Month: August 2021

IPAs of the Weekend and Other Things

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Let’s start with a quick summary of the weekend. I didn’t leave the house except for a tiny beer run. I drank said beer and had some nihonshu. Most people in the west know this as saké or rice wine. I’ll get into that later. I did some other stuff too.

I started out with the Golden Cliff IPA from Kona Brewing Company. Its ABV comes in at 7.20%. It gets 50 IBUs from Chinook, Topaz, mosaic, and citra hops making it, at least on paper, a pretty standard IPA. That’s not all because this Hawaiian beauty comes packed with gorgeous tropical pineapple.

Now, that pineapple is subtle—balanced well with the hops for a hint of sweetness complementing the citric bitterness from the hops. I could drink this all the time if it’s availability was guaranteed. And was lower in alcohol.

The second IPA of the evening came from a brewery closer to home: Echigo Beer’s Flying IPA coming out of Niigata. Lower in alcohol (only 5.5%) and higher in bittering units (55 IBUs) there are some flavor differences to consider. It doesnt have any sweetness like Kona’s IPA; it is more of a standard IPA. Echigo also has a session IPA I’d like to try meaning high IBUs but low alcohol for longer drinking sessions.

I definitely liked Kona ‘s Golden Cliff IPA over the Echigo because of that balanced pineapple. But I definitely wouldn’t say no to either if offered.

Sunday was not a beer day. I found some sparkling nihonshu and decided to give that a try instead.

I’m not very familiar with nihonshu but this Hakutsuru is different than anything I’ve had. The aroma and first taste on the tongue is of a traditional Nihonshu but wit the sting of carbonation like a hard seltzer. I missed that trend in the US but I do faintly recall trying a Zima when I was young and ignorant; it’s got hints of that odd beverage. Overall, it’s perfect for summer and someone just venturing into nihonshu. The effervescence and sweetness take the slight 5% alcohol edge off. If you can find it, please give it a try.

One thing I’ve been thinking about and unrelated to the beers above, but somewhat related to lots of things overall, is my quest to build a gaming computer. I’m not even a big gamer but building one from parts picked carefully and assembled with care is intriguing to me.

I’m doing it not just for the gaming but for the ease of use for work and other things. Of course I want to play Star Citizen but I have Subnautica: Subzero and Cities Skylines I am currently shutout of because my Mac is just not up to the challenge.

I don’t get any money for the above links (maybe I should make inquiries), but I do have an Amazon affiliates account. I think I can get something if other people sign up as a referral from me.

But I’m also going to put down here some of the parts I’m looking at for my new computer setup. You don’t have to use the link but it would help. Also, like my request for beer suggestions earlier, I would love to hear from people about their own setups or where I can get these same parts for better prices. Or better, newer versions.

Finally, I’ve uploaded some more designs to the Redbubble shop and a mountain rain vid to the chillaxing scenes channel on YouTube. Please check them out.

Switching it Up a Bit

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“Hey, careful, man, there’s a beverage here!” Yep. The Dude. El Duderino. He was protecting his White Russian and that’s what I’ve got sitting next to me right now. Why? You just have to change things up now and then. And like Jeff Bridges’ Dude, I’m partial to the simple and tasty beverage.

Today is the first Friday after school work started back up. Can’t go out but I’m just not into that as much as I once was so no biggie. Just chillaxing (that’s probably not really a thing anymore) with my White Russian and thoughts not of school. Everyone needs to think about non-work matters.

On that, I did get lots of stuff planned—A plans and B plans, and who knows whatever with classes in class but always on the knife’s edge of going online for a while.

I’m ready though. I think.

I’ve lots of visitors to the Redbubble shop but very few sales. Halloween is coming up so I hope that helps with so many recent Halloween designs I’ve uploaded. A few need fixing though. Here are the latest pieces:

Halloween Collection

I’m going to go relax a bit now. Busy Saturday. Maybe a few beers tomorrow night. Any last minute requests before I go shopping tomorrow afternoon? Maybe I’ll make a new video for my other YouTube channel: Chillaxing Scenes. Check it out!

Back to School I Go!

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Sorry, I’m not going to be a grad student or anything. I had my chance and now it seems too late. It also seems that having advanced degrees don’t convey much of an advantage to foreign job seekers in Japan. I’m back to the office and classroom soon. Now is a time of preparation for different lessons and teaching methods.

At home things are good and I hope to have a new beer review soon to late Saturday. Any suggestions? Styles? What Japanese brews are you all curious about?

No books right now. I’m deep into Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen. I have never not liked anything he’s written. I’m also carefully working my way through Robert Cialdini’s Influence. There is so much in it, I’m sure I’ll be referring back to it often.

After either of those is done I’m jumping into 1491. I’d like to think I know a lot about Pre-Colombian history in North and South America, but there is always something to learn.

Hope to have something more exciting but that is about all. So I guess I’ll leave you with this calm, relaxing YouTube video of night cityscapes and sounds. Sorry, it would let me embed the video link.

Two Beers at Once! Wow!!

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The best way to train and improve something is through incrementally increasing practice. Writers start with one word, then a sentence, a paragraph, a page, a chapter, and finally a book. Still drinking responsibly, this is a two brew review post. I’m not sure if that corresponds to a page or chapter. It’s certainly not a sentence because I would be sick by the end of a page.

Our beers for this post are two similar stouts. They’re both Japanese, brewed in different parts of the country.

I’ll start with the more familiar Minoh Stout out of, Minoh, of course.

This is a bit of a 久しぶりmoment (that’s hisashiburi—long time no see). I’ve been drinking Minoh for almost as long as I’ve been in Kansai but it’s been a few years since I’ve had this one. If I remember correctly, it was probably at a Kansai Craft Beer Live of a few years past.

The details are simple: 5.5% ABV and all malt. The roasted malts are most prominent but not bitter at all. I would say there is a sweetness holding hands with the toasty notes.

I give it an almost 4 but say it still is a little thinner on the body than I usually like.

Beer #2, all the way from Kanto!

The cute owl on the bottle of Hitachi no Nest Sweet Stout is complete creativity compared to the business only Minoh bottle.

This Sweet Stout isn’t so sweet, perhaps as much so as the Minoh Stout. I wonder if it’s location quietly sitting out on a shelf instead of properly chilled like the Minoh Stout has anything to do with it. Different though is a fuller body that lingers giving any sweetness a longer life.

I haven’t drank, nor found much Hitachi no Nest down this way but will keep looking. I give this Sweet Stout a 4 but it’s not quite the same style as the Minoh so their numbers don’t really compete. The Minoh is much more sessionable in my opinion, the Hitachi no Nest is a bit more of a one-at-a-time brew even with a lower ABV of 4%.

Overall I like them both but the state they were found, I’d rather try again under more similar conditions—like a festival. I so miss beer festivals. I’m sure we’ll have them again, but until then….

The Remaining Weekend

Designs, domains, and computer monitors. More of the same. New monitors, actually used, for the Mac and eventual gaming set up.

A few designs are here. Just check out the Kansaiclikker shop if you’re interested. You’re interested of course, right?

Just a few of over 300 designs!!!

On one final note, I started reading Squeeze me: a novel by Carl Hiaasen. I believe it’s his latest and he doesn’t disappoint. I’m barely in and it’s already brimming with quirky Florida characters that in some ways are the epitome of Florida Man.

School starts up soon but I believe I’ll be able to continue posting. It gets easier as long as I keep at it. Okay, most of the time it gets easier.

Beer Reviews Are Back!

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Okay, I’m only doing one today. I’m a bit rusty. My palate isn’t what it used to be but here goes.

Today’s beer is an Irish Stout I’ve never seen before. I picked it up along with a few other brews at the local Aeon. O’Hara’s Irish Stout is a craft brewed in Ireland. It is that and more. The ABV is a modest 4.3%, typical for a Traditional Dry Irish Stout. It has 36 IBUs—mid-range for its style.

O’Hara’s Irish Stout

Good body but the head dissipated quickly probably due to the time for shipping from Ireland and the bottle was sitting out on a shelf with no temperature regulation.

Just like the website states, I quickly found the coffee and licorice flavors prominent. I didn’t taste much fuggles hops throughout but, again, I’m still rebuilding my palate. Also, any espresso notes were quite subtle if not gone.

Overall, it’s not a bad Irish Stout considering the distance traveled from its brewery and the broken cold chain. Taking those things into consideration, I would give it a 3.5 out of 5; maybe a 3.75. Aeon needs to work on the cold chain.

My next ones are coming up in a couple days or so. They’ll be a surprise. Let me just leave this link as a good reference and hint: Craft Beer in Japan: the Essential Guide.Mark Meli is an incredibly knowledgeable and nice guy.*

Now, just to throw in a shameless plug, I got a few more designs in today and yesterday. Pushing the Halloween stuff in now, hoping the early bird does catch the worm.

* Not everyone likes Amazon but the link is connected to my affiliate account so if you click on it and buy (the book or anything else), I get a small bit which will go toward buying more beer to review and consider.

Whoa! Missed it again.

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Whoa is me. Building a habit is hard. Building this habit is hard when it’s constantly raining outside and we’re going into another state of emergency.

“So what did you do?”

“What I have been doing everyday.”

“Try to take over the world?”

“Yeah. And exercise, and learn something new, and laugh.”

I think I got a couple of those done.

I did finally finish the Tony Robbins book, Money: Master the Game. It’ll be good reference moving forward as I learn more about organizing my finances and try to grow what little I have. Next step is The Economics Book by DK. Their guides are great summaries which also point the reader toward more in depth reading.

More designs and school starting back up in a week. I hope to keep this going Beer this weekend too.

Quick Weekend Update

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It was a fun weekend though the fun part was compressed into Sunday evening. You see, the clouds parted and a pleasant breeze blew across the waters. I had a burrito and beer well spaced out on the beach in Suma, Kobe. It’s been a couple years since I have been able to get out there. There wasn’t much else to the evening. Just enjoy talking and eating while the sunset. Those are the moment you have to enjoy when you can.

The rest of the weekend leading up to that was standard staring out the window into the rain.

But today, today I put up the Kitcheney,com domain for sale. E-commerce is hard work and takes capital that doesn’t always work out. But they say it takes several tries on average to get a successful business going. Maybe the next one. Or maybe my Redbubble shop will take off with what I’ve learned managing Kitcheney. Here’s the link if anyone is interested in buying the domain.

As for the Redbubble shop, two more designs:

Oh, and I finally got the book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas. I’m looking forward to reading it; very highly recommended but I’ve studied the history a lot so it’ll be great to see what new things I’ll learn.

That’s all for now. See you in a few days.

Rain. So Much Rain!

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Not that I was going to go far or do much. There are very few places open and even though I’m fully vaccinated, many people aren’t.

I want to get a Cuban Sandwich and watch the sunset on the beach. It really doesn’t need to be summer break for that but it does give me more time. It’s that the rest of my break seems to be under a vast rain front stretching into next week. Sunsets are nicer when the sun can at least get through the cloud cover.

You see, I’m originally from Florida and finding a Cuban restaurant in a time like this is amazing. I grew up with Publix Cubans but love the ones at the Columbia in Tampa.

Whatever it is, I need some comfort food. My mom has said great things about the Barefoot Contessa but most of my recipes I got from my grandmother and mom. It doesn’t hurt to check out Modern Comfort Food: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook though.

I’m getting too much into the weeds of what I miss though. I really would like to announce that I’m putting up my kitchen shop, Kitcheney, for sale. I’ve talked about it before. It’s just too much for me to keep at and hope someone else will find a better, profitable home for it. Or the domain alone could bring them a lot more profit.

I’ve also got a bunch of designs launching in my Redbubble shop. I suppose that is why I will sell Kitcheney. I need to organize and manage things better.

And no beer for now. I’ve got plenty of mead and some hard cider left.

Oops…

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I forgot. Remedying that here. As I’m working at making it a habit, I’m writing just a short quip here. Quip.

Nothing really for the last few days. Exercising and walking in the morning. Terrible weather forecast for the next week and a half so maybe no Cubanos on the beach for dinner. But not giving up hope.

I’ll be back though…soon.

Beer is Good! And the Olympics are over.

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It’s been a while. A while as in a very long time. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as such. And it was a Punk IPA. And it was good. not the most responsible song but….

BrewDog Punk IPA

One of my favorites, it was like seeing an old friend in person after this pandemic is over (even though it’s not). I bought it at my local Aeon from a shelf, unrefrigerated, but on sale so I figured why not? Maybe they had it for a while; they certainly have a problem with the cold chain. Letting it chill for a night—so hard to wait—might have helped. The grapefruit and pineapple wee prominent but not overpowering—well balanced. Beer Advocate has a good review and might be able to help you find this treat in your area.

Along with the beer, my family and I watched the closing ceremony to the 2020 Olympics. (History note: it was delayed for a year.) the music was awesome done mostly by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. They even did a ska version of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. My wife and I don’t get to do much together but we do go to their concerts whenever we can.

Finally today another nice brew: Erdinger’s Dunkel. It’s sweet but not as much as a Belgian Dubbel or Trippel. Beer Advocate gives it an average of 3.75 but I might give it a bit more. I haven’t had another dunkel for years so I need to try more for experience.

One more tipped passed my lips as well, a nice hard cider from Nagano. It’s a bit sweeter than what I’ve had before but here again, I need to try more. I am thinking of getting American Cider: A Modern Guide to a Historic Beverage to learn more. Has anyone read it?

The rest is history: more Redbubble and Teespring designs, a typhoon, and the possibility of getting two good used monitors for the price of one (in Japan).