Coffee is my shepherd; I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in green pastures, It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.
It restoreth my brain, It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for it’s name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of sleep,
I will fear no artificial sweetener for thou art with me; Thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me.
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of my zzz’s, Thou anointest my day with sunlight;
My cup runneth over.
Surely richness and flavor shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of Cappuccino forever…

Let us sip… or whatever…

Random News:

• 3 days until the release of the Deschutes Abyss. That’s exciting. I’m still up in the air on exactly how much I’ll get. Note to self – don’t drink them all right away.

• Burton is offering a $5k reward to the snowboarder who can poach on the remaining ski areas that still ban snowboarders: Mad River, Alta, and a couple others. Do you ever wonder why snowboarders were banned in the first place?

• The Belgian Dubbel is still bubbling away in the garage, but it’s tapered off considerably. The temperature controller is hitting the heating element more frequently meaning fermentation is slowing down. I’ll have to watch it over the weekend. Once it slows to one fart through the airlock every 30 sec, I’ll test it and see where we’re at.

• There’s a recipe in Zymurgy for a ridiculously strong Imperial Stout, reportedly clocking in at 17-18% abv.  It uses something like 30 pounds of grain per 5 gallon batch (typical strength batches take 8 to 11#’s).  I have the recipe entered into ProMash but I’m on the fence if I’ll make it or not.  Brewing a monster like that which actually turns out drinkable will take every bit of mojo I can muster.  I need to mull this one over some more.