Guardians & Their Duties

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Saturday, Izzy & I went to El Cerrito Theatre for the first time & hit a matinee of “Guardians of the Galaxy” starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Benecio Del Toro and the voice talents of Bradley Cooper & Vin Diesel. It’s the story of a group of five space misfits who find themselves teaming up to not only escape prison but to save the universe from destruction. That’s about it… and if you want more specifics, I’m sure you can get them online. It’s through Marvel studios… and one of their less popular entries (for example, I didn’t know squat about it until they announced it a year or so ago) but let me tell you… this movie… was AMAZING!!! The effects are great… the characters are… well, some are kind of cliché but still very interesting, funny, exciting… the bad guys are badasses… it’s just an amazing time in the theatre to share with others… and the soundtrack is absolutely thrilling… but then again, I was kinda raising on the hits of the 70’s & 80’s rock. Not only do I recommend going to see it in the theatre… I’d probably go with you if you invited me. It’s worth the price of admission… and not too many movies out there can say that. GO SEE IT!!! Solid frontrunner for Movie of the Year in the $tevie Awards!!! The role that Vin Diesel was born to play… and he should be nominated for an award that Bradley Cooper wins!

 

After the movie, we made our way back across the bay to my place & we did a few homebrew related activities starting with transferring the ChocoNut Stout from the primary fermenter to secondary…

 

Then we kegged the Cali Common brewed at Motobrewer & prepared specifically for unveiling at the Northern California Homebrewers Festival in about a month…

Then we cold crashed the keg in the kegerator and took out the Bock to let it warm up slightly… so that Sunday morning, we could bottle it & get some great carbonation (and then some)…

 

We also got to taste test all three during the processes & checking the gravity, etc. The ChocoNut Stout tastes like an excellent chocolate stout (coconut added later), the Cali Common tastes like a strong Cali Common (which makes sense because it was 8 points high in brewing) and the Bock… is a little more bitter than I was expecting but still VERY good and that may mellow out a bit later on. We also used the Chocolate Malt instead of Black Prinz, which in future batches using the Black Prinz will reduce the bitterness. Either way though, we’ve been making some very good beer.

 

Izzy has also made some wonderful meals for me this weekend… including pineapple & kiwi (that we also dehydrated), turkey burgers, bagels with smoked salmon & capers, and boar burgers with bleu cheese slices… BEHOLD!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To work off some of those delicious meals (and beer) we hiked the Bay Area Ridge Trail of the Presidio… which was about a 4-5 mile hike… and gorgeous views along the way. Of course, my phone was dead so I didn’t have a camera to show you some pics… but I think Izzy will on her blog later… or maybe I will the next time we hike it which will probably be very soon as it’s pretty convenient to my house & a nice 90 minute or so walk.

 

Anyway, that'll do it for this entry... GO SEE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY!!! And most importantly, have a great day everybody!!!