St. Paddy's Day

This weekend our school co-sponsored a St. Paddy's bash at a bar called Stompers in Iteawon. Some members of our staff are in a band called Boondeggi. They rocked the house all night long. Boondeggi, if you are curious, is the name of silk worm larvae that is served at road side stands here in Korea. I've never actually tried it but I plan to some day.

Our school represented well and was out in force. We really have a great staff who enjoy having a good time. Iteawon is an interesting place. It is right next to an army base so you have many shops catering to foreigners. On one side that is a bonus because it is an area that I can go to and actually find clothes or shoes that are the proper size.

The bar is located in an area referred to as "Hooker Hill". Although no ladies of the night frequent this particular establishment you have to walk by quite a few shady bars with blacked out windows and interesting names. You can imagine the clientele that an army base would provide.

This was our first time out in Iteawon at night. It was definitely different than any other area that we have been to. We saw more expats last night than we have probably in our entire time in Korea. It was a trip to see Americans in their early twenties out getting smashed. It kind of reminded me of college in a way except most of these kids chose the military over college. Korea doesn't provide you with a lot of variety so to see young Americans out and dressed to the nines was a trip. The drunk loud American really sticks out here.

A not so special special:


A fellow brewer also named Ben:


J hangin with some of the crew:



Yesterday I brewed up another batch of homebrew. This time I brewed up a Belgian style ale that should be quite interesting. So far everything seems to be going to plan. I am toying with the idea of trying to employ a two stage fermentation process. I still have a couple days before I have to decide.

Here are the ingredients and a sweet reference book I read more than I probably should:


A week from today we head to Hanoi to visit our friends. We are super excited. Hopefully before we leave we will be able to visit our friends Marc and Mel who are coming to Seoul next weekend.

Our friend Ben who we are going to visit in Hanoi is a wildlife biologist. His specialty is Gibbons. He is going to take us a place called Cat Ba where he has friends who work. Here is the link if you want to check it out here I can already tell I'm going to dig it. He mentioned that there is also some climbing nearby as well. You can check that out here.

Check it out:

Little Drummer Boy

Saturday night we got a sitter and went to a surprise party for one of our friends. She was genuinely surprised so it started off good and got better from there. It was mostly attended by people we work with which is fine as we work with some groovy people. The liquor was flowing and people were letting their hair down so to speak. One huge bonus is that it was in the same apartment complex that we live in so it was a five minute walk home.

Sunday I got a call from a buddy and fellow brewer that his brew was ready to bottle. Q and I hopped in the car and zipped over to his apartment to lend a hand. He is brewing up a nicely hopped IPA. He juiced up the alcohol level by adding some sugar at the start of the process so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. All in all we have bottled around 15 gallons of brew in the last week. 5 gallons each of nut brown, IPA and an amber. Next up for me is a Belgian style ale. Here are some pics of Ben bottling up the IPA.




This brew may look a little dark for those of you familiar with IPA. It will "clear" in the next week or so and become a bit lighter. I'll be sure to get some pics of it once it is ready.

While we were there Q decided to rock out on Ben's electric drums. Here are some pics of that:


Adios,