That's a Lot of Hops.

This comes from The Times NWI dot com

When it's cold and snowy during the month of November in Northwest Indiana, warm and sunny July days seem far away.

But in the world of movies and entertainment, July 2009 is just around the corner.

For all the readers who have been asking, Universal Pictures is promising that trailers for the much-anticipated "Public Enemies" film, which will be released nationally in July 2009, will hit theaters by Christmas Day.

Everyone who worked in this movie by director Michael Mann and starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Channing Tatum during the filming in Crown Point and assorted Chicago locations is eager to find out which scenes have stayed in the final print and what landed on the cutting-room floor (and perhaps destined to be included in a future expanded version later released on DVD).

Of course, the studio folks never make any promises about just "how much" footage will be used for the theater trailer teases.

When it's a film starring an A-lister like Depp, often, darkness, intrigue and an ominous voiceover hinting at the plot and excitement promised to unfold on future movie screens can be enough to draw an audience as a hook.

Meanwhile, the studio is being generous with allowing a few select charities to auction off VIP invites to the big West Coast red carpet premiere in Los Angeles and to the "after" cast party.

The most recent charity ticket opportunity is now up for eager fans at charityfolks.com to benefit the legal fund for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, and the lot is described as follows:

"Grab a friend and bid now for two film premiere tickets and after-party passes to attend the premiere of 'Public Enemies,' starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum and Elliot Goldenthal! The premiere is slated to occur in early 2009 in Los Angeles, Calif. 'Public Enemies' is a 2009 film adaptation of author Bryan Burrough's book 'Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34,' directed by Michael Mann. The crime drama is set during The Great Depression with the focus on the FBI agent Melvin Purvis' (Bale) attempt to stop criminals John Dillinger (Depp), Baby Face Nelson (played by Stephen Graham) and Pretty Boy Floyd (Tatum)."

As of Friday, the bidding was up to $2,300 and the auction ends 2 p.m. Dec. 1.
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On a side note I am in need of an . . . . . . operation that will be done in early 2009 and need a few thousand that my insurance will not cover. Anyone want to help a poor poor guy out?
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Was that a magical night of football or what!! WOW - talk about getting your ass kicked. GREAT Defense guys!!! I hope the Jets go on to the Superbowl so the Packers can draft a defensive lineman that can get to within 10 yards of a Quarterback.

I am so freaking tired of announcers comparing Favre to Rogers - move along. You can not compare, two different teams and if you do compare, Rogers is kicking Favre's butt if you look at each QB's 1st year. The one thing I did hear that was true was if the Pack kept Farve this year they lose Rogers to free agency and we go into 2009 with . . . . . Matt Flynn? SWEET!!!

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Who wants some Black Cat MILD - it is not racing off the shelves. I guess that is one of the problems with making a beer style that you have no idea what it will taste like. So now I have a case and a half of 3% alcohol brew with a smokey flavor which is great but . . . . . It's like drinking decaf coffee - why bother.

My newest brew, Andy's Twelve Stroke IPA is rocking and rolling in the carboy. Very active brew. I added half an ounce of hops about every 10 minutes. But it's not just the amount of hops but what kind and how it is balanced with the malt. I think to many people just overdue the hops and forget the other components.

I used Amarillo Hops. The recipe called for Centennial (Two Hearted Ale an award willing IPA uses 100% Centennial) but with the hops shortage Centennial was hard to find.

Here is a review of Amarillo

Amarillo is, at least what I call, a honey-pineapple flavor, with notes of tangerine. It is citrusy, but not nearly in the same way as Cascade, Centennial, Columbus, etc. Those are all grapefruity/citrusy. Amarillo is smooooooth pineapple, little notes of honey, little floral notes... Very different. It's awesome in an IPA.

For anyone keeping score here was my hops schedule

0.5oz of Centennial First Wort
1.0oz Amarillo 60min
0.5oz Centennial 60min
0.25oz Amarillo 50
0.25oz Amarillo 30
0.25oz Amarillo 20
0.25oz Amarillo 05

and will add 0.5oz Amarillo DRY Hopping as soon as fermentation starts to calm down a little.
That's 3.5 ounces of hops.

My newest brew now has a label.

I used hazelnut extract but I'm looking for different stuff now. I used Liquor Quick Hazelnut Essence but I'm looking for another souce (real Hazelnuts?). I'm actually not big on flavored beer but Rogue Hazelnut is so unique I had to try my hand at it.
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MAN - I don't know who got my email address but after two years - BLAME!! I'm getting 20-30 spams a day all of a sudden!! I might have to change my email address - this is getting silly.

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Enough for today - I'll be off of work for the next 2 days and back on Friday.

since we had Thanksgiving already we're thinking of going to a movie in Beaver Dam - that must be open Thursday right??

Rod - out