You're Dripping Me Crazy!

My kegerator has been in hibernation. It's lonely. Every so often it clicks on in a cooling hum at me as if trying to get my attention. I figure it's time to stop wasting money on electricity to run the poor empty bastard and do something about it. I went down to the local fermentation supply place earlier today to fix this problem. No fucking clue what to brew. The response I got from my girlfriend was "HOPPY makes me happy. Happy gets you laid." Hoppy it is. Let's do an IPA, but nothing crazy like a Russian River Pliny. I flip through a recipe book only to find the perfect recipe for the job. The Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA. Partial mash. Bingo.

While I paid the seventy and some odd dollars for the ingredients, I was chatting with a fellow brewer about leaky kettle issues. I mentioned having problems with getting a good seal with the valve on my brewing kettle. During the boil, it's always at a slow yet constant leak. Sure, I don't lose much in the end, but fuck me it's annoying. I've tried replacing washers and rubber seals, but to no success. What he suggested doing is putting a metal plate underneath the valve area of the kettle while brewing, as the heat from the burner may be causing the seal to fail. It makes sense to me. I'll be testing out his hypothesis on this batch. Now if I could just get a fuckin' day off...

Cheers Hopheads! Cheers

Black Diamond Rampage Imperial IPA 9% Occupy my couch demonstration

    "I'd rather have a Rampage," I find myself saying as I sip my now old favorites like Lagunitas Holiday Ale or Racer 5. I find myself deeply disturbed at the fact that my old bold beers I previously obsessed over just aren't making the cut anymore. This Rampage beer has effect. I don't know whether to drink my sorrows away with this beast and pretend this experience never took place, or to accept the fact that my standards for good beer just bulked up a notch OR FIVE. Black Diamond Brewery in Concord, CA has created a true rampage for the beer market; their Rampage IPA label with an angrily tusked elephant in the jungle is exactly the feeling I get drinking this beer. Triple dry hopped and raging, I can't get enough of it. 
     Right off the bottle..."nothing but a massive,thundering rampage of hops will do. Up front, the nose is big and assertive with aromas of candied orange, grapefruit and pine.Biscuity malt layers balance the aggressive hops as the nectar glides over the tongue. Lingering bitterness leaves you ready for the next satisfying draught.Because you can't really tame the beast.But you can definitely make it happy."
This is by far my new favorite beer. Reminiscent of Black Diamond's Jagged Edge IPA with it's bold and hoppy presence, Rampage is fierce. Don't let it's fruity description fool you. Although these fruit aromas expertly balance the hops, this beer will kick you in the ass if you're not ready for it. But that's exactly the beer we're all looking for, isn't it? Sometimes I feel we need a good ass kicking every once in awhile. And for that, this beer is perfect. And with it's 9% strength, an occupy my couch demonstration is in full effect. Because real change happens on the individual level.

Cheers Hopheads! Cheers.