I left my Ph.D. program (where I spent a bunch of time reading journal articles about lions [and other things]) and launched this blog within about six months of each other. The launch was three years ago, on 1 June 2010 & the departure was at the end of 2010.

Sometimes, I miss my program and my studies a lot. This was particularly brought home to me a week ago, when John Romano, a teacher in Philadelphia I follow, started live-tweeting a lion documentary he was showing his class. His class was also tweeting it, with the hash tag #InLion. While most of my tweets in reply to his aren’t tagged (I felt uncomfortable horning in on his class), I couldn’t help myself – I did end up replying with a few things I remembered from hours and hours and hours of study.

So, because of that twitter interaction, because I miss my studies, because this blog just turned three and I didn’t even say anything, because Joe, my father-in-law, just asked when I was going to update the blog again and mostly because lions are the coolest ever, here’s six things I remember about lions. There are minimal citations – I’m going off memory here. But if you want to know more, ask. I’ll dredge my memory and try to give you enough information that we can find it.

If you enjoy this, let me know. I’ll see if I can, eventually, come up with either more in-depth posts about anything, or another post of another five or so facts from memory.

1) Female lions stay in the territory their mothers controlled when they were born for life, while males engage in long-distance dispersal to find prides to breed with. Most people know this. What they don’t think about is the implications. Namely, that male lions can hunt for themselves – they actually spend most of their lives NOT with a pride, so they have to be able to. I do not, personally, know exactly what tactics they take, but check out the next fact.

2) At least a couple of studies have shown that males associated with a pride can and will hunt for themselves as well. This is an interesting thing, because both have linked male hunting behavior to at least partially to vegetation structure. In the case of Kruger National Park, Funston et al, 1998 (I believe) demonstrated this was, indirectly, a form of males caring for their cubs. With denser vegetation for the females to hide cubs in, the males could range farther & catch their own prey. This allowed their cubs to eat more AND, potentially, a coalition of males to have more than one pride, increasing their reproductive fitness in two ways.

3) It’s well known that males who take over a pride of females will kill off any young cubs the females have. What isn’t well known is that a male takeover of this nature also drives away some or all animals who are called “subadults” – not yet full grown, but no longer very small. This is one of the few ways a female will leave the territory she was born in. While this is not necessarily a death sentence for her, it dramatically reduces her chances of survival and successful reproduction, especially if she is driven off alone. Females rarely, if ever, form prides with other females who are unrelated. As I recall, I have only read about that happening once.

4) Male lions, on the other hand, regularly form coalitions with unrelated male lions. While we tend to think of lion “society” as groups of females with one male, the reality is different. Generally, there will be a pride of females associated with a coalition of 2 − 4 males. The larger the male group size, the better their reproductive fitness, as they are more able to maintain their connection with the pride & not be driven off by other coalitions, thus keeping cubs alive.

5) That said, if a coalition is 4 males, they will almost certainly be related. Packer et al (1991) found that as coalition size grows, reproductive success of each individual becomes dramatically skewed, such that one or two males is breeding, and the others are not. Thus, if one particular male is a non-breeding helper, it’s only worth it to be in that coalition in the event that helper male is protecting relations. However, coalitions of 4 generally can maintain relations with a pride for longer, possibly as long as four years. As it takes about two to raise cubs to adulthood, this means a large coalition may have twice as much success with any one pride than a smaller coalition – another possible reason to stay on as a non-breeding related male.

6) As you’ve probably caught on by now, while the average person says “a pride of lions” and means “all the lions that are associated with each other,” lion researchers actually differentiate lion groups based on the sex of the group. A “pride” of lions is a group of related females that live together, almost always in the area they were born in. A “coalition” is a group of males, related or not, that associate with each other and jointly associate with prides or not. It can get a little confusing, because if a coalition is associated with a pride, they will be called “pride males” at times, so “pride” can, occasionally, mean the super-group of all the females and males currently associating with each other. However, generally speaking, if you keep the idea that “pride” means “group of female lions” and “coalition” means “group of male lions”, you’ll be able to quickly follow a lot of lion talk.

Papers I specifically mentioned:

Funston, P. J., Mills, M. G. L., Biggs, H. C., & Richardson, P. R. K. (1998). Hunting by male lions: ecological influences and socioecological implications. Animal Behaviour, 56(6), 1333-1345.

Packer, C., Gilbert, D. A., Pusey, A. E., & O’Brien, S. J. (1991). A molecular genetic analysis of kinship and cooperation in African lions. Nature, 351(6327), 562-565.

Even so, just a vaguely miserable experience wouldn’t have motivated me to write anything for the blog. What’s prompted me to put up a post on the matter was Goose Island Beer Company’s decision that water should only be available for $2/bottle at the event. I noticed this almost immediately after entering the fest and was a little shocked.

This event was outdoors, in a largely unshaded space, on a day with an expected high of 85F. They were serving beers up to 14% ABV. The only water to be had was for sale.

This is dangerous in any situation. Having a thousand or so people in this situation makes it that much worse. Indeed, some of my friends said they witnessed a woman be transported away in an ambulance. I really hope she’s okay.

I’ve never before been to a beer event where water wasn’t freely available. At many of those events, bottled water was ALSO available for sale and I saw people with water bottles. So it’s not that people don’t buy water at beer events. The money-making potential still exists. Providing free water reduces it, I’m sure, but not to zero. Especially not on a hot day.

Unfortunately, not only did they fail to provide free water at a beer fest, they ran out of bottled water to sell. There came a point when there wasn’t potable water to be had. In 85F weather, outside, at a beer event where very big beers were being served.

I know they sold out because Dan tried to buy some for me and him around 2pm. I don’t know when they ran out. Hopefully not too long before then.

What a mess. From a beer company that’s been around longer than I’ve been able to drink and thrown more events than I can shake a stick at, I find it surprising.

Unfortunately, their twitter feed is silent on the topic of the fest, except to confirm certain BCBS variants were tapped. Their website says nothing either. The latest news is about the ways in which they are celebrating the anniversary. They abandoned their #goose25 hashtag. I’d hoped by now, four days after the event, they’d have had something to say. Silence is frustrating.

My hope is that Goose Island Beer Company will have something to say soon regarding the event and the complaints around it. In my case, as is obvious, I’m particularly hoping they’ll have something to say about the water situation then and how they plan to avoid it in the future.

I don’t care about a refund, which I saw some folks calling for on twitter. I don’t think it’s necessary. What I care about is that this situation is never repeated. Maybe that means increasing prices on future events to cover “free” water. If so, do it.

I do love Goose Island Beer Company and I think they make some impressive beers. I’ve learned a lot about beer from drinking their beers and talking with some of their employees. I’ve had a phone case with their logo for ages, and have carried it proudly. I’ve gotten flak for that after the sale to AB-InBev, and I’ve defended my choice thorough, occasionally by buying beers to demonstrate they haven’t lost their brewing mojo. (Judging by Sofie Paradisi, they still haven’t.)

I’d imagine an event like this could draw in a lot of potential new fans, which is probably part of why they threw the party. I know they threw it partially to say thanks for 25 years of support in Chicago. That’s why they pulled out so many rare beers, I’m sure. I appreciate the thought, and the beer I had, and so I’m hoping they’ll step up and finish the job with an apology and a promise of water in the future, especially at outdoor events.

Yesterday, I went to Beer Under Glass, which is a beer fest at Garfield Park Conservatory here in Chicago. I believe it’s also a fundraiser for the conservatory, but I’m not totally positive. I hope so; it’s a pretty cool place. And, frankly, the best of it’s kind I’ve attended. The space to spread out makes it decidedly more comfortable, and the venue was gorgeous and educational. Just my kind of thing.

“Leaves take what they need from the air.”

I have two draft posts ready to go, almost. They’ve been ready to go for well over a week. Unfortunately, one needs FILM photos, of all things, scanned in and the other just needs Bill and I to discuss it and we’ve not made time. I think you all will see them next week. Assuming I can find the photo albums.

It’s Chicago Craft Beer Week. That means I’m extra-obsessed with beer, as there’s a bunch of special events going on. I’ll try not to bore the non-beer drinkers with too much of this.

I’ve been cooking, some. It’s the time of year when the CSA is largely lettuce. You know what isn’t delicious? Hot lettuces. So, I have salad on my mind. Salad can be delicious, but I don’t have a lot of creativity when it comes to them. So if you all would, again, share your favorite salad recipes, I’d appreciate it. I’m also going to see if I can dig up the last post where I asked for this. There were a lot of good things in the comments.

I have been, of late, surprisingly tempted by the pre-cut fruits at the grocery store. Particularly the pineapple. I’m not sure why this is. I mean, other than the fact that pineapple is often delicious.

I’m probably making carrot soup tonight. It was pretty good the last time I made it, but I’d like it to be better. We’ll see. I’m considering steaming some asparagus to go with it, because asparagus is delicious.

I’m rereading a book called Fading Feast and trying, again, to read a book called Renewing America’s Food Traditions. The publication dates are 1998 and 2008, respectively, though most of what was written in Fading Feast was published in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I think it’ll be interesting to see the difference time and perspective makes on what foods we should be “saving and savoring”, as Renewing puts it.

The difference 30 years makes

Finally, I kind of wish we could be Amazon affiliates again. It only made us about $1.50, but that’s $1.50 we didn’t have before the blog. That said, without that and with my aversion to advertising, at least it’s pretty clear that most of what this blog does for me is let me talk about things I want to talk about. So, for $1.50, maybe it’s a wash

Awhile back, Bill mentioned that his mother, Rosa, used to make an avocado pie when he was growing up, and that it might be his favorite dessert of all time.

Me, I was like, “Pie… made from… avocados? Really?”

Turns out, yes, really. And it’s really good. Even when, like me, you forget to make the crust fairly regularly and turn it into mousse instead. It’s good either way, but it’s best when you have a crowd to feed it to. Amazingly, it’ll stay good for awhile in the fridge, but it starts separating a tiny bit around the second day, and by the third day the protective powers of the lime juice start to fade and the avocado starts to oxidize.

It’s never gotten fully brown on me, though. I assume we eat it too fast. Because IT’S DELICIOUS. I’m glad Rosa makes it, and I’m glad she shared the recipe.

Avocado mousse, in a little jar. YES, this photo is from my old place, what of it??? We made this dessert the other day, which is how I know about over-whipped cream.

Ingredients

3 – 4 Haas Avocados (I like four, but then, I love avocados)
5 limes
1 can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz heavy cream

Instructions

Okay, so, easiest thing ever. You juice the limes as hard as you can into a blender or food processor. Fish out seeds as needed. Then, you drop the avocado flesh in there. You can, and maybe should, mash it some first. I never have, but I always get at least one major chunk in my mousse. Dump in sweetened condensed milk. It’s really sticky, so use a rubber spatula or at least a spoon to get out as much as you can.

Then? Whirr that mess up. Whirr it up super good, so you can pour it fairly easily, and make sure it’s fairly smooth.

Then, pour it into whatever you want to serve it out of. I like those little 4 oz jars, because it’s cute & I can pretend someone will think I’m super good at food presentation. I also like ramekins of various sizes, though smaller is better if you have enough of them. Cover it, and put it in the fridge for at least 4 h, so it can set.

At serving time, whip up the cream into yummy whipped cream and dollop some on top. Don’t over-whip it. If you do, you could end up with butter. Or almost butter, which is actually worse. Almost butter is hard and butter-like, but still whipped-cream-like enough to make you want to put it on your mousse.

Trust me, you shouldn’t do that. It has the texture of regret.

I was really at a loss, I have to admit, after Rob and my off-flavors class seemed to agree that my issue wasn’t infection. Indeed, at the class, “infection” was presented as a single flavor. Since I don’t know a ton about brewing, and my microbiology classes are far behind me, I wondered if it meant that only a few bacteria could live in beer, and they all produce a similar flavor profile.

Twitter to the rescue. I tell you guys what, Twitter has been a huge help to me as I learn more and more about beer¹. There are other resources too, but having the power to ask a question of someone who probably knows the answer and often get a reply? Truly amazing. We live in the future, you guys².

So, vomit flavors. Apparently, this is caused by a compound known as butyric acid and is, in fact, often indicative of a bacterial infection. Just not the common beer infection(s). In fact, it’s apparently so uncommon that this guy seems to think some focus too much on it. (Note: The opening artwork at that link is of the gross-out & potentially offensive type.)

I got it in my 1d4th batch³. Go me?

It’s actually been kind of interesting to read about butyric acid. I can’t say I’m glad to have encountered it, especially in one of my own brews, but the silver lining is certainly that I’m doing some learning⁴.

Wikipedia’s entry on butyric acid (above) indicates that it’s produced by a variety of species, most of them falling in the Bacillus and Clostridium genera. Brew Your Own Magazine’s site has a story that specifically points to C. butyricum as the source in beer.

These two genera? They both produce something called a “spore”, which in this case is, specifically, an endospore. It’s an extremely hardy physical form of the bacteria and is basically suspended animation. Thus, the bacteria can persist in its environment until the conditions are right for it to grow and reproduce, at which time it will do so.

Some of the species in either genera can make humans pretty damn sick. Clostridium botulinum is why we take such precautions with canned goods. Bacillus anthracis causes anthrax. And part of what makes them such trouble makers is this spore-forming ability.

Now as far as I can tell, most of the likely culprits in my horrible beer are unlikely to make a healthy human adult sick, though to be very clear, I am NO expert.

As spore-forming bacteria, their ability to persist in hostile (to them) environments means I decided keeping the equipment I’d used for that batch was not worth it. I chucked the bung, airlock and tubing and I recycled the container. As my lab days taught me that the reason we use both heat AND pressure (autoclave) to sterilize things is because of spore-forming bacteria, I figured keeping the equipment was an invitation to have vile beer all over again.

The Wikipedia link above, about endospores, indicates soaking/submerging in a 10% bleach solution for five or more minutes will do the trick for removing the spore form. I didn’t know this at the time that I decided to get rid of the old stuff. Frankly, I just looked long enough to realize I was looking at Bacillus and/or Clostridium and decided it wasn’t worth the hassle to try and sort it out. Given the cost of the supplies (under $10) and my then-upcoming move, I figured I’d buy new and (hopefully) uncontaminated later.

Where does this leave me? Well, glad for the brewing I’ve done with Rob for one! This way I still have some beer I can call “my brew” around.

But secondly, and more importantly, it leaves me wanting to learn more. While my friends can (and will) teach me a great deal about brewing, none of them has ever experienced a butyric acid problem before (and I hope they never do). This means none of them can tell me what I did wrong, aside from a very generic “keep it clean!” (the mantra of brewing, it seems).

So, I’m going to take a class or 18 at Brew Camp. Starting, of course, with their introductory class “Making Beer at Home.” After I’ve got that down, I’ll take the rest. The Brew Camp guys were at Beer 1Up! giving a homebrew demonstration, and I had a chance to tell them this story. They agreed that it’s clear I need a class or something, and gave me a code to take “Making Beer at Home” for free.

They also gave me one to give to a lucky reader who is interested in starting homebrewing. Which I am very grateful for, and I hope is vastly appealing to all of you!

So, we’re going to keep it simple. The giveaway starts now, and will run until 10:00 pm CDT on Monday the 13th of May. To enter, leave me a comment saying what sort of beer you’d like to be your first homebrew. If you’ve already brewed some, as I did, but still think an intro class would be good for you, tell me what beer is daunting to you.

I’ll notify the winner by email, so make sure the email you leave me is valid. If I don’t hear back from the winner within three days of emailing them, I’ll select an alternate attendee. If no one enters or no one responds, I’m giving the code to my acquaintance, Kristen. (Kristen, if you’re reading this, you can still enter, but you really better respond if you win.)

Here’s to DELICIOUS homebrew in the future!

¹ And I wonder if Mr. Fahey is going to get irritated that I keep asking him questions and linking to his feed for his expertise. I hope not!

² It’s just not the future we thought we’d have. I’ll take this over flying cars, I gotta be honest.

³ It just depends on how you count. Third or fourth batch if you count all the brewing I did/helped Rob with. First if you only count it, since I wasn’t just helping.

⁴ And totally justifying my loathing of Bill’s beloved Kombucha.

Mt. Hood hop pellets, just before they go in to boil. Theresa, a homebrewing friend, gave them to me. You might say she’s an enabler. I still have about half an ounce left.

At some point long ago, my friend Rob (of the attractive cuff) shared with me a link for a peach-blueberry lager and asked if I wanted to brew that with him. I, frankly, am ALL OVER peaches and blueberries and beer, so the answer was an instant and immediate yes. We had to modify the plan a bit, but we ended up with a shared 10 gallons of peach beer, blueberry beer and peach-blueberry blended beer. They were pretty darn tasty, but 5 gallons of beer is a great deal of beer for one beer drinker. I gave a lot of it away.

Apparently, that’s normal in homebrewing. Still, the thought of having to make beer mostly to give away if I wanted to engage in the hobby put me off. I decided that I’d probably keep helping Rob homebrew, maybe also my friend Theresa, but generally I’d buy my beer or be gifted it from homebrewing friends, and generally that’d be good.

Enter Angelique’s husband, Marty. They visited us while they were on the way to a wedding near us sometime in the summer of 2012, and Marty noticed I had a glass gallon jug and commented that it’d be perfect for small scale homebrewing.

One gallon of just-pitched wort on it’s way to becoming beer! I thought.

I’d never considered the possibility that brewing on a one gallon scale was possible. A seed was planted. By the time Marty came out to join me for FoBAB in November 2012, I was definitely interested in trying it. So he brought out some malted grains¹ I could use and took me shopping at a homebrew store for a bit of equipment and helped me brew a batch. Basically, he helped me out in the same way I normally help Rob out, but with more advice. So this ended up being the first batch I was incredibly hands-on with.

It kind of looks like a bowl of cereal, doesn’t it? It basically is. I bet it wouldn’t taste great with milk, though.

It was fun, and kind of exciting. Bill laughed at me as I checked on my little jug daily. He laughed at me as I realized I didn’t know quite when, or how, to bottle it. He teased me when the beer sat on the yeast for awhile longer than it needed to as I figured it out. And he laughed and helped when Kristi came over to help me bottle my little gallon.

I was supposed to try it no sooner than two weeks later. I didn’t get to it right away. By the time I remembered it, Bill and I were so close to going out to Marty and Angelique’s area, that I figured I’d just take two bottles and we all could try it then.

Let me tell you what; your heart never sinks so fast when your best beer buddy cracks into your homebrew, gets the first taste, says, “Huh” and passes it to you with no other commentary.

I mean, until you sniff it and it smells odd and you take one taste of it, gag, and say, “Oh, fuck that beer.” I mean, I knew it wasn’t good when Marty’s only commentary was “huh”, but I had no concept of how bad it was going to be.

Folks, it tasted like vomit. Flat-out, no other description will do. I had made vomit-flavored beer². And that’s just as gross as you’re imagining.

We puzzled over it, and eventually concluded the flavor had to be from some sort of bacterial infection of the beer. Marty says he’s never had infected beer, and certainly never tasted anything like that, so he was at a bit of a loss. But, really, for something that nasty, that had to be the only choice, right?

Well, I’d given a bottle to Rob. Upon returning home, I sent him a message apologizing for sending in vile beer. He mentioned that he’d only tried it the night before, and that was his thought too. Vile. However, when I mentioned we all thought it was an infection, he said, “Doesn’t taste like it.” He didn’t have any other ideas, though. Or if he did, he didn’t share.

The off-flavors class I took covered “infection” as well. And, tell you what, Rob was right. What I tasted there as “infection” was in no way, shape or form what I tasted in my beer.

So what the hell happened?

This entry was getting pretty long, so I split it into two parts. Come back on Friday for the answer. If you’re in Chicago, or planning to visit, and interested in homebrewing, you’ll really want to come back on Friday. Trust me.

¹ He brought the grains so I wouldn’t have to buy 5 gallon sized amounts and have malt extract sitting around.

² And now I’m telling the world about it… Huh…

I’m sure no one is surprised by this.

So, Speakeasy Ales and Lagers. I didn’t know a darn thing about them, except their name, until I got there. I tend to like to be surprised. This probably makes me the complete opposite of your average blogger who gets an invitation to a launch of a brand they know nothing about. I figured I’d go in, meet some folks, and taste the beer with no preconceptions or expectations.

The company hails from San Francisco, California. They brought three beers, all in bottles, to this launch party. Big Daddy IPA, Tallulah Extra Pale Ale and Prohibition Ale. From that list, I’m sure my readers aren’t surprised in the slightest I went straight for the Prohibition Ale.

The Prohibition Ale I grabbed. I really love the Speakeasy labels, actually. Looking at the Beer Advocate pages, they clearly redesigned labels at some point, and this is much nicer.

It was a solid beer, but a bit hoppy for my taste. And I was reminded, once again, that being from America’s west coast can almost be as much a philosophy as it is a geographic reference. In beer, that philosophy seems to be Everything Hoppier Than Everything Else, particularly with the bittering hops. Frankly, this philosophy is part of what gives the second place winner in our beer t-shirt contest at Beer 1Up!, its humor. It’s a Stone Brewing shirt, and they definitely enjoy hops.

Unfortunately, while I love the shirt, I don’t share the philosophy. I tend to prefer substantially less hoppy beers, and the very hoppy beers I’ve enjoy have also had a lot of malt to back-up the hops. Apparently this is “well-balanced”, but I’m not that advanced in my beer knowledge.

I will say, though, if you DO like “west coast style” beers, I think you should seek out Speakeasy’s offerings. The beer I did have was solid, and I liked it enough that I’m curious about their Russian Imperial Stout and other, maltier offerings. The Big Daddy IPA and the Prohibition Ale are very well rated at Beer Advocate (links above). I’m glad I got to check out the beer.

As for the rest? The event itself? It was a fine time. I’m very glad I went.

This launch party (apparently one of many) was held at the Chrome Industries Chicago store. I admit, this is not a venue I ever would have thought of for a beer launch, but I’m new at this sort of thing. I’d have expected a restaurant or bar.

But the shop worked well, for the most part. It was pretty open and wide, so there was plenty of space for people to cram in there (and cram they did), though as wide as it was, it was VERY crowded, a small area for a bar to dispense bottles and a spot for a table for snacks. Frankly, it was kind of fun to be in a whole new space and check it out. I probably wouldn’t have gone into the store otherwise, and now I’m pretty curious about it and their products (more on that in a moment). The only bad thing about the space was that it was face-melting hot in there.

When I walked in, there was a woman in a flapper outfit sewing a bag. It was kind of neat to watch, and I loved the colors. Black and “traffic cone” orange. What I didn’t realize, until later in the evening, was that the bag was one of a few prizes for attending and tweeting during the launch.

Little did I know what this orange signified. Winning!

I suppose a launch is a place where getting buzz out via Twitter makes sense. I certainly had no issues with it. Plus, I hoped to win a bag. Or some glassware. Or whatever they were giving away. But only if the tweeting & winning didn’t come at the cost of paying attention to the people I was talking with.

For me, an in-person conversation almost always wins. I’m a “people person.” But I can pay some attention to twitter at the same time. It’s a bit like another conversation going on at a party; I slip into and out of it as is polite and easy. Sometimes I miss my mark. Sometimes I hit it. And sometimes (okay, once so far, and only on twitter), I win an awesome bag in the process. Custom made & waterproofed on the inside.

The completed bag.

I’m very grateful to Chrome Industries, Speakeasy Ales and Lagers, and River North Beer, the Chicago distributor for Speakeasy (as I understand it) for putting on the party and donating the bag. I love the bag, and I suspect it’s going to prove to be so nice that I’ll be looking at them again when I want a new backpack or similar. Indeed, before this event, Bill had suggested Chrome several times as I tried to figure out a new laptop bag.

If these beers make you curious, between the descriptions and the Beer Advocate ratings, check them out. Poking around on the River North website, I found that their event calendar includes several more launch parties, some with different beers than I tried featured. And one tomorrow, at Haymarket (a very nice brewpub), is also giving away the same awesome bag. Just so you know.

Close up of the bag, with logos from Chrome and Speakeasy.

I did get into this event for free, because Jeremy Teel of SubBeerBia invited me to join him (he also got in for free – it seemed to have been invite only). He was an invited guest of, I believe, River North. I assume they hoped he’d write it up on his blog. They didn’t know me, and had no idea I also keep a blog. This entry was written because I wanted to, not because they asked me to write it up. As I write this, they don’t know I’m writing about it, and won’t until after it’s published and I let them know via Twitter. I’m telling you all about future events because my Chicago-based readers might enjoy them; especially since I seem to be in the minority of my beer-drinking friends for disliking very hoppy beers.

It was more like 60 to 80 of my nearest and dearest. Holy Crap. It was unexpected and unbelievable. It was fun. It was so much fun. It’s actually been hard to write up, because it was so much fun that it’s been difficult to take it all in (still) and then put it all back out there for you.

Still, I want to do a bit more of a wrap-up than just the t-shirt contest post. (Still running, by the way! If you haven’t voted yet, please do!) Ale Syndicate gave us a gift, day of, in support of our event – one of the cool brewery tin signs that so many folks collect. We loved it so much, we made it the 2nd prize for the beer t-shirt contest. We thought it seemed appropriate.

Her shirt says “I’m Very Bitter and I Like It”. I’m not an IPA gal, but this cynicism is up my alley sometimes. Photo by Jeremy Teel

All sorts of amazing breweries came out and had fabulous people with them. It was a good time getting to chat with everyone. As you all know, that’s what I do best, so I was in my element. What I wasn’t doing, though, was playing my rounds of pinball (I only managed one!) to support the bloggers in the Bloggers vs Brewers Pinbrawl. Luckily, Eric of Blah… Blah… BEER! pulled through for us and won the whole shebang. Will of Flesk Brewing was close, though, and did a great job. I suspect that at Beer 2Up! Eric’s going to have a challenge on his hands.

Eric (left) and Will are about to metaphorically duke it out over pinball. Photo by Jeremy Teel

I watched some of the Brew Camp homebrewing demo. It was, frankly, awesome. It definitely makes me want to try again after my last disastrous attempt. I chatted with them after the demo too, and they are SUPER nice guys. I’m definitely going to be taking a class or 17 with them, as well as buying my equipment up there.

Brew Camp giving a homebrewing demonstration at Beer 1Up! I did not manage to get everyone’s name, but from left to right of the onlookers, we have Ari (background), Nelson and Aaron.

As I previously mentioned, the guys from Aleman gave us the first prizes for the t-shirt contest, which were highly appreciated. Both by us and by the winners. Those are some super nice guys, and I’m sorry I didn’t get a great photo of them.

Brewers! People from breweries! Left to right we have Chris from Arcade Brewing, Abby from Ale Syndicate, and the two nice guys from Aleman whose names I have totally forgotten. I feel terrible. I am clearly not to be trusted with names.

In addition to the breweries I name-checked above, Urban Legend was there. Arcade Brewing was there. Lake Effect was there. Atlas was there. It was amazing.

Begyle was there. Sadly for me, I missed trying their beer on tap! Too much chatting & the bar ran out before I got to it. Luckily for me, I tried their stout the very next day, thanks to a friend.

Begyle Brewing’s “Flannel Pajamas”. I was THRILLED my friend brought it over the day after Beer 1Up, since I’d missed Begyle’s “Crash Landed” the day before. This beer? It was a solid and tasty stout.

4 Paws had to cancel at the last minute due to an emergency. We were bummed, both to miss them and because emergencies suck, but raised a glass to them. We’re thankful they were planning to come. I’m really looking forward to meeting these guys and trying their beers. They combine two of my favorite things: beer and dogs.

And, finally, I have to give a special thank you and shout-out, again, to my fellow bloggers, Jeremy of SubBeerBia and Eric of Blah… Blah… BEER! and their wives, Sadi and Sarah. Without all of them, this would not have happened. And it was EPIC. I couldn’t be a luckier blogger than to have these folks in my corner.

Eric (left), Jeremy (center) and I after Beer 1Up. It’d been a long day, but we were still going strong and planning future shindigs! Photo by Sadie Teel

5 May 2013 Edit: Jeremy & Eric now have their posts up too. You should go check them out! It’s fascinating to see the ways in which we saw the event the same way & the ways in which we saw it differently. So, check out Brewers, Bloggers and Brawls over at SubBeerBia and The Day That Was – Beer 1Up! over at Blah… Blah… BEER!.

Also good times? Last minute, the kind folks at Naperville Ale Fest gave us two tickets to add to the grand prize here! NICE. Talk about the fate of beer. The winner here is going to get to have a brewday and then have a day of trying all KINDS of new beers.

One of the features of Beer1Up was a t-shirt contest. We had categories of “beer-themed” and “video-game-themed”. The plan was to award a bottle of Dayman Coffee IPA, donated by Aleman to the winners of each category. The winners being picked by having the brewers who were in attendance and the three bloggers voting.

However, we felt the grand prize was so grand we wanted more input. SO! It’s up to the public now. These are the winners for each category. Take a gander at each photo, and then wander on over to this Facebook poll on the event page and vote for which of the two you like best. The public’s choice will win the Flesk Brewday and Naperville Ale Fest Tickets! (I’m pretty envious right about now, folks.)

There were a TON of beer-themed shirts, so it was hard to pick a winner. This one won by a few votes, partially because there were so many t-shirts to vote for that voting was spread thin. Still, most votes is most votes, and several of us liked the simplicity of this shirt.

It’s liquid bread. Yeast, grains, water? What more do you need??

As for video game shirts? Well, we certainly loved this one. And it was, by far, the most thematically correct t-shirt. We loved it. However, it got 0 votes. Or infinite votes, depending on how you look at it. It was the only game-themed shirt there! So, winner by default. I did tweet about this before voting began, hoping to entice more folks out.

This kind of mushroom gives more lives! More lives for everyone! 1Up!

Thanks again, folks! I hope you like one (or, better, both!) of these two t-shirts. Please let us know over here and come back tomorrow for a full recap of the event. Spoiler alert: It was amazing.

That said, I’ve been reading a few things, in particular over at my friend Jen’s blog. It’s the week of the year when she particularly highlights her job and the work of others who hold similar jobs. And, frankly, it’s fascinating. I’ll have something up based on an interview she gave me about her job next week, but I don’t want you guys to miss out. Here’s all the entries she’s ever done for “Lab Week”, and I encourage you to check them out.

However, if you just want to read one, in particular, I suggest Life as a Rural Med Tech. It’s an interview she did with a friend who moved from a big hospital lab to a little one, and it’s a neat look into the differences. I found it particularly interesting to consider why, aside from expense, a rural hospital may choose not to invest in the newest, biggest instruments for their lab.

Please, go check it out. And if you like it, let Jen know.