Benji, Beer and Babies

Benji and I call each other about once or twice a month. We end up talking about a lot of different things, but we always talk about home brewing. We have a tradition of sharing a homebrew while talking on the phone. He'll say, "Here's to you." And I'll say, "Here's to you." And we'll have a drink. The first time we did this I think we talked for about two hours and shared a forgotten number of beers.

I called Benji today on my way home from visiting a family that lives in Knightdale. It's about an hour drive home so I figured I'd call people. I talked to Jeff and Laura too. Alas, I did not have a beer to drink on the drive home, but Benji and I spoke about life while Elli (a.k.a. Eleanora Annabelle Bergstrand (sp?) was cooing in the background. Elli can apparently wave to people and say, "Hi." There are at least 6 documented cases of this. She is also fond of dogs and so far has gotten out, "Da." That's pretty damn good if you ask me!

I shared how Emily was doing. The baby is kicking quite a bit these days. I'm pretty sure she can already say the alphabet. I put together a crib last week--it's quite a cool crib, kind of old looking and very sturdy. It's also a transformer--it changes into a double bed down the line. Nice!

We talked about our most recent brews. He had brewed an IPA and said it had gotten better with age. The Porter I brewed was just delicious. I bottled it in 22 oz. bottles and have enjoyed each one. I took one to the guys at the brew store and they said the really liked it. I gave two to Mr. Hallmark--a teacher at camp who also homebrews. My friends Katie and Troy from Baltimore had a couple at my house. I'm bringing a few over to Phil and Liz's for dinner tomorrow night, and I'm taking the rest to the baby shower next weekend. This beer is getting some mileage!

Tonight I'm going to bottle the IPA that is in my fermenter (a 5 gallon bucket). I just got these blue glass litre bottles that seal like the Golsch bottles. I am very excited about these. Mr. Hallmark's logic about 22 oz. bottles is that "you never drink just one, right?" So carrying this logic even further, a litre bottle makes a whole lotta sense. He's gone to kegging his beer. I myself am just going to keep using bigger bottles. I suppose that growlers are next.

Perhaps I'll share a beer with you. You should come over to my house.