On my way back from lunch I ran across Gen. George Washington. Considering the area his choices for lunch were Chipotle (which I clearly went with), Potbelly, and American’s Dog. I’d like to think he went to American’s Dog and got the Philly in honor of the First Continental Congress.
Then again maybe he was headed to the Tilted Kilt Pub to celebrate his suppression of the The Whiskey Rebellion.
This year Julie and I once again stayed in Chicago for Thanksgiving. We had some friends over and fried a turkey. As you can tell be the photograph above we’ve pushed our luck by going with a 13.9 lb turkey. This was by far the most dangerous frying attempt we’ve ever made. It took several tense minutes of easing the turkey into the oil to keep the pot from over flowing. Moving forward we will stick to a 10-12 lb turkey (and I won’t wear flip flops during the frying process).
All of the food turned out great and a good time was had by all.
Side notes:
* The aftermath:
** Previous turkey frying: New Years 2008 & New Years 2009.
*** At least it didn’t end this way: Columbus Dispatch – Turkey fryer ignites, spoiling family’s holiday.
**** Everything I know about deep frying I learned from Jack & Eddie.
This past week Julie and I brewed another batch of beer. After our disaster with a Blueberry Ale* we decided to go back to the American Ale we brewed the first time around. Everything went smoothly so far, we’ll probably do a tasting this weekend. As you can see in the photograph I’ve been busy with the labels.
* About a month ago I decided I wanted to do a Blueberry Ale so on a recommendation we tried the Brooklyn Brew Shop which sells speciality brew kits with grain instead of extract. They had a Blackberry Ale which could easily be turned into a Blueberry Ale so we decided to put an order in. I ordered my supplies on September 30th and I didn’t hear back for quite awhile. So after several emails and delays I wrote the following that sums up my experience with the Brooklyn Brew Shop:
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On Oct 20, 2009, at 9:46 PM, Nik Bronder wrote:
Ok, I’m not trying to be a dick but bear with me…
On a recommendation from a friend who had just ordered a batch of Chocolate Maple Porter I decided to check you out. I’ve pondered ordering the Blackberry Red Ale for a couple of weeks because I’ve always liked Blue Berry Ale and I figured that would work. Then I read the article in the Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/nyregion/22entry.html) and I figure what the hell I’ll just place my order.
So I do, on September 30th. I get the tracking number but I don’t check it until about a week later (October 6th) and I noticed right after it was created it was voided. How this happened we’ll never know but I know that my credit card charge wasn’t voided. It was processed. Yet I went 7 days with no word that my order was voided.
I would have expected you to notice this and let me know. Instead I just kept waiting for a week before I checked why my stuff didn’t come through. Kind of pissed me off. Whatever, I’ve been dicked around before. So I send an email on the 6th and you respond that you were “just alerted by UPS about a problem with the shipment”. Cool, I’ll get my shit soon. So I don’t bitch. I wait two days (Oct. 8th) and I email asking for a tracking number so I can follow in case this shipment gets voided like the first.
No response. FOR EIGHT DAYS.
So I email again (Oct. 16th) asking for updates and explaining that I’m pretty frustrated at this point. You mention that there was some issue with the mix’s particular yeast and the previous mix up and it will be there on Monday. Great. You offer me to take $15 off my next order, whatever.
SO THE KIT FINALLY ARRIVES AND THERE’S NO FUCKING DIRECTIONS.
Awesome. I’m sure I can figure stuff out but I call my friend who recommended you (and he mentions similar mishaps with shipping) and he says there was an envelope with instructions in his kit. So I email you last night asking if you can send me the directions via email no big deal. No response.
Look, clearly you have serious communication issues. Maybe you should only sell your stuff at the flea market because you’re not doing to well with this whole online thing. It’s really not that hard to get some one to maintain contact with your customers, especially in this economy. Which brings me to my point. I’m spending a good amount of money to try your stuff. I live in the Chicago, I could easily utilize my friends to the North in Wisconsin for any ingredients I want, but I tried you because I liked what you were trying to do.
Yet here I am fucked.
I don’t want any discounts, I don’t want any freebies. I just want you to email me my directions for the black berry ale and we’ll cut our ties. I will no longer be your customer and you will no longer be my vendor.
—
Nik Bronder
nikbronder@gmail.com
www.blackhandproductions.com
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Of course they replied that they understood my frustration and that they’d give me a free batch of stuff if I wanted to continue doing business. I declined. Long story short, the Blueberry Ale turned out worse than this transition and we ditched it before we bottled. We’ll try again soon. I’m sure it wasn’t the ingredients but our execution combined with bad karma.
Grain Kits are not for me.
