NC Beer Month

April was North Carolina Beer Month and I took full advantage of our state's great breweries.  At the beginning of the month I got my "Beer Passport" as a way to track how many breweries I went to in the month.  Each brewery had a stamp and prizes were awarded for 5 breweries (a keychain), 15 (t-shirt) or 30 (t-shirt and beer koozie).  I visited 18 different breweries all over the state and I made some great memories.

Disclaimer: I only had one beer or a flight of samples at most breweries.  You don't have to drink to excess to go out and enjoy these tasty beverages.

Here are a few of the highlights

I started the month off with 5 breweries on the first day.  Steve and I did the Tour de Brew and had a fun time riding around the greenways of Raleigh.

The day started out rainy. 

By the finish it was a beautiful day.

April marked the official opening of the brewery located a mile from my house. 

Beer Bliss

There aren't many things in this world that I enjoy more than drinking good beer outside on a beautiful day.  Saturday I got to do just that at Raleigh's Beer Fest in downtown on a gorgeous April evening.

This year was the 10th year of the event and we'd been to a few in the past decade but not for a couple of years.  It's a great time where you get to sample beers from all over the country.  And I think it speaks to how great NC has become for beer that we spent a lot of the four hour session in the NC beer section sampling local products. 

I made sure to prepare for the event this year and made us all pretzel necklaces to snack on throughout the night.  I made sure to use the good big pretzel and felt pretty proud of my handiwork.  I even felt superior to everyone until I saw the guys with not only pretzels, but Slim Jims and cheese and cracker snacks around their necks.  That's on the list for next year.

It was a wonderful day that made me love being here in NC to enjoy a few afternoon beverages and beautiful weather in early April.  Hopeful we'll do it again next year.

I See The Light

I made my first beer growler lamp last weekend.  And I must say I'm pretty proud of myself.  It was a task that will be a lot easier the next time I do it that is for sure.

The most time-consuming part of the making it definitely was drilling the hole in the back of the growler.  I went out and bought diamond tip drill bits at Lowe's about two months ago I was just really intimidated to drill into glass.  I even used an old Jack Daniel's bottle to practice on first.  I was so worried the glass was going to just explode if I did it wrong.  In the end though it wasn't bad at all. 

Once the hole was drilled it was just a matter of wiring up the lamp with a kit I bought and filling it with a bag of marble stones to give it some weight.  Since the growler was dark I wasn't too worried about hiding the cord but it the stones also do that.  The kit included a topper but I ended up just using the growler lid after I drilled a hole in it.  I of course came up with this solution after I completed wiring the lamp and had to tear it all apart and rebuilt it but it was good practice.

I've got plans on making a few more.  I'm giving this one to Steve as a belated x-mas gift.  It's a growler from the local pub, Fortnight Brewing, here in Cary that we've been too a few times.  I may try and sell a few lamps once I get the process down.  Or at least trade them for free beer.

Update 4/19: I've made a second growler lamp for myself from another local brewery, Raleigh Brewing Company.  I've also got plans on making at least a few more from some of the Asheville breweries we visited.  How many growler lamps is too many to have in your home?

Update 5/5: I made two more growler lamps last Saturday.  The Wicked Weed lamp I gave away as a gift to my friend Steve's parents, who just happen to have the last name of Weed. 

The other lamp I made was for my desk at work.  It's from Crank Arm Brewery, which just is only a few blocks from my office.  It's a really cool pub and I love that it's bicycle themed.  I shared the lamp with them on Twitter and they seemed to really like it. 

Beers Around The World

I love travel.  I also love beer.  So getting to combine my two loves together and sample different beers from all the places we are visiting is an absolute joy.  And of course I only do so responsibly.

The beers I have had so far have been pretty good but I’m really craving a good pale ale like a Sierra Nevada.  Most of the beers in Asia are light and crisp.  Although with the heat we’ve been experiencing I couldn’t imagine anything else. 

So here is my sampling of beers from Hawaii to India…

Primo Island Lager – “Hawaii’s Original Beer” It wasn't too special but I had one while hanging out in a small dive bar across the street from the port we were docked in.  Craig, Nicole, Kelly and I were escaping the rain and talking to a crazy local guy.  I think Kona Brewery is the better of the Hawaii beer companies, especially the Longboard style.

Kirin Beer - A light beer that I sipped on while watching the sumo match in Tokyo.  The flavor was decent but somewhat lacking.  I'd compare it to a Miller Lite.  A good sporting event beer.