Listermann Mural

Baby steps. . . .a little each day. . .

Watch as soon as I am done. . . .someone will hit it with Graffiti. . . knock on wood. .

Going Into The Sign Business

Several days ago I began the Listermann mural. We set a projector up in the middle of the street, put out orange cones, and attempted to direct traffic around the project while I was up on scaffolding tracing the image with a sharpie. Fun !

As I was up on the scaffolding, 2 police came racing out of nowhere. . . . and I thought we were in trouble. Turns out they were curious what we were doing. . . and they wanted to know how to make beer! Dan Listermann chatted with them for the next 30 minutes while I finished up the tracing.

I started painting a few days ago and its going slow. The white pops out pretty nice and I think it will look great when it’s done. . . .

And the sign said you got to have a membership card to get inside. . . .

Spraying the black and the finished sign.

Mr. Ming exhausted after helping. . . . .

“Off The Beaten Path” is officially open for business ! ! This new retail store is owned and operated by Johnny and Shelley Helfinstine in Oxford, Ohio. . . .and today is their grand opening. -
I finished the sign last night and Johnny came by early this morning to pick it up. I think it turned out pretty nice. This is just a temporary sign until we can get permits for the big Storefront Sign (10 feet by 2.5 feet).

Veggies, Meat, and Cigars!

The vegetables are starting to come. This year we have 6 or 7 different kinds of cherries, romos, and the beefy slicers. . . .also some jalapeno peppers and some green peppers . . . .all much tastier than the ones in the store. This was our first year for cucumbers and they were very easy to grow. Next year we’ll plant more.

Over the weekend we grilled salmon and veggies. The next night I got a hankerin for Caribbean Jerk marinated Rib eyes ( thank you Food Network and Bobby Flay) and rib eyes were on sale at Meijer’s, so we had a super late dinner on Saturday. These are the rib eyes with a store bought Caribbean Jerk marinade spiced up with some fresh thyme and mango. Thanks to Krista’s mom for hooking us up with all this food !

Every once in a while I’ll enjoy a nice cigar. I’ve been trying to stock up my humidor and it it’s slow going. . . .my father’s humidor, on the other hand, is looking good in these pictures! All the yellow labels are cigars from Spain that he brought back. Man are they tasty! Thanks Dad!

Are Pyrex Carboys Flame Safe?

In short, the answer is no. I wasn’t any part of this experiment, but happened to walk in on the tail end of it for the best part.
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Question: “Your making beer, why didn’t you boil in a stainless steel kettle like everyone else? “
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Answer: “Because glass looks way cooler”. Especially when it explodes, sending shards of glass flying through the air. . .

Danna nana nana nana Danna nana nana nana, Batman !

We saw the new Batman movie on its opening night and the theater was as packed as I have ever seen it. Glad I got my tickets online, so we zoomed into the theater and found some seats. . . pretty much the last 2 seats together in the house. Then I proceeded to wait in the concession line for 15 minutes and missed most of the previews.
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I won’t give away any of the details, but I will say that it’s the best movie I have seen in a while. And at the end everyone clapped and went nuts. . . . definitely worth the money to see.
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As we were leaving the movie, the line for the next showing was out the door. A few guys waiting in line( I think that had been drinking) noticed my Homebrewing shirt and started yelling and screaming. We had a conversation about Cream Ale (since we’ll be brewing and selling some at the store). Pretty good group of guys. . . .as are most homebrewers !

Good Beer Radio ! ! !

A few weeks back I was fortunate to take part in Pod Cast radio show called Good Beer Radio. It was held at my local homebrew shop called Listermann’s, where I help out (work) on Saturdays. They had a great line-up of guests, including John Palmer, who wrote “How to Brew”; Steve Wilkes and James Spencer of Basic Brewing Radio (another Pod Cast Radio show); Jeff Bearer of Craft Beer Radio; Dan Listermann; Bonus Beer Bob and the Host of Good Beer Radio, Jeffrey T. -
The show usual features the tasting of commercial beers, but this show was dedicated to homebrew, so there were 20 or so beers that they went through and tasted.
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My buddy Phil and I sat and watched some of the show. Originally I thought we’d sit there and watch the show or help out if they needed anything, but I was asked to sit in on the show when the group tasted an Imperial Bourbon Barrel Stout I brought ! Pretty exciting stuff ! ! !
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Here are the links to the shows. . .
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http://www.goodbeershow.com/
Download show #156, then go to 33.34 to listen to them taste my Imperial Bourbon Barrel Stout.
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The other podcast shows can be found on these websites. . .
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http://www.craftbeerradio.com/
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http://www.basicbeerbrewing.com/

Pictured from left to right. . . John Palmer, who wrote “How to Brew”; Dan Listermann; Bonus Beer Bob; James Spencer and Steve Wilkes of Basic Brewing Radio (another Pod Cast Radio show); the Host of Good Beer Radio, Jeffrey T.; and Jeff Bearer of Craft Beer Radio.

Cheers !

Preparing Screens

Well, this is a blog about T-Shirts, right? Guess I better put some shirt stuff on here. . . Last night I prepared a screen to do the Listermann T-Shirts. We'll do a complete line of shirts, as well as some tote bags ( for carrying beer of course!)
Here's a photo of my ugly, wet mug after washing out the screen. It's a messy job. . . .Notice the Hawaian swim suit complete with St. Alphonzo's T-Shirt. . . . ?

Just Another Brick in the Wall. . .

Thanks to my good buddy Phil, the "Listermann Mural" has begun. He lent me his extremely powerful Honda power washer to wash the side of the building.

I started scraping on Sunday, and will continue to do so throughout the week. Then I'll lay a base coat of paint on there and finally, paint the mural last.

Cricket - the dog

My parents dog is CRAZY ! She's an over sized German Shepherd that is 2 years old and only beginning to calm down. My parents are gone for a week so my sister Brooke is "babysitting".

Here she is sitting on the couch being a goof. . .