Goals and Turkey

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I sure did.

As badly as I wanted to get my keg of cranberry blonde to the UT-Kansas State tailgate extravaganza, it just hadn't conditioned well enough to share with the masses. A couple of days after, I force-carbonated it again while my little boy played with Hot Wheels in the garage:

After this round it really came together and has become more and more enjoyable every day. It was ready for Thanksgiving, and it was cool to be able to share my hobby with the family. Of course, I drank most of it myself but that's the beauty of brewing your own. I still have a few pints left, so of course I am pushing the beer on everyone that comes over so they can bask in my brewing genius.

I am considering throwing together a Great Lakes Christmas Ale clone this weekend. All grain, baby. If you've never had this stuff, I highly recommend it.

Early in the week, Ashley's family was in town. Her dad is a brilliant guy, and I always like getting to spend time with him. He is a wine and coffee-lover, and shockingly I didn't get any time to discuss brewing with him. Nonetheless, he made his famous gravy and there was much rejoicing. We went out to eat most nights other than Thanksgiving, and the first night out was family-style Chinese. I consider family-style dining to be a competition, FYI.

My brother and his girlfriend came in late Tuesday night. He brought some early birthday presents for his nephew, and oh man did he make an impression: tee-ball set, baseball glove, soccer goal, soccer ball, football, basketball hoop and plenty more small gifts. I think he sees being an uncle as a competition, and who are we to argue?

We actually had our Turkey Day on Wednesday since Ashley was scheduled to work on Thanksgiving day. Thursday was tons of outdoor fun with my brother and little guy. We even went to a park and I took some highland games implements to show off with. Actually, I wanted to get my brother's input on my throwing since he has a unique perspective. While he has never done highland games, he did play three years in the Major Leagues as a starting pitcher. He is one of the best natural athletes I have ever known, and I think it's safe to say he knows a thing or two about rotational power. Unsurprisingly, he had some good insight. I hope I can translate some of that into more distance.

Everyone headed home on Friday. The only problem I was left with was cleaning up leftovers and finishing off a keg of cranberry blonde. First world problems.