Sunset/Sunrise

Is this a sunrise on a new start or a sunset on the season? In a way it's both for me.

This will more than likely be a lost season with the Canes. No one can possibly come up with all the right reasons for how and why the Carolina Hurricanes have performed so poorly since the start of the season. Nothing can go right for this team, when the sky was the limit at the end of last season and the beginning of this season. Records have been broken this season, but none of them good. The only bright side to this season, will be the 1st round (possibly the 1st overall!) pick in the upcoming entry draft this summer. If only this season had been last...

And here's my beautiful sunrise! My assistant brewer in the making is a Girl! The mini-Caniac gear has already been looked at and appropriated for. The only problem is that she's not due until the middle of April. Well after the Canes' season will be done. So she won't be able to really fit into the really small stuff. We'll have to wait to get some bigger stuff once next season begins.

No matter how this season ends, at least I know that I'll have the prettiest mini-Caniac in the stands next season!

Sorry for the Delay

It's been a while since I've been able to write up a new post on the ol blog. Part of that has been due to the fact that my computer at home has crashed and I have to share SWMBO's laptop. It also hasn't happened just due to being very busy at work, home and everything in between.

But the main reason for the lapse in posting is due to the fact that I've got a new assistant brewer growing inside SWMBO's belly! In just six short months I'll have the great responsibility of showing the next generation how to take pictures, how to properly berate the 'Canes (and they've deserved it lately), and how to brew awesome beer (but not partake until legally of age!). Just getting prepared for it's arrival has kept me from posting on here as regularly.

Without SWMBO's help drinking my beer, my pipeline is a lot longer, therefor, I can't brew as often either.

Thankfully, she can still go with me to the Canes games and do some hefty cheering. Although, lately, there hasn't been much to really cheer for. As of right now, the Canes are 2-4-2 and the only wins have come in the Shootout against Tampa, and against a Florida team who had just gotten back from playing in Europe. We even gave the Islanders their first win of the season just last night.

If there is a picture that can sum up how the Canes are taking this season, it's this one right here:

On the beer front, the IPA has finished fermenting and gone through the secondary, been dry hopped with and ounce of Cascade and Centennial each. It's even already been bottled; last weekend! I did get a chance to sample a bit that wouldn't fit into the last bottle, and it was pure hoppy goodness. I'm excited for two weeks from now.

Welp...

So the Canes didn't put up much of a fight against Pittsburgh. They were swept. Ouch. Apparently, I was wrong on all of my reasons for why they would win in the 3rd round. Mainly on reason 2. I was absolutely dead wrong on our defense.

Apparently, our defense just did not feel like playing. Either that, or they were so beat up from playing 14 previous games against bigger teams that they were just beat up physically and couldn't compete.

No matter what the excuse is, Pittsburgh dominated us in just about every aspect. Their defense was better than ours, their offense made our team, and goalie, look like swiss cheese, and we vastly improved Fleury's stats going into the Stanley Cup Finals.

All in all, it was an absolutely great run up until the Eastern Conference Finals. Honestly, I would never have believed it that the Canes would have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, let alone the playoffs, if you had told me back in February of this year. There was just no way we were playing well enough. But after a great March, and April, we turned into a team that really believed in itself and took it to other great teams.

However, now that the offseason is upon us, the questions can start coming. Who will we try to resign, who do we not want, who will we try to go after? I'll try to come up with my answers to those this weekend, after I have a bit more time to digest this post-season.

Meh, We Ain't Skeered

So the Bruins won last night, 4-0. No big deal. No one thought it was going to be easy any ways. This just allows us to use the excuses the Bruins' fans have been saying for the past week and change.

"We didn't play our best game. We lost the game, it's not that they won it."

This however, isn't that far off. The Bruins did play better, but only slightly. They didn't show any increase in playing level until they (Corvo) scored their first goal.

The Canes on the other hand, didn't seem all that interested in playing. They were not quick to get to the puck. They didn't step in front of shots to block them. One can only assume that they simply wanted to clinch the series at home in front of their own crowd. They never seem to do that against their 1st round opponent, but for this second round, it must be what their planning. I mean, it's not like the Bruins could beat us unless we wanted them to.

Let's just hope Scott Walker gets some leniency from the league.

Saturday Reflections

First off, the Canes got pounded by the Bruins yesterday afternoon. I didn't get to watch it, but from the sounds of Chuck K, they didn't show up. It helps to at least be motivated when playing the best team in the NHL, otherwise you get embarrassed like yesterday. Seems like if Carolina was in your teams name yesterday, you were bound to be disappointed.

On a brighter Canes note, we went and got our Season Ticket Holder gear at the RBC Center yesterday. Everything we got, from the Gym bag to the umbrella was of much better quality than we expected. Most handouts from the Canes normally aren't up to the best standards, but these items seemed like they may last more than 2 weeks.


The best highlight from yesterday was brewing my next batch of beer! This will be a much lighter ale than the porter from before. Let's call it an American Amber. It's just something I threw together and experimented with. We'll see how it comes out.


Here's the ingredients.

• 3.3 lbs of Light Malt extract.
• 1.65lbs of Amber Malt extract.
• 1 oz. of Clusters hops.
• 1 oz. Mount Ranier hops.
• 11g of Nottingham Ale Yeast.

The cluster hops were added at the beginning of the 60min boil with the Ranier hops being added with just 5 minutes to go. Here's some process photos.


























Now, in just 6 very agonizingly long weeks I'll be able to enjoy my concoction!