Day Off.

Not from work, from blogging.

See you on Monday my good folks.

Oh alright then, something for the weekend.

This is what it is all about

Forgive me if any of these have been posted before, but this is what my blog is all about....

If it's not about the beer, then what is the point?

Nostalgic Beer Photos

Mrs Velkyal and I love taking trips. When we lived in Prague we would quite often, as in every other month or so, go off on a jolly. Most of the time we stayed in the Czech Republic, going to places like Český Krumlov or Liberec, sometimes though we would jump on a plane, such as we did for Ireland and the UK. We haven't done much of that kind of thing since we got to the US, usually if we take a trip it is down to South Carolina to visit family. This weekend though we are staying in Virginia but getting out of town for a couple of days and going to Williamsburg.

We first went to Williamsburg with my parents earlier this year, and we liked it immediately. We've been back a couple of times since, in order to go to the water park, but this weekend we'll be wandering around the town itself a bit more. Naturally there is a beer activity planned for the trip, well possibly two if you include maybe meeting up with fellow blogger and homebrewer E.S. Delia in Richmond on our way back. On our first trip down there I picked up a mixed case of beer from the Williamsburg Alewerks, including the brown ale I wrote about some time ago. At the recent River Bend Beer Festival, Williamsburg Alewerks had the best beer of the 13 I tried, an imperial stout with coffee - if I remember rightly it was called Coffeehouse Stout and bloody marvellous it was too! Hopefully then at the weekend I will pick up some more, and maybe fill a growler or two with it, we'll see.

Thinking about this trip got me in a slightly nostalgic mood, and I was looking back at some of the beer related pics Mrs Velkyal and I took on our various trips, and so here are some of them....

The bar in Dublin's Bull and Castle

The amber lager from Hotel Pegas in Brno

A lovely pair at Purkmistr near Plzeň.

The bottom of a glass of Fuller's 1845, drunk in Bicester.

Lack of Labor Day Post

Today is Labor Day, or Labour Day if you live in Canada. Essentially it is America's equivalent of International Workers Day, usually observed on the 1st of May. As one of the few days off throughout the year here, I plan to take advantage of it entirely, by doing as little as possible, other than taking the dog for a long walk at 6 in the morning and generally tidying the flat. As such, here are some pictures of beer related stuff, starting with the pipework underneath Devils Backbone's brewhouse..

Lazy Posting

My prose style is not working today. The sun in shining and all of a sudden the ladies of Charlottesville have renounced the evils of velour and tracksuit trousers in favour of something vaguely more interesting. Admittedly that "vaguely more interesting" just means a pair of jeans, or in some cases a nice classy pair of proper trousers, but hey it is a step up (but still many, many steps down from the ladies of Prague and their favoured spring attire!).

So any, as my brain is wandering on to things non beer, here are some pictures of beer in the hope that normal service will be resumed soon.

Oh and what the heck, here is a provisional label for my dunkelweizen which is fermenting away happily.

End of Week Laziness

Tis the end of my first week back in gainful employ, and my mind it in overdrive as a result. Hence today's very lazy post just of pictures....

Previously Unpublished Pictures (I think)

My brain is on something of a hiatus today, I guess I am suffering from bloggers cramp, if such a thing exists. There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I guess the following pictures are something of 5000 word essay about beer, their meaning is of course a purely subjective interpretation on the part of the reader.

The Good, the Bland and the Uninspired

Sorry for the lack of posts of late, still in the process of getting essentials sorted out here in Charlottesville - which is a lovely place from what we have seen so far, very happy to be here. So here are a few pictures of some beer I have had of late:

The Good - Dundee Pale Bock Lager, very nice, not overly sweet and eminently drinkable.

The Bland - Dundee Honey Brown, not much honey, not overly brown, ho-hum.

The Uninspired - Brooklyn Pilsner, pilsner? really? Hmmmm

The Tipsy Terrace Tasting

One of the most pressing things to get done this week before moving on was polishing off the varied beers still sitting around Mrs Velkyal and I's flat. My problem though was how to do it? I had basically three options:

1. sell them
2. give them away
3. drink them

Admittedly I did give a few bottles away. However, I decided that the most prudent way of dealing with the situation was to drink them, but better to gather a few friends keen to try different beers from around Europe and introduce them to some of these delights. Thus it was that last night I went round to my good friend Mark's place to sit on his expansive balcony with another couple of guys and attempt to get through 25 beers from the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Scotland, England and Denmark.

Unfortunately we only managed to get through 14 of the beers, some pictures of which grace this post.

There was however one other beer on the list which I wanted the guys to try, the uninfected, though wildly over-carbonated, version of my Skippy Porter. I had previously only tried this beer with Evan Rail, who was very complimentary about it even though it erupted all over his kitchen floor. This time I was prepared, and opened the bottle in a flower pot, without flowers of course. Once again Skippy was a hit, with the guys saying it was one their favourite beers of the night, the smooth chocolate flavours I was aiming for were right up there, and the Fuggles bitterness was just right to add some bite. I initially thought that I wouldn't be brewing this beer very often, but given the reaction it gets I think I will have to simply refine the recipe and start making it in preparation for winter. I am finding now that I get more pleasure from my friends enjoying my beer than hoarding it all to myself in some attempt to save money on beer.

Thankfully I know that Mark and his family will be in the States for a few months at the end of the year, so our beer tasting will no doubt be repeated, hopefully with the added bonus of a couple of bottles of Strahov's Autumn Dark Special! On the menu already for when we sit on the patio in our new place will be my planned American style IPA loaded with Amarillo hops, also some more Skippy Porter as well as my first Irish Red Ale, tentatively called Mrs Velkyal's Red Hat.

Every prospect pleases!

8 Beers, 24 Phrases, Pivovarský dům

• Pale Lager - golden, crisp, hoppy

• Dark Lager - dark ruby, aniseed, bitter chocolate

• Sour Cherry - copper, cherries, jammy

• Coffee - dark ruby, roasted coffee, stout lite

• Banana - cloudy golden, bananas on the turn, creamy

• Nettle - green (no really?), grass, washing liquid

• Chilli - pale red, floral, spicy afterglow

• Wheat - pale yellow, light bananas, extracty

Picture Time...again

Kanec Imperial Stout and a couple of bottles of their lager, tasting notes coming soon....

6 English ales for tasting

6 English ales after tasting

A sampler tray in Brauhaus Lemke, Berlin

Primator Stout, all back to front