Estrella War XXIV Pictures

Estrella War has come and gone for this year. Despite the cursed weather and subsequent mud that followed, a good time was had by all. Here are a few pictures of the event for your viewing pleasure.

Me, lounging around on Thursday, before the storms, tankard in hand. This picture courteously provided by Brian of Neutral Buoyancy.

Nathanial, dressed for success on the battlefield. This picture courteously provided by Simon of That's Mr. Painterboy to you.

Benedikt and Kyle, hanging out in camp. Behind them is Heinrich's Viking pavilions. Yes, he does make them to sell too. You can contact him here. This picture courteously provided by Simon of That's Mr. Painterboy to you.

Then the storms came. This is me hiding out from the rain, under my tent fly, next to my kegs. I ain't bundled up because it was hot out. This picture courteously provided by Brian of Neutral Buoyancy.

With the storms came the mud. Mud, mud everywhere. Icky, sloggy, deep mud. This picture courteously provided by Brian of Neutral Buoyancy.

After the rains, there was a little nightlife after all. Here is me at camp next to the fire. This picture courteously provided by Simon of That's Mr. Painterboy to you.

More nightlife pictures. Pictured here are Thud, Widokind, and Ryan, from left to right. Saturday night, we sang rounds of the "Babe Song" and "Number Two," before we braved the mud to go out wandering. This picture courteously provided by Simon of That's Mr. Painterboy to you.

Oatmeal Stout Pics

Closeup of my beautiful Oatmeal Stout.

Me, consuming my beautiful Oatmeal Stout.

Save the Homebrew Digest

I've been reading the Homebrew Digest (HBD) for close to a decade. The Homebrew Digest, for those who don't know, is a daily digest of homebrew discussions. Back in the day, I posted to it on a semi-regular basis. The signal to noise ratio was always very high. The quality of the posts were unprecedented. This was in the day before blogs and podcasts.

The quality was high long before I even started reading it. In fact, it has been a staple of online homebrewers since the late 1980s. As a result, I've found myself spending hours wandering around the archives of before my time on the digest. One can get really lost in all the goodies that can be found there.

It saddens me to see its decline. Posts have gone from over a dozen or two per day, to one or two every few days. In fact, recently on the digest, there has been talk of discontinuing it. This, strangely enough, has caused a sudden interest and flurry of activity that it has not seen in years. Most are wanting to save it, and see it get back to its former glory.

The reason that I bring this up is that I encourage all homebrewers that wander by this site, sign up, and get involved. Post your questions and comments to the Homebrew Digest, or else, one day, it will not appear in our inboxes. That will be a sad day.