First Game Back

As a fan, I've endured three lockouts that have wiped out 150 regular season games and one entire post-season.  After the first two lockouts, I ran back to the NHL with open arms, and more importantly to them, screaming "take my money, all of it."  I bought tickets to games, video games, jersey's, hats, and t-shirts.  At one point in the early 2000's, I was probably rarely without one piece of hockey related garb at all times.

My attitude during these lockouts has also changed.  In 1994 I put a photo of Gary Bettman on my dart board as I vilified him as the culprit (without understanding the spectrum of the issues of the game).  In 2004-05, I found myself taking the owner's side and was hopeful that the salary cap would bring parity and prevent rich teams like the Rangers and the Maple Leafs from backing dump trucks full of money up to UFA's who could never match the hype.  Well, at least the former happened.  Meanwhile, if any NHL GM's are reading this, you might be able to get a slightly used David Clarkson for a pretty reasonable price from Toronto if you ask.

Review: Brewery Tours of Temecula

Tour Buses. Photos from Brewery Tours of Temecula

The other week my wife and I went to wine country for our anniversary and then promptly went on a brewery tour.  We (and by that I mean she) made reservations with the good folks at Brewery Tours of Temecula.  This is a review of that tour of some of Temecula's breweries.

Brew Day Timeline

Wort trying to survive our attempt to make beer.

Brew day is a big deal for every home brewer as all of your planning for your latest beer goes into action.  To help those who haven't tried homebrewing, I thought I'd help out by putting together a rough timeline for my friend's and my first all grain home brew.  We purchased a clone recipie for Bear Republic's Red Rocket from Austin Homebrew,

Beer is supposed to be fun and so we weren't really on a huge timetable, so you can probably be more efficient if you want.  Also, if you've never brewed, I'd recommend doing an all-extract beer first and then play with a mini-mash (half extract, half grain) before jumping into all-grain.

Puck n Beer's Guide to the Really Big Football Game

Today is one of the biggest sports days of the year as the NFL holds its annual championship game.  The Super Bowl... wait, am I allowed to write Super Bowl, or do I now owe the NFL a million dollars?  So, the Big Game almost transcends normal sports and has become a thing that millions around the world gather to watch.

Here's some things for hockey fans to help them understand the subtle differences:

Drinking (Video) Game: NHL 14

Two of things I really enjoy are video games and beer.  Sometimes these are enjoyed together.  Other times the games can drive you to drink.  I find this to be the case for EA's NHL 14 game.

As a disclaimer, I generally don't play drinking games as I like to savor the beers I drink, but I found myself take sips of beer after many of the items on the list below, which was the inspiration for this post.


Most of my time has been spent in the Live the Life mode and the Anniversary mode (which is just simple fun).  I may expand this later for GM mode after I get some time playing with that.

Great Gift for the Beer Lover in your Life

The holidays are upon us, unless you celebrate Hannukah which just past and now you're waiting for Purim (which, for your reference coincides with Valentine's Day), but that's not really the focus of this post.  The holidays are time for giving.  And what is the best gift to give?

Besides a "What's best in life?" t-shirt?  Beer, obviously.

Thoughts on Alcatraz Brewing Closing

Recently, Alcatraz Brewing located the Block at Orange Outlets at Orange closed its doors leaving the following note on their website:

On behalf of the Alcatraz Brewing Company team, we regret to announce that September 22 was our last day of operations.

After more than a decade of happily serving the community, we are closing our doors.  We thank all of our loyal customers for supporting our passion for creating award-winning, handcrafted beer.

It has been a privilege to serve you.

 That is, as the kids say, "teh suck."