Yikes! This week really flew by. We have gone over an obscene amount of information in class and then the rest of our day has been spent studying and talking about all things beer. Our first hour long quiz is in the morning, so I will have a more in depth post this weekend to summarize everything with pictures. For now this is all I have to say... "The embryo produces gibberelic acid, which is transported by the scutellum to the alerone layer, that releases enzymes that break down cell walls to allow enzymes to breakdown starch to simpler sugars."
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Monday, February 15, 2016
Day 1
Day 1
As one of the slides in the course introduction stated, 'This course will change your life.' Today was everything I expected and more. We covered introductions and a good chunk of barley. I will try not to bore with details so here are some quick pics...
Waiting in line this morning to check in. Getting flashbacks to grade school waiting in lines with backpacks on.
Above, we have some old school beer nerds and an awesome statue of Siebel in the Bier Stube
Here the Bier Stube, which is pretty much a bar that is part of the school. Beside serving as our lunchroom, we get to hang out here on breaks and after class.
As the sign says, we are limited to 2 beers during lunch...that is correct, we get to have a few samples to wash down our lunch and after class.
Can you tell the difference between 2-Row and 6-Row Barley kernels? We have to!
This is the view from my desk, that is quite the impressive line up and some antique brewing tools below.
After class we get to socialize over a beer in the Bier Stube and get to talk to the professors and guest speakers
To celebrate our first day of school, we have a fancy charcuterie spread for dinner complete with box wine out of pint glasses.
That is all for tonight, we still have a lot of studying to do!
- Mike
As one of the slides in the course introduction stated, 'This course will change your life.' Today was everything I expected and more. We covered introductions and a good chunk of barley. I will try not to bore with details so here are some quick pics...
That is all for tonight, we still have a lot of studying to do!
- Mike
Sunday, February 14, 2016
First full day in Chicago
Day -1
We begin class tomorrow at 8am. Prior to class I will treat myself to a nice barrel aged coffee...
I am generally not a morning person, but for this opportunity I will gladly wake up anytime necessary. In addition, I have been waking up early in preparation the past few days, which has been quite an easy adjustment. I attribute this to all the nervous energy and excitement. Even today I felt the need to go for a long run...when it was snowing. It was pretty windy as well and I got plenty of crazy looks. I was proudly sporting my favorite Wisconsin sweatshirt, so that probably explained a lot to these big city folk. I decided to run in the direction of Siebel to check out the area and if I felt good I would try to make it there and back.
When I got to Siebel, I ran into another student, Andy, who was similarly scoping the place out so he knew where to go tomorrow. He was from Birmingham, England and I am sure I contributed to some American stereotype. For reference this is a pic of me when I got back from the run.
It took me a while, but ended up not being so bad. That was the furthest I have run in a
long time, good thing I lost all that weight in January. Hopefully
making an effort to stay active between school and studying will balance
out the unavoidable increase in caloric intake over the months to
come. Speaking of calories, last night we had our first pizza together at Roots Handmade Pizza, although it was not deep dish it was still delicious. Really good beer list and some of the best Mozzarella sticks I have ever had.
Afterwards we met up with a large group of other Siebel students at Atlas Brewing Company. It is such a great mix of people from all over including Japan, Chile, India, Ireland, and even dry counties in Arkansas! I am really looking forward to getting to know everyone.
This morning we went to breakfast at Whisk, which beside great food has awesome decor featuring Ron Swanson as can be seen behind us.
They have a Ron Swanson burger available during dinner hours that I will have to experience. Chorizo Benedict with Peruvian Gold Hot Sauce had to suffice...
For some reason "Now watch me Whisk, Now watch me nae nae" popped into my head and later unfortunately became the theme song for my run. I despise that song and that silly dance. I thought we all learned our lesson with the Macarena. I will finish of this post with yet another food related picture. This place wins for best Chinese take out name, which has landed it on our must try list.
Cheers,
-Mike
We begin class tomorrow at 8am. Prior to class I will treat myself to a nice barrel aged coffee...
I am generally not a morning person, but for this opportunity I will gladly wake up anytime necessary. In addition, I have been waking up early in preparation the past few days, which has been quite an easy adjustment. I attribute this to all the nervous energy and excitement. Even today I felt the need to go for a long run...when it was snowing. It was pretty windy as well and I got plenty of crazy looks. I was proudly sporting my favorite Wisconsin sweatshirt, so that probably explained a lot to these big city folk. I decided to run in the direction of Siebel to check out the area and if I felt good I would try to make it there and back.
When I got to Siebel, I ran into another student, Andy, who was similarly scoping the place out so he knew where to go tomorrow. He was from Birmingham, England and I am sure I contributed to some American stereotype. For reference this is a pic of me when I got back from the run.
This morning we went to breakfast at Whisk, which beside great food has awesome decor featuring Ron Swanson as can be seen behind us.
For some reason "Now watch me Whisk, Now watch me nae nae" popped into my head and later unfortunately became the theme song for my run. I despise that song and that silly dance. I thought we all learned our lesson with the Macarena. I will finish of this post with yet another food related picture. This place wins for best Chinese take out name, which has landed it on our must try list.
Cheers,
-Mike
Saturday, February 13, 2016
And it begins!
Day -2
As I begin this new adventure, it is as good of time as any to try my hand at this blog thing. I figure this will not only help keep in touch with family and friends, but also keep a record of this amazing experience that I am about to embark on. I will try to post as much as possible. I encourage everyone to ask questions, as that will give me prompts to write about and also clarify my amateur writing. Here we go!
Today, I woke up at 5:30am and said a brief goodbye to my loving wife, Emilia. Although I will be returning on most weekends, this marks the beginning of what will be a very exciting, yet extremely challenging time for both of us. At least we get to ease into it for a few months nearby in Chicago before I go to Germany and the tough part of it begins. I have a strange bittersweet mix of emotions and nervous energy, but can't help to be so excited to get started.
Anyway, I arrived at Midway at 8am and picked up Ryan, one of my roommates and his wife. Our airbnb was not quite ready so we stopped at Star Cafe for some coffee and breakfast. It is a great coffee shop right down the street from our place. The stand out item for me was Barrel Aged Coffee. That's right, they take the green coffee beans and age them in different barrels before roasting. They roast the beans themselves nearby and usually have 2-3 different varieties each week. It was outstanding and I will be stopping there regularly to try the different roasts, oh and to study of course. *Note to self: check to see if anyone has made a barrel aged beer in a whiskey barrel that was used for this type of coffee bean aging. If no one has then I will be an innovator and make one, and if someone has then I'll make one anyway. The process will probably pose some risk for some weird infections in the beer, but at least have to give it a shot.
After breakfast, we get into the airbnb and with the exception of some unknown pet hair, everything looks good. Some of you may be aware that I am quite allergic to cats, so I am not thrilled by this finding. The landlord came by and cleaned it up and reassured me that it was not cat hair. So far I feel ok, so I am keeping my sinuses crossed. On the plus side the heater is rocking and the toilet passed the #2 test.
Ryan and his wife left to visit the Museum giving me some time to get settled. Besides writing this blog, I also logged in to my Facebook (gasp). I do not like Facebook, not one bit. However, it will serve a purpose similar to this blog. Not sure how the two interface yet, but I will at least post on Facebook when I make a new blog post. Well, time to get the remainder of my stuff out of the car and check out the neighborhood (ah! good idea to cover on next post). Our other roommate, Jarrod will be arriving later this afternoon. We are planning on having our first dinner together at a Chicago deep dish pizza place (shocker) and considering why we are all here, we will mostly likely end up getting to know each other over a pint or two of the local product.
Cheers!
Mike
As I begin this new adventure, it is as good of time as any to try my hand at this blog thing. I figure this will not only help keep in touch with family and friends, but also keep a record of this amazing experience that I am about to embark on. I will try to post as much as possible. I encourage everyone to ask questions, as that will give me prompts to write about and also clarify my amateur writing. Here we go!
Today, I woke up at 5:30am and said a brief goodbye to my loving wife, Emilia. Although I will be returning on most weekends, this marks the beginning of what will be a very exciting, yet extremely challenging time for both of us. At least we get to ease into it for a few months nearby in Chicago before I go to Germany and the tough part of it begins. I have a strange bittersweet mix of emotions and nervous energy, but can't help to be so excited to get started.
Anyway, I arrived at Midway at 8am and picked up Ryan, one of my roommates and his wife. Our airbnb was not quite ready so we stopped at Star Cafe for some coffee and breakfast. It is a great coffee shop right down the street from our place. The stand out item for me was Barrel Aged Coffee. That's right, they take the green coffee beans and age them in different barrels before roasting. They roast the beans themselves nearby and usually have 2-3 different varieties each week. It was outstanding and I will be stopping there regularly to try the different roasts, oh and to study of course. *Note to self: check to see if anyone has made a barrel aged beer in a whiskey barrel that was used for this type of coffee bean aging. If no one has then I will be an innovator and make one, and if someone has then I'll make one anyway. The process will probably pose some risk for some weird infections in the beer, but at least have to give it a shot.
After breakfast, we get into the airbnb and with the exception of some unknown pet hair, everything looks good. Some of you may be aware that I am quite allergic to cats, so I am not thrilled by this finding. The landlord came by and cleaned it up and reassured me that it was not cat hair. So far I feel ok, so I am keeping my sinuses crossed. On the plus side the heater is rocking and the toilet passed the #2 test.
Ryan and his wife left to visit the Museum giving me some time to get settled. Besides writing this blog, I also logged in to my Facebook (gasp). I do not like Facebook, not one bit. However, it will serve a purpose similar to this blog. Not sure how the two interface yet, but I will at least post on Facebook when I make a new blog post. Well, time to get the remainder of my stuff out of the car and check out the neighborhood (ah! good idea to cover on next post). Our other roommate, Jarrod will be arriving later this afternoon. We are planning on having our first dinner together at a Chicago deep dish pizza place (shocker) and considering why we are all here, we will mostly likely end up getting to know each other over a pint or two of the local product.
Cheers!
Mike
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