Life is precious

I didn't quite know what to write or how to write it.  It's something you just don't expect, especially at such a young age.

He was 33, he'd been married just under 3 years.  I'd only found out a couple months ago that he had cancer and it wasn't until yesterday morning that I made the time to read his journal on CaringBridge.com.  It was an arduous, painful 8-month journey, I messaged him, let him know I was thinking about him, shared a few jokes I remembered about him and at 3:45 pm yesterday, he left this world.

Cancer is a difficult thing to understand.  It's indiscriminate, it has no bias and it touches everyone of us in the form of friends and loved ones.  I hadn't seen him for years.  We went to school together, church, we were in Boy Scouts together and as life goes from there, we lost touch.

Life often has a way of catching us completely off balance, knocking us back and causing us to reflect and that's where I am.  Lost for words.  Yesterday, this world lost a giant of a man and an example to look up to and heaven was jealous of his homecoming.  I have tremendous respect for the life that he chose to live and it's evidenced by the many comments and tributes to him.

Life is a precious gift, live it to the fullest!

Cheers to Davin, eternal freedom

Davin Henrickson 1978 - 2012

Grand Teton Brewing Company

It's exciting to see an Idaho Brewery make news nationally and when CraftBeer.com reported on one of our own, I couldn't help but share.  Can't wait to try this one out on the patio this summer.


 VICTOR, ID - Grand Teton Brewing Company, known throughout the West for their exceptional craft brews, is proud to announce the release of Snarling Badger Berliner Weisse.  As part of its Cellar Reserve Series, Grand Teton Brewing Company has been brewing bold, flavorful beers and serving them from large, beautiful bottles since March 2004.  This May 15th, please welcome Snarling Badger to the 2012 Cellar Reserve Series. 


We’ve always intended these beers to be wonderful when fresh but also to be “cellarable”--to improve with months or even years of proper storage.  Over the years we’ve been happiest cellaring our strong malty beers. That’s made selecting styles for our summer Cellar Reserves a challenge, since the best beers for cellaring are not always the best beers to enjoy on a hot summer’s day.


In Berliner Weisse we think we’ve found the perfect style for our summer Cellar Reserve.  This north German wheat beer is traditionally brewed and released very fresh. It has a light body from the wheat and refreshingly tart acidity that make it a perfect summer thirst-quencher.  Its lemony tartness is provided by a secondary fermentation with Lactobacillus, the same microorganism that’s responsible for yogurt’s tang. That tartness increases and improves with age, so the people of Berlin are known to buy extra bottles to bury in their gardens for two years or more.


As usual with our Cellar Reserves, we’ve taken a traditional style and added our own twist. In this case we’ve tripled the strength over the traditional beer, which should increase its aging potential. For the primary fermentation we used traditional Bavarian hefeweizen yeast that produces soft notes of banana and clove. We followed that with Lactobacillus and six months in conditioning to create a complex fruity acidity that compliments the soft sweet malt tones and a unique ale that is both fulfilling and refreshing.


This summer time ale perfectly compliments spicy salmon filets from the grill and can wash down your savory BBQ pork ribs with ease.  Enjoy with a fresh arugula salad or salty french fries with blue cheese dressing for dipping.  For dessert try, grilled pineapple drizzled with honey.


Cheers


Article courtesy of CraftBeer.com

Tap Into Life

"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.  To put to rout all that was not life and not that I had come to die, discover that I had not lived."


Henry David Thoreau

I don't read poetry, I wasn't an english major, I didn't attend an ivy league school, in fact, I've got about a year left if I were to finish my Bachelor's Degree.  I don't earn a six-figure income, I don't drive a Jaguar, I don't wear a suit and tie and I don't live in a 4,000 square foot house.

I'm not a member of the Country Club, I don't have the latest fashions, I don't vacation in Europe and I don't have season tickets to any sporting events.  I don't have a "usual table", I'm not known by name at the nicest restaurants and I don't have an American Express Platinum.

I am a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a friend, a provider, a listener, a lover of adventure, a seeker of the extraordinary and a pursuer of life.  I bike, I ski, I snowshoe, I camp, I hike, I workout, I read, I work, I enjoy good food, I drink great beer and I challenge myself everyday.

What I am, is far more important than what I'm not and what I have, far outweighs what I sometimes think I need.

I've made the decision to, "Tap into life!"

Cheers

Welcome back.....

I have to admit, the unseasonably warm weather created quite the welcome back to the cabin.  It's a little hard for me to believe, but it's been just over a month since I was last here.  The snow is now gone, I've missed a majority of the muddy season and things are beginning to turn green.

Easing open the front door, I still feel as though I'm stepping back in time.  No phone, no internet and no television.  I have to be honest, I've missed, not having the opportunity for the distraction.  A few pieces of firewood remain, chopped and ready to warm the cabin from the cool evening and brisk morning.

For now, I'll enjoy the sunshine in my shirt sleeves on the deck, a folding chair, a cold beer and a view of the lake in the distance.  While I'm already beginning to write about refreshing summer brews as the temps push the 90 degree mark in the valley, I'll enjoy the 20 degree difference with one of my last bottles of Odell, Mountain Standard a more than suitable Black IPA for spring.

With lots of work ahead, I'm reminded of all the work that's been accomplished here.  The change and transformation that has taken place.  Just like the cabin, I too have experienced transformation and just like the sunshine now on the deck, I have a new season in my life to look forward to.

Cheers

Front porchin' it with a brew.  '70's image style

Welcome back, '70's image style

Summer Beer List

Here it is, my unofficial, unrated list of summer refreshment.  As the temps rise and you find yourselves outdoors more and more in the coming months, there will arise a need for a crisp, ice cold pick me up.

Fire up the BBQ with a cedar planked salmon, squeeze a lime on those fish tacos or drizzle some balsamic vinaigrette on that grilled chicken salad.  Each of these ice cold brews should pair nicely with summer's feasts.

Deschutes, Twilight Summer Ale
Samuel Adams, Light
Alaskan, Summer Kolsch-Style Ale
Anchor Brewing Company, Summer Beer
Southern Tier, HopSun Summer Wheat Beer
Dogfish Head, Aprihop
Odell, Easy Street Wheat
Stella Artois
Pyramid Brewing, Apricot Ale
Great Divide Brewing, Wild Raspberry Ale
Dogfish Head, Festina Peche
Lagunitas, IPA

So hop on the bike, mow the lawn, float the river or go for a hike and enjoy working your way through this list.

Cheers

The search for refreshing summer beer

As the weather in Idaho goes, it has all of a sudden radically changed.  In just a few days we have arrived at the 90 degree mark.  All those reasons we love the great state of Idaho begin to morph into the culture and events of the warm weather.

This weekend included my wife's birthday, some rock climbing, an evening on the patio in downtown Boise with friends, the first warm weather camp of the season with my son, the firepit, some BBQ and Hull's Gulch on the Mountain Bike followed by the search for a refreshing beer.

What is it that characterizes a refreshing craft beer?  After a 2400 foot vertical climb in the foothills on a mountain bike an afternoon of mowing the lawn or even a relaxing float down the Boise River I guarantee I'm not going to grab a thick, chewy stout.

Light-bodied, golden, crisp and citrusy with a spritzy carbonation, that's what I'm looking for.  After Sunday's ride Dan and I took the opportunity to enjoy the patio at Brewforia Beer Market.  In light of last weeks post, we challenged ourselves to find not only a refreshing summer beer (a little ahead of summer beer shipping) in a can.

The search for my usual refreshers, Pyramid Brewing, Hefeweizen (formerly Haywire), Apricot Ale and Stella Artois came up short.  While it wasn't quite as light as I'd been looking for, I did enjoy a Caldera Brewing, Pale Ale and have now challenged myself to create "The Summer Refresher List."

Enjoy your time outside and post some of your favorites or email me at aaron@barrelhaus.com

Cheers

Rock Climbing at Urban Ascent for Melissa's birthday

Ye Olde Hill Climb

Going Haywire!!

Baby Steps........Try Craft Beer

I often read other Craft Beer websites and blogs and while I'm quite sure that they serve a purpose, it's just not what I want to deliver.  It would seem to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, that the average craft beer drinker, has no idea what a gravity reading is, have just become familiar with the term ABV and some may not have even found an IPA they can drink.

Enter, me.  Average Joe, beer passionate, life experience ready.  It seems as though overnight, craft beer has become an absolute craze.  Every restaurant I've been into in the past three months seems to have aspirations of opening their own brewery. That's great, but, please don't.  Craft beer is an adventure and it's something I believe you need to be passionate about.  I certainly don't want to drink a beer, brewed by an out of work lender who got a few past clients to throw together some money for at an attempt at a return on investment.

Great, I'm sure you're satisfied at my above opinion, now what?  The Brewer's Association has recently released the Top 50 Breweries in 2011.  Now, keep in mind, this is by sales volume, obviously, the bigger breweries are going to be closer to the top, nevertheless, a great place to start.

In light of recent requests, I'll be sharing some of my favorites that got me started in craft beer, some great price points, the IPA that opened my eyes and I may even get my wife to share her feelings on beer, from a woman's perspective.  Let's take the training wheels off and enjoy the ride.

Cheers