Were Born? caught my eye. It’s only got a few questions, what year did you start drinking craft beer, how many beers do you drink per week, and how often do you choose an IPA. The results are presented on the next page and give you some graphical depictions of your total. Give it a whirl, it’s free, it’s fun and best of all, it’s IPA. 😉

New Range Safety Officers!

Saturday I held an out-of-town class for Range Safety Officers in Lexington, NC. We had a small group, but they were awesome. I’m not sure why this class just doesn’t gather steam, but it always seems to have a lot of interest and then when the rubber meets the road the class loses gusto. Thank goodness for the people who stayed in and made this a success. I think all the gentlemen in the class plan to become NRA instructors and I believe they all will be excellent additions to the program.

Congratulations to all the new RSOs!

National American Beer Day

Here I sit and find myself facing yet another fabricated reason to drink beer. Since that can never be a bad thing, why not join in the fun. October 27 has been proclaimed by someone to be National American Beer Day and best I can tell was originated in 2011 and reported by CNN which of course makes it both news and factual. I’m not going to fight the surf on this one, I’d rather ride the wave. So find yourself something made in the good old U S of A today and enjoy it with gusto!

Ruger Red Label

I’m not sure if anyone paid attention to my wish list I posted sometime back, but one of the items was a Ruger Red Label shotgun. Ruger had the gun from 1982 to 2011, but then for some reason stopped production. I guess more modern semi-automatic firearms came into vogue and they decided to ride that wave for a while.

Yesterday Ruger announced they were bringing back the Red Label. Now I guess I will have to decide if I want to have a new one with a spiffy new case or find an old one somewhere on the market. Decisions, decisions! 😉

Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen

When I went on an Oktoberfest spree recently I had not been able to find one of my favorites, Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen. Many moons ago a few of us tried every Oktoberfest we could get our hands on and after the dust cleared the hands down winner was Ayinger. In my excitement to consume a bottle once I found it I ran home and shoved it into the freezer and of course immediately got busy doing some other task. I forgot about the bottle for a few hours and when I returned it was cold, cold, cold. I warmed it a bit in my hands and could see the liquid was flowing freely so I decided to pull out a glass and pour the beer. When I opened it the liquid immediately turned slushy and poured off in chunks of slush. If you look closely at the head in the photo below you can see the icebergs contained within. I had to wait quite some time for it to melt to be able to fully appreciate the malty goodness which is this beer. If you find it, snag it and drink it, but whatever you do, don’t forget about it in the freezer. 😉

This one still takes top honors in the Oktoberfest taste off!

Bangers and Mash has a Facebook page!

I finally figured out how to set up a blog Facebook page so now you can like the blog and if I tacoed everything out correctly the daily posts will magically appear.

For those who may be new to the blog my topics typically revolve around anything to do with firearms and fermentation. The opinions are my own and I don’t expect anyone else to agree. What I truly cannot stand is ignorance and stupidity and I do my best to let you know when I’m covering a subject I have no clue about.

Since this is the first post to Facebook I will keep my fingers crossed. Be sure to like the Facebook page!

Restrict Access!

I’m not sure why it is difficult for some to understand access to firearms should be restricted for minors. I see too many stories where a firearm discharge is associated with a minor child. Firearms should only be handled by a child in the presence of an adult and then only with permission and instruction. I think far too often after an incident we fail to enforce the laws on the books. In many places the parent is held accountable for the actions of the child. I believe after a tragedy the authorities are hesitant to enforce the law feeling a high enough price has already been paid. I’m not sure how to solve the issue, kids are ingenious creatures and can devise methods which would make a cat burglar proud. I just know I hear stories too often of kids with access to firearms and with proper parenting, instructions and deterrent that should be a thing of the past!

Optics for dummies?

A man has got to know his limitations and I must admit I know little to nothing about optics. I don’t think it is rocket science by any means, but I’m going to have to school myself and come up to speed. If anyone knows a place for great information to set me on my path on the differences and why to choose one style over another, please pass it along.