Hello Wisconsin!!

Saw this link on one of my daily readings this morning....


Having grown up in Wisconsin and with a majority of family in the state, this doesn't surprise me.

Somethings just never change...

Nate running through the fountains with the kids.

Rodeo Trick

The "beauty" and hilarity of WGN in Chicago!

How Irish are you on this St. Patrick's Day?

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today is a day that the Irish and those who want to drink celebrate! Their is a rich history involved and a few facts worth reviewing.


Click HERE to take a test and see just how Irish you are (hint: divorce was made legal in Ireland in 1995).

Don't forget one of these toasts as you drink yourself a pint of Guinness today:

SLAINTE!

1. May your fire be as warm as the weather is cold.
2. May you have the hindsight to know where you've been,The insight to know where you are,and the foresight to know when you've gone too far.
3. May you have warm words on a cold evening,A full moon on a dark night,And the road downhill all the way to your door.
4. May God bring good health to your enemies enemies
5. May you never make an enemyWhen you could make a friend–Unless you meet a fox among your chickens.
6. May you be in heaven one half hour before the devil knows you're dead.
7. May you never forget what is worth remembering,Or remember what is best forgotten.

Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of Rum

It's Christmas time yet again and my favorite time of year! Let's get a quick run down on all the best the season has to offer.

Time for....

• Eggnog with Rum (always a hit),

• Watching Elf, Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation and Miracle on 34th Street over and over,
  
  
• Crummy college football Bowl Games... such as the Sheraton Hawaii bowl on Christmas eve featuring Hawaii vs. Notre Dame (shouldn't all the Catholics be in church??), or perhaps the Motor City Bowl featuring the mighty Central Michigan Chippewas vs. Florida Atlantic (they have a D1 team?) will tempt your pallate,

• Playoff time for the NFL,

• The NBA on NBC (it's fantastic, well, kind of),

• Time for Christmas caroling,

• and of course don't forget to volunteer or give to needing organizations if you can this year. Their are a lot of people who need assistance, toys for their kids, or food to put on the table. I recommend EFAA or the Community Food Share in the Colorado Front Range, however many places around America really could use your help.

So get out there, give back to the less fortunate, enjoy your Christmas season with family and friends, find some good deals in stores, watch a little football and enjoy yourself!

(from last year... this year's Christmas card is on its way)

The "Joe Hermann Theory of Beer" revisited

3.2 Beer: The mystery solved

I am sure many of you have wondered the whole story on 3.2 Beer. Most people actually do not take 3.2 beer to be what it really is. Lets start with a little history....First of all 3.2 comes from prohibition. You could drink alcohol if it was less than 3.2% alcohol by weight. When it was abolished with the ST amendment some states decided to keep the 'low-point' alcohol in convenient and grocery stores. 4 states still do, Oklahoma, Kansas, Utah, and Colorado. (Terrible to think about isn't it?)

American consumers generally think of alcohol in terms of alcohol by VOLUME. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) uses the weight measurement. Thus we get 3.2% Alcohol by weight (or less) beer sold in Colorado grocery stores.So what does that mean. The conversion is quite simple. Multiply the alcohol by weight by 1.25. Or multiply alcohol by volume by 0.8.

Grocery stores sell beer that is marked as 3.2% alcohol by weight.3.2% x 1.25 = 4% alcohol by volume.

Some comparisons:New Belgium Sunshine Wheat - (Belgian style wheat beer) - averages between 4.8-5.2% alcohol by volume. Multiply by .8 and we get 3.8-4.4% alcohol by weight.

New Belgium Saison - (Belgian style saison) - 4.5-9% abv.New Belgium Tripple - (Belgian style triple)- 7-10%abv.Almost every American wheat beer averages between 3.5-5% alcohol by volume. This basically means that so called '3.2% beer." Is actually what we would call 4% beer.

We have all gotten drunk off a pack off Coors tall boys, and we have all gotten drunk off Sunshine. It takes just a little more Coors to get drunk off of. When comparing them to the beer of our wonderful microbrewery it's no argument that they are stronger. I think it's easy to believe that Coors light is 4% alcohol by volume, as Joe Hermann had stated.

Beer Myth: checked out! (correct answer). Great work Joe.

You can find all the info i used at:
How to measure the weight of alcohol
Essay on alcohol content in beer
3.2 Origins