Adios!

There were problems with putting up some pictures. Turns out a lot more people see these blogs than I realized. The point of the blog was to put up cool beer related pictures, so I'll still be taking them and you can e-mail me if you're interested. I may post something again, but, probably not.

First Module complete

1/6 total modules are now complete! It was not easy. In fact, it was hard. Two / Six tests are complete and I believe I'm still holding over a 90 average. Last night was Friday, and while the guys hit the town I slept. I slept 10 hours which means I've doubled my sleep this week. I still feel exhausted but it's Saturday morning with nothing to do and that feels great. In the past two weeks we have covered Malting (steeping, germinating and kilning of barley before it gets to the brewer), Hops and hop products, Water Chemistry, Mashing, Lautering, Boiling, and Chilling of wort. Enzymes for this, enzymes for that, enzymes enzymes enzymes enzymes throughout the process. Did I mention that we can thank enzymes for making wort? Yep. I know enzymes.

For those of you who only look at the pictures, I'll add two more for you. After two full days of lecture from Ray Daniels on mashing, I bothered him for a picture for the homebrewers who read his material. He's mostly known for Designing Great Beers (which really is a fantastic book for those interested in what the title suggests). He's a cool guy; not only did he partake in our typically obnoxious lunch breaks, he did a great job breaking down mashing for us without making it too confusing.

Second is a delightfully cheesy picture of me after one of our Sensory Analysis sessions. This time it was styles tasting of English, Scottish and Irish beers. Lyn Kruger, president of Siebel, runs the tastings and helps us learn to identify the flavors we should taste as well as the flavors that probably shouldn't be there. Unfortunately we've learned a lot about how traumatic importing/exporting beer is. After learning to isolate oxidation and other side affects of failing beer stability, these beers were mostly gross. The only one we didn't pour out was Mackesons XXX (brewed in North America, less oxidized). I kind of liked the Scottish heather tips ale too because the spices almost hid the off-flavors. The worst was Sam Smiths IPA- it tasted like the smell of imported leaf hops. Yes, we poured out gallons and gallons of beer this day.

Success.

We did it. Each week we have a test and the first one is complete. Here are pictures of myself, Brian, and Hank celebrating at the 'beer stube' (the bar located a floor above where we have our classes). Afterwards we went out to the Hop Leaf in downtown Chicago where I gave Brazillian brewers Rodrigo and Leonardo their first American microbrew experience. These guys know beer, but they dont know the variety we get here up north. They may have had more time learning drunken English than they did trying the beer but thats ok.. we had a blast.

Whew.. I'm back

So, it's been a while since I've posted. Siebel keeps me insanely busy, and the hostel internet connection has not worked each time I get 30 minutes to get online. However, I have not fallen behind with photos as I have with the blog. Today I've gotten lucky to find time to post, so I will start with the old and work towards the new, maybe evetually I will be caught up. I haven't figured out how to format the blog to make the pictures and text look good together, so I will start with a paragraph and finish with a list of pictures for now.

Here is the Siebel Institute library which is connected to the Goose Island brewpub. Not a huge library by any means, but this place contains the largest collection of brewing specific textbooks in the entire world. If mortals read every book, they turn into beer. Only beer gods are capable of such things. The third picture shows a wall of Siebel graduates dating back 200 years. My picture will be added to this wall.

Pretty Pictures

I walked down to the coast of Lake Michigan to see an event called Flugtag. Teams from around the country come with large flying crafts and are dressed to fit a theme. They board their craft and roll it off a platform and are judged on their performance. It turned out to be crowded and pretty boring so instead here are some pretty pictures I took along my walk.

The Hostel

So, I decided to stay in the hostel. It was the first option I considered and after a month of contacting other places it turned out to be the best option after all. If you've seen the movie "Hostel", then you're with me on this. I was hoping to be lured by hot girls involved in a crazy money making scheme that sells tourists to mad surgeons yata yata yata.. I don't think it'll be that exciting, but I still think it'll be a fun experience.

There are very few Americans here. While I sit in the lobby typing this I try to count the languages but there are a lot. The front desk got slammed with people last night. I yelled something across the room to my new friend Brian (fellow Siebel student), and immediately the Americans waiting in line came over to me to ask questions about the hostel. I should set up a tip jar next to me while I'm in the lobby saying "Advice in English"


My room is.. sufficient. The picture shows the whole thing plus a small closet. I also added a picture of the view out of my window. I've never lived in a dorm, so now I can say I have.


I have to use a public bathroom and a public kitchen. That means storing my food in the same fridge as everyone else. Neat!

Off to a Rugged Start

The time has finally come to head to Chicago. I get to the airport and drop off my luggage.. I'm told to hurry to the terminal as my flight leaves in 10 minutes. Huh? Turns out the time I was looking at was the arrival time in Chicago. I heard my name being called on the intercom as I was going through security (which is suspicious in itself), and finally got this picture of the plane leaving.

To make matters worse, there were hurricanes coming and the TVs in the airport were buzzing with hurricane coverage. Rain was starting to come down pretty hard as I sat there looking out the window wondering if this is a bad Omen. Nah, I don't believe it.