Good Grief

Apparently, this city has gone through great lengths to install speakers in the light posts downtown. The tourists have arrived, so the music started today. I live downtown and there's a speaker right outside my open window. I get to have contemporary country music courtesy of "old job" blasting into my room for the next 20 or so weeks. I can't seem to escape, no matter how remote I relocate.

Some palate cleansers:

Some Things

Stout Mash

The first 20 minutes are rough, but it's a lovely trail.

A wonderful sign at the top of Lover's Leap.

On Holding Back

So I finally dumped all my stock in "old job." I haven't thought about that place much since I left, but for some reason dumping the stock really made me realize how much pent-up anger I still have towards them. I wrote up a huge post that, upon reflection, probably isn't the best idea to make public. 

I will save you the trouble of reading all that nonsense and just tell you that I wasted several important years of my life in that well-decorated cubicle.

Joe Strummer once said:

"The voices in your head are calling: stop wasting your time, there's nothing coming. Only a fool would think someone could save you. The men at the factory are old an cunning. You don't owe nothin', boy get running. It's the best years of your life they want to steal."

Joe: ∞

Mike: 0 

In lieu of my unpublished diatribe, here are some fun links and pictures: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNAX5MrIIa4 

Guajillo Chilles going into the boil. We're making a guajillo-orange saison that I'm very excited about.

Drove through Custer State Park for the first time last weekend. We saw a lot of buffalo.Here's a little guy with its mum.  A foreign tourist scoffed at us because we waited for the little one to cross the street in front of us. Apparently we ruined his photo op.

That's a lot of buffalo.

The burro will stick their face in your window.  No fucks given.

970 pounds of malt that I hauled inside. The folks at the warehouse left me a salted nut roll surprise, which coincidentally enough, was my nickname in college.

Cust' Punx

Hell Friends,

Things are going well in the hills of Western South Dakota. I'm working long days and lifting heavy shit and being on my feet and getting mysterious cuts on my hands and making things I can be proud of without having some shithead, corporate stooge breathing down my neck. 

Cleaning kegs is an art form. I gotta check the Cleaning Pyramid  to make sure that my boss' are OK with the "coolness" and "originality" of  how I clean them, though.. They're real sticklers about that stuff. 

This is going to end up in an ad somewhere. I'd also like to point out that I found this awesome walking stick behind the door of my apartment. I scored big time.

BE Lounge. VIP only, cant you see the rope?

I heard you like hops.... Seriously, though, this smells fantastic. 

In summary, if I may quote the great philosopher Brett Netson: "Kill Corpo Pigs."

Newd pix

Im sitting in a walk-in cooler filling kegs, so ive got a little downtime. Here are some pixxx. If you follow me on instagram these might not be newd to you

Custin' Loose

Hi everyone! Today marks the first time ever in my adult life that I've been up before 8:30 AM on both a Saturday and Sunday morning. Yesterday we had our first brewday since I've arrived. We started bright and early. I'm pooped. The thin mountain air and Mountain Time are contributing factors as well. Having a great time so far though. Here are some of those saucy brewpixxx you've all been asking for:

Straight up drizzlin' all over dat malt

Droppin' hop bags in the boil like it ain't no thang.

We take all our spent grains to this farm a mile outside of town. Here's my new donkey friend enjoying some.

A couple days ago me and The Bossman took off a few hours early to hike Sunday Gulch. We got about 1/4 mile into the trail before it turned into a giant ice hill, so we had to turn around. It's still super cold and snowing off and on out here. The low last night was somwhere in the mid-20s. 

Here are some pictures from the attempted hike:

Sylvan Lake

Six inches of snow with a stream running underneath it. Not the safest thing in the world.

The YMCA across the street is having their yearly rummage sale. Check out all the cool shit I got for $10

Sacagawea waterbottle.  Jealous? 

Tha Cust

Tackling Kegger Mountain (By Strategy)

My new Manifesto-writin' space. Also pictured: The Kev

Custer? I barely know'er!

Hi everyone, sorry my BOLG POSTS have been so infrequent. It's hard to find time to write up a summary of stuff that happened while you're actually on the road. Not to mention the fact that my phone has been spilling the Pepsi when it comes to uploading photos since I left DC.

Anyway, I am writing this from my swanky downtown high rise in Custer, SD.

When I last left you I had just arrived at my parents house in Aberdeen, SD. I spent three days in town and had a great time with some of my friends who are still keeping it real there. On Sunday I went to a BBBQ where I got to meet a bunch of my friend's kids. It was great. Jimmy and I reunited the Beer Pong team from our High School reunion last summer to play a Cornhole-esque game that involved throwing washers into a wooden box with a metal cylinder in the middle. We each won $5 playing. I look forward to the next time we reunite and inadvertently achieve world domination. Thanks to STV and Chun as well, that was the most fun I've had in Aberdeen in a long time. It was great to see my Parents and Grandmother as well. Thanks Mom and Dad for the tasty food, letting me inconvenience you for a couple days, the storage space and everything else. I'm not just saying that because I know you read this, Mom. I truly mean it. You guys are the best.

 I didn't know how big my digs in Custer would be, so I left a bunch of stuff in storage. I only brought 16 LPs with me. All essentials. Can you guess them all ?(Hint:  Born to Run and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters aren't pictured)

There's a whole lot of nothingness between Aberdeen and the Rapid City area. This was taken from a "scenic overlook" on I-90. That's miles and miles of nothingness...

I made the trek to Custer from Aberdeen on Tuesday. The drive was pretty great. I haven't been to Western SD since I was 19. Living in DC for the last 6 years really made me appreciate the lack of any other cars on the road. There was a point between Redfield and Pierre where I didn't see another car for 90 minutes.

As soon as I passed through Rapid City, it started snowing. The temperature fell from 45 to 31 in a matter of minutes.

That sign in the distance says "Custer." Fuck you, Hollywood.

Almost as soon as the snow started, my favorite local radio DJ, SDPB's own Uncle Jimmo, played a really great Freddie Hubbard track and everything was OK. The drive made me feel like I was on the set of Rambo: First Blood.  I made it to my new home in one piece and everything is great. Two of my best friends, Chris and Lando were here to greet me. Awesome!

The Brewpub doesn't open until the 14th, but we've got a lot of work to do before then. We're cleaning kegs tomorrow so I have to go to bed. Goodnight!