January 31, 2007
It comes in a 12 oz brown bottle; on the label you have the picture of a black hawk along with the name of the beer on it. The neck label has a description of the beer along with the name of the brewing company. There really is nothing all that eye catching about the label. It does have a nice older look/design to it.
This beer pours a dark coffee color that light doesnÂ’t pass through. ItÂ’s not as dark as Guinness, but itÂ’s pretty close. There was a one-inch thick tan head that slowly turned into a ring around the glass. There is some lacing, but not a lot of it. The look of this beer is very enticing.
The smell is very appealing. It is a mixture of deep roasted chocolate malts, a touch of coffee, a dash of hops with a very mild and almost unnoticeable hint of cherry. The first whiff makes the taste buds stand up in anticipation. The taste is nothing less then spectacular. You can taste dry roasted malts with a coffee and chocolate blended accents. There is a good mix of hops that awaken the taste buds and makes this an exceptional beer.
It is a medium bodied beer with a nice dry finish. There is a slight creaminess to it. For Stout it was a little thin, itÂ’s not as thick as one would get from an Irish Stout. Still there is a nice texture to it.
I truly enjoyed this beer. ItÂ’s one of those that I can see myself craving or requesting if I go to a bar that stocks microbrews. Definitely worth a drink if you can find it. IÂ’m going to rate this 7 out of 10.
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January 30, 2007
This topic has made it on the evening news a couple of times. ItÂ’s all over the radio, and it even was a headline in the local Newspaper. IÂ’ll admit that IÂ’ve even had this conversation with fellow Packer, Viking, Lions, Bear and even Rams fans, and IÂ’ve discovered one thing. There is a lot of hate between fans of a team and opposing teams in their division/region. Before I go any further, IÂ’m a Packer fan as you may all have realized by now. I have been since the early 80Â’s. They are my team of choice and I support them. The thought of picking a different favorite team has never crossed my mind.
IÂ’m rooting for the Bears this Sunday, GO BEARS!
Why? Because they are from the same division the Packers are. They are part of the NFC North, the once NFC Central, the true Black and Blue division. The one that has two of the most historic teams in the NFL, the Packers and the Bears. Once the Packers were eliminated from the playoffs, (which honestly should have been long before the last weekend of the seasonÂ… what right does an 8-8 team have being in the playoffs?) I started pulling for the Bears. They represent the division my team is in. They carry with them the honor and the tradition that both my beloved Packers and the Bears have so valiantly fought for over the years. I have no animosity toward the team, and since my team is obviously not in the big game, why shouldnÂ’t I root for them?
Well, apparently I am the only person in the whole damned country that feels that way. Every Packer, Lion, Viking and Ram fan I talked to said, “Hell no I’m not rooting for the Bears, I’m pulling for the Colts!” Some of them used much stronger language then that. Every Bear fan I talked to made a comment along the lines, “When the Packers went to the Super Bowl I rooted for New England and/or Denver.” Again some used much stronger language then that. Okay, a lot of them used much stronger language then that. There was a lot of hate there. Which, I just can’t understand.
I love my team, but damn… they aren’t there! I’d rather see a respected rival win it then some AFC team with a media whore QB that will put his likeness or image on anything for a buck (And also has a tendency to choke in the big games). Yea the Bears handed the Pack their arses opening weekend, but we returned the favor on New Years… maybe not as bad, but we still did. Plus if the Bears win I can always hold onto, “Yea the Bears won the Super Bowl, but even the Packers could beat them that year.”
I just canÂ’t understand how my fellow Packer fans canÂ’t be magnanimous about this like myself. If the Packers arenÂ’t in the Super Bowl and another team from the NFC north makes it, I shall cheer for them.
Unless itÂ’s the Vikings, then they can burn in hell those rotten sons of goats!
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January 29, 2007
n Wisconsin, you pay a base sales tax rate of 5 percent on those purchases. Since IllinoisÂ’ base sales tax rate is 6.25 percent, you are required to pay Illinois 1.25 percent on all of those purchases when you file your yearly income taxes.
What this means is that if I go on a vacation to states that have a lesser sales tax rate then Illinois, which I think is most of them, then IÂ’m supposed to keep tract of all of my receipts and when I do my annual taxes send that extra money to the state government. When I take my annual pilgrimage to Green Bay to see the Packers play, IÂ’m supposed to send extra money to the State. If I buy something online, and am not charged sales tax or charged a lesser amount. IÂ’m supposed to track it and send it to the state. If I purchase something online and am not charged sales tax over Illinois 6.25%, you got it, I send money to the state. Think IÂ’m kidding? HereÂ’s the State of Illinois official guide to the Use Tax. The most interesting things on this is that this law has been around since 1955,yet IÂ’m just now learning of it.
In the article in the Rockford Register Star, a representative of the state claims;
“It’s a self-reported tax and we realize many people don’t know they owe it,” Klemens said. “We work hard at getting the word out. We send notices to tax preparers to remind them. We have it in our tax booklet. In fact, we project we’ll collect about 10 percent more this year because we displayed it prominently on our cover. We believe 90 percent of the people will pay the tax if they realize they owe it.”
Emphasis Mine
Shyea, right. IÂ’ve always joked that Illinois bureaucrats are on crack, but I never thought IÂ’d get confirmation. The state of Illinois is bleeding its people dry with all the different taxes. What makes them think that these people are going to voluntarily fork over more money? According to a couple of sources online, the only states with a higher Income tax then Illinois are California, Mississippi, New Jersey, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Washington. Alabama and Texas have the same rate as Illinois. I highly doubt that the citizens of the state of Illinois are going to start forking over money because they went on a vacation to any one of the other 40 states not listed and bought a souvenir, gift or anything else to bring home.
First off, who is going to keep all those receipts for a year just to pay extra money? Secondly, who is going to keep all those receipts at all? Hell, when I buy something I generally toss the receipt as soon as itÂ’s out of the checkbook. If I pay in cash, I tend to toss the receipt as soon as I see a trashcan. The chances are that by the time I take my next out of state trip, IÂ’m going to forget this law even exists. The sad thing is that apparently there are a lot of other states that have the same or similar law. So keep that in mind when you travel, especially if you live in one of the states I listed above.
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January 27, 2007
An Armagedddon USB HubÂ… IÂ’d love just to have this on my desk at work. Whenever one of my employees gets out of line, I could launch the nukes!
If I get that, I'll need to get one of these to go with it!
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I wasnÂ’t a huge fan of the movie, it was just the novelty of it.
Well someone most have had a similar experience and wanted to make telling the story a little cooler. They came up with an alternative cut for it.
It actually looks like it would have been a lot more interesting this way.
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"There is no tailgating allowed in the Dolphin Stadium parking lots," Sue Jaquez, a member of the Super Bowl XLI Host Committee, confirmed on Tuesday. "And there is no tailgating anywhere within a one-mile radius of the stadium." "And there are no RVs allowed."
Now, this isnÂ’t something that the DolphinÂ’s organization did. ItÂ’s the NFL.
Tailgating is permitted during regular- and post-season games for Dolphins fans, a team official on Tuesday said it would indeed be allowed at the Super Bowl. According to Jaquez, however, the official has been seriously misinformed.The Dolphins do not organize and oversee the Super Bowl, Jaquez pointed out. Instead, those duties are left up to NFL officials. And because of security reasons, no pre-game partying on (or very near) the premises will take place. Fans spotted tailgating could face charges, Jaquez said.
Emphasis mine
Okay, there are some things that are sacred to football, and tailgating is one of them. As many of you know, IÂ’m a huge football fan. Heck, my obsession with football can almost be labeled as unhealthy. With that being said, the NFL is starting to piss me off. First with their stunt of moving games to Thursday night and only showing them on their network. Now this.
I have to stick up for my NFC central rival fans. I know that if my team was going to the Superbowl, I had tickets and wasnÂ’t allowed to tailgate; IÂ’d be pretty damned pissed off. Bears fans that make it to the game are being denied the joy and pleasure of tailgating at the most important game of the year. The tradition of tailgating is almost a sacred thing, and especially if your team is in the big game. To take away that tradition would be like having the Fourth of July without fireworks, Christmas without presents, Thanksgiving without turkey or St. PatrickÂ’s Day without green beer! Time honored traditions them all.
IÂ’m wondering how they are going to enforce no tailgating within a one-mile radius of the stadium. I mean seriously, the NFL may have jurisdiction over what can be done on the stadium grounds, but once you get off the stadium property, they have no authority. Did the city of Miami and Miami-Dade county officials approve this as well? I mean, you would think this would be an enforcement nightmare. Then again the officials are probably bending over and taking it from the NFL just so they can host the Super Bowl. IÂ’m not sure how the DolphinÂ’s Stadium is set up, but if I lived with in that mile radius, I think IÂ’d be having a big arse BBQ that day. Just to see what they did, or tried to handle it.
So NFL, shame on you! Shame on you for once again giving your fans the shaft!
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January 26, 2007
After months of about-faces, the Winnebago County Board voted Thursday to allow public ownership of the Rockford IceHogs and contribute $9 million to the renovation of the MetroCentre.
Folks, I’m still not convinced this is a good idea. If it was a “no brainer” as the Mayor called it, then why do no other cities own a sports franchise? Something about this whole deal smells foul to me. Currently the Rockford IceHogs are a UHL team; they are in the black and have a pretty decent fan base. I think average attendance of around 3,600, I maybe wrong on that. Sure they are operating in the black right now, but here’s some things to think about.
With a move from the UHL to the AHL, they are moving up in leagues. That means the players need to be paid more. Through this whole thing, they kept telling fans that the ticket prices aren’t going to increase. If the ticket price isn’t going to increase, then how are they planning on paying the extra wages and still operate in the black? If the books are in the red, who is going to have to pay that difference? I don’t know that answer to the first question, but I’m pretty sure the answer to the second will be, “The tax payers”. IE increased taxes, or decreased public functions to pay the deficit. Maybe the Mayor, since this was his idea, will foot the bill out of his pocket?
This while situation has disaster written all over it in my book.
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January 24, 2007
Standard 12 oz brown bottle with a white and blue label. There is a snowman holding a pint on it, and the name of the beer. Along with the tag line, “Ale aged on Bourbon barrel oak and Vanilla beans.” Which I misread when I bought it, thinking it was aged IN a bourbon barrel, and I completely missed the part about vanilla beans. The neck label states, “Brewed with all-imported hops and aged on bourbon oak casks and whole Madagascar vanilla beans for a smooth, robust taste.” So they bottle the beer and lay it on top of a bourbon barrel filled with beans? Yes, I know they probably mean that the bottom of the tank they aged it in had floaty bits of barrel and vanilla beans in it.
When poured into a pint glass there is almost no head. What head that does form disappears quickly into a ring around the edge of the glass. There is no visible lacing. The color is a nice ruby color. It is a good-looking beer, very enticing.
It has a very sweet smell to it. It was a mix of Vanilla, bourbon and beer. The vanilla was so overpowering that it reminded me of a beer and vanilla ice cream milkshake. It was too sweet for a beer. The taste was overpowering vanilla. There were bourbon, oak and malt under tones to the vanilla, but it was difficult to separate. What bourbon flavor there was seemed almost artificial, like it was a chemical extract. The aftertaste is almost completely non-existent.
This is a light bodied beer. There is an above average amount of carbonation to it. Very typical of Anheuser-BuschÂ’s Budweiser line of beers.
I was very disappointed in this beer. People who want to drink beer, but want something sweet will like this. ItÂ’s just too sweet for my tastes. I like oak aged and malty beers, and this one did not live up to my expectations at all. IÂ’m going to give it a 3.5 out 10.
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09:29 PM
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Of course his first post contains a video that I told him and Harvey not to watch on New Years Eve. Some people just never listen.
Do we start a pool on how long before he drops off the grid again? (Hides from Grau)
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January 23, 2007
Folks, I canÂ’t begin to explain how this grates on my nerves. Every time she does it, I want to reach out and slap the snot out of her. During the day, I tend to avoid her so I donÂ’t have to listen to her. If there is an issue and I do have to speak with her, then I try to do it as quickly as possible.
She really is a nice person. Yet during our conversations in the past she has stated that she doesnÂ’t have many friends and that people tend to not like her. IÂ’m pretty sure IÂ’ve identified why. I havenÂ’t said anything to her about it, mainly because I really donÂ’t think it would be appropriate for me to do so. On the other hand, it might piss her off enough that she stops and my brain wonÂ’t scream at me every time she does it.
Farking sensitivity class is working.
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January 22, 2007
Once opon a time, there were two football fans.One was a lifelong Bears fan.
One was a lifelong Packers fan.
Regardless of this, they became lifelong friends, even resulting in the rare event of the Bears fan being best man at the Packer fanÂ’s wedding.
Long ago, they made a bet. More of an arrangement, actually.
If oneÂ’s team made it to the Superbowl, during the game the other fan would be required to wear team gear of that team. IE: If the Packers were in the big one, the Bears fan would be wearing green and gold.
If you havenÂ’t already guessed, IÂ’m talking about Contagion (Packers fan) and myself (Bears fan).
And, yes, IÂ’ve already had to wear the uniform of the enemy. Twice. .
Now here is where it gets interesting...
The Packers have some fucked up fan gear. YouÂ’ve probably seen examples.
Cheese wedge hats, cheese bricks, cheese cowboy hats, cheese baseball caps, cheese ties, cheese bricks for hurling at the TV, etc. Contagion has said that if the Packers make it to the Superbowl, the bastard is going to make me wear a cheese bra. A Cheese-Fucking-BRA. I told him it may be the first time I ever welch on a bet.
I was wrong. IÂ’ve been thinking on it, and I canÂ’t. I cannot welch on a bet, itÂ’s almost an obsessive/compulsive thing with me. ItÂ’s why I donÂ’t make bets lightly.
So here’s how it is, if the Pack gets to the Superbowl, not only will I wear the fucking bra, I’ll do it sans shirt in all my pasty, hairy beergut, lard-assed glory, and I’ll post pics (I’ll be nice and do it in extended entry, to avoid making any readers out there go blind).How’s THAT for honoring a goddamn bet? With the Packer’s secondary the way it is, I’m not too worried, but I will still honor “The Bet” And I’m STILL not going to root for the goddamn Vikings. There are just some things a man won’t stoop to.
This post was made January 5, 2005. The Packers ended up losing to the Vikings. Thus we never did find out if Grau would or would not wear the infamous Cheese Bra. He also has one piece of misinformation in there. He actually did welch on the bet the year Green Bay went to Super Bowl 32. He felt that it wasnÂ’t fair that he had to wear Green Bay gear two years back to back, I let him slide tooÂ… with the caveat that I get to slide one year.
Now of course that means that I could get out of it this year and not have to wear a Bear shirt during the game. However, since the Bears making it to the Super Bowl only happens once every twenty years, I figured I would live up to the bet. So on Super Bowl Sunday I will have to sully my reputation by wearing that ugly Blue and Orange.
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January 21, 2007
That and the Saints/Bears game is today, and if itÂ’s snowing here, that means it is snowing at Soldier field. We get to see some real football today. Football wasnÂ’t meant to be played in a dome or just in warm weather. No, football was meant to be played out in the elements, the cold, the snow, the wind and rain. Fans huddling together for warmth and Tony Siragusa steeling heaters from the players to warm his own sideline-reporting arse.
That reminds me I need to start the voting for the Worst Announcer/Reporter of the season award. If you would like to make any nominations, please do so in the comments. Make sure to give me the correct spelling of their name AND the reason why you think they are the worst. Right now the three that I have in mind are:
Tony Kornheiser AKA Cornholer (ESPN Monday Night football) for his complete and utter lack of being able to talk football and actually comment on the game. This guy gets so off track that IÂ’m convinced he had someone else doing his analysis for his other shows that werenÂ’t live.
Bryant Gumble on the NFL networks Thursday Night Games for his utter non-sense he spouts off during the games and his inaccurate information. During the Packer game he actually said something like, “The Packers are 0 and 7 for penalties tonight” then two sentences later he said, “This is the Packers second penalty of the night.” Both referring to the same penalty.
Finally the above-mentioned Tony Siragusa (FOX Sports) for his utter banality and annoying reporting during the games. Although he did prove to be amusing when they showed him moving a heater away from a player so he could warm himself. I know Tony; the game is all about you.
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10:04 AM
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January 20, 2007
If I spend anymore time obsessing over this stupid game, I think my wife might leave me.
UPDATE: Okay, I lied and tried it one more time. This is an actual screen shot, the numbers on it were not altered.
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02:30 PM
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Over at instructables, they have Duct Tape Roses, and step-by-step directions on how to make your own.
Me, IÂ’m going to buy flowers, this just sounds like work.
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12:32 PM
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According to You Tube, this is done by using sulfur hexafluoride. This gas is significantly denser then air, and gives the foil “ship” the look as if it’s floating on water. Apparently this gas is 5.11 times denser then the air we breathe. It’s non-toxic and if you inhale some, it has the opposite effect of helium; it makes your voice sound deeper.
Posted by: Contagion at
12:28 PM
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That just looks like a broken back waiting to happen.
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12:20 PM
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I wear a kilt to work on Mandatory Saturdays.
Folks, this seemed like a good idea yesterday, but this morning I kind of regretted making it. First off, scraping the windows of my truck wearing a kilt in negative 2 degree weather is NOT fun in any shape or form. It gets hard breathing around my daddy berries. The cold hit the good time boys and they just retracted all the way up to my throat. Secondly, climbing in to my truck while wearing a kilt and not exposing yourself to the world takes some skill. When itÂ’s cold like this, it takes even more. Finally, climbing out of the truck is pretty easy, but that snowy blast on Mr. Happy was enough to make tears well up in my eyes.
Next time IÂ’m going to think this through a little better.
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12:12 PM
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January 17, 2007
It is in the standard 12 oz brown bottle. The label is quite interesting in that itÂ’s based on a Dutch wood carving of the 1800Â’s. Other then that the label has the standard information on it, nothing to really make me sit up and take notice.
Pouring the beer into a pint glass, it gives a nice inch thick head that fades at a decent rate. There really is no lacing on the glass to describe. The color is a cloudy golden yellow. You canÂ’t see through the glass, but light passes through easily enough.
Up until this point the beer seemed promising. Then I took a whiff, the first thing I smelled was liver. Folks, I kid you not; I thought I smelled liver. It was so predominant that I thought I might have some kind of liver residue from a liver dip my wife made, that I pulled out a virgin, untouched by anything other then sterile water glass and poured a new beer. The same thing happened. Even Ktreva smelled liver. After further examination, the scent is a mix of yeast, cloves and coriander. Due to the lambic style of the beer, it gives it a slightly musty scent as well. The beer tasted much like the scent, there were some malts, cloves and coriander, but it tasted like liverwurst. This is not a selling point in beers to me. I spent 15 minutes scouring the label and the box looking for the disclaimer. “PranQster is named that way as a joke because it tastes like liver! It’s great at parties and to unsuspecting friends to get them to drink this and see their reaction.” Unfortunately, they really want it to taste like this legitimately.
This is a medium bodied beer that has a slight carbonation bite. There is a coating of the mouth that makes the liver taste stick around for a while. It also is kind of unpleasant in the aftertaste.
If you couldnÂ’t tell, I did not like this beer. I like liver, I like beerÂ… but the two should never meet in one product. Just because IÂ’m slightly nauseated by the fact that I drank three bottles of it to give this review, IÂ’m going to have to give it a 2 out of 10.
This really is a joke waiting to happen.
Posted by: Contagion at
06:27 PM
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January 16, 2007
I have to go now, Ktreva has threatened to call the lawyer if I play another round.
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07:10 PM
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January 15, 2007
ItÂ’s sick, itÂ’s wrong, its NSFW, and it will make you look at fast food mascots in a different light.
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11:45 AM
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