Anon's rage-a-torium: post here

Anon-

You are actually dumb enough to post a threat of bodily harm on a blog directed at me and my wife. Are you really that stupid? Do you realize the legal ramifications that type of post has, especially if you followed through on your threat?

I'll admit I am intrigued to find out if you are a total moron or just too angry or too dry a humorist. So here goes.

You are an ass. Ass. Ass. Ass.

Post a comment with your email and I'll get in touch if you think you can really follow through on your threat.

Ass.

In 2009 came the Reformation

Recently one commenter made mention of an idea to ressurect the 'Prairie Schooners' which was Springfield's very own homebrew club. I cannot tell everyone how excited I am about this prospect. Homebrewing solo or with a group is a pretty rewarding experience but at some point your monkey sphere limits the extent you can disseminate your brews and share the experiences of homebrewing.

Bonus link: What is a Monkey Sphere? http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

My particular speculation on the death of the Prairie Schooner's is linked to the demise of the Grape nad Grain which was Springfield's only true homebrew/winemaking supply store. These shops offer something besides specialized and hard-to-find materiel. They provide camraderie and someone to discuss your passion with. We have other venues: Tuck and online vendors but it just isn't the same.

Since this economic climate may not facilitate the opening of a venture so narrowly defined as a homebrew shop then a suitable and enjoyable substitute is the homebrew club. If this gets off the ground and running then I hope some of you brewers out there and some of you wannabes will give it a whirl.

I'll definitely post information as it becomes available to me and, to the ressurectionists, I am willing to help. Just let me know how.

Little Red Cobblers and the Lincoln Land Lagers

My personal homebrewery is named Red Cobblers which I fictitiously created and branded with my buddy when we started homebrewing in August of 2007. The derivation of name is from losse translations of our last names and just seemed to be catchy. My blog title is an extension of my branding and the naked shoemaker elves. I even made shirts for us, the owners, to wear around town so if you see a couple of WOOBs (white old obese males) in this logo then you have correctly identified the blog owner or his close associate.

I will say homebrewing is a very satisfying hobby if you love beer. If you don't love beer then I am not sure why you'd really want to engage in the practice. It can be time consuming and cleaning, sanitizing, brewing, the wait and bottling are really hard to get through without a beer in your hand. To share in the burden and create more variety at once, my homebrewery has formed a cooperative with other homebreweries: Skillet Brewing and others.

We title ourselves The Lincolnland Lagers. I thought it was a great title because I attended LLCC and it was way too obtuse for non-locals to get. In retrospect, it was dumb because we, as a group, don't lager anything. I just don't want to give anyone the wrong impression. If you brew with our crew then you are makin ale, son. I did, too late, decide we could call ourselves the Lincoln Alesplitters but we are based in Springfield and I already made our group and logo so boo to me.



Anyway, last Saturday was teach a friend to homebrew and I completed that task last year and I now brew with all my real beer-drinking friends so this is my simple effort to encourage homebrewing.

Please start homebrewing. It is fun. It is worthwhile. You will make mistakes but your beer will be some of the best beer you've ever had. It is just like how much you love your rotten kids just cause you made them.

Red Cobblers Artful Pale

I have been homebrewing for about a year now and I love making and consuming my own beer. I still buy plentiful amounts of craft brews but I crave variety in my brewing so I drink commercial products alongside my own. To be honest though, there is one thing I like about the homebrewing hobby more then actually brewing my own beer.

Designing labels for my beers.

I admit it. I am a wannabe artist and, until I met photoshop, I was a mostly frustrated one at that. Photoshop has let me tinker with images and produce things I find more appealing. I added a digital Rebel XTi last year for my birthday and have been predominately sourcing my own creations ever since.



This is my latest label creation for my latest beer, a pale ale (slightly on the hoppy side). It completes my set of beer labels featuring myself, my wife and our two dogs. It is extremely fulfilling to me to present a friend or family member with a homebrew to take home with and attractive label that I hope they'll enjoy as much as the beer.

I am still a frustrated artist though because some of the work out there by other homebrewers far surpasses mine but, if you are ever lucky or unlucky enough to receive one of my bottles, please cherish it if only for the amount of time to pour because if that beer got a label then it mieans it was a beer made with love.