Volsung Tribe Campfire

Ok, heads-up this is not going to be the usually sweet send off to the closing of the year known as 2007, repleat with stories of courage, feats of the fantastic, or reminiscings of the romantic.

Nay! I say, "PISS-OFF 2007!'. Go home, nobody loves ya! If 2007 were my dog, I'd shave its ass and teach it to walk backwards. 2007 fell out of the ugly tree and hit EVERY BRANCH! The best part of 2007 washed out to the gutter New Year's Day with pretzels, beer & stale vomit. CURSE YOU 2007!

When I lift my tankard full of swill & tangy bits on new year's eve, it will not be to honor this past year, but to beseach the new year for something better! Something grand, something magnificent! Quell the instability in the middle-east! Give us a president who might take resonable actions to improve our economy, our livelihoods, our well-being! Give us a housing market not measured in foreclosures, but in new home starts! Give us $55/barrel of crude, and for GOD"S SAKE give the ol'US greenback more value than the Loonie! (Sorry gents up north! We love ya!)

2008, the bar has been set so very low, so take this opportunity to 'year-up' and make your mark! 2008! Hazzah! Hazzah! Hazzah!

~Urgon




p.s. yes, I feel better now...

hear hear!!

May the new year bring everything that Urg said and more for all of you!

<3

2007 was pretty good for me, except for a nasty bit there in June when I was kidnapped and forced to consort with hooligans and degenerates.

Kharybdis wrote:2007 was pretty good for me, except for a nasty bit there in June when I was kidnapped and forced to consort with hooligans and degenerates.

Yeah, that was the highpoint for me too!

I'm convinced that the 4th of July was a bad dream...

unless Phisto can post that photo he took of himself as an Alabama redneck.

what was wrong with the 4th of July? IT WAS AWESOME!!!!

Happy New Years everyone...may it be healthy, wealthy and wise

#@(&! 2008! What the #*(& was I thinking?!?

2007 was a dream compared to 2008. The only thing that I got on my 2008 wishlist was a cheap barrel of crude! (and thank you for that! )

2009, please be as good as 2007! please!?!
~Urgon

bah all you negatice nellies and saying 2008 was bad, was WAY better than 2007

I Hope that 2009 is better than 2008...for sure

Urgon wrote:#@(&! 2008! What the #*(& was I thinking?!?

2007 was a dream compared to 2008. The only thing that I got on my 2008 wishlist was a cheap barrel of crude! (and thank you for that! )

2009, please be as good as 2007! please!?!
~Urgon

Yeah, you had to go and call down karmic justice on your ass, didn't ya?

Hey, 2k9. What's shakin'?

Kharybdis wrote:Yeah, you had to go and call down karmic justice on your ass, didn't ya?

Yeah.. my bad... Think I'm going to try brewing more this year. That was what went wrong!
~Urgon

p.s. have a scotch ale in the fermenter right now! Yummmmmmm!

Hey all,

Was feeling a bit bad about not stopping by the site for the past few weeks, and found this thread to add an update to.

2009 is a mixed bag thus far, but may fair better than 2007! (we won't talk about @#(!@( '08!)

Partly that is due to the fact that I have indeed starting brewing more & in earnest! I upgraded my equipment to go all-grain with a 10 gallon mash tun & brew kettle!

It's been a lot of fun, and I'm immersing myself in learning a lot of new brewing knowledge & techniques. Last month, I did my first all-grain batch: 5 gallons of an American Amber Ale. I bottled that last weekend, and will do my 2nd batch this weekend: 5 gallons of an American Pale Ale.

My gruit ale from November has mellowed considerably. Where it used to rip your tastebuds off, it now just kicks them in the nuts. I brewed the scotch ale to combine 50/50 with the gruit and improve the bitterness:sweetness ratio. The combo is very tasty, and I'm working on a proper single recipe to bring it all home.

(BTW, Gruit ale is made with herbs & spices instead of hops .. a traditional medival method of beer making which predates the Crusades) Sourcing of the herbs is the tough aspect. I may even start growing a select group of hard to find ones like Yarrow & Skullcap. Suprisingly, Greater Wormwood has become more available recently.

Anyways, I'll see if I can sneak some accross state lines to Nevada in July!

Work has been steady, but car sales are still in the toilet. My software business is about to release its first product, and that should be a huge hit.

Family is great, weather is beautifull, lots of cool friends here online. Hope all is going well for everyone out there. We say it all the time at my office now, but these are definitely 'strange times'.

(BTW, there is that old curse ..."May you live in interesting times")

Peace, out!
~Urgon

Hey, Urgon...

Let me know how the gruit ales turn out. I've tried some of those herb-based ales from Scotland (heather, pine, elderberry, etc.) and they were fantastic.

Kharybdis wrote:Hey, Urgon...

I've tried some of those herb-based ales from Scotland (heather, pine, elderberry, etc.) and they were fantastic.

Excellent! I recently tried one called 'Froach', which is flavored with Scottish heather ... very enjoyable!

I scored an old copy of Culpepper's Herbal guide a few years back, and have been reading up on *properties* of suggested herbs. I think I can work up a real relaxing & mellow induced gruit recipe from all that. Just need to try out a few batches with different quantities of the herbs. When they overpower the beer, it is not as enjoyable.

n.b. My 2nd gruit recipe I'm trying to theme upon Olde British Isles. Picking a good scottish ale recipe for the malty sweetness, and herbals from around the Isles... May call is something like Grand Druid Gruit ... will use an Edinburgh style yeast strain too..!

Will keep you posted!
--Urgon

p.s. American Amber is fermenting nicely! Should be a good one!