Author Archives: Becki

by Becki | February 12, 2014 · 9:23 am

It’s My Older Day!

I’m 27 years old today. 2-7. Twenty-seven. Oy. Where has my youth gone?
Yesterday morning I woke up to this. 9 degree weather. 9. Nine-degrees.
But then I decided that instead of dealing with the cold, I’d just hop on a plane and head somewhere warmer.
Still too cold for my taste.
WAY too cold for my taste.
I distracted myself from both the icy mountainous terrain outside, and from my impending aging by being reckless and having a Fat Tire at 9am. Oh, what a crazy 26 year old I was!
As an early birthday present, I got the entire row to myself! Well, actually there were two people sitting there, but they got up right before the plane departed and moved a few rows back. I’d even showered that morning! Sheesh.
When we landed in a much, much warmer place, I stuffed myself with fresh seared ahi tuna and spinach chips…
Before heading back up to the room to get in my workout so I could have my actual birthday off. This 27 year old does not skip out on workouts! Well, except for on her birthday…
Immediately after coming down from my endorphin high, we headed out via a free hotel shuttle to Downtown Burbank! I used to sell in beer at Story Tavern at my old job, so I knew the tap selection would be awesome.
First up – Enegren Brewing’s Hickman Bitter. Such fond memories of this beer. And so. Freaking. Good.
I got a few tastes of some other options on the lineup while perusing the Beer Paper LA and enjoying the gentle sun that streamed across the outside patio…
…And settled down to another bitter while enjoying that 75 degree weather. There are definitely some aspects of California I miss, but man, it’s so much easier to enjoy the state when you’re vacationing and not residing!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway! It ends Friday!

Now I’m off to celebrate my birthday with tons of food, bundt cake and ocean! Happy humpday!!!

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Tagged as beer, Happy birthday to me, I'm old

by Becki | February 7, 2014 · 9:30 am

Craft Beer for the Homebrewer {GIVEAWAY}

A few months ago I was contacted by a publisher who’d seen some photos of mine and wanted to put them in a book about clone recipes for homebrewers. Um, okey!
Yesterday I saw a tweet by the Beertographer (check out his photos, by the way. Absolutely beautiful beer porn) that his copies had just arrived. I lamented back in a tweet.
Seconds after I posted that, a knock came at the door.
“Didja hear dat?”
“What dat? Who dat?”
Well, my sweet Barleywhine, that’s called a book. It’s got about 40ish recipes from a bunch of high profile breweries.
Cigar City, which I haven’t yet had a chance to visit or try.
Rogue Ales, which I’ve been fortunate enough to taste, but not visit. Yet.
Stone Brewing which I’ve visited, tasted, taken a test at, fallen in love with…
The Bruery, which I’ve visited, tasted, re-taken a test at (rawr) and fallen in love with…
And also a handful of smaller breweries like Funkwerks!
Sorry, I still can’t get over seeing my name in another published book. Insert smiley face here.
And there’s Andy who now works at New Belgium! Good to see some friends in this book!
And now it’s YOUR turn to get your hands on one of these! I’m giving away two copies to two lucky readers! I know I’ve got a LOT of lurkers and not many commenters, but you’re gonna hafta come out of your shells if you want one of these books. Your e-mails are private to everyone but me, so relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew. Wait, I mean relax, don’t worry and comment away.

How to enter: Leave a comment on this blog post letting me know your favorite brewery and favorite beer that they produce! Make sure you leave a valid e-mail so I can contact you if you win!

For a second entry: Follow me on Twitter! Leave a comment on this blog post telling me you followed! (If you already follow, leave a comment letting me know)

For a third entry: Follow me on Facebook and leave a comment on this blog post telling me so! (If you already follow, leave a comment letting me know)

For a fourth (and final) entry: Follow me on Instagram and leave a comment on this blog post letting me know! (If you already follow, leave a comment letting me know)

You get up to FOUR entries for this one! Open to U.S. residents only. This giveaway will run through next Friday, February 14th at 6pm MST. I’ll randomly select two winners and contact you by e-mail!

Happy homebrewing and happy Friday!!!

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Tagged as Craft Beer for the Homebrewer, Funkwerks, giveaway, homebrew clone recipes, homebrewing book

by Becki | February 5, 2014 · 9:40 am

InstaCold

I’m on an Instagram kick lately. And it’s been cold here. Really, really cold.

The snow is back! Actually, it arrived and then never really left. And boy, my driveway just loves being shoveled multiple times in one day.
The snowy view from my new house. Windows are in! And it’s still as cold as a mothersomethinger inside.
Looking at my room from inside my gigantic closet!
After that visit to the house, we went over to Mainline for some hot butternut squash soup, chicken and dumplings and brews. I enjoyed a sip of my Red IIPA and was talking about plans for my birthday (which happens to be a week from today!) when I remembered something wonderful. Something incredible. I will be in the vicinity of a Nothing Bundt Cakes store on the day that I get extremely old. I threw my hands across the table in excitement and spilled the almost completely full glass of beer right into my lap. All because of Nothing Bundt Cakes. It’s that good.
For some reason, I wasn’t feeling too kindly towards that Red IIPA after my jeans were wet and cold, so I decided to get a Tripel for my replacement beer. I avoided thinking about bundt cake this time.
Then, after changing my jeans, it was time to head to work. A wonderful/terrible regular brought in a box of Samoas Girl Scout cookies for Nick and me (that is correct grammar, thank you very much), which I proceeded to pair with Coconut Porter. Pairing. It’s my thang.
The brewery was preparing for the Superbowl, and had a crapton of pork shoulders slowly roasting away on the new smoker. I wasn’t going to be able to get a taste of those, so I had to recreate my own at home.
Health was not in my vocabulary this past weekend.
Superbowl Sunday came and I made these buffalo chicken jalapeno poppers from Half Baked Harvest using half the cream cheese and topped them with panko flakes seasoned with paprika and cumin. To. Die. For.
Superbowl came and went. We won’t talk about that. I got yet another notification from 23 and Me that I don’t have any DNA and don’t actually exist, so my ancestry will always be a mystery. They refused to send me another sample, seeing that I never was born and there’d be no residence to send it to.
Unfortunately the IRS didn’t agree that I don’t exist, so I had to go file my returns still. Boo-yah refund, baby!
My cool new FitBit Force has resulted in a not-so-cool allergic reaction to the nickel plating on the backside. They offered me a full refund, but I’m going to give it a few more days and see if it resolves itself. Cuz I really like my FitBit.
I worked at the brewery last night after a harrowing ~~drive~~ slide through the snow. It was a little cold there. Please note that this is the inside of the doors.
Well would you look at that? My car does register the negatives! I didn’t know that before last night.
And then I woke up to this. NEGATIVE SIXTEEN DEGREES.

I’m gonna go curl up in a ball in front of the fire and cry a little now.

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Tagged as instagram, jalapeno poppers, winter

by Becki | January 31, 2014 · 12:30 pm

Butterflies and Beers

We’ve had an interesting weather pattern here in Colorado lately.
Every other day has been gorgeous – high 50s and sunny, and the next day it snows. When it snows, I start cooking.
My daily breakfast – a hot boiled egg, my recently baked (on a snowy day) Whole Wheat Sugarless Banana Cake Bread (subbed dates for raisins) and copious amounts of coffee.
I also made some raw oat date bars from this recipe but added chocolate chips and dried cherries to the mix. MASSIVE pain in the ass to make, but definitely delicious and probably worth it. Note: do NOT try to make this in your Vitamix! I burned out the engine and ended up needing to chisel all of the oat/date cement out of the bottom to transfer into a food processor. Luckily, the Vitamix lived. Le phew!

Yesterday turned out to be a nice day, so my bestie Michelle and I met up in Westminster at the Butterfly Pavilion!
I’ve actually been here once before about sixteen (holy crap, I’m old) years ago. It was one of the designated field trip locations for all of the local schools, and still is. We were surrounded by little halflings who were running around and shrieking at everything they saw.
We wandered into the big bug room first, glancing into all the cages and letting out our own little gasps of, “Ewwwww!” and “Look how big that one is!” and “EWWWW!”. We resort to ten year old status when we’re together. I love that about her.
Then we did what we haven’t done in sixteen years – WE HELD ROSIE!!!
We even got the traditional “I Held Rosie” sticker and wore them proudly for the rest of the day.
More squeals and gasps from us.
“It moved when I touched it!”
We went through the double doors into the butterfly section where it was a balmy 80 degrees and humid.
And now commences too many pictures of butterflies, flowers and other animals.
They have a glassed off section where all of the chrysalises hang protected.
Then it was time for the daily release of newly emerged butterflies. We joined the gaggle of kids to learn a little more about the flutterbys and watch them fly away.
Ah, Alex. So majestic.
After the release we headed through the gift shop where picked up necessities – cheap plastic friendship butterfly rings, honey sticks and glittery tattoos. I’m proudly sporting one on my wrist as I type.
Then we I pretended to be a spider. Just because. Oh, and that thing on my wrist?
That’s my early birthday present to myself! A FitBit Force. As I type this, I’ve walked 5,274 steps, burned 953 calories, climbed 4 flights of stairs and walked 2.37 miles.
When we finally emerged through the doors to the outside, it had started to get a little chilly, so we headed across the way to Tuk Tuk Thai (an old spot I used to go to when I was in middle school after seeing movies with my friends) for some hot Tom Kha Gai.
Then it was time for beer! Big Choice Brewing is located in Broomfield, my old hometown.
We brought in some Beef ‘n Cheddar sammiches from Arby’s cuz we’re healthy like that, and spent the rest of the afternoon sampling all ten brews, reminiscing on old times and laughing about our crazy current lives.
I ended up going home with a growler of their #42 Poblano Stout – rich and roasty with all of the smoky flavor of a Poblano chile without the spice. I tried this for the first time back at the Gnarly Barley Festival and absolutely adored it. AND I got to carry it home in this awesome Christmas present from Michelley!
She knows me so well! We parted ways and I almost made it home before the chilly rain turned into snow and coated our ground yet again.

Have you ever tried out any fitness toys like the FitBit? It might not be accurate, but it’s still fun!

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Tagged as #42 Poblano Stout, Big Choice Brewery, Butterfly Pavillion

by Becki | January 27, 2014 · 3:40 pm

InstaWeekend

We enjoyed a busy weekend over at the brewery! I’ve begun an educational training for the team to get everyone to the Certified Beer Server level of the Cicerone program!I brought in a huge selection of different study guides for everyone to look through and we went over a few basics – how to pour a beer, the three tier system and just grazed draught system maintenance. Everyone seemed really into the idea of learning even more about the craft. It’s so nice to be surrounded by beer enthusiasts who want to dive even deeper!
Hopefully they don’t get overwhelmed the way I did once I began studying for the actual Certified Cicerone level…
MY HOUSE! Remember how it was just a freaking cement foundation last Thursday? They had all of this up by Saturday.
I enjoyed the view out of my kitchen window. Oh, if only they decided to keep those other lots free – my view would be phenomenal!
Hello, kitchen! Hello, moving mural! (The trains change daily – new graffiti all the time!)
I was beyond excited after seeing that, and decided to take my mumsie out to celebrate. We hit up Mainline in Old Town Fort Collins for lunch. I grabbed a roasty Telluride Facedown Brown and gazed at the extensive menu for about a minute before settling on the best decision of my life.
Maybe not the best decision of my life, but a really, really good one. Fried chicken and waffles with roasted apples, candied walnuts and rum-butter syrup. Completely blissed out. Complete food coma.
I worked Sunday night and was greeted on my way out of the neighborhood with high winds and ominous skies. The warm brewery was very welcoming.
We have magazines for customers to look through when they stop by. This is the latest. Oh, Colorado.
We woke up this morning to a good two inches of powdery white stuff covering the ground. If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I already shoveled twice, and since it’s still coming down in blankets, I’ll be shoveling at least twice more before the day is over.
Until then, I’m doing my best to stay warm and cozy, which of course includes baking my Whole Wheat Sugarless Banana Cake Bread (subbing in dates for raisins) and throwing pork tenderloin, garlic, honey and balsamic vinegar into a crockpot for a hot dinner.
My first time being close to a full Medjool date. These things are ridiculously sticky! I’m looking for a good date/oat/nut bar recipe to make. Any suggestions?
The only way to grow herbs year round in Colorado. I’m digging this AeroGarden! I can’t wait to have fresh basil and sage in a few weeks!
I hope you’re all having a lovely start to the week! End it right with a craft beer and watch the Avs game with me!

Ever used Medjool dates before? Do you have any recipes to share?

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Tagged as Cicerone study, Mainline Fort Collins, Medjool dates, new house build

by Becki | January 23, 2014 · 11:45 am

House Arrest

I’ve been sporadically on and off the blog radar for the past few weeks, but I promise I have good reasons!
Hmm? Oh, that’s just me, standing on the foundation of my NEW HOUSE!
After months of searching and weeks of filling out loan applications and credit reports, they’ve broken ground (and then some) at the site of my new home! I’ve been spending my days playing around with budgets (I probably should’ve titled this Budget Arrest), the idea of not being able to afford to feed myself, and Pinterest.
I love the idea of having as many things as possible being made by me in my house. Since I won’t be able to afford furniture and the like…
I’ve also been going over color ideas to distract me from the panic attacks that threaten to overcome me when I re-do my budget over and over and it just keeps getting smaller and smaller.
Shopping for said furniture I can’t afford can still be fun, though…
I went out with the parental unit for a little fun/relaxing/celebration time after all those long documents were signed. I’ve gotta soak up as much spoiling as I possibly can before things get even crazier!
Side note – one of the best dishes I’ve ever had in my entire life. No joke. Butternut squash ravioli draped in a creamy sage sauce, cranberries and roasted pistachios with a side of hot garlic bread at Next Door in Loveland. Oh, it is heavenly!
I’ve also been (still) hitting the archery range and shooting out some of that anxiety. There’s something so calming and confidence-inspiring about drawing back 30lbs and letting the arrows fly.
My current bunkmate. I’ll miss fighting him for pillow space on my bed.
I’m certain I’ll be stealing him for a few nights here and there to keep my bed warm when I can’t afford to turn on the heat.
So yes, it’s been crazy and my days have been filled with stress and excitement, but I promise to keep you filled in as things go. And any recommendations for homemade/reclaimed furniture ideas would be greatly appreciated! I already have my wine rack ready to go!
And now I’m off to curl up next to the fire and read one of my new books.
Happy Thursday!

Have you ever built your own furniture? I’d love tips and recommendations!

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Tagged as DIY crafts, new house

by Becki | January 16, 2014 · 5:50 pm

Nunneries, Cemeteries and Brews

I set out on the road to find an abandoned town yesterday and kinda failed, but did stumble across some pretty cool places!
As I was driving north towards Wyoming, looking for Virginia Dale and all of the creepy shuttered glory I was hoping for, I saw a sign that said “ABBEY” that pointed left.
The Abbey of St. Walburga is a convent located just south of the border of Wyoming. The nuns there spend their days in prayer and meditation.
They also raise cattle. There was a box on the front bench with some of the fresh mozzarella and a donation box. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t planning on stumbling across an Abbey that sold fresh meat and cheese, my car was void of a chill box, but I definitely plan on going back up soon to try some!
The bells, surrounded by snow covered mountains.

This place is truly a hidden gem. The sisters walking through the halls offered to let us join in on the daily prayers as they passed into the church.
We kindly declined and perused the grounds before hopping back in the car and heading south.
The Virginia Dale exit was directly across the way from the Abbey, but I was unable to find the bullet-ridden signs and abandoned homesteads that the websites promised.
I did, however, find the old post office that has been shuttered for years. No trespassing this time since there was a house directly behind. Sniff.
A little ways down the road we came across a small white church and pulled off for more pictures.
The doors were unlocked, so I let myself in to explore the small room.
The original church burned down in 2003, but they’ve rebuilt since and still have regular services on Sundays.
Some old relics from the original church.
The church, like the town and the Abbey, are surrounded by mountains with no sight of any other housing, or people, in sight.
A small cemetery sits right next to the church.
Some of the graves are a bit more well-kept than others.

There are a handful of headstones that simply have names that are just barely etched in and fading with time and weather.
It was getting later in the day and we had yet to feed ourselves, so we jumped back on the road and drove south to Fort Collins to check out Gravity 1020, Fort Collin’s Brewery’s attached restaurant.
I warmed up with the porter on nitro and paired it with their East Coast Rep – prime rib, caramelized onions, cheddar and horseradish aioli with a side of pastrami mac ‘n cheese. Holy. Drool.
We shouldn’t have. We really, really shouldn’t have, but how can you say no to at least trying one of these desserts?
The Cake and Shake. The pumpkin spice cake wasn’t as soft and delicate as I was hoping, but the flavor was still warm and spicy. The shake had Red Banshee in it and was a little odd with the bitterness, but rounded out well with the butter pecans.
It was an exhausting and unexpected day, but the perfect way to break up the week.

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Tagged as Abbey of St. Walburga, Gravity 1020, Road Trip, Virginia Dale

by Becki | January 13, 2014 · 7:50 pm

Lessons and Obsessions

If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, you’ll see that I’ve developed a new obsession.
Obsession: I love my new bow!
I’ve been going to the range quite a bit before work lately. Nothing like getting a little stress out with sharp, pointy arrows!
Lesson: I’ve also learned a lot about myself – I’m good at maiming animals (on paper), but probably couldn’t ever actually kill one. For multiple reasons.
Luckily my pops was able to put this one out of its misery. I think I’ll stick to archery for the sport, and not for hunting.
Obsession/Lesson: I’ve also learned that a nice chilly Schwarzbier is a good idea afterwards. Gotta settle the nerves after injuring that poor paper elk.
Obsession: My Latin Lover. Tall, dark, hot and rich. This is a wonderful caffeinated creation I found at The Coffee Tree in Loveland made with espresso, chocolate, cinnamon, cayenne and almond milk. Perfect for these cold days while the snow is still resting on the ground.
Lesson: We’ve been experimenting at work and discovered that there are 3,628,800 ways to blend all ten beers we have on tap. This is the Suicide – a little bit of each. Extremely complex with barnyard aroma, coconut, molasses and fig flavors with a weird sour hop finish. I wouldn’t recommend it. We’ll keep trying to find the other 3,628,799 blends that work.
Obsession: This book. I’ve heard about it all over the blogosphere, checked it out at the library, had to renew it twice before I actually opened it and now can’t put it down. I paired Gone Girl with a Lost Abbey Angel’s Share. Quite an exquisite pairing, if I do say so myself.
Lesson: Apparently I’m someone who has to take all tests twice. My last 23 and Me test “didn’t have enough DNA” to get a result. Fingers crossed for try number 2!
You may remember yet another of my obsessions – abandoned towns/buildings. I’ll be taking a road trip during my three day “weekend” to visit another beautifully creepy abandoned place this week!

What are your obsessions in life?

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Tagged as archery, Latin Lover, lessons, obsessions

by Becki | January 6, 2014 · 6:00 am

An Avalanche of Awesomeness

We’re six days into the new year! How did you guys spend the big night?
I started off with the important things – we opened up my Firestone 16th Anniversary that’s been aging in my cellar for a good year.
A brilliant glass of this and writing out some resolutions! I’m on the small team of people out there who still enjoy writing down resolutions. They’re not the generic “get healthy” “lose weight” “stop drinking” (of course not that!), but some smaller goals/hopes/dreams I like to strive to. A handful of examples – hike a 14er, make an effort to give good friends actual phone calls (I’m not great at actually talking to people on the phone for some reason…), read at least one book every month, sit down for twenty minutes every morning with my bible for my SheReadsTruth bible study…
And one of my new resolutions – spend some quality time with my new bow! I finally got my Samick Sage, and can’t wait to spend more time at the range!
I’ve been there three days so far since picking up my Sage.
Post archery range brews are nice too!
I spent Friday night with some friends at the Eagles game at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland! We feasted on barbecue at Nordy’s before and enjoyed a fun win that was only marred by the excessive use of cowbells. I will never understand why anyone thought painfully loud and distracting bells were a good idea during a hockey game…
Since I hadn’t gotten enough of a hockey fix, Saturday was spent at the Pepsi Center watching the Colorado Avs play!
We started off with a (slightly) cheaper beer and food at the attached restaurant and then headed into the rink.
SUCH. GREAT. SEATS!
Our neighbors were kind enough to invite us along – they get amazing seats since their son plays youth hockey and the Avs are big on encouraging aspiring players.
THE AVS WON!!! I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever seen the Avs win in person, out of four games!
We went out to Wynkoop Brewery for celebration beers afterwards.
I started off with the Colorojo but found it to be a bit of a diacetyl bomb, and they kindly exchanged it for a B3K Black Lager. Muuuch better.
I’d say that this year has been many degrees of awesome so far. I’m loving 2014!

How’s your new year/new resolutions going?

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Tagged as Colorado Avalanche, New Years Eve, resolutions, Samick Sage

by Becki | December 31, 2013 · 12:01 am

Farewell 2013

2013 was a wonderful, painful, beautiful, heartbreaking and joyous year. I warn you now – this is a picture and link heavy post. It was a busy, busy year.
Baby Avery at our first Ladies at Ladyface of 2013.
am1 I made my first grown-up purchase – a new Prius C to help me drive those 100 miles per day I averaged with my post-assistant-brewer job. am2 A media access preview night at Chloe’s – Golden Road’s secret pub space. am3 My pops happened to be in town and was able to join me. AM4 Abandoned places. I love them so. AM5 John, Patty and Joe from The Chive came to visit! AM6 For my birthday, the parental unit flew out and surprised me with a beautiful suite on the coast. AM7 Abandoned places. I seriously am obsessed. AM8 So tragically beautiful. AM9 Irish Car Bomb bread pudding. I insist on taking a little credit for the idea of this… I think Phil and Thomas from Custom Melt and Custom Pie might allow that. AM10 Death by chocolate with Jenny. AM11 Samuel Adams Brewery for training. I passed. AM12 I had Utopias. Epic. AM13 Met Ben Franklin. He told me to “Chive On”. AM14 Had my first raw oyster. I didn’t hurl. I actually enjoyed it! AM15 Consumed the most kickass donut that exists in the entire universe. AM16 Traveled to Sierra Nevada Brewing for more training. AM17 I say “training” very loosely. We mostly just drank their amazing beer and ate wonderful food. AM18 We were spoiled by some specialty cellar brews. AM19 I brewed at Miller in Irwindale. I ~~drank Coors Golden~~ got a can of Coors Golden and let my coworkers finish it. am20 This is a big frickin’ brewery. HUGE. am21 Took inappropriate pictures of brewers in short shorts. I’m not sure if the majority found it wonderful/hilarious or frightening/NSFW… am22 Was given a personal tour of The Bruery in Orange by Tyler King himself! AM25 Another personalized tour of Golden Road Brewing for a client I was schmoozing. AM26 Ladies at Ladyface: TWO YEARS! AM27 This little one kept growing! AM28 Banjo and Fiddle Fest with Enegren’s Brew Chief Joe Nascenzi. AM29 Family brew day in Colorado! AM30 I passed the Cicerone test!!!! I had to decide which cellar beer to break open to celebrate with. AM31 Honestly, a good two and a half years of my life studying everything beer for that moment. AM32 My first recipe/picture accepted to FoodGawker! AM33 Did I mention I passed the Cicerone test? I’m still kinda psyched about that… AM34 Hosted a Samuel Adams beer dinner at Roy’s in Woodland Hills. AM35 Hosted a Firestone pairing dinner at Salt in Calabasas. AM36 Got my Chivette shirt and a mustache hat.The parental unit came to visit again!Went to Boston to see Commander Matt’s family and enjoyed tons of seafood and kayaking.Got the worst burn I’ve had in my entire life. I still have a tan line to THIS DAY, and it doesn’t look like it’s planning on fading anytime soon…Stopped by The Chive before they moved out of Venice. I miss them!Celebrated Avery’s first birthday! Started going to archery every Saturday.Angel City Brewery tour for works!Said farewell to J.J. – a beloved Lady at Ladyface who moved to Oregon.Watched this movie. Three times. It’s that awfully amazing.My lovely Janelle cooked me this delicious dinner and became my strongest shoulder. AM47 A great friend invited me down to his neck of the woods for good beers and yet another brewery visit.
Hosted a Golden Road pairing dinner at Tuning Fork in Studio City. AM49 I was able to dress casual for work for the first time in seven months since I was “repping the brewery”.Went to the Citrus Classic Hot Air Balloon Festival.And hosted the beer pairing dinner there.Visited Figueroa Mountain’s new taproom in Santa Barbara.Traveled to Colorado for a weekend and decided it was time to get back to where I belong.Said farewell to my brew boys who kept watch over me in college. Congratulations to Grayson – almost officially old and engaged!!!Met and said farewell to Wolf Creek Brewery’s replacement for me – Joseph Isaac, assistant brewer extraordinaire who owes me a beanie and beers since the Colorado Avalanche destroyed the LA Kings… Before they destroyed us back…Another dinner with two of the people I adore the most on this earth.Had a catch-up/farewell luncheon with Yousef Abu-Taleb – my favorite Beast from back in the day.A Vertical Epic tasting with my Ladies of Ladyface. Heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time.Drove my little car across California, Arizona and Utah to cross into Colorado!The view from my current home. AM62 Testing the local breweries – Black Bottle Brewing. AM63 Lunch and tea with my oldest best friend, Michelley.Traveled to Germany and had a beer in the town center after 30 hours of being awake.Went to Andechs Monastery and had the best beer of the entire Germany trip.Had Weiswurst and Weissbier for breakfast at the Glockenspiel. AM67 Went to Salzburg, Austria on a day trip.Found an amazing wine bar in München and became friends with the owner.Went to Amsterdam and took the Canal tour.Visited Anne Frank’s house. Speechless.Visited Heineken. Delicious.Went to Scotland and visited Cask and Barrel.Went to Loch Ness.Visited the ruins of Dunollie.Went to BrewDog in Edinburgh!Flew back home and cuddled with my Barleywhine.Took a few spins around town on the motorcycle.Went to City Star Brewing in Berthoud.Found a great girls’ night spot at Next Door in Loveland.Went to GABF.Got together with California friends at GABF.Met Lauren from Me and the Mountains at GABF!So many wonderful Californians at GABF. I miss them.Pink Boots Society meeting.Brewed on the first official snow day in Colorado.Went to a Colorado Avalanche game and wore a mustache.Went to Left Hand for a flight.Halloween, pumpkins and good beer.Brewed at Verboten with the Verboten Sisterhood. Pink Saison – turned out delicious!Broke out my old brew boots for the occasion.Got hired at Loveland Aleworks!Found and drank KCCO Black Lager!Went for a weekend getaway to Fraser. Made some awesome new recipes – this one featuring Gingerbread Ale by Bison Brewing.Almost lost my Barleywhine to HGE. He lived and thrived. We’re all so very thankful.Re-met Curtis and met Liz Chism of Council Brewing when they stopped by for a flight!
Wore a battery-operated, homemade ugly Christmas sweater to serve beer to all those thirsty folk on Christmas Eve.

It’s been a year full of amazing memories, wonderful friend and people and moments I’ll never forget. I don’t regret a single thing, and I am so very blessed. Thank you, 2013, for a beautiful year!

What are your favorite memories from 2013?

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Tagged as 2013, 2013 recap, New Year