Fridge Full of Pliny

Working 12-hours days in a brewery DOES have some benefits....

-Wrence

Wrapping things up in Middlebury

So we are almost done here at brewschool. I can't believe how quick it has come up after nearly 6 months of this stuff. Some quick thoughts before I pass out:

It finally stopped snowing and was actually somewhat mild today. Very nice.

Amongst the 28 samples of spiked beers, (we are studying flavor defects every night) was one called Butyric acid, which is described as "baby vomit" and tastes just as it sounds. Lovely! Now I know what I DON'T want my beer to taste like.

Here is a nice shot of my current workspace, the common room of the Inn I am staying at. They used exterior shots of this place for the Newhart show, if any of you are old enough to remember that one....
___________

anyway, I should start studying now, final exam tomorrow. Will get another post up soon.

Goodnight from VT with love!

-Wrence

Brew School

It's snowing in Middlebury, Vermont.

I've just finished another 12-hour day.

In case you haven't been paying attention, I'm finishing up brew school this week up in VT, working days in a considerably-sized microbrewery and studying sensory analysis, water chemistry, and QC with a class of 22 brew students (brewdents?). There are several solid bros (and sisters) in the class, but also a few annoying douchebag-types; you know, the kind who have to shout whenever they are talking (so as to subject as many people possible to their idiotic ramblings), name-drop (about people in the brewing industry, for christsake) and make fun of innocently bland beers like Labatt's Blue.

Regardless, most of my classmates are cool, and I'm psyched to see what some of these people are doing with themselves over the next year. Most of us are off to apprentice for 5 weeks after this, at various breweries. A lot of people are going back home to their local brewpub, but some are actually off to really cool places like: Hopworks (Portland, OR); Firestone Walker (Pasa Robles, CA); Ommegang (Cooperstown, NY); Sixpoint (Brooklyn, NY). I will be at an un-named brewpub/production plant located in Santa Rosa, CA.

Also: one fellow student grew up in my college town and knows all kinds of people that I do.
one fellow student went to college with one of my best friends from home.
-weird-

SO: I'll put something else up later in the week...it's mega-busy time for Wrence here, and I've only a few hours in the evening to check the emails, maybe chat with a roomate for a minute, and throw up a blog post (if possible) so stay tuned. Graduation is Friday!

-'Wrence

edit: also I'd like to add that we just discovered that the TV in our room at the inn is set to parental-block any show that's rated over TV-14 or some shit, and we can't watch South Park because of this. My roomate just stormed downstairs to confront the inn-keep about this. Amazing.

Embarrassing Life Moment #5239

So my company held a blood drive today. I have never donated blood before, so I thought it would be cool to pop my cherry on the last day of my job (see below). The only problem was that everyone wanted to take me out for drinks last night.

In my defense, I tried to get people to go out tonight instead, but no one could do that. Also in my defense, I only had like 4 beers or so, and when those shots went around, I politely declined. See, I also had a meeting with my class online at 9. I ended up home around 8.30 and I thought I was in good shape. I had some food & a pint of water & was asleep at 11.

So anyway, today, after I pass the screening & they have me on the table, the nurse gets the needle into a vein just fine. But then she gets this sort of concerned look on her face. She fiddles with the needle a bit. She asks me if I'm ok. Yes. She asks me if she is hurting me as she fiddles with the needle more. No. Then she gets the head nurse. They put a blood pressure cuff on my arm and give it a few pumps.

Me: "Ahem....uh, what exactly is the issue here?"
Head Nurse: "You aren't bleeding."

It turns out I was too de-hydrated to bleed properly. At least, that's what they say. Personally, I think it's more likely that I am just INVINCIBLE.

So now I'm on a mission to rehydrate and go find a place to let a pint of blood sometime in the next week or so. Will keep you posted.

-Wrence

Take this Job and...re-staff it

In honor of my last day at my job of the past seven years (the nature of which I will never reveal here) I am cleaning out the hard drive. In addittion to some ridiculously hilarious emails which I had saved, random documents I might want to keep, and mile after mile of cookies; I also have a pant-load of images which were saved for one reason or another, no matter now inexplicable they would seem now.

So, I proudly present to you a sympozium of weird shit that represents various moments of my "professional" life over the last 7 years. Enjoy!

I realize that this must seem like a lot, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. About half-way through I suddenly started to become aware of the enormity of 7 years of goofing off. Anyway, it's all over now. Adieu, a bien-tot, a la prochaine fois, mes amis!

-Wrence

Election Day

We here at Bros11 strongly support voting! Get out today and do it.(This clever shirt design was made by RyToy 4 long years and one awful presidency ago)

-'Wrence