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.
pale Luckily we have plenty of brews to keep us warm here at the brewery. Here’s a little recap of my year!

January:
am12 Got my bow, which I unfortunately haven’t had time to shoot in the past too many months. Sad face.
AM2 First resolution for the year – get back to that. I miss it so!
AM10 I learned I don’t have any DNA and basically don’t exist after two failed DNA samples.
AM4 Watched my HOUSE begin building!
am20 Beer, beer, beer!

February:
am13 Stupidly cold. Similar to this week, actually!
AM AM4 Some of my beer photography was published in a book!
AM15 I flew to California for my birthday to see two of the loves of my life.
AM21 I visited all of my favorite breweries.
AM26 Well, most of them at least.
AM41 I enjoyed California brews while watching the sun set on the ocean. Happy sigh.
am4 I flew back to Colorado and watched my house progress even more.
AM11 I hit a unicorn in my car.

March:
am10 Went to Celestial Seasonings with my bestie.
am Became obsessed with avocado toast.
am4 Freaked out every day over how much progress was being made on my house!
am2 Beer, beer, beer!
am6 Got lovely gifts from Bhakti Chai.
AM15 Flew with Marissa, met Lauren, Heidi and Laura.
Screen shot 2014-03-23 at 10.47.08 PM …and Kait, Marisa, and many, many more.
am11 More house development and saying goodbye to most of my mountain views.
am17 Bacon grilled cheese, beer and beer studies.

April:
am2 Bhakti Chai brewery tour!
am27 Bhakti Chia Pudding recipe creation.
am Craft Brewers’ Convention! Hung out with my buds Dan and Ashley the entire weekend.
am5 Floors and drywall finished in the house!
AM22 Watched the wonderful Verboten Brewing win awards at the World Beer Cup!
Screen shot 2014-04-24 at 9.53.04 AM Moved into my house and enjoyed beer on my back porch.
Screen shot 2014-04-24 at 9.32.42 AM Didn’t have enough money for food, but found a way to buy beer so I at least had something in my fridge.
am8 Brewed at New Belgium with Snowbank Brewing!
am17 Bought a kitchen table so I could have something to put a beer glass on. Because I still couldn’t afford food…

May:
AM8 Brewed at my bro’s house for Big Brew.
AM12 Cold break!
AM14 Rediscovered my love for green monstas while on my new back porch enjoying the summer view.
am12 Tapped our collaboration brew for Fort Collins Beer Week.
am16 Installed our brew system at Snowbank!
AM6 Enjoyed many Loose Leafs from my back porch.
vacuum Got attacked by a rogue vacuum.

June:
am7 Made beersicles!
am1 Made Coconut Glazed Sweet Potatoes!
am8 Made Veggie Hash with Imitation Panda Meat.
am4 Biked everywhere.
AM10 And I mean everywhere.
AM14 Had our first brew day on our own system with the help of a handsome brewdog.

July:
AM3 Made friends with artichokes after a rough beginning.
AM1 A very rough beginning.
AM6 More brewing!
am6 Biked everywhere.
am2 Rehydrated from biking everywhere with Beer Camp.
am10 Ate way too many artichokes.
am Did quality control for four of our (soon to be) eight beers.
am8 Hiked two 14ers in one day.
am21 Swore I’d never hike another 14er in my life as I cared for my torn feet and aching knees.
am18 Braided my hair a lot. Took selfies of it. Cringed looking back on them. Posted them anyway.

August:
am Took care of this handsome gentleman while my parental unit toured Europe.
am6 Drank some Zinfandel.
am5 Fell head over heels in love with this handsome gentleman as I do every day.
am8 So much love.
am15 Kayaked around some Colorado lakes.
AM Had our brewery release party at Cranknstein!
AM8 Celebrated the upcoming wedding of my bestie of twenty years.
am6 Opened Snowbank Brewing with one of the most insanely busy days of my life!
am18 Reflected back to crossing the border into Colorado a year earlier to begin such a wonderful life.

September:
art1 The artichokes continue
AM2 The brewery explodes with popularity.
Rainbow Our social media outlets become extremely popular.
bank Delicious beer was consumed.
a2 I fell in love with Umami.
aa1 I fell in love with The Silver Seed.
am7 I enjoyed even more sunsets on my back porch as the sun began to set earlier every day.
pump1 We played with a flame thrower and caramelized 100lbs of pumpkin.

October:
am2 We got even busier and the posting began dwindling. I received a dirndl for all of my dog-watching efforts.
am6 I delivered kegs in said dirndl.
am7 I visited my old brew system in said dirndl.
am13 One of my favorites came from California to visit!
GABF Great America Beer Festival happened!
AM8 Wonderful invitation to a beer pairing dinner where the dessert was a chocolate waffle cone smothered in BACON.

November:
c5 Wore two different dresses for my bestie’s wedding!
c9 Got my hair did for said bestie’s wedding day.
c10 Finally got my hair dyed by our brewer’s superbly talented sister after the wedding.
am5 Had our first snow of the season.
flake2 Did lots of brewery social media pictures. So.
ginger1 Many.
snowy Picture.

December:
Beanie1 All brewery. All the time.
brew1 And I couldn’t be happier about it.
hood Oh, look! A penny.
christmas1 Christmas was spent with my wonderful family.
Stout1 And my adorable new town was explored.
stout As 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!

1 Comment

Filed under New Year

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.
am 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. AM37 The parental unit came to visit again!AM38Went to Boston to see Commander Matt’s family and enjoyed tons of seafood and kayaking. AM39 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… AM40 Stopped by The Chive before they moved out of Venice. I miss them! AM41 Celebrated Avery’s first birthday! AM42 Started going to archery every Saturday. AM43 Angel City Brewery tour for works! AM44 Said farewell to J.J. – a beloved Lady at Ladyface who moved to Oregon. AM45 Watched this movie. Three times. It’s that awfully amazing. AM46 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.
AM48 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”. AM50 Went to the Citrus Classic Hot Air Balloon Festival. AM51 And hosted the beer pairing dinner there. AM52 Visited Figueroa Mountain’s new taproom in Santa Barbara. AM53 Traveled to Colorado for a weekend and decided it was time to get back to where I belong. AM54 Said farewell to my brew boys who kept watch over me in college. Congratulations to Grayson – almost officially old and engaged!!! AM55 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… AM56 Another dinner with two of the people I adore the most on this earth. AM57 Had a catch-up/farewell luncheon with Yousef Abu-Taleb – my favorite Beast from back in the day. AM58 A Vertical Epic tasting with my Ladies of Ladyface. Heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time. AM60 Drove my little car across California, Arizona and Utah to cross into Colorado! AM61 The view from my current home. AM62 Testing the local breweries – Black Bottle Brewing. AM63 Lunch and tea with my oldest best friend, Michelley. AM64 Traveled to Germany and had a beer in the town center after 30 hours of being awake. AM65 Went to Andechs Monastery and had the best beer of the entire Germany trip. AM66 Had Weiswurst and Weissbier for breakfast at the Glockenspiel. AM67 Went to Salzburg, Austria on a day trip. AM68 Found an amazing wine bar in München and became friends with the owner. AM69 Went to Amsterdam and took the Canal tour. AM70 Visited Anne Frank’s house. Speechless. AM71 Visited Heineken. Delicious. AM72 Went to Scotland and visited Cask and Barrel. AM73 Went to Loch Ness. AM74 Visited the ruins of Dunollie. AM75 Went to BrewDog in Edinburgh! AM78 Flew back home and cuddled with my Barleywhine. AM79 Took a few spins around town on the motorcycle. AM80 Went to City Star Brewing in Berthoud. AM81 Found a great girls’ night spot at Next Door in Loveland. AM82 Went to GABF. AM83 Got together with California friends at GABF. AM84 Met Lauren from Me and the Mountains at GABF! AM85 So many wonderful Californians at GABF. I miss them. AM86 Pink Boots Society meeting. AM87 Brewed on the first official snow day in Colorado. AM88 Went to a Colorado Avalanche game and wore a mustache. AM90 Went to Left Hand for a flight. AM91 Halloween, pumpkins and good beer. AM92 Brewed at Verboten with the Verboten Sisterhood. Pink Saison – turned out delicious! AM93 Broke out my old brew boots for the occasion. AM94 Got hired at Loveland Aleworks! AM95 Found and drank KCCO Black Lager! AM96 Went for a weekend getaway to Fraser. AM98 Made some awesome new recipes – this one featuring Gingerbread Ale by Bison Brewing. AM99 Almost lost my Barleywhine to HGE. He lived and thrived. We’re all so very thankful. AM100 Re-met Curtis and met Liz Chism of Council Brewing when they stopped by for a flight!
christmas 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?

2 Comments

Filed under epic

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?

2 Comments

Filed under New Year