Friday, June 22, 2012

The Beer Buddha is a Fat Ass

It's true. I'm fat. And I hate it. I haven't always been this way. I used to be quite active and fairly good looking. Okay so I was a sexy beast it's true. I'm trying to be modest.


Above:  Me skinny. And drunk.

I was talking to my wife(who has been blessed with amazing genes and is skinny) last night about once again attempting to lose weight and she suggested using my blog as support. Now I know this isn't a weight loss blog but I think she may be onto something here.

I think beer gets an unfair reputation as the culprit for weight gain hence the beer belly. I can pretty much promise you my beer belly is years of hard work and beer had very little to do with it. Crappy food choices are guilty for my awesome figure.

I have decided to buckle down and really lose some weight and you all are my witnesses. I hope you all are okay with this. I need the support. Don't worry this will incorporate beer. At the end of every week(Sunday) I will drink a very nice beer with a meal I will be cooking. I will do my best to incorporate a recipe if it's worthy. Sundays will be my weight check in with all of you along with a brief description of how I am doing.

I'm tired ya'll. I'm tired of being overweight and feeling the way I feel. I need a change. And I'm afraid if I don't change I will end up in an early grave. And worse I may end up not being able to drink beer anymore. They can't take away my beer.

I will post all my stats and goals this Sunday so if you are interested(and I hope you are) check in because I can no longer look like this dude:



Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Brew Day with the Craft A Brew Beer Kit



I have really wanted to get into homebrewing. I even went and bought a kit from the local homebrew shop Brewstock about 2 or 3 years ago. For me homebrewing is the next step in my overall beer education. You can't really understand beer without actually making it right?

But like many people I come up with lame ass excuses for not following my passion. Work. Family. And more work. The family truly isn't an issue. Work on the other hand has been the issue. It tires and stresses me out. All I want to do on my day off is nothing. And that sucks. My wife told me I am letting my work ruin my personal life and I finally agree with her. I always let work do things like that to me. I'm sure my blood pressure is through the roof and I keep gaining more weight instead of focusing on getting healthier. I've decided to not allow a job ruin something I am passionate about and also potentially kill me. As I said on my Facebook page yesterday, "When your job gets in the way of your passion its time to figure out how to make your passion your job".

Step one: Brew a beer. As I said earlier this is something I have always wanted to do but came up with excuses not to. One of those excuses was I was afraid to brew a huge amount of beer only to ruin it and have to dump it out. I felt baby steps may be necessary. I needed a way to brew great beer but on a smaller scale.


(above) Mark Cowley's awesome homebrew set up.

My dad and I dabbled with that Mr. Beer Kit back in the day but it just didn't seem like something I wanted to invest in again. Recently I was thumbing through one of my Draft magazines and I saw an add for the Craft A Brew Homebrewing Kit. It says it makes one gallon of homebrew and they have great craft beer recipe kits for you to brew. I had to give it a try!

I acquired the Chocolate Milk Stout kit and today I enlisted the help of my 6 year old daughter and set to brewing! Here are some pics from today's brew:



Now we wait for fermentation to hopefully begin. After two weeks we are supposed to add the cocoa nibs and let ferment for another 2 weeks. Then the bottling begins. That'll be the next chapter in this post! Unless I totally screwed this whole thing up then I will have to order another kit and start all over. Either way the process was a fun way to spend with my kid and I look forward to more daddy and daughter brew days!

Thanks to Kyle Westfall and Craftabeer.com who supplied the kit and are also official partners with thebeerbuddha.com. If you are interested in this kit(and you should be) you can visit their website and use beerbuddha at checkout and get 10% off!

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Hoppy Fathers Day!

35 years ago a single mother met a Marine who became the greatest dad a kid could ever have. He not only married my mom but he adopted me and he treated me as I was HIS flesh and blood son. Never once did he ever bring up that fact that we were not. He is the only father I have ever known.  He IS my father.

 He inadvertently taught me my love of beer.  At the age of 3 he dressed me up as Billy Carter and took me trick or treating.  No kidding.  See the pic below.  Yeah, that sexy, young beast is me.


My dad was always there for me. Even when he wasn't. Being a Marine meant times where I wouldn't see my dad for a year or more. But he would always write or call. Hell, there were times(Iraq War) I wasn't sure I would ever see my dad again. But I always did.

Like all father/son relationships there were times we didn't get along. Man, would we would butt heads like crazy! I did some stupid stuff. I was a kid so of course I did. Some he found out about some he didn't. Until my friend Randy Lenard told him most of the stuff a couple of years ago. Thanks Randy.  He put up with a lot. I wasn't a bad kid just very...difficult sometimes. I never understood why my friends liked my dad more than me. I do now though.

I think as I got older, got married and moved out of the house we have also become closer. Granted, once my dad got out of the Marine Corps he also mellowed out a bit too.  Being a dad myself nowadays I begin to see more of him in me.  I now understand many of the things he did and I hope that I can become as good a father to my daughter as he was too me.

Today I love hanging out with my dad and sometimes I'm a little saddened by the fact I don't get to see him more often since I live here in New Orleans and he lives in Florida.  I do love the fact that he seems to have developed a love of craft beer.  I always bring some when I visit Florida or he will buy some when I come.  There is always beer in the fridge when I arrive!


Dad, I know I don't say it enough but I love you and want to thank you for being that dad that you were and are today. Can't wait to see you and share another beer with you!

 Cheers!

 The Beer Buddha

Monday, June 4, 2012

WYES Private Beer Tasting Recap

So I had the opportunity to go to the WYES Private Beer Tasting this past Friday night and I must say that I am happy for the future of craft beer here in Louisiana.

Upon walking in the door I met Leith from Mudbug Brewery. After a brief chat it was time for some beer. What am I presented with? A Kingcake Lager with the rim of the glass dipped in cinnamon sugar. I shit you not. It was....amazing. You didn't even need the cinnamon sugar rim. That just added to the presentation. The beer was fantastic. 

And then I see Andrew from Parish Brewing with his homemade "awesomeinator" which was basically a randall devise for hopping up his beer.  Apparently I have been watching too much Phineas & Ferb with that name huh?  If you have kids who watch the show you'll get it.  If not.  Sorry.  You won't get it.  Unless of course you watch Disney cartoons as an adult without having kids.  Which is kind of creepy.  How is living in your mom's basement?

From there it is was just a cornucopia of awesomeness. Instead of writing a bunch of long, drawn out details and crap I will list the beers I tried and really enjoyed. Makes it easier for me. And probably you.

1) Bayou Teche Cafe Brulot Beire Joi
2) Lazy Magnolia Southern Hops'pitality
3) Cajun Fire Acadian Berry Ale
4) Mudbug Carnival King Lager
5) Parish Canebrake
6) Homebrew from Chris Kuemmel and Taylor Weidman Pineapple Cilantro IPA
7) Homebrew from Ron Guzman Coconut Baltic Porter
8) Homebrew from Sal Mortillaro Ich Bin Ein Berliner Weisse

I didn't even get a chance to try all the beers they had there. I completely missed out on the NOLA Brewing booth!

Overall it was a great night.  A lot is happening here in Louisiana for craft beer!   My only issue would be the lack of bottled water. I did see water to clean out the glassware but didn't see bottled water.  I like to drink water while drinking a lot of beer as it keeps me hydrated.  That's it though.  They did have some food which was amazing. The corn grits and Thai ribs from Zea's were awesome! Thanks to WYES for putting on the event and thanks to those who donated their beer and time to this event

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Sunday, June 3, 2012

New Brewery in New Orleans: Cajun Fire Brewing


Looks like New Orleans has another brewery on the horizon! Met the gentlemen from Cajun Fire Brewing at WYES Private Beer Tasting and was fortunate enough to try their beers. Good stuff brewing in New Orleans East! According to their website they will be brewing the following:

Amber Ale: A refined spin of a traditional classic.
October’s Own Pumpkin Ale: The winter companion.
East NOLA IPA: A 60 minute Indian Pale Ale of East New Orleans origin.
Praline Ale: A love letter to the region which boosts the best cuisine this side of the hemisphere.
Veterans Root BEER: Not for the faint of heart. This ain’t your mama’s root beer.

I tried a blueberry ale and a honey ale. Both were amazing!

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha