Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Feb 2, 2012, 12:57 pm
I love making beer, truly I do. If ever there was a way – perhaps a reality-augmenting piece of stainless machinery – that would allow me to curl up close with my beer making and kind of snuzzle my junk up and down on it’s leg all the time, i would totally be in to that. But, unfortunately, ... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jan 29, 2012, 11:11 am
“I have seen the face freedom and eaten it.” – Eldridge Cleaver after schtupping Pat Nixon.
My nephew gave me some sausage he had left over from a boar he shot a few weeks ago. I wanted to do right by it.
This morning I cooked up a variation of my biscuits and gravy recipe. I didn’t have... Comment - Like
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Jan 14, 2012, 1:17 am
Boingboing has been running some great pieces on Robert Anton Wilson in honor of the 5th anniversary of his death on 1/11/2007. It’s been fun reading the likes of Ken Goffman and Paul Krassner reflect on Wilson, explaining why he’s so important to them. It’s all made me uncomfortably nostalg... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Dec 9, 2011, 10:19 am
My eminently tasteful wife picked me up a Waring waffle iron for my birthday a few weeks ago. Since that time I’ve been on a bit of a waffle bender trying to get the recipe right, marrying the perfect amounts of crunchy outside with light and fluffy inside. This morning my face found the philoso... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Dec 6, 2011, 12:12 am
This is a totally simple and tasty recipe for a liver pate that I snagged out of Cook’s Illustrated. It calls for chicken liver, but I made this with goose liver’s from Gephardt’s last time. For our annual Christmas party this weekend I’m making it from beef liver. I’ve not used beef li... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Dec 5, 2011, 3:45 pm
A co-worker just hit me up with the news that Alan Lake is going to be the new chef at Chief O’Neil’s.
About two days ago, Lake told me he took the full-time chef position at O’Neill’s. What cinched the deal for him, he said, was his experience at the famous Shelbourne in Ireland, where he ... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Nov 30, 2011, 9:40 am
It’s getting cold here in Weedwolf’s Shitcago. In fact, today the lake front was shut down and manned by Escalades. I saw snow fall from the sky. I pulled the long underwear from my lingerie drawer.
All this means that my previous method of cooling our wort with a displacement chiller spitti... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Nov 29, 2011, 8:34 am
It would really hurt to put hot, liquid marrow into a syringe and shoot it into your arm or eyeball so Michael Ruhlman has this satisfactory alternative for using bone marrow to activate your pleasure centers:
“To cook the marrow, roll them in flour till they’re completely coated and sauté the... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Nov 22, 2011, 9:43 am
It’s the 11th hour and I need to get this beer carbed up for Thanksgiving. I’ve basically got about 20 hours to get this stuff to a decent level of gas. So I’m going to force carb them.
Force carbonating is a black art, elusive and highly subjective in it’s execution. I’ve tried severa... Comment - Like
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Oct 26, 2011, 1:01 pm
Ok, so I finally got to the end of the two-week alcohol extraction of fenugreek seeds that I found digging four pages deep into a google search on fenugreek and maple syrup alternatives. The experiment was successful though I did need to make some adjustments.
I wound up using twice the amount of ... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Oct 14, 2011, 11:05 am
I like this page over at winning-homebrew.com that describes the yeasts and then tells the brewery source of them. It’s nice. It’s not as nice as those posters that wYeast and White Labs have been giving away at events recently, but it’s nice. Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Oct 11, 2011, 5:46 pm
Between 5p-7p this Friday, October 14th the nice folks at Finch’s Beer Company will be giving out their American Ale yeast that was used to make their Blonde Ale.
Bring a sanitized container to carry your yeast in!
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Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Oct 5, 2011, 5:35 pm
My water extraction experiments were vaguely successful last week, but didn’t yield anything I felt would be worth jamming up a whole batch of homebrew on. With the water extraction I found that the whole seed, untoasted and cold steeped for a day, offered the best results. I put 1 tblspn in 4oz... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Oct 3, 2011, 10:37 pm
Cuz I can get 4 of these bad mammy jammies for what I’d pay for 1 of those wicked Kratwerk sweaters.
Sweater blog! Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Sep 28, 2011, 4:02 pm
I hate bottling my homebrew. Mostly because I am particularly undermotivated when it comes to things that could be more easily done by a machine or lesser, mind-controlled, humanoid like a tea bagger or something. Because of this I haven’t bottled anything in a couple years and just simply dump ... Comment - Like
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Sep 27, 2011, 12:30 pm
It appears Jake Burton has testicular cancer. If you follow this link you’ll read his rather stoic and ... the culture he has created at Burton Snowboards over the years.
It will be 20 years this november 22nd that I was diagnosed with stage 4 Testicular Cancer. ... achievements, you’re... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Sep 27, 2011, 9:21 am
Michael Rulhman’s book “Ratio” is one of the best things that’s ever happened to my cooking. It is typically my first reference when approaching a new dish and has helped me understand how I might someday develop my own voice with cooking more than any other book or experience I’ve come a... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Sep 26, 2011, 12:00 pm
I wrote about using fenugreek in homebrew to replace maple syrup last year about this time. I’m finally getting around to trying this out.
I had hoped initially that a cold steep would be my answer for extracting the maple flavors and tastes from the fenugreek. Several experiments with that have... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Sep 26, 2011, 10:01 am
Ken Burns has a new 3-part series on the chilling horrors of prohibition just in time to kick-off the Halloween season. Tune in to see what happens when humanity rolls over to have it’s belly rubbed by joyless sods. Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Sep 23, 2011, 3:29 pm
I’ve had a longstanding agreement with the 4-bar degenerates in my life that, upon my death, they will slow cook my better cuts serving using my carcass as the serving station, Old Country Buffet style. Further, my wife and friends have been clearly instructed to have a moog rendition of “Send ... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Sep 21, 2011, 4:12 pm
Hiya.
Don’t worry, I still love you even though we don’t hang out as much anymore. Really, I do.
And don’t be so insecure, it’s making you seem fat.
Or maybe it’s the other way around.
Either way, knock it off.
While I’ve been traveling the finer end of the seasonal shifts a... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Sep 1, 2011, 3:05 pm
It’s been a while, I know. I’ve been living a life. Or burning one down. Or stumbling on the head of those two opposing excuses, really.
This is the 4th year I won’t be going to Burning Man. It’s crazy, I’ve been not going almost half as many years as I attended. And what’s crazier... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Aug 9, 2011, 10:37 am
Local Option is like the black tar Heroine of Chicago beer bars. It’s dark, effective and it doesn’t fuck around. Case in point is this Friday’s event, “The Great Taste of the Local Option”, featuring 31 of the most well programmed beers you’re bound to find in any bar, let alone any b... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Aug 8, 2011, 5:56 pm
Just a few more days until the 25th Anniversary Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison and, despite hitting a near unprecedented saturation on stupid fun this summer, I must say I’m real stoked for this thing.
It is a bit strange to spend 2 weekends in a row in our rural penal colony to the north.... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jul 20, 2011, 3:07 pm
The Bavarian Lodge is the best place to drink beer in Illinois west of Kedzie. Granted it’s a bit west of Kedzie, but it’s worth the trip. If you like spaetzle & flash fried swine hocks this place will make you wet yourself. If you care at all about good beer you might be looking to rent an a... Comment - Like
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Jul 20, 2011, 1:41 pm
Earlier this season I put a fire pit in my back yard. Actually, that was the first thing I put in my backyard. A firepit, surrounded by dirt on all sides. Eventually we got around to putting in some grass and some stone work to gussy it up a bit, but the first effort was to install the pit.
I wa... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jul 12, 2011, 4:28 pm
Although, I’ve been a denizen of the Windy city for near on twenty years now, I cut my teeth in the hardscrabble hills and endless prairies of South Dakota. Not a glamorous place to be from nor one that gets a lot of press, save the obligatory American pilgrimage to Mount Rushmore and the hell,... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jul 7, 2011, 1:11 pm
September 17th West Lakeview Liquors is going to join some of the finer watering holes in this odd country of ours in tapping a very limited batch of Cantillon. Unfortunately, I’m going to be in Denver with my Uncle at the GABF on this illustrious day, but if I had my druthers I’d be back here ... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jun 23, 2011, 9:43 am
On Tuesday, the longest day of the year, over 180 kids in Kabul got together in the park to be… kids. Go Skateboarding Day is an international holiday meant to celebrate the great sport of, you guessed it, skateboarding. It’s celebrated here in the states, it’s celebrated in Europe and it’... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jun 21, 2011, 3:46 pm
It’s rare to be able to combine a good deed with a good beer, why not jump on this opportunity?
This Saturday, June 25, the Publican restaurant in Chicago hosts a food drive of canned and non-perishable food donations from the public for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. If you donate, you get... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jun 16, 2011, 1:27 pm
The Chicago Neighborhood Bikeway Campaign is working hard to make Chicago safer for bicyclists with over 100 miles of protected bike paths throughout the city by 2015. The first of these, on Kinzie, will be going in soon.
For me, I like riding in the streets, the implied danger gets the heart ra... Comment - Like
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Jun 16, 2011, 12:10 pm
The Summer Solstice is making its way across our eliptical paths and any self-respecting evil doer will want to celebrate this passage by indulging themselves in the ritual slaying and consuming of a horned goat on this, our longest day of the year. And who better to provide that little spoon full ... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jun 15, 2011, 1:05 pm
I’m so bloody tired all the time lately it’s driving me up a slippery wall. I’ve had to learn the hard way that, despite my doctor’s recommendations, I apparently can’t replace a 6 hour R.E.M. cycle with pure amphetamine salts and vick’s vapor inhalors. That’s the last time I trust a... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jun 7, 2011, 5:19 pm
Just saw this article on the Trib’s blog, and was nearly very angry at Goose Island and the city for fouling up something that’s been as much fun as I can remember having at a free event in this city. Luckily I read all the way through and the last line made the whole thing much more palatable.... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jun 7, 2011, 12:33 pm
Ever since Daley was cited in an article a few weeks ago bragging about an 24-hour, indoor skate park at 16th & Clark I’ve been trying to find out more information on this project and just who to badger in order to see that this goes through. As I learn more I’ll post it here, but in the mean t... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jun 6, 2011, 9:07 am
Chicago’s first protected bicycle lane to be installed on Kinzie Street
Cycle tracks separate bicyclists from motor vehicle traffic typically by using a divider such as a construction barrier, a concrete planter box or a raised median placed to the left of the bikes-only lane. (For this pilot ... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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Jun 1, 2011, 4:16 pm
Thank filthy Jesus that Chicago Craft Beer Week is over. It was great and full of great beer, but my aging corpus can’t take an 8 day bender like it used to.
But, it was awesome. Certainly, one of the best parts for me was breaking from my well-worn routine and finding new places to drink. ... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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May 27, 2011, 4:52 pm
While that fat & the furious here stateside slug away at Chicago Craft Beer week, the truly ambitious won’t stop when the lights go dark this Friday at Revolution. No, the truly alcohol addicted will find it within themselves to hop over our little pond to the east and spend the long weekend with... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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May 25, 2011, 6:06 pm
Chicago’s Craft Beer Week has been pretty remarkable so far. The whole week, starting last Friday, has felt like an extended vacation right here in my own back yard.
The Half Acre/3 Floyd’s/Dogfish Head party on Friday was great. Maria’s Community Bar is now, hands down, my favorite waterin... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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May 25, 2011, 4:20 pm
Now that summer is here, kind of, and I’ve had a chance to take a few casts I am reinvigorated by the opportunity to get some fishing in. But not only that, I am also reinvigorated by the existence of all things hilarious. It’s as if a great weight has lifted and my soul has once again becom... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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May 24, 2011, 5:16 pm
The title of this post is a bit misleading since I’m not really trying to review the show from last night, but more just revel in it’s total bounty a little bit more. I don’t go to rock shows, or otherwise, to attain some kind of bullshit objective superiority – or subjective inferiority fo... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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May 23, 2011, 2:31 pm
You can help with the release of Beer Hunter: The Movie, a documentary on the late Michael Jackson, photographed by his friend and co-conspirator J.R. Richards.
Through this rare visual record we are treated to an intimate picture of Michael, starting in his local neighborhood of London and progr... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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May 19, 2011, 3:28 pm
Today marks the first official day of Chicago’s celebration of Craft Beer Week which kicks off with the Beer Under Glass event at Chicago’s beautiful Garfield Park. I’ve already detailed what I feel are some of the more interesting events this week will offer in several other posts and more e... Comment - Like
Brian Buckman posted an article on
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May 17, 2011, 2:31 pm
The Beer boner is fully engaged for this coming Chicago Craft Beer week. Watch your eyes, people!
MAY 26
UINTA Night @ Maria’s – This unfortunately compete’s with the Death & Double Deuces at the Logan Small Bar, but I guess I’ll just have to hire me a decent driver and do both. They are ... Comment - Like
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