Homefront IPA

Center of the Universe Brewing in Ashland, VA is announcing the upcoming release of Homefront IPA. Proceeds from sales of Homefront IPA will go to support Operation Homefront, a charity that provides emergency assistance to our military heroes and their families. The efforts of nine participating breweries are coordinated by Hops for Heroes, which was co-founded by Center of the Universe.

In a press release, Center of the Universe announced this year's Homefront IPA ambassador.

HOPS FOR HEROES ANNOUNCES JIM JOHNSON AS AMBASSADOR FOR HOMEFRONT IPA IN THE VIRGINIA/DC/MARYLAND AREA 

Baltimore closer Jim Johnson is proud to support “Hops for Heroes” and Homefront IPA and thanks Center of the Universe Brewing Company in Virginia for their efforts.  

Ashland, Virginia, May 2: Hops for Heroes and Homefront IPA are proud to announce the support of Baltimore closer Jim Johnson and name him ambassador for the charitable efforts in Virginia.  

Center of the Universe Brewing Company, located in Ashland, Virginia will release Homefront IPA on Thursday, May 23rd at the Richmond Flying Squirrels Stadium. They will also hold a special event in their tasting room on Saturday, May 25th with all proceeds benefitting Operation Homefront. 

Other baseball ambassadors will be announced in Washington, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania.

COTU founder, Chris Ray is a former pitcher for Baltimore, Seattle, Texas and San Francisco. Appropriately, Homefront IPA is aged on Louisville Slugger maple bats. 

Flying Dog St. EADman

St. EADman Belgian Dark Ale is part of the Flying Dog Brew House Rarities series, and I believe the first one to be bottled. Frankly, I am not sure how the oddly capitalized name is meant to be pronounced. The bottle conditioned beer is named in honor of Ralph Steadman, the artist behind the brewery's edgy labels. The St. EADman label features a self-portrait of the artist.

Colleen and I shared the bottle with a guest on a recent evening. Even split three-ways, at 10% AB, the 750 ml bottle sufficed for all three of us during our late evening tasting. However our friend did remark, "Do you have any more like this?"

St. EADman pours a very dark, chocolate brown with a frothy and persistent beige head. The aroma is predominately dark fruit, raisins, with a hint of sweet cherry. The flavor has a mild sweetness with dark toffee and caramel. Hints of dark cherry, figs, raisons are some of the fruits that come in to play as well. The mouthfeel is creamy and slightly acidic in the finish. The alcohol is well-hidden, with just a bit of warmth showing up at the end. Overall a very enjoyable, but not overly complex libation.

I received this review bottle from the brewery late last year. I put it in the cellar and forgot about it until this week. That's too bad, as I would have liked to gotten more. It was a one-time brew, released in the mid-Atlantic area in November 2012. If you see any around, be sure to pick it up.

Note: This beer was provided by the brewery. It is through my own free will that I consumed and reviewed it. No compensation was received for this review.

Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth

A group of hoplophobes, and possible neo-prohibitionists as well, this week launched a campaign designed to pressure daily deal promoter LivingSocial into ceasing deals that include firearms and alcohol. Not having any logical basis or facts on which to base their rants, these groups resort to innuendo and distortions.

The advocacy groups – including CREDO Action, The Gun Truth Project and MomsRising – say promoting deals that integrate shooting and drinking only encourages that combination at the threat to public safety. 

The groups are invoking December's shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School to argue that companies like LivingSocial should refrain from endorsing deals that glorify firearms, particularly in combination with alcohol. 

"In the wake of Newtown, I'd like to know how the people who own or work for LivingSocial can justify profiting from the packaging of AK-47 shooting sprees with an evening of bourbon shots," Becky Bond, CREDO's political director, said in a statement. 

The company, she added, "is endangering the public health by suggesting pairing assault weapons with alcohol binges is just good clean fun." 

Could Ms. Bond get any more inane in her comments; "threat to public safety," "glorify firearms," "shooting sprees with an evening of bourbon shots," "alcohol binges?" Talk about projection.

Curious about the offers that are causing these hand wringers such heartburn, I searched out a past LivingSocial Adventure, and found "AK47s, Rifles and Pistols Followed By 8 Drink Tastings." The deal included "55 Shots On a Rifle, Pistol, and AK-47." That's hardly a "shooting spree." I doubt there's even a mag change involved with any of the weapons. The shooting was done at an indoor range, under the supervision of expert instructors, who provide safety instruction and equipment. After shooting, the participants will travel to another location for "eight tastings of wine, beer, or liquor." The participants even travel to and from the event in a chartered bus.

It's well-documented that the busybodies who babble on about some imaginary danger from firearms are projecting their own inadequacies on to others. They seek to force others to relinquish rights due to their own inability to make responsible decisions. This is the same mindset that gives us large soda bans and school pencil suspensions. It's the same sort of meddling that caused the yentas in Queens to call the police on a dad playing with his kids in a park.

An afternoon of shooting, followed by drinks with friends. Sounds like a Tuesday to me.

Practicing During the Ammo Shortage

If there's an "upside" to the ammo shortage, it's that it forces me to put in more efficient practice sessions. I know that I should have a plan in mind when hitting the range, but it doesn't always happen. Face it, shooting is fun, and it's easy to spend time "playing." Recently, I've forced myself to have specific drills in mind before arriving at the range. The upcoming VA/MD Section match is also inspiring some focused practice time.

A couple weeks ago I hit the range with 200 rounds in hand, and spent the entire session using a timer to practice a quick, reactive draw followed by two shots on target. I did this from 7, 10, 15, and 20 yards. My main points of concentration was a smooth trigger pull without losing sight focus. I paid a lot of attention to the difference in timing and acceptable sight picture at the various distances.
Goal: Better stage starts and accurate first shot.

Another recent drill was a shorter, 100 round session. Despite the low round count, I felt there were great benefits. I set up two targets and a steel plate. The first few magazines were used working on hitting the plate from the draw at 20 yards. I still need to do more work but I was very happy with the hits that day. The rest of the practice was spent transitioning between the two paper and the steel target from about 12 yards, which is a good median distance.
Goal: Accurate hits when moving between targets; on both the exit and arrival targets. And more confidence on steel.

Last week I had planned a session to work on movement, but the range was muddy and under water in places. So I again set up the two USPSA targets and a low 8”steel and found "high ground" at about 15 yards. The drill was run starting with a timer, putting two on each paper and finishing with one on steel. I did 30 iterations, firing a total of 150 rounds. It was an exercise in slowing to hit the steel. I had to concentrate on making that last hit. I purposefully went extra fast on paper to emphasize the change in focus needed for the steel. The holes in the paper reflected that; about a third of the hits were in the C zone.
Goal: Adjusting speed to reflect target size and better target transitions.

All of these sessions were low round count and were done in 30 minutes or so. They were fun and, hopefully, beneficial.

And yes, sometimes we still just play.

Gubernatorial Hops

The Washington DC Examiner is reporting that Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is making a contribution to the local craft beer scene:

Virginia's craft brewers have an ally in Gov. Bob McDonnell, who will soon be contributing his own hops to the growing industry. McDonnell planted a total of about 15 hops vines on the grounds of the governor's Richmond mansion Monday and expects a harvest from the 2-year-old cascade vines this August. 

"Virginia was once a hotbed of hops production," Todd Haymore, Virginia's secretary of agriculture and forestry, told Yeas & Nays, citing Thomas Jefferson and George Washington as past growers. "We're coming back around to our history."

Haymore hopes the hops will be used in a commemorative beer to highlight the Virginia craft beer industry, and to recognize this year's 200th anniversary of the Executive Mansion.

The Governor visited Devils Backbone Brewing in Nelson County last year. I guess he liked what he saw, or tasted.

See "Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell joins craft brewing movement" for more information on the hops at the Executive Mansion.

Beer Excise Taxes By State

For your consumption...

H/T to Fr. Z.

Serendipitous Trip to the Range

Last Friday morning I received a short text message from Checkered Flag, "Still light around 7ish? Free to shoot?" I checked my phone and replied "sunset is 8:11, last light 8:40" and it was on! Colleen had a previous engagement that evening so my son and I had already planned an evening out for food, so we added shooting to our plans. So this was to be a full guys' night out. It's been a while since my teenage son has been shooting with us, so I was very excited about enjoying range time with him.  Needless to say, the rest of my work day dragged on, and on.

We finally met at the range that evening and had a very fun time. Even though he hasn't been to the range in quite some time, the boy was as accurate as always. He likes to shoot my carry gun, and even with the shorter barrel length he does quite well. He refreshed himself on the sight picture needed, and had no trouble, even with the head shots on the USPSA targets. We mixed it up with shooting on the move, multiple target engagements, and using the timer to challenge each other.

We even made use of some "natural" targets — our version of being "green." The range had lots of Sweet Gum balls lying on the ground, so we hung one from the target rope and took turns trying to hit it. That's an exercise that is both frustrating and rewarding.

Sweet Gum at 7 Yards

After we finished shooting, we went back to the house to clean up. Sneaking past the ladies' group that was meeting there, we quickly changed and headed out to a local pub for some spicy wings and burgers.

I had been to the range by myself the previous evening to try some shooting for the first time since the injury. I was not expecting to return so soon. This serendipitous outing left my hand a little sore but was great fun. Sometimes the most enjoyable times are not planned.

Martyrs of Otranto

This morning in Rome, Pope Francis canonized the 813 Martyrs of Otranto. These faithful Christians were victims of muslim brutality and conquest in the Italian city of Otranto in 1480. On August 11, the besieged town was overrun by Ottoman invaders. All men in the town over the age of 50 were slaughtered, and women and children under 15 were sent away into slavery. (That whole "religion of peace" meme notwithstanding.) The leader of the invaders, Pasha Ament ordered over 800 surviving Christian men brought before him and commanded them to convert to islam or face death. The faithful refused to cave in to his barbarous demands.

One of the men came forth and spoke in a manner that we should all pray we could emulate,

My brothers, until today we have fought in defense of our country, to save our lives, and for our lords; now it is time that we fight to save our souls for our Lord, so that having died on the cross for us, it is good that we should die for him, standing firm and constant in the faith, and with this earthly death we shall win eternal life and the glory of martyrs.

Angered that they would not renounce their faith, the Pasha ordered all the men killed. On August 14, 1480, the prisoners were brought to a nearby hill and beheaded, while their families and friends were forced to watch. According to tradition, the body of the first victim, tailor Antonio Primaldo, refused to fall over until the entire group had been executed. The destruction of the town complete, and its population decimated, the invaders continued their march toward Rome.

A year later, in October 1481, the bodies of the martyrs were found to be uncorrupted and moved to the Otranto cathedral. On December 14 1771, Pope Clement XIV beatified these brave men. Their cause for Sainthood is completed today as Pope Francis declares the Martyrs of Otranto to be among the Saints in Heaven.

Martyrs of Otranto, Ora pro nobis!

Relics of the Otranto Martyrs

Also see "How the 800 Martyrs of Otranto Saved Rome" for more on the martyrs and their place in the history of Christendom.

Mother's Day

Please forgive me for a very personal post to say Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful wife. Thank you for always being there for our family. You are a loving wife to me and also a loving and caring mom to our son. We are blessed to have you in our lives. We love you very much!

And to my mom, Happy Mother's Day too. Thank you for all did to raise me. I love you and miss you.

♥ To moms everywhere, Happy Mother's Day ♥

Practicing Like the Pros

Or more appropriately, making the same mistakes.

A couple weeks ago I was dry firing and noticed I was fumbling a lot of my reloads. Instead of the mag sliding smoothly into the gun, it was jamming and causing significant delays. So I started repeating the drill, increasing my speed gradually until I recognized the issue. It turns out that as I sped up, I was taking my eyes off the gun and looking back at the target, before the magazine was fully inserted. I realized I had gotten into a bad habit and it took a lot of concentration to work through that and make my reloads smooth again. I get excited when I am able to analyze and fix a problem. I came upstairs and regaled my understanding wife the my fascinating tale.

Fast forward to this week, and I'm reading a post by Caleb Giddings over in Gun Nuts Media, entitled Wandering Eyes. Caleb was discussing an issue he was having with bobbled reloads. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he had been listening in:

What’s happening is actually pretty simple – when I’m pushing for more speed, I take my eyes off the magwell before I’ve fully inserted the magazine because I’m trying to get my sight picture back as quick as possible. Because I’ve mentally defined “completing” the reload as getting a sight picture, I cut a corner with my visual focus if I’m pushing for more speed. 

< ... > 

After I realized what I was doing, I applied some mental discipline to force myself to look the mag all the way in, even under a tighter par time. Unfortunately, over the winter I did thousands of reloads using “sight picture” as the end goal, so I’ve developed a bit of a training scar as a result. However, the fix to a training scar is train harder and better; to that end I’ve changed how I’ll practice my reloads.

I guess I shouldn't be discouraged by my mistakes, especially if the former Top Shot competitor is making the same ones.