Riverside

(Brewing, not the D Line on the MBTA Green Line)

*Beer Geekery Alert* Feel free to skip down to Part II: Boston Movie Review (again graded on a scale of 5 Dunkin Donuts coffees) or Part III: Return to the US countdown

PART I: Riverside Brewing

So it's been about a month since I returned to Oz without my partner in crime, but at least the weekdays have been flying by. Work, Eat, Skype, Sleep. Rinse and Repeat.

Which leaves me up to figuring how to pass the time on the weekends. This weekend, my mate/homebrew partner  and I got to volunteer at Riverside Brewing in Parrametta (suburb west of the city) on Saturday.

We met the Riverside Brewing guys at the Great Australian Beer Spectapular in Melbourne, and again at the Sydney Beer Fest about a month ago. My mate sent them an email telling them we were keen interested in helping out if they needed an extra hand. They gladly took up our offer of free labor and put us to work bottling beers on Saturday. While this may sound boring to some, most, nearly all of you, it was basically a behind the scenes brewery tour for us.

After finishing bottling 3 kegs (around 350 beers) for Riverside, Wayward Brewing (1 guy), a contract brewery which uses Riverside's equipment asked if we could help bottle 3 of his kegs. As a homebrewer-turned-1 man brewery, he had a wealth of knowledge to share with us (as did Riverside). Plus, what else are you going to talk about while bottling beers for 6 hours.

Luckily for us, our labor was not completely free. They paid us in Home Depot Bunnings parking lot sausages hot dogs and free beer. After we finished bottling and they closed up the cellar door, we got to kick back and drink a bunch of their beers.

Plus got hooked up with some nice take-away (as I had to commute home on the Train/Ferry, my buddy got a bigger haul, mine is below)

PART II: Boston Movie Review

Fever Pitch
Starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon....ahhhh I'm totally messing with you guys! And despite requests from some (Mere) who want me to review Pitch Perfect, it's not Boston-related. I will admit that I do thoroughly enjoy it. Not as much as Mere or my manager at GMO in Boston.

Back to the movie I did watch.












The Verdict (1982 - pre-Mark LaPierre by 1 year)

IMDB Synopsis: A lawyer sees the chance to salvage his career and self-respect by taking a medical malpractice case to trial rather than settling.










Nominated for 5 academy awards starring Paul Newman (you may remember him from such films as Cool Hand Luke and Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid or from such salad dressings as Newman's Own Caesar and Balsamic Vinaigrette) as alcoholic ambulance chaser Frank Galvin.
Also starring Jack Warden, most famous as the guy with the Mets tickets in 12 Angry Men but whom I (unfortunately) most remember as the grandfather in the Problem Child movies. And also starring Charolotte Rampling, whom I only know from watching Dexter Season 8 which, talk about coincidences, I started watching last week.

While most of it takes place indoors in a courtroom, there are some great shots of Quincy Market, South Station and South Boston with those Jan/Feb dirty snowbanks. Also the sister of the defendant's accent is glorious!

This movie takes me back to high school where we watched it in 'You and the Law' with the great Mr. McMullan. Or at least watched most of it as he purposefully had the movie cut out right as the jury is reading the verdict at the end of the movie. Makes me laugh every time I think about it. That and the scene where Paul Newman is leaving the bar in the morning and drops the raw egg in the beer - 'an Irish breakfast' according to Mr. McMullan.

Final Score:

A perfect 5/5. I'd add a box of munchkins to the score as well, what a classic!



PART III:

Mote's Reunion Countdown: 55 days!

As I stated above, the weeks have been going by pretty fast (can't believe we've already been apart for a month).

PS: It isn't weird that I've started to use Mere's shampoo because it smells like her, is it?.....(awkward silence?)

Tall Soy Low-Fat No Whip Sunday

Coffee, Hipsters, Belly-Dancers. It can only mean 1 thing: The Rocks Aroma Festival

I joined a couple of mates in the city for the coffee festival on Sunday. And you thought the morning rush at Starbucks was bad:

There were lots of coffee and food stalls spread out around The Rocks and in Circular Quay. Campbell's Cove had a middle easter section with Turkish coffee, Gozleme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6zleme), and....belly dancers (obviously). I felt the show was a bit provocative considering all of the little kids watching.

At a coffee festival, 2 things are a given. 1: Coffee. 2: Hipsters

I'm 'posing' on the left so it wasn't obvious my friend was taking a picture of the hipsters in their bicycle-riding, mustache-waxed glory

In preparation to my move back to Boston in October, I'll be watching Boston-themed movies once  a week to drop my "g'day mates" for "wicked awesome"s. I'll review 1 per week.

To keep the coffee theme going, I'll grade it on a scale to 5 Dunkin Donuts Coffees.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

IMDB synopsis: After his last crime has him looking at a long prison sentence for repeat offenses, a low level Boston gangster decides to snitch on his friends to avoid jail time.

I'm guessing no one has seen this movie since its from 1973 (well, except John, because it's a movie and it exists). Starring the dad from Everybody Loves Raymond and Mo Green from Godfather Part II (which I only remembered since I watched the GodFather trilogy to kill time on my return flight 3 weeks ago), this movie is basically a 1970's version of The Town. With loads of familiar film locations, it was really cool seeing the old Boston Garden and City Hall Plaza in the 70's. Definitely worth a watch if you have the time (which I clearly do).

Final Rating: 

Countdown to Mote's Reunion: 62 days

 Someone decided to 3rd wheel our skype date!

This is 30

Thanks to everyone for all of the Birthday wishes this weekend. With the time/date differences from the US, I basically got to celebrate it for 2 days. Also, I am officially 1 full day and 1 minute older than John. At least until I lose that day flying back home in October.

Last week, I got to 'celebrate' the 4th of July at the "American Independence Blowout" at the City Hotel in the city. It was basically an American themed trivia night with American beers.

I'll have whatever's local:

As the resident American in our group, my trivia performance was pretty embarrassing. See if you can answer the below:

What are the names of Michael's brothers in the Jackson 5? (I could only get 3)
What is Barbie's (the doll) full name? (I only played with Ken dolls growing up, so no clue)
What did George Bush Sr. paint above his bomber plane in WWII? (Hint: It isn't Don't Mess with Texas, but it should have been).

I've been asked about having a mid-life crisis now that I'm 30 -  No chance because I had mine at 29 when I decided to move to Australia!

So I locked my keys in my apartment my last day of 29. I could've sworn Mere put a spare under the doormat, but when I looked, no key! So I went into work, luckily remembered our friend had a spare and called up and got someone to let me into the lift elevators and to our floor. When I told Mere the spare under the doormat was gone, she said to check the doormat, as it should be duck-taped underneath. Things that could've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY. But now thinking about it, it makes a lot more sense than just leaving a key where anyone trying to break in would look. Duck-taping keys to doormats is  the mature thing to do. Something I can look forward to as a 30 year old. 29 year old me? I'd get robbed by these 2:



For my birthday, I basically had a competitive eating challenge. Sushi for lunch at work, followed by cupcakes, followed by burgers at a new joint, the Burger Shed in Mosman with some friends, followed by drinks and leftover cupcakes, followed by more drinks in Manly with friends.

It wasn't a crazy late night as I've Danny Glover-ed (getting too old for this shit - (see Lethal Weapon)) all nighter's. Plus I had a busy day the next day:

 Getting my nerd on Homebrewing

This was followed by more food, the below homemade rainbow cake - delicious!

We brewed 2 batches to enter into the competition at the 2013 Beervana festival in Wellington, NZ In August we are attending. (http://www.beervana.co.nz/ - Birthday present I bought myself).

It'll be my first time back in New Zealand since I went in college. It'll be a little less life-threatening this time as I don't think I'll be Skydiving, Bungee-jumping, Sledging (going down grade 4/5 rapids on a boogie board in flippers and a hockey helmet - much scarrier than skydiving) this time. And probably no Zorbing either:



Then again, I could have a midlife crisis in NZ, now that I'm 30.



Mote's Reunion Countdown: 68 days.
Mere, that's 1.72 episodes per day of the remaining 117 of Deadliest Catch (Seasons 3-9). So you may have to slow down from your current rate

The Man Show

Sorry to those I did not see while home for 10 days 2 weeks ago. It was a whirlwind trip, can't wait to head back for good in October. Hope y'all had a great 4th of July.

Right after Mere flew home, I was left in Australia for a couple of days before I flew out. Without my partner in crime, I was left to figure out how to spend my free time. Hmmmm....what's that? A beer tasting followed by a rugby match? Sign me up!

A couple of mates from work and I went to a beer tasting at the local bottle shop and followed it up with the British and Irish Lions vs HSBC Warritahs (from New South Whales) rugby match. A warritah is a native flower in Australia - I know, very intimidating mascot (just like the Buckeyes), and HSBC is a corporate bank known for laundering drug money. Yay sponsorship! I'll give some background on the rugby, as it is not so straight forward. (Mere, you may want to skip ahead to the pictures as your head might explode trying to figure out the rugby).

Unbeknownst to me, there are actually 3 different types/leagues of rugby: Rugby Union, Rugby League, and Australian Rules Football.

Rugby Union is what the rest of the world plays (ie: New Zealand 's national team - the All Blacks). Australia has a national team (Wallabies), and also local teams such as the HSBCWarritahs.

Rugby League is similar to Union, but has slightly different rules. The NRL (National Rugby League) is filled with teams across Australia that play against each other. Manly's team is the Sea Eagles and they play about 10 minutes from where I live.

Aussie Rules Football is an entirely different animal, which I haven't seen any of as it is hugely popular in Victoria, but not so much in New South Whales/Sydney.

Still with me? (Mere, you can start reading again)

Now, the British and Irish Lions is basically an all-star team made up of the best players from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. They travel every 4 years alternating between Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, this is known as the Lions tour. So it's a pretty big deal as they are in Australia once every 12 years. The combination of Irish/English ex-pats in Australia, and the fact that their fan base travels well (especially leaving rainy/cloudly UK for Australia), makes for an army of red (their colors) in the streets/pubs/stadium.

The Lions game match vs the Warritahs is a warm up for their test match (3 game series) vs the Australian national team, the Wallabies.


The match was held at Allianz Stadium in Moore Park in Sydney. After the beer tasting and a stop at the Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst (which was a full blown Lions den, complete with English beers on tap) to meet up with some mates.

There were probably close to 40,000 people at the match

There are a lot of similarities to American Football, including an opening kickoff:

Below is a scrum (similar to a faceoff), which occurs after every stoppage of play. Each side basically voltrons (forms) into a battering ram. Both teams then engage as the ball is dropped in the middle, and try to kick the ball backwards to gain possession.

Below looks like a scrum, but this was actually a fight after the lions scored on a try (touchdown, crossing the goal line with the ball. These are worth 5 points with an ensuing extra point kick through the uprights worth 2. They also kick 'field goals' worth 3 points throughout the match).

I was able to figure out most of the rules on the fly, and while it's no NFL, it was awesome to see a live sporting event.

The Lions dominated the Warritahs 47-17. Each time they score, they play Chelsea Dagger by the Fratellis (the da-dada-da, dada-da, dada-dada-da song that is played when Blackhawks score a goal. Sorry, too soon?)

I think the Lions would have been better off with the below:





And just like when I first started the blog:

Countdown til Motes reunion: only 75 days...F*CK!