Sierra Nevada 4-Way IPA Variety Pack

I was tooling around in a local beer store and spotted the 12 bottle variety pack from Sierra Nevada labeled 4-Way IPA and knew I had to have it. I often say I don’t have a favorite beer, and I pretty much don’t, but I do have a favorite style and that style is India Pale Ale. The variety pack doesn’t have much information on it other than the names of the four beers. The website describes the pack as:

This pack of four hop-forward beers stretches the boundaries of India Pale Ale from midnight black color to hazy body and from experimental hops to innovative brewing equipment. Each style is loaded with intense aromas and flavors presented in new ways, underscoring our passionate and progressive take on whole-cone hops.

We all have heard of and sampled Torpedo, but the rest were new to me. Nooner was a highly sessionable 4.8% ABV IPA. I really like the malt backbone and the hops. Not sure where Pale Ale ends and IPA begins, but I do know I liked this beer. It was also a little grainy and husky and I can dig it. Snow Wit is a wheat IPA at 5.7% ABV and instead of going for Belgian as it said on the label to me they went for German since the main aromatic is bananas. If I wanted monkey juice I would get a hefeweizen. There were some nice pineapple notes in there, but otherwise this one just didn’t cut it for me. Torpedo is 7.2% ABV and surely you’ve had it. Blindfold is a 6.8% ABV black IPA and I really enjoyed this one. It was smooth strong coffee and a nice bitterness. In truth this might be closer to a porter if it were a little rougher around the edges, but whatever it was I found it enjoyable.

The 4-Way variety pack was affordable, but 25% of the bottles are Snow Wit which for me is really only going to wet the whistle, give me B vitamins, and exercise my kidneys. It’s not awful, but not something I would knowingly purchase. The other three are worthy of your time. For that reason pick up a 12 pack and give this a whirl.

Product Placement That Packs A Punch

I was watching Sergey Kovalev vs Cedric Agnew on HBO’s Boxing After Dark last night and noticed the ad on Sergey’s trunks was for TulAmmo. The Russian fighter sported a Russian ammunition company logo across the back of his trunks. Maybe that explains why he packs such a punch and was able to best Agnew in round 7.

No Guns On Campus

Yesterday a student at a rural high school in the foothills of North Carolina was arrested for bringing a gun to school. In today’s society we immediately think he was planning mayhem and needed to be put behind bars for the safety of the school and to protect the student from himself. I can see why we think that way, but let me paint another picture. If you didn’t grow up in the rural foothills you probably didn’t own a shotgun as a teen and go squirrel hunting on a moments notice. I remember being a teen and everyone had a gun rack with a rifle or shotgun in it as they came to school. Generally they had been hunting prior to going to school or were planning to go after. So you’re a teen who went hunting in the afternoon and forgot to remove the firearm from the car before going to school. You get the call to go to the office and once there they ask if you have a gun in the car. You then remember the firearm from the day before and reply yes and try to explain the situation, but it is too late due to zero tolerance.

I honestly don’t know the full situation of the shotgun in the car, but what I do know is the one in the hand of the police officer is a single shot break action shotgun. This is not the type of firearm one would choose if planning to do maximum damage. I’m not saying you cannot fire several shots in a short period of time, but IME it is less than ideal. Here is a YouTube video of someone trying to rapid fire a single barrel, notice he eventually locked it up so tight he could not open the action. I hope when the charges come forward the teen will get a suspended sentence, community service, probation, and his record cleared after he meets the terms set by the judge. What this kid did I also did as a kid, the difference was when I did it there was no law against having a shotgun in the car on school property.

Bad Score Sheet

Someone recently posted a really bad example of a score sheet on Facebook. So bad in fact it is worthy of a blog post. I almost wish the judge information was not redacted so I could contact them to tell them what a lousy job they did and that they should probably reconsider whether or not they want to continue as a beer judge at future competitions. They marked Certified so I am assuming they are, but it could have been an error. I noticed the Category is 12, but Strong Scotch is in Category 9 so something is odd about the entire thing. It’s evident how poor this score sheet is so I probably do not need to go into detail.

What I do want to ask is how a competition let this slide? There were two judges on the panel and assuming the author of this sheet was not the Head Judge then they should have been encouraged by the other judge on the panel to create a quality sheet. The other judge and the steward should have pointed out the stylistic grid was left blank and needed to be filled in. I’m not sure if the descriptor definitions were marked, but if not that should have been corrected. Then the Judge Director and Organizer of the competition should have given a quick over the shoulder review during the competition to ensure quality sheets were being created.

If this is your sheet, feel free to step up to the plate and explain why it is so poor. If this is your competition, feel free to step up to the place and explain how this slipped through the cracks. If this is the type of sheet you have been creating you must know you can do better. Since you know it, do it!

Not The Norm

Sometimes I run into people who think they can size me up at first glance. I was in a shop yesterday and the guys were doing an excellent job of trying to find out what I wanted, but every time they guessed they were so far off the mark it wasn’t even funny. They pulled out a beautiful Dan Wesson 1911 which would have been a joy to own, but I would have needed to take out a second mortgage just to afford the down payment. I was dressed nicely, but when they pressed me as to what I was looking for I said a Star Model B and you could see the puzzled look on their face. Then I went on to explain the Star was a Spanish firearm similar to a 1911, but I wanted it in 9mm. They were all over the surplus market a few years ago, but now I rarely see them pop up in stores.

I checked out the inventory and then made another sweep around to check out the wheel guns. Another employee asked what I wanted and I explained I had most of the firearms they had in the case. Then he proceeded to whip out a Smith & Wesson revolver chambered for .45 ACP with moon clips and the most awful looking grips on the planet. I’m just not into the moon clips and even with different grips this would still have been an ugly firearm. My tastes are about as random and I doubt anyone could predict what I would and would not like especially by just trying to size me up by the cut of my cloth.

I’m old school, I like revolvers and lever actions. I like interesting firearms and while I own several mainstream offerings I tend to go off the rails at times. Needless to say I am not your normal firearm shopper and since I already have a Glock I don’t see any reason to own a second Glock at the moment. I realize there are several variations and calibers, but my Glock doesn’t feel lonely because it doesn’t have a companion. It gets along just fine with everybody else on its own. Maybe I should carry around my wishlist so people will know what I am currently after. That might save a bunch of time and energy. My current wishlist looks something like this:

• SAA – .44-40
• Uberti Buntline – .44-40
• 1873 Winchester – .44-40
• Ruger Alaskan – .454 Casull
• Star Model B – 9 mm
• Ruger Red Label – 12 gauge
• Benelli Ethos – 12 gauge
• Rossi Rio Grande – .410

FDA Rules and Brewery Spent Grain

I happened upon an article from the Business Sun Journal entitled New FDA rules may cut long-standing ties between beer makers, farmers and in essence the FDA is working on new rules which may make it a burden for a brewery to provide spent grain to farmers. The rule is supposedly to protect the food supply, but from where I sit it may hurt the environment. Basically if the brewery cannot give/sell their spent grain to a farmer then it would have to be landfilled and the grain the farmers were receiving from the brewery would have to be grown. It takes a bunch of water to grow grain and a bunch of water to make beer. The environmental impact of the farmer having to grow or purchase the additional grain to make up the loss would be huge. Take a minute and read the article I linked and the FDA gobblety gook in the links provided. Then if you are so inclined let the FDA know they need to exempt breweries from these rules.

In case you think I’m blowing smoke, the estimate of spent grain per year is 5,400,000,000 pounds. Grain takes about 25 gallons of water per pound to grow. If this rule is enacted and the grain were landfilled that would put 135,000,000,000 gallons of water directly in the landfill which now goes to the farmer as animal feed. So we would need to make up that amount of grain and would use an additional 135,000,000,000 gallons to do so. It didn’t sound like much at first, but now we are talking 270,000,000,000 gallons. For those who like numbers in terms of Olympic swimming pools that is 408,824 of them.

You can comment on the FDA rule through March 31 here:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FDA-2011-N-0922

Don’t Ride The Slide

I recently saw a forum post where someone thought something was wrong with their Glock because it would not chamber the round. They shot a video of what was happening and it was simple, they were riding the slide and not letting the springs do their job. There are two ways to rack a slide, slingshot and power stroke. There are a handful of firearms which require a slingshot position, the Ruger Mark I/II/III and 22/45 come to mind, other than those firearms you should always employ a power stroke when possible.

So what’s the difference, slingshot is like pulling a slingshot. It works, but puts your hands in an awkward position if you keep the muzzle on target. Try it, hold your strong hand like a gun and point in front of you downrange. Now take your weak hand and get in a position to pull the imaginary slide back like a slingshot. It’s an awkward position and only becomes comfortable if you rotate your dominant hand (the gun hand) to the side which would be off target. Power stroke is much more comfortable and works for everyone. Slingshot relies on your hand strength to pull back the slide. With power stroke you can use your arm strength to push the slide. Same scenario, strong hand is the firearm, weak hand operates the slide. Approach the firearm with the hand open and grab the back of the slide with the weak hand. The palm of the weak hand is positioned at the thumb of the strong hand and the fingers wrap across the back sight and are position on the side with the back of the strong hand. You can either push the strong hand forward and release the slide with the weak hand, or pull the weak hand back and release the slide. Most people will find it easier to make the weak hand/arm a rock and solidly hold the slide in position and push the strong hand forward. When the strong hand goes forward release the slide with the weak hand.

Now there is yet another way to move the slide forward and that is to use the thumb to push down on the slide stop. This is a bad idea in the long-term. It can wear down the edge of the slide stop and eventually make it difficult for the stop to hold back the slide. I have a firearm where it was continually released using the slide stop and now it will barely hold back the slide and the slightest bump releases the slide. Use it as a slide stop, not a slide release.

The bottom line of it all is to remember to release the slide. Do not ride it back down the frame. Pull it back and release or hold position and push the firearm forward and release the slide. I picked the first YouTube video I found on the topic, viewed it quickly and it demonstrates the slingshot and power stroke if I did a crappy job explaining them. If these concepts are new to you, take a few minutes to view the video.

VZ-58/VZ-2008 Magazine Loader

I dare you to find a VZ-58/VZ-2008 magazine loader. The AK Cousin has proven popular until you try to locate a magazine loader for loose ammo and your search comes to a screeching halt. There is a video of a homemade devices for using stripper clip ammo, but nothing for ammo not on a stripper clip. If I can find an AK speedloader for cheap I may try to modify to make it work on the VZ-2008 magazines. If anyone out there has already figured it out, pass the word along and help a brother out!

Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve

Not too long ago I bought a bottle of Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve when it went on sale. I really enjoy Knob Creek so I was thinking this one would be even better. As it turns out this one is good, but it ain’t all that and a bag of chips. I’m gonna guess I spent $40 on this one and regular old Knob Creek scratches the itch of $10 less. It’s not as boozy as the 120 proof (60% ABV) would have you believe and is actually quite smooth. It has an underlying earthiness which I find quite pleasant and I agree with their website on the vanilla, smoke and nuts. I also find a bit of spice in the flavor. What I don’t have with this one is my socks lying across the floor. If I had to choose between this and Four Roses Single Barrel the Four Roses at $35 gets the nod each and every time. So unless this pops up for less than standard Knob Creek or you feel the need to satisfy your curiosity I would pass on this one since there are better single barrel variants out there for less money.

Big Boss The Centaur

I’ve had Big Boss The Centaur on more than on occasion and I gotta say it is pretty fantastic. The brewery website describes it as a Belgian IPA, but it is more of a saison dry hopped with Mosaic hops. It’s highly drinkable at 6% ABV and nicely hoppy. The Centaur is part of their Alpha Series and you need to get some before it disappears in April.