Carolina Brewing Company Hop Roar West Coast Style India Pale Ale

Earlier this year CBC decided to roll out a new India Pale Ale as part of it’s 20th Anniversary and it has become so popular it is now a year-round offering for CBC. Hop Roar West Coast Style India Pale Ale is a nice and juicy 7.5% ABV and 82 IBU from Columbus, Centennial, and Citra in the boil with Chinook, Amarillo, and Citra dry hops. While it is bitter it has a very nice hop backbone to balance the decidedly hop centric brew. You will not find it outside of NC, but CBC has increased distribution in NC and eventually should be available across the state.

Where To Find Beverage Bargains

Often I find myself following the sales in order to find the best bargain. With beer the prices are often similar across the board with the larger big box shops selling a buck less a six pack than the independent shops and the grocery stores typically having the best deal on a six pack. The issue with that becomes the grocery store selection is limited due to shelf space where the independent and big box store have more room for a larger selection. I gravitate to the independent and large chains and bounce between both. I support the independent whenever possible in this case to keep them in business and the large chain whenever there is a screaming bargain. At times beer which is $9 a six can be discounted to $12 a 12-pack and they also may have coupons. Be sure to follow your favorite independent on Facebook to know what is coming into inventory and become part of any loyalty club at your large chain. I often save 20% when I buy $50 at the large chain and that allows me more bang for the buck.

For wine I find the large chains and big box offer the best prices, but you need to check the two to find the absolute best deal. For instance one of our favorite wines is $2 less at the big box than the large chain, but another is $4 less at the large chain. Another large chain routinely has 20% off 4 bottles and if you couple that with wines on sale you can get some screaming bargains. The three I use the most are Cost Plus World Market, Total Wine, and Costco. You may not have any of those in the area, we were recently in Ohio and none of those were close by so we had to settle on a local liquor store to find some wine. Not the ideal situation for bargain hunting.

As far as spirits we are tied in NC to an ABC system which has the same prices statewide. The only difference store to store is the sales tax. So finding a bargain in NC requires knowing what is going on sale at the ABC store. That is pretty simple, just check the specials page of one of the county ABC websites. At times the deals can be good, but the list for January 2016 is abysmal in NC. In some states you can find liquor stores attached to large chain and big box as well as liquor store chains and independents. I find the best deals are large chain and big box attached stores which have limited selections and then check the independents. For me it is easy because I know what the NC prices are so anything less is a deal. I’d suggest you check pricing online to get a base and know what you are after before heading out because pricing can vary widely. A $75 bottle of Bourbon in NC when you can find it is only $55 at a large chain in CT. Why CT would get the same thing as us for $20 per bottle less is a mystery, but it tells me there are some screaming deals out there is you are diligent and seek them out.

Gelatin Fining

I don’t post often on homebrewing topics because they are covered very well by others on the various forums and blogs, but a recent blog post made me scratch my head. There is a blog called Brülosophy and they often carry out experiments. Back in the day I was fairly experimental with my brewing, but blogs didn’t exist so most of the results were not published other than on newsgroups and forums. The most recent experiment which they carried out was rehydrated gelatin for fining versus dry gelatin. While I admire them for going through the motions, a few minutes of thought on the topic would have immediately shown why dry gelatin would not work. Perhaps they haven’t taken into consideration gelatin clears the beer by slowly dropping vertically through the beer and capturing particulates which collect in the trub. In fact I never cleared a beer until it was in the secondary with gelatin to be sure I maximized the effect and wasn’t going to end up picking up trub by mistake on transfer. Just sprinkling gelatin on cold wort isn’t going to liquefy the gelatin and will not effectively clear the beer.

I will say the experiments are always interesting although in some cases not well thought out. I’ve seen him carry out two mashes to determine something about the boil. If the concern is the boil then the wort should be from a single mash or the wort combined from both tuns to be sure preboil wort was exactly the same. I hope they keep it up, but I also hope they won’t waste much more time and effort on things like gelatin hydration.

More NY Stupidity Coming Regarding Guns

I just read where NY lawmakers are gearing up to severely restrict the amount of ammunition a person can purchase and it doesn’t even make sense. Typically anything other than shotgun rounds come in boxes of 25 or 50, a few may come 20 per box, but that is about it. The measure would cap the amount of ammunition to twice the firearm’s capacity every 90 days. So if you have an AR-15 you could purchase 60 rounds every 90 days, but if you have a six-shot revolver you could only purchase 12 rounds every 90 days. Neither of those quantities is standard manufacture and when was the last time you heard about someone creating mayhem with a revolver? If their goal is to limit the amount of ammo someone can have for their AR then in a single year someone could have 240 rounds (4 x 60). The article mentioned one of the people behind the legislation using San Bernardino as an example for why this legislation is necessary. Let’s explore that for a second. In the Inland Regional Center the terrorists shot 65 to 75 rounds and in the shootout with police on East San Bernardino Avenue the terrorists fired 76 rounds. So in total the most they could have fired according to police was 151 rounds in the two attacks. This legislation, if passed, would have done nothing to stop the terrorists nor any terrorist. It would however make a law abiding citizen only be able to buy the equivalent of a box of ammo for their revolver every 450 days.

Wine Price Thoughts

Anyone who has read the blog more than once knows I’m frugal. Please do not confuse that with cheap, I strive to get the best possible quality at the lowest possible price. Think champagne tastes on a beer budget. Recently we opened a bottle of wine which was less than stellar and it most likely had a low price point. We have it sitting on the counter to be used in cooking and I don’t feel bad about that because it didn’t break the bank in the first place. Had we spent an exorbitant sum on the bottle I’d be quite upset. It is very difficult to know which wine to purchase without a recommendation or tasting and even then you have to pair the recommendation with your own palate. For that reason I typically don’t purchase any wine cresting $20 unless I know it is worth the price of admission. In reality you are going to get four glasses out of the bottle so the wine needs to be worth at least $5 a glass. Often you can try something at a restaurant for just a bit more per glass and decide if it is your cup of tea or not. I think this is an excellent way to find wines you may like.

I know some are reading this and thinking I’m cheap to set a $20 limit on a bottle of wine, but the reality is in most wine types you can find a bottle which is above average for $20 or less. Sure you can buy an expensive bottle of Chardonnay, but when I can pick one up day in and day out which is great for $6 why would I spend more?

Note: One exception to my $20 wine rule is Port. Typically a decent port is more than $15 and the sky is the limit with older Ports demanding high prices. If you are looking for Tawny Port or Vintage Port I suggest you focus on Fonseca or Ramos Pinto. Both of those always hit the target.

Stone Enjoy By 12.25.15

For Christmas I opened Stone Enjoy By IPA and it was fantastic, a true Christmas miracle.

Seriously this one was wonderful and the same 9.4% ABV alcohol level of other releases with a well achieved hop and malt presence. The beer was creamy and smooth with a fruity aspect and an awesome hop aroma and flavor. Do yourself a favor and snag some of this if you spot it lurking on the shelf!

Merry Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Wine Aeration

Last night we opened a bottle of red wine which was fairly bland and slightly tart and decided to aerate to see if it would improve. Not too long ago my wife purchased an aeration device and we have used it on occasion, but not enough to determine if it will ultimately be useful or not. I aerated a small amount of the wine last night into one glass and poured another glass from the bottle and did a taste test. The aerated wine was sour and almost undrinkable while the original was simply bland and tart. This got me thinking aeration should be used sparingly and only when the wine improves. The wine we had last night went from just ok to awful/undrinkable after aerating so simply aerating a wine is not a viable solution every time. I think from now on we’ll do a test to be sure the wine improves before going hog wild with the aerator. Perhaps it would improve a young Cabernet, but for sure cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

Virginia Reciprocity Revocation, A Red Herring?

Yesterday afternoon the official announcement came from the Virginia Attorney General, Mark Herring, as to why concealed handgun permit reciprocity agreements were being voided for several states. The reason were not quite clear when we posted yesterday morning, but the press release shed some light on the subject. According to the notice § 18.2-308.014 indicates in order to have reciprocity the state must provide “the means for instantaneous verification of the validity of all such permits or licenses issued within that state, accessible 24 hours a day.” I gotta be honest, I don’t know if NC has that in place or not, but I do know when I was trying to enter a military base in NC they knew immediately about my CHP and asked me if I had a firearm on me. That leads me to believe we have such a system which can be accessed easily. Otherwise I see nothing in the Virginia laws which would disqualify NC for reciprocity under their law. Now what I find bothersome is the verbiage “instantaneous.” How fast do you mean? Do you have to look it up in a computer? Do you have WiFi? I know in certain parts of Virginia I have visited in the past cell phone service was nonexistent. To me a reasonable period of time would be the time it takes for authorized personnel to access the information and relay it to those authorized to know the information. So long as those channels are through law enforcement then no big deal, but information like that should not be easily accessible through the internet.

Anyway, it’s really clear what this is all about, gun control. Herring is pushing an agenda and that agenda is to restrict citizen’s rights inside and outside of Virginia. Vacating long held agreements will mean Virginia residents will not be able to protect themselves on February 1, 2016 in the same manner they have been protecting themselves for many years. Herring is trying to criminalize people who have undergone extensive background checks to prove they are law-abiding citizens. His solution is to allow them to now go through another background check to obtain a Nonresident Virginia CHP, but he has diminished the value of that permit by eliminating agreements with other states. Hopefully voters will see what he is trying to do and legislators will fix the statutes so reciprocity can be restored.

What? Virginia To Void Reciprocity Agreements With 25 States

According to a Washington Post article the Attorney General of Virginia, Mark Herring, will announce later today they will void reciprocity agreements with 25 states on February 1, 2016. One of those states is North Carolina and the article goes on to say the states where reciprocity agreements will be voided have handgun permit regulations “weaker than Virginia.”

Let’s use NC as our litmus test and check out that statement about which state is weaker.

Virginia Requirements To Get A Resident Concealed Handgun Permit
-Any firearms safety course of any length, including online
-Application and Fees
-*Only for a Nonresident permit must fingerprints be submitted

North Carolina Requirements To Get A Concealed Hangun Permit
-Class and range time by a NCDOJ Certified Instructor
-8 hours of classes including 2 hours on the laws and use of deadly force
-Firearm range proficiency from 3, 5, and 7 yards
-Written exam
-Application, Fingerprints, and Fees
-*Nonresident permits do not exist

So they are telling us a face to face class on safety covering the laws and use of deadly force along with a written examination and time on the range is weaker than taking any online course with no demonstration of firearm proficiency? They are telling us a background check including fingerprints is weaker than an application and no fingerprints? To me it just doesn’t compute. I can only think of one thing it might be and that would be to get more Nonresident permits and the fees which go along with those permits. You see a Nonresident permit is $100 while a resident permit is $50.

On the bright side while in Virginia you can open carry provided it is visible in plain site. That should mean when you cross into the state you place the concealed firearm on the seat in plain site and you are good to go, but always remember open carry means in plain site and visible at all times.