Krispy, Web Guru & Brewer

Front garden update – it’s doing well!

Well I posted earlier this summer about us ripping the tired old overgrown front garden out, and digging in some new soil, and planting  a few new plants (couple of roses for the long term).

Well I’ve been out watering most days in this hot summer we’ve had, and things are going really well.  The odd plant has fallen by the wayside, but most have flourished, and we’ve just added a few new delicate flowers that were grown from seed in my mini greenhouse!   You can see the original image from May HERE (or scroll down a bit!)… and compare that to the images below!

My darts website really taking off

Steve Grubb and Dave Ahmet - two darts pro's who I now call mates

I thought I’d find time while watching the British Golf Open to write a quick update about my golf website; Darts, Beers & Cheers! .

Since creating the darts fansite back in January (2010) I have posted several hundred updates and articles, sharing news on the PDC (and some BDO) darts scene.  I now have around 15 interviews, with darts players, darts officials, and even the more glamorous side of the darts, the ‘walk on girl’.

Recent interviews include such famous players as Mervyn King, Simon Whitlock, and Sky Sports presenter Dave Clark.

Because of my website I have become friends with a number of professional darts players, and am invited along to the PDC Pro tour (non public darts tournaments, where only some 120+ dart pros and their guests are allowed).   I am often in contact with the press officer of the PDC (Dave Allen), and have been working with Bravo TV to help publicise their upcoming European Darts Championship show.

It’s keeping me very busy, with a lot of my spare time chatting with players, darts fans, and watching darts in person or on TV.  It’s great stuff being able to combine my love of Darts and my technical and writing abilities.

Here’s an article I wrote after attending a press event in London where I got to chat with Barry Hearn, Dave Gorman (the comedian and writer), and even GOT TO PLAY PHIL ‘the power’ TAYLOR! Oh yes!

Who knows where it will end up!?

Spot of gardening – the horror!

OK so its not a HUGE front garden

Well it’s a bank holiday weekend, so some traditions have to be honoured – such as a visit to a B&Q and the purchasing of gardening stuff.

Thanks to my mum & step-dad, we actually got LOADS done in the front garden – an area which needed a bit of care and attention (i.e. flame thrower).  We’d already ripped out most of the 15 year old dying lavender bushes.. and Saturday saw a hive of activity, garden waste bin full to bursting.

After about 3.5 hours, the old rubbish was cleared, the soil dug and improved, and new plants planted.  I even used my electric hedge trimmer thingy to attack the hedge at the front of the garden.

So that’s front garden sorted and cleared, and chilli’s and peppers growing away in the plastic greenhouse thingy we’ve got in the ‘courtyard’ area outside our backdoor. Sorted.  That’s enough of the greenstuff for me!

I took a few pictures afterwards on my best camera (canon slr job), just to prove that we did all that work!

I think these are daisys. Look nice anyway.

I’m pretty pleased with some of the photo’s, especially this one;

A flower - up close, looking.. like a flower

Drinking 7 year old beer – someones got to do it

Fullers Vintage Ale 2003, Drank by Krispy 2010

I was given a bottle of beer to try by my step-dad David the other week – and it was a little different to say the least!

It was a bottle of Fullers ‘Vintage Ale’ – still in its slightly mottled box.  Each year Fullers create a ‘best of the best’ ale – using their favourite ingrediants (malts and hops), and make it strong enough to last.  The bottle I had was the 2003 vintage – that’s right, 7 years old!  It was one of 50,000 made back in 2003 – and I wonder how many of that run are still left maturing.   The ale is obviously bottle conditioned (bottled with live yeast), and was bottled at 8.5%  I expect some very slow fermentation carries on – with the yeast trying to digest the more complex left over sugars, doing so with little oxygen.

The card that came with it did state a ‘legal requirement’ best before of 2006, but that could be ignored with an ale of this quality and strength, especially as it had been stored in a cool and dark garage.

Well I did what any beer fan would do – I opened it!   The ale was darker than the ‘golden’ description, and it had the aroma of .. oak and sherry.  There was still a reasonable level of carbonation – enough to give the ‘mouth feel’ you want in an ale, not enough to make it ‘fizzy’.  The flavour is hard to describe (I’m probably not really a supertaster who is good at that sort of thing);  very powerful complex flavour – you knew its % was strong, but the alcohol ‘flavour’ wasn’t too pronounced, probably after 7 years to merge with the other flavours.  I couldn’t pick out much hop, so was left with an oaky malt.

It wasn’t an easy pint to finish – one that you have to take your time with.  Not a beer I’d want to drink every day, but a real experience.

The box, bottle, and insert card, about to be opened!

Oakham Ales new facebook page

Oakham Ales Black Baron - 8.8% - bonkers beer!

I thought I’d post quickly about the fact my favourite brewer (and not just because they run my locals) has a new facebook page, with some smashing images on.

Oakham Ales fanpage can be found at; http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Oakham-Ales/375341174470?ref=nf

They have released the name/strength/pump clip image for their soon to be here ale, ‘Black Baron’ – which is 8.8% in strength!  I did query that, and was told it is part of a new range of ‘bonkers beers’ – sounds good to me!

Not sure I’ll be having more than one tho.

I think you can sample the new ale at their beer festival – coming up this Easter weekend at Charters (the pub in a boat on the river nene).

My latest website open

My darts fansite

I’ve just ‘opened’ my latest website – which I started on only three days ago!

“Darts, Beers & Cheers”  (http://www.pdc-darts.co.uk/) is a fansite for the great sport of darts (yes it is a sport – and that is OFFICIAL!).  I have created it to be a resource to all the fans of the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) – with news, views, and reviews of players and darts tournaments.

Only two days in I’ve created a look n feel that I’m happy with (totally custom WordPress theme), some content, and even a world exclusive interview with one Wayne Mardle (top PDC darter).  I’m hoping the site will become one of THE resources for fans of the game.

Day at the Darts 2010 Championships

Another long, tiring, and fun day at the darts is over – and I’m sitting at home watching todays games while writing this – Darts isn’t just for Xmas, its for the new year too!

The three of us set off at 9am, and after a traffic free drive arrived at Alexandra Palace about 10:45am – plenty of time before the noon doors open.  Luckily we are now old vets of the worlds, and knew to get ourselves to the 180 bar on the outside of the Ally Pally, for a pint and some grub.

It's breakfast time - plus our first beer of the day

One cracking breakfast bun later (top notch), we settled down in the only seats in the bar to savour our pints and watch the darts fans roll in.  This was the calm before the storm

Ross with a 4 pint pitcher of beer

We made our way in through the hallowed doors just after noon – and as luck would have it, there were no queues to speak of.  First things first, we found our seats – claiming out table 1, row G, seats 1,2 and 3 best seats in the house   If anything it’s a bit close, as you can’t see the board because the players are in the way.

The beer came in 4 pint pitchers – and even better there were ‘beer people’ walking round with beer kegs on their backs serving top ups, quality!  I think we got through about 3 of them during the morning session – not bad as only two of us were drinking

Lee chilling by the stage next to our front row seats

180 cards at the ready, room filling up with fans

We wrote out our 180 cards (a benefit of turning up early is getting your hands on the cards) – the usual rubbish to try and catch the camera’s eye.  The crowd filled up quickly, but luckily it wasn’t too hot (although it heated up in the evening – getting uncomfortably hot as it often does).

First game up, Andy ‘The Hammer’ Hamilton vs.  the veteran Steve ‘The Adonis’ Beaton.  It felt like neither player were at their best, but the hammer was too strong. Being right at the front we managed to catch Andy’s eye as he celebrated, and he threw his darts flights in our direction, and Lee managed to catch one before the scrum descended.

Andy 'The Hammer' Hamilton

The second game was between crowd favourite, Terry ‘The Bull’ Jenkins, who really seems like a nice bloke, vs. American Darin ‘Big Daddy’ Young.  The crowd really got into this game – with a lot of ‘Eng-ger-land’ chanting going on.  Darin seemed to take it in good humour – especially

Darin Young, definitely a big daddy!

when the humour turned to question if he had any relationships with Tiger Woods… Darin shouted back at the crowd; “He’s slept with everyone in America” which got a good laugh.

Jenkins was far too strong though, and Darin looked a bit crestfallen as he was soundly beaten.

Jenkins shows us why he is 'the bull'

One of the highlights of the darts is of course the walk on girls (well it is if you’re a red blooded guy!   ).  Luckily we were treated to PDC favourite Nicola Cowell, and the just as lovely Sarah Tunnicliffe.  They looked cracking in their outfits – quite classy dresses too, and to be honest, thank god the dancers weren’t there – I wasn’t a fan of them prancing about.

Nicola Cowell adding some much needed glamour to the show.

Last game of the morning session was Wayne Jones vs. the Aussie Simon Whitlock – a real dark horse!

Simon Whitlock and Wayne Jones shake hands

We ignored the betting odds giving us a clue, and bet on Wayne, as the odds were good for any sets win.  We thought it would be closer than it was – but Simon Whitlock was on top form – he really concentrates with a full on intensity.  His doubles and accuracy is breathtaking at times.  (note: he’s gone on through the next round too!  Joining the UK circuit next year).

The session ended in good time – by 5pm, so we got some EXPENSIVE chips from the van outside (£7.50 for fish n chips?? they were having a laugh), and sat in the car for an hour to get out of the rain.

Doors re-open at 6pm, so we rushed back – ready for a big evening.  The morning session had felt a little disappointing – the games were a bit one sided or lacking in quality – but we had high hopes for the later games.

Van Gerwin vs. Wade kicked off, and we swapped to pints of cider to pick us up too.  If you are going along – I recommend the pies – the chicken balti was a cracker    As we thought, Wade was too good for the dutch player – it’s a shame that Mighty Mike hasn’t yet had the results that was expected of him when he first joined the PDC.

James Wade salutes the crowd

I thought James Wade had the best reception at a worlds yet – the crowd on the most part where cheering him (I’ve seen him booed a fair bit previously) – and I think he appreciated the support.

Clearing the throat to announce THE POWER

Then it was time for the big one – and the room was really buzzing as Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor made his entrance.  To be honest the wall of sound and singing of Phil’s name really appeared to daunt his opponent, Robert Thornton.  You here the commentators say that a player is beat before they throw a dart, and it really looked that way.

Phil Taylor stalks while Robert Thornton throws

It can’t be easy playing a legend on top form, especially when the entire crowd is against you (more ‘Eng-ger-land’ chants to annoy the Scottish Thornton).

My feeling was right, and Phil won quite easilly – showing everyone that he is still determined to win his 15th world championship!  The ‘winter wonderland’ song filling the hall.

Then onto the last, and I think easily the best game of the night, Adrian Lewis vs. Kevin McDine.  I predicted a lot of 180′s to my brother, and wasn’t wrong!  Not sure how many there were, but I think there was at least 12 by Lewis.  The atmosphere was fantastic, the crowd roaring and filling the room with sound.  Lewis really was on top form, at one point we could see he’d got to an average of 108+!!   The standard dipped later on, possibly due to the crowd ‘going nuts’ – singing a tune over and over again – thumping on tables the works.  It did annoy Lewis – possibly because he thought it was aimed against McDine and was dis-repectful, but nothing he could do would stop the crowd enjoying itself.  Lewis plays Phil next – who knows what will happen (Lewis will lose unless he realises he CAN win).

Lewis and McDine enjoy the crowd (to begin with)

So all in all another great day at the darts.  Beer, darts, girls (walk on variety), and a great party feeling.  Bring on 2011!  … although my next visit to the darts is the PDC Players championship at the Circus Tavern, only a month away…

World Darts again!

It’s that time of year – the Xmas dinners eaten, the booze has been drunk (well not all of it  yet!), and the PDC World darts championship is on the TV again.

I’m off to watch in person tomorrow (29th Dec), with the BEST tickets for the afternoon session (front row, just behind the players to the right, which is the prime being spotted by the cameras seats ) .  They are actually exactly the same seats we had last year, and loads of people saw me on TV.

I get to see Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor again for the third or forth time – a true sporting legend.  Love him or Loath him, you can’t deny his dedication and winning nature. If only we could bottle his winning attitude and give it to the footy and cricket teams!

Heading off at 9am for the drive down – three of us on a darts watching marathon. Pictures to come!

Oh and I’m talking about the PDC Alexandra Palace world darts championships – not the (now very noddy) BDO worlds.  All the best players have finally moved across to the PDC now – it’s got the money, and the televised events, which the older and some would say old fashioned BDO just can’t match.  The difference between the two events (apart from the quality of play and prize money) is that one feels like being at a big derby game at a big footy match, while the other is like.. well going to watch old men in cheap gold jewelry play in front of a snooker crowd. 

(PDC darts website can be found here)

Rage against the X-factor

UPDATE: 21st December 2009 – WELL DONE EVERYONE (who took part in the facebook group and bought the single) – RAGE WON THE XMAS NO. 1 SPOT   what an amazing acheivement, it warms my heart to know that there is still some rebellion in music, after years of bland and fake music in the charts.

I’ve seen a great movement on the social networking site Facebook.  In a reaction to the fake and ‘evil’ X-Factor program, a group has grown up promoting an idea – the idea is to buy a Rage against the machine track from 13th-19th December (2009) to try and take the coverted Christmas no.1 spot from whatever cover the eventual winner of X-Factor will churn out.  The track can be downloaded from iTunes etc for it to count towards the Brtish charts (see the link below for full list of download locations). 

Even Santa knows xfactor is evil

X-Factor makes me feel queasy – people bang on about how good or talented some of the people are – but to me it misses the point.. anyone who prostitutes themselves to a contract with Simon Cowell are selling their souls – and the one thing about great music, it has soul… and if they are so fecking good, go out there and play the pubs, do the graft, earn the respect of your peers, and do it the proper way.  If you can’t make it, you haven’t got it – and can only sell a few records because of the huge publicity machine behind you.

So good on the facebook group, and here’s to RAGE AGAINST X-Factor – you can take a look here; http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2228594104 and as they say, don’t by the track ( ‘KILLING IN THE NAME’  by Rage against the machine) until 13th Dec, else it won’t have the same effect.

YouTube publicity video; Rage against X-Factor

UPDATE: it’s past the 13th Dec, and you can now start buying the track…  Amazon is OK – there was some worry as they are only 29pence, but it’s ok, they have confirmed their tracks at 29p do count (they loss lead with them, and do pay the 40p a track required), also Play.com, iTunes, Tescos etc all ok. 

Another brew: Krispy Golden Hoppy ale…

Well I thought I’d be able to squeeze one more brew in before Xmas.. and bizarrely, I thought I’d try a ‘summer ale’ – as I might as well try and nail a good session ale.. plus I’ve now got two very strong beers bottled and maturing, so I need a lighter session ale to wash em down with.

I’ve not boiled yet – just made up the yeast starter tonight.  My planned ingredients are;

• 1.5kg light malt extract (liquid)
• 1kg (2x 500g) light malt extract (dry)
• 500g wheat extract (dry – that’s a barley/wheat mix)
• 500g Carapils malt (very light grains)
• Wyeast American ale yeast
• Challenger and Cascade hops

I had in mind a hoppy and light gold ale such as Oakham Ales Bishops Farewell.  If anyone from Oakham ever reads this – please feel free to contact me and correct my mistake   (I live local, happy to accept some of your yeast )

I plan to dry hop some of the cascade – I’ve read that it’s a very distinctive and very strong aroma hop.. we shall see!  The recipe below is approx what I’ll try… (click on it to read.  Free web calculator I use found HERE)

krispy blond ale - extra hops

UPDATE 21/11/2009: Well I didn’t make the beer when I thought – as the yeast starter never really took off as I wanted – so I didn’t trust the beer to the yeast which looked possibly dead (I left the start 3 1/2 days.. and no real activty.. plus after 2-3 days you can usually smell the alcohol and yeast, but I had nothing other than malt).

So I ordered some cheaper dry yeast (American style) – and did my boil today, while listening to my local footy team lose yet again on the radio.

All in the fermenter now – I will dry hop (* see latest update about hop tea!) with 25 grams cascade once the main fermentation is through (3 days.. depending on how it goes).  I’ve read that you can add the hops to the fermenter straight away – but I thought I’d wait until there is alcohol in the mix to kill any stray germs – and also I’ve read that the heavy CO2 production etc can lose some of the hop oils and aroma’s if you add during primary fermentation.  So I’ll boil up a muslin bag and add my 25g hops to it, and get it in the fermenter on tues/weds night, and leave it there until I bottle.  What I might do is thread the bag with nylon thread, so I can pull it out just before I bottle, so it doesn’t disturb the yeast sediment (it will float, rather than sink).

The colour looks spot on – a nice golden colour, and the taste wasn’t bad – I can definitely taste a fair bit of hop, but still missing that aroma I’m looking for, so hoping the dry hopping does it.  Also about spot on OG too, about 1052, so I’ll probably get about 4.6-5% with the yeast I’m using.

Update 23/11/2009

The fermentation is going very nicely now 2 days in I have a 2-3 inch krausen formed, and the yeast is the usual very active swirly snowstorm (the best way I can describe it) – see through fermenters are great

I have decided to try a ‘hop tea’ for this beer, and if that works well, go with it every beer where I want strong hop flavour and aroma.  I will take a picture when I do it, but a hop tea is another way to add hop – I guess wet dry hopping (if that makes sense).  So instead of adding the hops to my fermenter (in a muslin bag), I may instead (or as well as…), take my 1-2 ounces of hops, add to recently boiled water, and steep for 10-15 mins.  Then take this tea and add to the fermenter (and the beer obviously!).  I’ll do this once it’s calmed down, as some of the oils and aroma will be driven off by the CO2 being expelled during the yeast’s busy period.

To help keep the hop leaf from the beer, I’m going to use a coffee cafetiere (American’s call them a ‘French Press’) – those glass jars with a fine metal mesh you push down on to strain coffee grounds from the water.  I can use the same idea to strain and squeeze the hops out of the ‘tea’, getting all the goodness and flavour without the bits.  That’s the theory.

Even using the hop tea method, I MIGHT add hops directly too – just to make fully sure