New and Improved Goal List

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I will be moving to Boulder, Colorado this upcoming summer, and along with the change of scenery, I have designed a shiny new goal list.

1. Get tenure.
This one is pretty obvious.  The tenure system at CU-Boulder runs on a seven year clock, so this is one of the long-term goals on my list.  In the meantime, I hope to submit at least five journal papers and three grant proposals this upcoming year.  (Yeah, I really don't see much sleep in my immediate future.)

2. Become a first-time home buyer.
I was originally planning to wait to buy a home, but interest rates are ''historically low'' and there are signs that housing prices in Boulder will rise substantially in the coming year.  Besides, it would be really wonderful not to hear my next-door neighbor's every move late into the night.  With that in mind, Sarah and I might just have to move into the mountains.

3. Break 36:00 at the 2014 Bolder Boulder.
I really miss being fast or, at the very least, faster than I currently am.  So, when I officially decided to move to Boulder, I became increasingly excited at the possibility of getting back into shape and running the famous roads in Boulder and up and down mountains.  Next year, I am aiming to get down into the high 16:00's for the 5K and break 36:00 at the Bolder Boulder 10K, but in the future, I also hope to start doing some trail races/marathons.

4. Climb all of Colorado's Fourteeners.
There are 55 lofty peaks in Colorado that top 14,000 feet, and I want to conquer all of them.

5. Get serious about homebrew.
Sure, I have been having a whole lot of fun with the homebrewing experience.  I concocted a tasty sweet stout out of chestnuts and crafted a cider that will kick you in the pants.  However, I have only begun to scratch the surface.  In the coming years, I hope to up my game by taking various measures, including the following: (i) putting together an all-grain setup, (ii) kegging, (iii) purchasing a genuine cider-press, and (iv) building my own house bar.

6. Build a BBQ smoker.
I love BBQ and everybody knows it.  Unfortunately, I have tasted some of the 'cue in Colorado, and it just isn't up to snuff.  This has inspired me to build my very own BBQ smoker in the hopes that I might someday rival the likes of Aaron Franklin and John Mueller (okay, that might be a stretch).  In all seriousness, my uncle has actually managed to produce some quality BBQ on his own smoker in Denver, so I have some reassurance this isn't too misguided of a goal.

Goals Update #5: Homebrewing

Finally, I come to the end of my "Goals Update" series with a post discussing my fifth goal from a year ago:

Successfully brew a halfway-decent gluten-free beer.

So, you ask, how did things go on the homebrewing front?  Well, to put it shortly, good and bad.  My friends Chris and Zohaib and I began our homebrewing mission by producing "gluten-reduced" beer.  Namely, we used Clarity Ferm, a clearing agent, to "denature" some of the gluten proteins found in a standard barley beer.  The result was a fantastically delicious blonde ale which unfortunately made me quite sick.  It was a worth a try, but I unfortunately had to try a different approach.  I then brewed up a gluten-free pale ale recipe from Austin Homebrew Supply that called for a sorghum base and a generous supply of hops.  The result?  I didn't get sick, but the sorghum made for an off-putting, metal-like flavor.  I was quite disheartened at this stage in the game, but I then read about chestnut beers on HomeBrewTalk.com.  I quickly went to work, and after a failed initial recipe, I successfully brewed a delicious Chestnut Sweet Stout from chestnuts, oats, brown rice syrup, molasses, milk sugar, and espresso.  For the recipe, check out my post on the HomeBrewTalk.com forums.

Lately, I have dived into a different arena - crafting homebrewed cider.  My first product, inspired by Edwort's Apfelwein, is almost complete, and it is a fantastic, dry cider at about 9% abv.  I oaked it using medium-toasted oak cubes which were soaked in whiskey, which I found rounds out the cider quite nicely.  I am quite excited to taste the cider upon completion (it is already quite nice at this stage), and I look forward to brewing up more ciders in the future.
 
Goal Status: Outstanding Success

Second Chance: A Gluten-Free Chestnut Sweet Stout

High Noon: A Gluten-Free Red Quinoa Pale Ale

Fruit of the Entwives: An Oak-Conditioned Extra Dry Cider

Initiate Post-Doc Phase

Tomorrow, I begin the next stage of my life.  Tomorrow, I officially become a post-doc.  I am pretty excited about the new changes this stage will bring.  I have already changed my office location, and I now have a window.  You may think this is but a minor change, but words cannot explain how excited I am to have a little natural light at work.

Speaking of changes, I learned yesterday that a Texas judge ruled unconstitutional a collection of asinine beer labeling laws that were hurting small breweries.  Among the changes introduced by the ruling are the following:

* Breweries are now allowed to tell customers where to buy their beers.  Seriously?
* Breweries no longer have to (untruthfully, I might add) label beers with anything greater than 4% alcohol as ales or malt liquors.

The second change is of particular interest to me.  There are a number of decent gluten-free beers that can't be sold in Texas because they are not labeled as ales or malt liquors.   Previously, I had written how Estrella Damm Daura was one such beer.  In fact, the only gluten-free beers that I have seen sold in Texas are Green's, Redbridge, and Bard's, and frankly, all three beers are sub-par.  I expect with this latest ruling that there will be a wealth of new beers available in the state of Texas within a year, gluten-free and gluten-filled.  Needless to say, I am pretty excited about that.  Maybe New Planet will finally come to Texas as well?  I will be crossing my fingers.

Texas, how could you?

So, last week, an old roommate e-mailed me about a new gluten-free beer a Catalonian friend had made him try, and it actually wasn't half-bad. Well, when I asked him the name of the beer, I got increasingly excited. You see, Estrella Damm Daura is a special kind of beer. They actually make their beer with barley, but they use a special procedure to remove the gluten before the brewing process. The result is a product with less than 6 PPM (parts per million) gluten with the official label of "best gluten-free beer in the world".

So, naturally, I started a frantic search for the beer after my roommate e-mailed me. If they had it in Boston, they had to have the beer in Austin. Right? Austinities love beer, and they love their gluten-free diets. Well, I scrambled around, hitting up two different Whole Foods, two Specs, and a variety of other locales to no success. Finally, I decided to e-mail Daura itself to ask about the availability of Estrella in Texas. Unfortunately, this is what I got back:

Hi John,

Thanks for your interest in DAURA. Unfortunately, due to labeling laws DAURA in not available in Texas. Bummer, we know. Should that change, I will reach out and let you know ASAP.

Many thanks,

Stacie

In conclusion, Texas just became a lot more lame. Fortunately for me, I will be hitting up Boulder, Colorado soon where I know they have Daura. And it will be a joyous day. A joyous day indeed.

Update: Daura is available in Virginia as well! I now have new inspiration to visit my fiancée in Williamsburg!

Second Update: Apparently, the specific law prohibiting the sale of Daura in the state of Texas is the following: any beer with more than 4% alcohol per weight (about 5.1% alcohol per volume) must be labeled as an ale, not as a beer. This is one of the more severely stupid laws I have heard of. Apparently, there has been some talk in the legislature regarding overturning this law, but no luck yet. For more on this, check out this blog entry.