Posted by Rob on January 18, 2011 – 12:13 pm
Now don’t get excited, I don’t make my own beer…but my bro-in-law does! When I last saw him, he gave me two hefty bottles of his homemade brew, one which was a Dunkelweizen and the other was a Winter Ale. I had finished with the Dunkel a few weeks ago, and last night I opened up the Winter Ale for the first taste.
The Winter Ale is a strong, tasty beer with plenty of flavor. It also has that “bite” that I’ve come to enjoy in beer, particularly in Sam Adams brews. The Winter Ale is a bit stronger than the Dunkelweizen, so I did prefer the Dunkel, which had some interesting flavors present. I was originally planning on saving them for our New Years Eve party, but in the end I decided to serve Sam Adams and keep the homemade beer all to myself.
The homemade beers my bro makes are a real treat, as there is a lot more to them than a commercial beer I can get in a store. I look forward to trying out more of his special brews. While making beer is not something I would personally like to get into, I would definitely be interested in making my own wine once we get a house. My dad used to make his own wine when we were down on Long Island, and it’s definitely something I want to try my hand at.
Posted by Rob on September 6, 2010 – 8:13 pm
Filed under Board & Card Games, Food & Drink, Geocaching, Movies, My Personal Life, Pets, Sports
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, booze, brooklyn, dallas bbq, drinking, geocache, Geocaching, killer bunnies, mason dixon, mexican food, nes, octoberfest, pizza, quest for the magic carrot, sam adams
We had a pretty sweet three-day excursion this weekend to see my sister and brother-in-law at their place in Brooklyn. It was an awesome time and we all had a blast. It’s always nice to get together with them, simply because it is so hard to do so.
We arrived there Saturday afternoon after coming into Grand Central and doing some subway hopping to get to her apartment on Greenpoint Ave in Brooklyn. My bro-in-law had ground up some home-made sausage and Cara cooked up some fresh ciabatta bread, so we had some nice sandwiches waiting for us when we arrived. I also got to finally meet their cat Amber (or as they prefer to call her, Puss Puss). She is a very cute, affectionate cat who tends to drool on you if she lays on you for even a brief amount of time. After lunch we hung out for a bit, and then headed out for a walk and some brief geocaching. We found one on a”nature walk” through an industrial section of Brooklyn, which ended up being a pretty scenic area despite all the garbage barges floating nearby. It was Cara and Nick’s first find so they were pretty happy! We then headed down to Newton Barge Terminal Playground for the next geocache. After much confused searching, we found the area where it should have been, but a local bum was literally asleep right on top of the area, so we had to forget about successfully finding it. Read More »
Posted by Rob on July 7, 2010 – 3:07 pm
Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as 4th of july, adam richmond, au bon pain, barking crab, beer, big bad bob, bigbadbob, blue man group, boston, boston brick red, bum, chowderfest, clam chowder, colonial, cruise, doubletree, emack & bolios, fireworks, gelato, harbor, hobo, hotel, independence day, kennedys, legal seafood, little italy, man vs food, new england aquarium, north church, paul revere, pax, penguin, sam adams, state house, u.s.s. constitution
I wanted to do something really fun and huge this year for Independence Day. I thought it would be cool to go to one of the old colonial cities for the weekend, and since we had already been to Philadelphia last year, I decided that we should go to Boston. While I was just there in March for PAX, we didn’t really do too much outside the convention, so I was looking forward to seeing more of the city. Once I told Shell, she was excited, and we made our plans to go. Our three day trip to Boston was a lot of fun, and definitely a perfect place in which to celebrate Independence Day.
Saturday:
We left early Saturday morning to head out to Boston, and our hotel. We had decided to get a hotel on the outskirts of Boston so it would be cheaper for the room as well as parking. We hit a little traffic going there, and were pleasantly surprised with the hotel. We stayed at the Doubletree Bayside hotel, and it was great. It was in an awesome location (four minute walk to the subway station), the room was very pleasant, and they give you a delicious chocolate chip cookie when you check in! It was definitely one of the best hotels I ever stayed in (not counting the Rockafella Suite, of course) and I highly recommend it if you’re staying in Boston and want to save a lot of cash for room and car parking. Read More »
Posted by Rob on March 31, 2010 – 7:09 pm
Filed under My Personal Life, Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, boston, brewery, DS, pax, pax east, pc, rumble, sam adams, team fortress 2, tetris, tf2, x-play, zombies
As I mentioned earlier, my camera was so full of foolishness that I did not take many pictures. However, Steve downloaded all his and sent them my way, so I am now able to show some pictures of myself enjoying my weekend in Boston.
At the Sams Brewery
Trying out a “rumble vest” (it was like a vibration controller, but it was attached to your chest and back) Read More »
Posted by Rob on March 29, 2010 – 10:38 am
Filed under Food & Drink
Tagged as barley, beer, big bad bob, bigbadbob, boston, boston lager, brewery, cherry wheat, gift shop, hops, noble pils, pax, pax east, sam adams, sams, tasting
I do love my Sam Adams Boston Lager, so when we were getting ready to head up to Boston for PAX East, I thought it only fitting that we find some time to take in the Sam’s Brewery. So on Friday, after checking into the hotel, we hopped on the subway and made our way to the Sam’s Brewery for a tour and a tasting.
We walked into the building, and made it just in time to catch the tour going in. The tour was technically free, but they suggested a $2 donation which went to local charities. However, they were not aggressive about it, and in fact we almost missed the keg which was set aside to receive the donations. So even though I did it, if you were a real cheapskate you could go to the Sam’s Brewery and keep all your money to yourself and no one would know or care. I was amazed to find that the tour actually took place on the production floor, amongst the vats of beer. The first part of the tour takes place off to the side, where the tour guide explains about the ingredients in Sam Adams beer, and passes around samples of hops and barley for you to smell. After that, we go back onto the production floor, and the guide explains the process of making different varieties of Sams. On that particular day, they were brewing Cherry Wheat, so you could see the guys in the back covered in cherry stains as they went about their work. It was really cool to be standing around watching the process go down in front of you.
Read More »
Posted by Rob on March 25, 2010 – 12:52 pm
Filed under My Personal Life, Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, boston, brewery, camera, convention, DS, ez-pass, gps, pax, pax east, sam adams
I didn’t get a call for a job today, so I was able to devote my morning/afternoon to slowly making sure that I am completely packed for our trip. Steve comes up here tonight, and we are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning, so I’m thinking we will be hitting up Boston around lunch time. Here’s some of the “cool” things I packed:
- Air mattress- the hotel claims they have a limited number of cots, but I doubt they are of high quality, and by the time I get there I’m sure they will be out. I am more than willing to lug along my air mattress to ensure I get some good sleeps (I will need to harness as much energy as possible in as little sleep time as possible) Read More »
Posted by Rob on March 15, 2010 – 3:14 pm
As some may know, we had a tough time coming up with a cake topper. While the wedding is Tuscan-themed, we still wanted to have a unique cake topper…something special that identified with us personally. After much searching and browsing, we eventually decided to get a custom one done. The cake topper we chose basically has the bride (Shell) dragging the groom (me) away from his video games. The person I purchased it from customized the topper via the figure’s hair color, the game being played, the system and controllers (PS3, naturally), and the beverage of choice (in this case- Sam Adams.)
Overall, I’m pleased with it. While it may not match the grape-covered cake we will be getting, it symbolizes us in a humorous way. Me thinks it will get plenty of laughs (and probably some confused faces) when the guests see it on the day of the wedding.
