The Damofest Effigy

After Damien told us we could definitely NOT have a bonfire on the lawn, Garvey inquired about burning an effigy. Diesel said "sure, you go ahead and do that." -partially because he didn't think we'd actually follow up on it, and partially because he didn't know what an effigy was. Hell, I don't even think what we did qualifies as such, however it was large and we burned the shit out of it just the same.

Here is a photo essay for your enjoyment. For whatever reason I ended up being the point guy on building this thing. I think it worked pretty well.

(Thanks to Garvey and Rosario for the pics)














-Wrence

DAMOFEST `09

Ok, I am back from Vermont, but am in such a deep state of culture shock that I don't think I can really get into the details of the last 5 days yet. Perhaps another post may come up later to handle some of that stuff....perhaps not. I am not quite sure how to get on with my life again this morning, but I'll leave you with a photo I took in my car just before I arrived.

I sincerely love you all,

-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.

Vermont Rain, Beer, and Pig

So for some time now I have been far, far from cell phone service or access to the interwebicals, due to my taking some well-deserved time off from work to head to my birth-state for some hiking, beer-having, high-fiving, and general hanging out & being awesome.

Saturday I got up early, picked up rental wheels, and drove as fast as I could up to Vermont. The deal was, I meeting Diesel Damien up in Whitingham, where his family friends own a home. Damien said he'd be there by noon, so I of course understood this to mean about 2pm, "Damien Time". I figured, since I was only going to be there for a few days, that I'd head up early, get in a smallish hike somewhere in the middle of the state, and then arrive at the house mid-afternoon after Damien had shown up and settled in a bit.

I arrived in VT around 11:30am and was up on the summit of Styles Peak by around 1 or 2pm. It was a nice little hike, and the rain let up just long enough for me to huck it up to the top & back. The drive back downstate to Whitingham pretty much sucked though, due to the torrents of summer rain pelting the shit out of me and the rental the whole time. I didn't get to the house until 4pm. Fortunately, had I arrived any earlier I would have had to wait in my car as Damien literally pulled in behind me at that very moment. Apparently, the years of separation have caused me to lose touch of just how far-off "Damien Time" can be from actual reality.

That night Damien's cousin Adam showed up with various super-sized chunks of organic pig which were prepared and consumed that night. Adam, righteous dude that he is, brought the meat from the farm at which he works- here, I think -and despite being a vegetarian hippie, he cooked one of the best meals I've had in a long time.

Most of my 4 days there were spent eating, drinking local beer, swimming, kayaking, and of course Croquet on this amazing lawn at the house. I found a nice little 7bbl brewpub in Bennington called Madison Brewing Company; and D & I agreed that almost all of their 8 offerings were decent, with a few being quite good. We bought half a dozen growlers to keep everyone's mouths full of brew back at the house (they were subsequently filled a few more times in effort to maintain this). Later in the week I hiked Mt Ascutney, which admittedly kicked my hungover ass a new...umm....ass, I suppose.

here is what it MAY have looked like if I took a picture myself

Damien's guests included his brother & sister, some cousins, some S.O.s, and a few friends. Damien's family members are all certifiably CRAZY, in a good way. I love hanging out with them. They seem to have accepted me as one of their own over the years; I sort of get treated like a distant cousin, and by that I mean I get token invites to some random get-togethers every so often. It's great. Anyway, I bring lots of beer and they always end up inviting me back. Also, out of the 12 or so people that were there I think that 14 of them were musicians. Do the math: it was a lot of musicians. There were instruments everywhere and lots of singing. I managed not to embarrass myself too badly during my turns at the piano (an instrument on which I am only OF LATE coming into my own). Also I had the pleasure of meeting Oh Dorian, (aka Heather) who in addition to being an amazing musician is also one of the sweetest girls I've ever met. Check out her music here and just TRY not to be moved: I dare you.

Now it's back to Boston & catching up on school stuff. Luckily I only have to show up for work 3 out of the next 9 days. Radiohead is next Wednesday, I think Damien and Liz are staying here in town for that, so any readers who are Balazs fans have another update to look forward to. Chances of a croquet re-match are slim though, mostly I think because Damien is afraid to face me again, but also because it would probably be wicked hard to get the wickets pounded into my driveway. Ideas, anyone?

-'Wrence