Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager (Batch 286)

As I type this, my beloved Blackhawks are in 6th place in the Central Division of the NHL.

At this point, they are 7 points out of the playoffs, and I have not seen anything that makes me optimistic that they'll make up that gap.

I'm doing my part, but I'm just one person, and years and years of being a Blackhawk fan have proven that my efforts are not enough without a great team out there on the ice.

I miss those years when the Hawks won 3 Stanley Cups in 6 years.

Sigh.

But, never say never. I won't give up quite yet.

This last Sunday, I helped the team by brewing up my wonderful beer ...

Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager

Brewing Chelsea Dagger Again

Remember Chelsea Dagger?

Chelsea Dagger is the Fratellis song that gets played whenever the Blackhawks score a goal or win a game.

It is also a SheppyBrew Beer that I brewed after the Blackhawks won their 3rd Stanley Cup in 6 years.

Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager

It was one of those beers that really surprised me how much I loved it. The cluster hops really taste good in the light bodied lager.

Chelsea Dagger 2013

The Blackhawks won last night thanks in part to me and my little Gnome buddy. Obviously, game 6 was on the road so they were not going to be playing Chelsea Dagger in the stadium, but I took it upon myself to play it loud whenever I thought the Blackhawks needed a lift.

It worked.

I was also sure to save some SheppyBrew Blackhawk Black for the final period. You may think that my choice of beverage has little to do with how the hockey team did, but you would be wrong. Tommy Hawk APA helped get them to the finals, and  Blackhawk Black helped push them to the championship.

I waited all my life to see the Blackhawks win a Stanley Cup. I just had to wait 3 years to see them win a 2nd. Hopefully I'll get to see several more.

Go Blackhawks!

Kegging TommyHawk and Grilling Steaks

The regular season is over for my Blackhawks. Tonight the playoffs start. The Blackhawks did finish with the President's trophy, which means they will have home-ice advantage all the way through the Stanley Cup finals.

The mighty Blackhawks will soon be opening up against the eighth seed evil Minnesota Wild.

SERIES E TIME (ET) #1 Chicago vs. #8 Minnesota Networks
Tuesday, April 30 8 p.m. Minnesota at Chicago       NBC Sports Network, CBC
Friday, May 3 9:30 p.m. Minnesota at Chicago       NBC Sports Network, CBC
Sunday, May 5 3 p.m. Chicago at Minnesota       NBC, CBC
Tuesday, May 7 9:30 p.m. Chicago at Minnesota       NBC Sports Network, CBC
*Thursday, May 9 TBD Minnesota at Chicago       CBC
*Saturday, May 11 TBD Chicago at Minnesota       CBC
*Sunday, May 12 TBD Minnesota at Chicago       CBC

I can't wait. Go Blackhawks!

The streak is broken

Every month since May of 2011, this blog has gotten more and more page views. February did not have more page views than January, so this epic streak is now over. Part of me is relieved that this happened. The streak was unnatural and creeped me out a bit. According to the average views per day, had this been a 31 day month, the streak would have continued. If it were a 30 day month, we still would have missed it.

If you feel like reviewing the magic ride, feel free to read through the posts at http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Blogging. As it turns out, February comes in 5th all-time behind Oct 2012 thru Jan 2013.

For what it is worth, March is off to a great start.

Breast Flashing Cider

We are pretty close to the one year anniversary of my famous Cider Drinking and Breast Flashing blog post. Remember that?

Good times.

Today I found a bottle of the cider in one of my beer fridges, and decided to drink it as my New Brew Thursday drink (see just about any of my untappd articles if you need to know what that means).

The cider is still not as good as my beers, but it is not too bad, and I think people who drink hard cider might like it. Maybe.

I am pretty sure this is the last bottle of my "Breast Flashing Cider". I should probably make some more.

This year, as far as I know, no drunk female hockey fans have pulled out breasts and flashed them to any opposing teams' players in or out of the penalty box. Of course the Canucks were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs so maybe the crazy Vancouver chicks just did not have the chance to get to it.

Pompously Apricot

The BlackHawks lost last night. This does not make me happy. All four games so far  went to overtime. It is possible that they come back to win the series, but not likely.  I sure hope they do, because at this point I cannot think of another hockey team I can endorse this year.

Any team that is as offensively gifted as the BlackHawks are but have such a pathetic power-play does not deserve to win a championship. Besides as a Hawks fan, I cannot be too greedy. I have already seen my once-every-50-years Stanley Cup.

Last night I needed a "New Brew Thursday" beer. As I didn't have any and really did not want to go out and buy one, I decided to try blending the two beers that are currently in my keggerator.

Blending, of course, is a technique a fair number of commercial breweries use. For the most part it is done with barrel aged and/or sour beers as a way to add consistency to the final product year after year. They can also use it to come up with new beer flavors that would be difficult to achieve with one beer.

New Belgium, for instance has the sour base of La Folie (they call this base something, but I cannot think of the name they give it). They blend it with different styles to get most of the sours in their "Lips of Faith" series of beers.

Stanley Cup Finals are here!

So, the Stanley cup finals are about to start. With all due respect to the NCAA final four and the Superbowl, I think the Stanley Cup finals are the most exciting of all sports' championships. I know I'm in the minority on that opinion.

The Vancouver Canucks play the Boston Bruins. The Canucks came into the NHL in 1970 and have never won a Stanley Cup (although the Vancouver Millionaires won one in 1915). The Bruins have not won one since 1972. Both these cities are good hockey towns and I have to assume that a win for either team would be exceptionally exciting for each fan-base. I can't imagine it will be as exciting as it was to see the Stanley Cup return to Chicago last year, but I might be biased about that.

If it isn't the Blackhawks that win the cup, I am at least happy that someone who has not won one in awhile will win it. I'm certainly happy that the evil Red Wings cannot win this year. I'm also happy that none of the newer warm-weather teams are going to win.

If I have to pick (and of course I do have to pick), I'm gonna cheer for the Bruins. I am always more likely to cheer for original 6 teams (excluding the evil Red Wings, of course) as opposed to everyone else. Plus, I am still a little bitter that the Blackhawks got knocked out of the playoffs by the Canucks. The green guys still annoy me, and I there is just something about the Sedin twins that bothers me.

But, quite frankly, I'll be fine if Vancouver wins as well.

Go Bruins!

Unfortunately, I still have a fair amount of TommyHawk APA to drink while watching the finals.

Picture from http://bruins.nhl.com

It looks like hockey is returning to Winnipeg.  Of course, I am not a fan of having hockey in cities like Atlanta, and I certainly approve of moving the team back to Canada. Now, if we can get NHL hockey out of Phoenix, Dallas, Florida, Carolina, and Tennessee, things will be even better. I certainly hope that Winnipeg can support the team. It will be the smallest market in which an NHL franchise exists. I was under the impression that when the Jets moved away to Phoenix, it was a financial decision. I guess (according to the article I linked above) most of the financial factor was the fact that Winnipeg was not providing a new arena for the team to play in. Apparently, the building is no longer an issue.

A few weeks ago, I gave a link to Forbes NHL Team Values 2010. Atlanta is certainly not a money-making prospect for hockey. Canadian teams (generally speaking) are at least making money, so I would think that the new Winnipeg team would at least be able to financially outperform Atalanta. I guess time will tell.

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By the way, I mentioned a couple days ago how May broke this blog's all-time record of "page views" in any month. As expected, not only was the record broken, it was blown away. My total ended up 37% over the previous record month and up over 55% over April. Of course, I mentioned that "Cider Drinking and Breast Flashing" was already on the all-time list and rising fast. Well, it is now #1 on the list. It is only a few above "Tweedle beetles", but certainly has the momentum to remain #1 for a long time.

As of yesterday, I have been added to the "Complete List of Beer Blogs" on the Beer Bloggers Conference website. I don't know how much traffic that will give me, but hopefully getting on that list will do something positive to my "readership". I may have to make an effort to post more beer content to remain worthy of the list.

That's it for now. Time to watch some hockey!

Cider Drinking and Breast Flashing

You may recall that around the beginning of March, I "brewed" a batch of Simple Hard Cider based on a couple of episodes from Basic Brewing Radio.  A couple weeks later, I reported that I had bottled the cider.

Several days ago I tried some.  It was pretty tart and dry.  I didn't get much apple flavor from it, or really much of any flavor other than "tart".  I had been stuffed up with a cold and thought I may just not have been able able to taste because I couldn't smell.   I probably should have waited from my first taste.  I did think the carbonation was about perfect, which was something I had no idea about when I bottled it.

Tonight, I was feeling better, so I decided to try another bottle. It was still tart and dry. I got a little bit of apple and just a touch of what might have been cinnamon. I guess it was whatever they spiced the "spiced cider" with.  It was ok. Not great. If you are ever visiting and what to try it, let me know. I will most likely still have some for you to try.

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I feel like I should make some sort of funny statement about the Vancouver fan who flashed Ben Eager in the penalty box last night.  Unfortunately, I've not been able to come up with something all that amusing to say.

I'm sure there are great jokes to be said about "the twins". I'm sure we can say things like "no wonder Eager spent so much time in the penalty box". I'm just not clever enough to nail those jokes. I bet you can find a bunch by going to twitter and searching for "vancouver flasher".

I've been cheering against the Canucks, mostly because they beat the Hawks in round one. But another reason I can't cheer for the Canucks is those stupid Green Guys who are always there (although they were not there last night). I guess if the team is replacing the Green Guys with the blond breast flasher, I might have to reanalyze my policy against the team.  Of course, she did get kicked out, so maybe I should not reconsider after all.

I cannot quite figure out how taking out your breasts and rubbing them against the penalty box glass in front of the opposing player communicates your dislike of that player or his team.  I assume Ben likes to look at breasts. Most guys do. I am sure he liked that view better than the upside-down back-side of a man in a green spandex body suit.

Just saying ....

by the way ... I don't own either of the photos of the Vancouver fan. I also don't have permission to use them. Yes, I am a terrible person. But to give credit where credit is due: I got the first one from 25stanley.com, the article "Ben Eager des Sharks se fait flasher par une fan des Canucks". I am not even sure where I got the second photo from. It is all over the place, so I might even be considering it public domain at this point.

For what it is worth, I took the picture of the cider, and I do own the photo. If you want to use it in your own blog, go ahead.

3 to 4

I have not seen the Zizzer Zauzzer Zuzz in awhile. Sometimes I think about where he might be or what he might be doing, whose life he is currently trying to ruin, or why I would even be thinking about him. I can no longer breath under water or fly through the air. I don't really miss those powers, because as I mentioned way back in 2006, the situations in which those powers may turn out useful are very few and far between.  Besides, I sort of suspect that while I had those powers, my immortality was disabled, and now I am immortal once again.  Immortality is a much better power than human flight, don't you think?

The Tweedle Beetles are still around, but I don't find myself obsessing about them as much.  And, for the most part they seem to be leaving me alone.  I'm sure they are working on some nefarious plot, but what do I care?  As long as they stay away from me and mine, they don't bother me so much.  For the most part, their evil schemes were not all that damaging anyway.  I would have liked to win or place in the Breckenridge Duck Races, but losing didn't ruin my life.  Yes, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks (now known as only as the Ducks) won that Stanley Cup, but I got over it.  In fact now that the Blackhawks have actually won a championship in my lifetime, very few hockey things bother me much anymore (Red Wing players and fans excluded, of course).

Besides, I can't let those T-Beetles bother me too much.  They make a great beer.

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Ok, I was wrong.  The DAMN Tweedle Beetles made those momma-boy Sedin twins and those pansy Vancouver Canucks and the idiotic Green Spandex Men win tonight.  I would not be at all surprised to find out that the Green Spandex Men are actually Tweedle Beetles in disguise. 

Those stupid green men look evil, don't they?  Come to think of it, so does Kesler.

I hate those freeking Tweedle Beetles!!!!

2010 Champions

What a goal!

Chelsea Dagger

I listened to this a lot last night... never really paid attention to the words before.  Here they are:

Well you must be a girl with shoes like that
She said you know me well
I seen you and little Steven and Joanna
Round the back of my hotel oh yeah

Someone said you was asking after me
But I know you best as a blagger
I said tell me your name is it sweet?
She said my boy it's dagger oh yeah

I was good she was hot
Stealin' everything she got
I was bold she was over the worst of it
Gave me gear thank you dear bring yer sister over here
Let her dance with me just for the hell of it

Well you must be a boy with bones like that
She said you got me wrong
I would've sold them to you
If I could've just have kept the last of my clothes on oh yeah

Call me up take me down with you
When you go I could be your regular belle
And I'll dance for little steven and Joanna
Round the back of my hotel oh yeah

I was good she was hot
Stealin everything she got
I was bold she was over the worst of it
Gave me gear thank you dear bring yer sister over here
Let her dance with me just for the hell of it

Chelsea Chelsea I believe when your dancing
Slowly sucking your sleeve
The boys get lonely after you leave
It's one for the Dagger and another for the one you believe!

Chelsea I believe when your dancing
Slowly sucking your sleeve
The boys get lonely after you leave
It's one for the Dagger, another for the one you believe!

49 years

Until young Mr. Kane scored that goal last night, I had been waiting 49 years to see the Blackhawks win the cup.

Well, I was not born until 1970, so I had only really been waiting 40 years.

Well, I never followed the hawks until Jr. High when my family moved to the far north suburbs of Chicago, so I have only really been waiting 28 years.

Those first few years, you probably could not even say I was a suffering fan, so lets call it 25 years that I have been waiting for the Blackhawks to win.  25 years is a long time, but not nearly as long as the Maple Leaf fans have been waiting (43 years) or even the St. Louis Blues or the L.A. Kings who entered the league in 1967 and never won the cup (I guess that is also 43 years).  Wow, I feel sorry for the fans of those teams.  It feels good to not have to have the longest drought anymore and be able to feel sorry for the others.

And we are not even going to mention the Cubs.

Before this year, the closest the Blackhawks came during my 25 years as a suffering fan, was in 1992 when the Evil Pittsburgh Penguins just destroyed the Mighty Blackhawks in a sweep.  I just looked back at the scores, and they were much closer than I had thought, but I am pretty sure I am remembering correctly that although there were a couple of one goal games in that series, the Blackhawks were not really close to winning any of those games.  That was really painful.  And, a few years later, the Blackhawks virtually disappeared for over a decade.  They were just so bad that it was almost impossible to follow them here in Colorado.  But, somehow recently, the front office got smart about signing great young talent and putting the right pieces in place to give the team a chance.

Last night they did it.  I'm very happy that it finally happened.

1961

The Chicago Blackhawks have not won the Stanley cup since 1961. I was not alive in 1961. All but 6 teams in the NHL did not exist last time the Hawks won the cup. The fact that a team can go almost 50 years without winning is baffling to me. I'm sick of it. Its about time for them to get it done.

Of course, before they won it in 1997, the Red Wings had gone from 1955 without winning. The New York Rangers went from 1940 to 1994 without winning the cup. The Boston Bruins have not won since 1972.

I wonder what it is about the American members of the original 6 and their long droughts.

I am really hoping the Hawks make it to the finals and win it finally. If not, I hope they can win it before the Bruins.

Playoffs start

If it were not for this time of year, I probably would not own a big-screen HD TV or pay ridiculous amounts of money for cable TV.  The HD is nice to have for football, but if I were not a fan of hockey, I probably would not have bothered.  Quite frankly, I know a couple of guys with big-screen HD TVs who don't watch sports at all.  And, I cannot figure out why they spent the money.  I guess most TV shows (other than sports) hold no interest for me, and those that do don't really improve that much with a crystal-clear big picture.  Maybe these other guys have found shows much more interesting than any that I watch.

And, of course, here in Colorado, even the local Avalache coverage is not on free TV.  I suppose I could head out to the bars like I did in my younger years to catch hockey, but if I'm at a bar, I want a beer or seven, and I just cannot recover quickly enough to be a productive member of the work-force in the morning if I go out to the bars every night.

So, I paid for a huge TV and I overpay for cable T.V. most of the year mostly just for watching hockey, and more specifically, playoff hockey. 

And the playoffs started last night.  Life is good.  To make matters even better, the Red Wings lost and the Avs won.  The only thing that would have made it even better would be if the Blackhawks won too, but they don't start until Friday night.  Most likely, the Wings will end up winning their series, and the Avs will end up losing theirs, but right now, I can take pleasure in having watched both of the games last night.

Hawks are going all the way this year ... I can feel it!

Hawks win

Avs suck.

Avs fan

Check out the hot avs fan I picked up tonight.

I hope I get lucky.

RMNP Camping

I meant to go camping Memorial Day Weekend, but waited too long to get a decent reservation. Back before kids, that would not matter, but now-a-days, I do not trust being able to just find a first - come - first - serve campsite. So, we decided to wait until the weekend after Memorial Day Weekend to do our camping. As it turned out, my procrastination was a good thing. The weather was much better when we went than it was over the Memorial Day weekend. Just another example of my Semi-Charmed kind of life.
Our camping trip was to Rocky Mountain Nation Park. Again. We had alot of fun. I really liked the campsite we got this time, and will try to get this one or one of them real close next time we come here.
Isn't the picture of the hugging boys cute? It makes Daddy happy to see the boys get along.

Anyway, I hope you like the pictures. It was really pretty up there, and the pictures really don't do it justice. As I type this, I just finished watching the Pens beat the evil Red-Wings to force a game seven. As it turns out, I will not be able to watch game seven live, so don't tell me what happens. I'm sort of watching Magic vs. Lakers right now too. Hockey is so much more exciting to watch than basketball. I really don't understand why hockey is not a more popular T.V. sport here in America.

Anyway. Go Pens. Sorry I can't help them out Friday. I'll do what I can through the DVR on Sunday.

35 lbs

This has to be the best commercial I've ever seen. I wonder who had to go through and find all these pictures.