Tag Archives: New Year

Farewell 2014

Another year in the books! Business at the brewery has been absolutely crazy in a wonderful way. I get home every evening and blissfully collapse into the couch wrapped in a blanket, pint glass in hand (or tea on those epically cold nights) as I watch the temperatures outside dip to -16.
paleLuckily we have plenty of brews to keep us warm here at the brewery. Here’s a little recap of my year!

January:
am12Got my bow, which I unfortunately haven’t had time to shoot in the past too many months. Sad face.
AM2First resolution for the year – get back to that. I miss it so!
AM10I learned I don’t have any DNA and basically don’t exist after two failed DNA samples.
AM4Watched my HOUSE begin building!
am20Beer, beer, beer!

February:
am13Stupidly cold. Similar to this week, actually!
AMAM4Some of my beer photography was published in a book!
AM15I flew to California for my birthday to see two of the loves of my life.
AM21I visited all of my favorite breweries.
AM26Well, most of them at least.
AM41I enjoyed California brews while watching the sun set on the ocean. Happy sigh.
am4I flew back to Colorado and watched my house progress even more.
AM11I hit a unicorn in my car.

March:
am10Went to Celestial Seasonings with my bestie.
amBecame obsessed with avocado toast.
am4Freaked out every day over how much progress was being made on my house!
am2Beer, beer, beer!
am6Got lovely gifts from Bhakti Chai.
AM15Flew with Marissa, met Lauren, Heidi and Laura.
Screen shot 2014-03-23 at 10.47.08 PM…and Kait, Marisa, and many, many more.
am11More house development and saying goodbye to most of my mountain views.
am17Bacon grilled cheese, beer and beer studies.

April:
am2Bhakti Chai brewery tour!
am27Bhakti Chia Pudding recipe creation.
amCraft Brewers’ Convention! Hung out with my buds Dan and Ashley the entire weekend.
am5Floors and drywall finished in the house!
AM22Watched the wonderful Verboten Brewing win awards at the World Beer Cup!
Screen shot 2014-04-24 at 9.53.04 AMMoved into my house and enjoyed beer on my back porch.
Screen shot 2014-04-24 at 9.32.42 AMDidn’t have enough money for food, but found a way to buy beer so I at least had something in my fridge.
am8Brewed at New Belgium with Snowbank Brewing!
am17Bought a kitchen table so I could have something to put a beer glass on. Because I still couldn’t afford food…

May:
AM8Brewed at my bro’s house for Big Brew.
AM12Cold break!
AM14Rediscovered my love for green monstas while on my new back porch enjoying the summer view.
am12Tapped our collaboration brew for Fort Collins Beer Week.
am16Installed our brew system at Snowbank!
AM6Enjoyed many Loose Leafs from my back porch.
vacuumGot attacked by a rogue vacuum.

June:
am7Made beersicles!
am1Made Coconut Glazed Sweet Potatoes!
am8Made Veggie Hash with Imitation Panda Meat.
am4Biked everywhere.
AM10And I mean everywhere.
AM14Had our first brew day on our own system with the help of a handsome brewdog.

July:
AM3Made friends with artichokes after a rough beginning.
AM1A very rough beginning.
AM6More brewing!
am6Biked everywhere.
am2Rehydrated from biking everywhere with Beer Camp.
am10Ate way too many artichokes.
amDid quality control for four of our (soon to be) eight beers.
am8Hiked two 14ers in one day.
am21Swore I’d never hike another 14er in my life as I cared for my torn feet and aching knees.
am18Braided my hair a lot. Took selfies of it. Cringed looking back on them. Posted them anyway.

August:
amTook care of this handsome gentleman while my parental unit toured Europe.
am6Drank some Zinfandel.
am5Fell head over heels in love with this handsome gentleman as I do every day.
am8So much love.
am15Kayaked around some Colorado lakes.
AMHad our brewery release party at Cranknstein!
AM8Celebrated the upcoming wedding of my bestie of twenty years.
am6Opened Snowbank Brewing with one of the most insanely busy days of my life!
am18Reflected back to crossing the border into Colorado a year earlier to begin such a wonderful life.

September:
art1The artichokes continue
AM2The brewery explodes with popularity.
RainbowOur social media outlets become extremely popular.
bankDelicious beer was consumed.
a2I fell in love with Umami.
aa1I fell in love with The Silver Seed.
am7I enjoyed even more sunsets on my back porch as the sun began to set earlier every day.
pump1We played with a flame thrower and caramelized 100lbs of pumpkin.

October:
am2We got even busier and the posting began dwindling. I received a dirndl for all of my dog-watching efforts.
am6I delivered kegs in said dirndl.
am7I visited my old brew system in said dirndl.
am13One of my favorites came from California to visit!
GABFGreat America Beer Festival happened!
AM8Wonderful invitation to a beer pairing dinner where the dessert was a chocolate waffle cone smothered in BACON.

November:
c5Wore two different dresses for my bestie’s wedding!
c9Got my hair did for said bestie’s wedding day.
c10Finally got my hair dyed by our brewer’s superbly talented sister after the wedding.
am5Had our first snow of the season.
flake2Did lots of brewery social media pictures. So.
ginger1Many.
snowyPicture.

December:
Beanie1All brewery. All the time.
brew1And I couldn’t be happier about it.
hoodOh, look! A penny.
christmas1Christmas was spent with my wonderful family.
Stout1And my adorable new town was explored.
stoutAs we say farewell to 2014, I’m ready to welcome 2015 with open arms and nothing but excitement for whatever this incredible year has in store.

Happy New Year!

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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.
amBaby Avery at our first Ladies at Ladyface of 2013.
am1I 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.am2A media access preview night at Chloe’s – Golden Road’s secret pub space.am3My pops happened to be in town and was able to join me.AM4Abandoned places. I love them so.AM5John, Patty and Joe from The Chive came to visit!AM6For my birthday, the parental unit flew out and surprised me with a beautiful suite on the coast.AM7Abandoned places. I seriously am obsessed.AM8So tragically beautiful.AM9Irish 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.AM10Death by chocolate with Jenny.AM11Samuel Adams Brewery for training. I passed.AM12I had Utopias. Epic.AM13Met Ben Franklin. He told me to “Chive On”.AM14Had my first raw oyster. I didn’t hurl. I actually enjoyed it!AM15Consumed the most kickass donut that exists in the entire universe.AM16Traveled to Sierra Nevada Brewing for more training.AM17I say “training” very loosely. We mostly just drank their amazing beer and ate wonderful food.AM18We were spoiled by some specialty cellar brews.AM19I brewed at Miller in Irwindale. I drank Coors Golden got a can of Coors Golden and let my coworkers finish it.am20This is a big frickin’ brewery. HUGE.am21Took inappropriate pictures of brewers in short shorts. I’m not sure if the majority found it wonderful/hilarious or frightening/NSFW…am22Was given a personal tour of The Bruery in Orange by Tyler King himself!AM25Another personalized tour of Golden Road Brewing for a client I was schmoozing.AM26Ladies at Ladyface: TWO YEARS!AM27This little one kept growing!AM28Banjo and Fiddle Fest with Enegren’s Brew Chief Joe Nascenzi.AM29Family brew day in Colorado!AM30I passed the Cicerone test!!!! I had to decide which cellar beer to break open to celebrate with.AM31Honestly, a good two and a half years of my life studying everything beer for that moment.AM32My first recipe/picture accepted to FoodGawker!AM33Did I mention I passed the Cicerone test? I’m still kinda psyched about that…AM34Hosted a Samuel Adams beer dinner at Roy’s in Woodland Hills.AM35Hosted a Firestone pairing dinner at Salt in Calabasas.AM36Got my Chivette shirt and a mustache hat.AM37The parental unit came to visit again!AM38Went to Boston to see Commander Matt’s family and enjoyed tons of seafood and kayaking.AM39Got 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…AM40Stopped by The Chive before they moved out of Venice. I miss them!AM41Celebrated Avery’s first birthday! AM42Started going to archery every Saturday.AM43Angel City Brewery tour for works!AM44Said farewell to J.J. – a beloved Lady at Ladyface who moved to Oregon.AM45Watched this movie. Three times. It’s that awfully amazing.AM46My lovely Janelle cooked me this delicious dinner and became my strongest shoulder. AM47A great friend invited me down to his neck of the woods for good beers and yet another brewery visit.
AM48Hosted a Golden Road pairing dinner at Tuning Fork in Studio City.AM49I was able to dress casual for work for the first time in seven months since I was “repping the brewery”.AM50Went to the Citrus Classic Hot Air Balloon Festival.AM51And hosted the beer pairing dinner there.AM52Visited Figueroa Mountain’s new taproom in Santa Barbara.AM53Traveled to Colorado for a weekend and decided it was time to get back to where I belong.AM54Said farewell to my brew boys who kept watch over me in college. Congratulations to Grayson – almost officially old and engaged!!!AM55Met 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…AM56Another dinner with two of the people I adore the most on this earth.AM57Had a catch-up/farewell luncheon with Yousef Abu-Taleb – my favorite Beast from back in the day.AM58A Vertical Epic tasting with my Ladies of Ladyface. Heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time.AM60Drove my little car across California, Arizona and Utah to cross into Colorado!AM61The view from my current home.AM62Testing the local breweries – Black Bottle Brewing.AM63Lunch and tea with my oldest best friend, Michelley.AM64Traveled to Germany and had a beer in the town center after 30 hours of being awake.AM65Went to Andechs Monastery and had the best beer of the entire Germany trip.AM66Had Weiswurst and Weissbier for breakfast at the Glockenspiel.AM67Went to Salzburg, Austria on a day trip.AM68Found an amazing wine bar in München and became friends with the owner.AM69Went to Amsterdam and took the Canal tour.AM70Visited Anne Frank’s house. Speechless.AM71Visited Heineken. Delicious.AM72Went to Scotland and visited Cask and Barrel.AM73Went to Loch Ness.AM74Visited the ruins of Dunollie.AM75Went to BrewDog in Edinburgh!AM78Flew back home and cuddled with my Barleywhine.AM79Took a few spins around town on the motorcycle.AM80Went to City Star Brewing in Berthoud.AM81Found a great girls’ night spot at Next Door in Loveland.AM82Went to GABF.AM83Got together with California friends at GABF.AM84Met Lauren from Me and the Mountains at GABF!AM85So many wonderful Californians at GABF. I miss them.AM86Pink Boots Society meeting.AM87Brewed on the first official snow day in Colorado.AM88Went to a Colorado Avalanche game and wore a mustache.AM90Went to Left Hand for a flight.AM91Halloween, pumpkins and good beer.AM92Brewed at Verboten with the Verboten Sisterhood. Pink Saison – turned out delicious!AM93Broke out my old brew boots for the occasion.AM94Got hired at Loveland Aleworks!AM95Found and drank KCCO Black Lager!AM96Went for a weekend getaway to Fraser. AM98Made some awesome new recipes – this one featuring Gingerbread Ale by Bison Brewing.AM99Almost lost my Barleywhine to HGE. He lived and thrived. We’re all so very thankful.AM100Re-met Curtis and met Liz Chism of Council Brewing when they stopped by for a flight!
christmasWore 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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Getting Life in Order

I’ve been a little MIA recently, trying to get everything sorted out for the new year. A new planner had to be purchased so I could write down a new schedule and make new to-do lists so everything I put off would actually get done. The past few days have been spent setting a Cicerone daily study schedule and getting my life back in order after the lovely holidays.
All of the Christmas decor at Enegren Brewing had to go. Sniff.
The weather lately has been crazily summer-like! I hiked in eighty degree weather yesterday and was craving iced coffee the entire day. Today it ended up being a bit cooler (about seventy degrees…), so I took advantage of the almost-but-not-quite-or-really-even-close-to-winter weather and made some classic autumn baked goods before the season escapes from my grasp.
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spiced Donuts. I used the same recipe from the Blue Eyed Bakers and added a crapload of chocolate chips. The brew boys were hard at work when I arrived with a big bag of donuts in hand, but they found some time to inhale them.

I’ve decided to start my new year with one definite resolution – take one day a week off from my phone and my computer. This means no Untappd check-ins, no perusing Facebook, no updating Twitter and no texting. I’m sure this will be ridiculously difficult/impossible seeing as how dependent I am on my phone supplying me with GPS and a direct link to all my social networks lately.

I’ll also get back to cooking delicious foods and sharing all my beer tastings and different aspects about beer that I learn throughout my Cicerone studies with you. If you have any questions about the process or anything beer/food/life related, I’m more than happy to answer!

Any resolutions you’ve made for the new year?

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