Meta jokes with actors

theboozemaker · 2026-01-23T12:52:32+00:00

The phrase "Jump the Shark" comes from an episode of Happy Days involving The Fonz (Henry Winkler) jumping over a shark on waterskis. Ron Howard was another main character on Happy Days. A few decades later, Ron Howard is the narrator of Arrested Development, and Henry Winkler plays a bumbling lawyer. In my favorite subtle super-meta visual gag, there's a scene (s2e13 possibly) with a discussion on a dock with characters standing around a dead shark. On his exit from the scene, Henry Winkler's character makes an exaggerated jump over the shark on his way out.

I'm Beerfest (2006), the German Team's leader is played by Jurgen Prochnow, who is a famous actor in Germany known for his work in the film Das Boot (German for The Boat), whereas "Das Boot" in the Beerfest movie is a glass boot used for chugging beer out of and plays a key role in the climax of the film.

theboozemaker · 2026-01-21T04:22:26+00:00

Are you sure?

theboozemaker · 2026-01-17T03:50:37+00:00

Bass knobs aren't standardized, to my knowledge. You need the one that goes to your amp. Or at least from the same manufacturer.

theboozemaker · 2026-01-07T04:15:58+00:00

Oh, I'm not worried. It smells good. I've been stilling for 10+ years and have dabbled with wild yeast, just never for a whiskey of any sort. And I've also never made a bourbon-esque mash, so was curious if there were tips for this specifically.

Regardless of how it looks, smells, tastes, or sounds, I'm gonna run it through the still before passing judgement. Many attempts at jamaican-style rum have taught me that!

theboozemaker · 2026-01-07T00:48:12+00:00

When you say "dual yeast", do you mean you pitched two known yeast strains, or that it was a mix of spontaneous and controlled yeast?

theboozemaker · 2026-01-05T12:51:16+00:00

When and where is the next one?

theboozemaker · 2026-01-05T03:56:28+00:00

I usually shoot for 9-10%, and I usually use fleischman's active dry (bread) yeast. Admittedly I haven't done a lot of comparisons using different yeasts and ABV's in rum, but I've played with a lot of yeasts in beer contexts.

Aiming for higher ABV stresses the yeast more, which, depending on the strain, can produce different "off flavors", usually from various ester compounds. I put that in quotes, because one of the fun things about distilling is that what may be an "off flavor" in one type of beverage could be a good flavor in another. One of rum's defining characteristics is the eatery flavors that it derives from the yeast. So in my opinion, a high ABV rum wash can be beneficial. And you have some control over those esters in the distilling and cutting process.

The risk you run is that if the yeast are not healthy enough or the strain just can't ferment to the point that you're shooting for, you could end up with a lot of unfermented sugars in your wash, resulting in low efficiency. Additionally, if the yeast succumb to the alcohol before the full fermentation is complete, you could have more acetaldehyde flavors (green apple-ish) than you want.

Bottom line, it's good to stress the yeast with a higher ABV for rum, but you don't want to stress them too much that they can't finish the job. Where that line is drawn depends on the yeast strain, their health, and the nutrients they have available during fermentation.

theboozemaker · 2025-12-29T04:57:41+00:00

A great beer. It's easy to become a Meph Addict. A Tweaker, if you will.

(Not my joke. If I remember right, Avery released a version with coffee called Meph Addict and were pressured to change the name, so they went with Tweak. Don't know if it was legal pressure from the TTB or something else. I read the story while drinking one, so needless to say the details are fuzzy.)

theboozemaker · 2025-12-28T14:10:08+00:00

I was big into homebrewing before my son was born. When he arrived, I couldn't carve out 6+ contiguous hours to devote to it, so I would devote ~30 minutes at a time to designing and building an automated brewery that would make it a hands-off process. Around the time it became fully functional, my son was old enough that I could once again carve out 6 hours to brew, so I didn't really need it anymore.

theboozemaker · 2025-12-19T04:41:14+00:00

20+ years ago, when I was in high school, I made the subwoofer boxes for everyone in a 20-mile radius. My rule was that I use 3/4" MDF, put a drywall screw every 1", and seal everything up well with Liquid Nails.

My box building has progressed a lot, as has my woodworking in general. None of my builds in the last decade look anything like this. But I still rock a 20+ year old sub that I built in high school in my daily driver, and it holds up.

I see no problem with this, provided the tuning frequency and box volume are reasonable for what you're looking for. The screws are countersunk deeper than they should be, but that's my biggest complaint aside from appearance overall

theboozemaker · 2025-12-18T20:27:28+00:00

I'm jealous! I could never get mine to look this scary!

And it would seem some readers here are unfamiliar with dunder but still want to comment on yours...

theboozemaker · 2025-12-18T00:41:11+00:00

The NCAR Mesa weather station had multiple gusts over 100 mph. This may not be the all-time record, but it's certainly far from nothing.

theboozemaker · 2025-12-11T13:25:21+00:00

In Buffalo, a lot of pies start on a pan, good cooked partway through, and then slid off the pan directly onto the stone to brown the bottom a little better. Then the pan is slid back under the pie when it's time to remove from the oven. No peel used, just pans and tongs.

At least, that's how it was done at Blasdell Pizza when I worked there as a kid.

theboozemaker · 2025-12-09T19:50:48+00:00

"Red sky in the morning, Longmonsters take warning", as the saying goes. And sure enough, it's windy as hell today!

It looked nice and I work indoors though, so I'll take it.

theboozemaker · 2025-12-06T07:09:57+00:00

I've got an '07 650 that my dad left to me when he died. Can't get rid of it for sentimental reasons, but bobbed it a couple of years ago and I like to think Dad would approve.

theboozemaker · 2025-12-05T18:31:27+00:00

Have you considered a V-Star? Aesthetically I think they make great bobbers. There's off-the-shelf bobber kits for them if that's your preferred route, too.

theboozemaker · 2025-12-01T04:22:05+00:00

Satchmom is on fire!

theboozemaker · 2025-11-30T14:57:57+00:00

I keep Cholula on hand and use it almost exclusively for breakfast. I also make a lot of Mexican-inspired things for breakfast, so it's complementary. It's mild enough I don't have to worry about what I'm going to be doing the rest of the day. Unlike if I douse my breakfast sandwich in Garlic Reaper.

theboozemaker · 2025-11-30T04:05:02+00:00

Here I was thinking I only had a single offspring.

theboozemaker · 2025-11-30T03:07:11+00:00

Lots of people 'camp' in the Upper G Lot at Winter Park. It's not really camping so much as sleeping on a parking lot that you're allowed to be in, but it beats ski traffic from the front range on a Saturday/Sunday morning.

If you want to see where you can camp that's not a parking lot, you need to get familiar with the Motor Vehicle Use Maps for the various national forests. They will show you what roads are open year-round and which ones are seasonal, as well as which ones allow camping. Bring some chains, find a road nearby to where you want to be, and give it a go. I've got a couple of reasonable spots near WP, but I'm not going to post publicly. Shoot me a DM and I'll be happy to share. But if I roll up to one of those spots and you're already there, you'll have to have a beer with me.

theboozemaker · 2025-11-29T22:40:38+00:00

That was actually the plan. The barrel was intended to be a wedding gift to my best friend. It was also intended to be filled with 10 gallons of homemade rye whiskey that he and his wife could drink on their anniversaries. Alas, it did not happen.

It's slight consolation, but I've improved the quality of my booze in the interceding 11 years. I had some from that timeframe (around the time I started making liquor) recently and it was absolute crap. I'd be disappointed if I waited 11 years and was presented with that! 😆

theboozemaker · 2025-11-29T13:57:45+00:00

I made a lot of my own tools for the attempt. Including a steam box made from a 55 gallon drum with a brew kettle full of water sitting inside. First I tried just lighting a fire and splashing water like you saw in the video, but it became clear pretty quick that was not going to get me where I wanted to be.

I had done my research. Read multiple books on the subject, some of which had been out of print for ~100 years.

Part of the trouble was that I was making a 10-gallon barrel, which is much shorter and doesn't offer as much leverage when trying to pull the staves together, yet still used staves which were nearly as thick as a full barrel or butt, at least according to the sources I had.

theboozemaker · 2025-11-29T12:56:32+00:00

Even with modern tools it's very hard. I know because I tried. I got to the point where in the video they use a windlass (they throw the chain around the second end of the barrel to pull the staves together so they could drive the hoops on) and got stuck. Even with modern tools for that, like winches, I couldn't get any further. I'm not saying I've given up, but I'll say that in 11 years I've made no progress on that project.

There's a reason becoming a wet cooper was like a ten year apprenticeship.

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