place-based potables

After weeks of waiting, we bottled another batch of homebrew yesterday. This one's a lager.  I wanted to give it a name describing the place where we did the brewing. "Four Lakes Lager" had a nice ring, but we couldn't find the right background image for the label.  Historical maps of the area either showed too much detail of the lakes, or not enough. Finally, Bob, our visiting brewmeister, suggested "Lake Wingra Lager". Since the lake is much smaller than the four lakes chain, we were able to find a suitable map and label image. Perfect.

 

The label features a plat map from the 1840s, with little Lake Wingra right in the middle. 

winter fishin

For most of us, winter doesn't officially start until December 22, but in Wisconsin, fall is over.

How do we know?

 For starters, it 5ºF outside, and there's 10" of snow on the ground. 

I've often asked friends and neighbors, "Why do we live here?" It's so cold and dark!

So, to escape the harsh Wisconsin climate, last weekend I took a trip down south, to the sunny shores of New Jersey, where supposedly there's good striper fishing this time of year. Our gracious host assured us winter is a great time to go fishing. No bugs, no crowds, and it's easy to keep your beer cold.  We didn't catch anything worth mentioning, other than something resembling an alien.

pumpkin ale

Way back on my 30th birthday, I invited some folks over to try some homebrewing.

Six weeks later, we're now enjoying the fruits of our labor -- a nice, smooth pumkin ale. It doesn't taste quite as good as it did straight from the fermenter, but it's definitely drinkable.