Scotland- And There It Goes

Well, that’s it. As depressing as it is to say it like that, it’s true. Scotland is done, at least for now. This will be the last blog post for this one. I’m sure somewhere down the line I’ll get another one up but for now, this is it. These are my notes, in point form to save time, from the past 8 months. This isn’t a complete list I’m sure, and isn’t in order, but it’s good enough.

- Learned a lot of sweet new words

- learned more about drugs and drug use than chemistry ever taught me

- discovered what actual wind feels like. Constant and cold.

- learned to brew world class beer where I picked up the best habits of all the brewers

- was introduced to Johnny Cupcakes

- watched loads of TV shows (how I met your mother, big bang theory, the league etc.)

- went to England to see friends and drink

- tried over 250 new beers

- made lots of friends and connections in the industry

- learned loads about whisky

- got dickered twice (probably not what you think it means)

- I hate tourists despite being one. That makes me Scottish, right? Don’t come to Fringe and see the castle. Go see a show you stingy cunts

- train travel is fun and way cheaper than home

- living alone blows and I need people around to keep my sane

- people here are absolutely amazing and much nicer

- North Americans are loud apparently (I’d argue its more Americans, not Canadians)

- I love Canadian stereotypes and being Canadian more than anything

- I fell in love with this country and it breaks my heart to leave. The shitty thing about travelling is that you have to leave. If you don’t leave, you aren’t travelling are you?

- If there are any hot Scottish girls reading this, I wouldn’t mind moving back and living here down the road. ;)

- I like my beard and think I look better with it

- I love my family to bits but only in small doses

- My liver can take more now and I get less hung over for some reason. Training?

- If I’m not learning anything, I hate my life

- Rain is okay, but rainy days are amazing when you are inside. Thunder storms are still better and don’t really exist here

- I need to learn how to say goodbye so I don’t blurt out things I don’t mean and lose friends because of it. #idiot

- I’m much more drawn to performing than I’ve ever realized. I just love comedy, magic and everything Fringe has to offer. Very inspirational

- Nessie is a fuck face and never said hi

- I don’t know where I’m going but it isn’t where I am right now

- I have a problem with authority but not due to lack of entitlement

- I don’t want to just know beer, I want to know everything about the beverage industry including coffee. I will learn coffee.

- My friends mean the world to me and losing friends might be the worst thing ever

- Sorting out rooms and roommates from across the pond is a bit tricky

- I can wake up and have perfectly coherent conversations at any time

- There are no calories when travelling or at the pub. Beer does not have calories. Science fact of the day

- My hands a very beat up and tough but I now have a high tolerance to heat

- I’m a list maker (case and point right here) and count on my fingers (like I’m 4)

- Scotland has lots of sheep

- Edinburgh felt more like home than Fraserburgh ever did

- The collective group of men known as douche bags seem to be in smaller numbers

- The Scottish breakfast is actually one of the most amazing meals

- The people here are probably the nicest in the world (aside from Canadians of course)

- When in doubt, use more hops

- Trains are better than busses any day of the week

- The people I worked with are some of the greatest people I’ve ever met ever

- I might be repeating points but don’t really care because that’s how important they are

- I don’t have a drinking problem, I hardly ever spill

- Travelling takes a lot out of you but it is well worth it

- Coffee is for the weak and sleep is a bit overrated

- Cask ale isn’t all shit but BrewDog is by FAR better than it can ever be

- BrewDog bar staff are all amazing but I do have to say that Edinburgh is tied with Aberdeen, and Glasgow I just don’t know well enough

- The only animal more common to see in the fields than sheep are the noble Haggis

- I can now hear Canadian accents and yes, they do sound a bit like the stereotypes

- The word “out” is how most people distinguish Canadians from Americans

- No one likes gingers, not even gingers. Bit of a pickle isn’t it?

- Scottish Duty Free shops have a better whisky selection than the LCBO. Fail.

- Harry Potter might have been “born” in Edinburgh but he isn’t Scottish. He never gets drunk

- I love everything about beer from ideas to brewing and consumption

- I love people but fuck are most of them retarded

- “Awesome” is a very north American word to say which is too bad. It’s an awesome word.

- School sucks and at the end of the day, a degree isn’t much more than bragging rights. Marks don’t mean shit

- Engineers are useless and need to get proper jobs. Wankers

- When you do something stupid you need to laugh it off. Stupid things are usually the best stories

- Having a childs attitude but an adults intelligence is a dangerous mix. I’m bound to get beat up

There are many more and coming home is like nothing changes. As I type this I'm sitting in Northern Quebec looking out over the water on a patio at a sick chalet with 2 great friends and beer. Life is good but I miss Scotland already. I might see you guys sooner than later.

Cheers

bt

August 10- Round 3

Again I woke up without a hangover. This is getting very unreal since I used to get massive hangover and would feel bad for days afterwards. I then popped out to Tesco to get milk and cereal for breakfast. Chris actually had a day off (well, that was the plan but he did have a meeting and stuff) so after a bit of chillin, a quick shower and my cereal we headed in on the bus (pouring rain all day. Send it to London and fix their problems. The world should just trade weather with itself. How awesome would that be?)

Chris and I split up for a few hours with plans to meet up at BrewDog around 6 so I had a few hours to go and kick around the city doing the usual. Pleasance for free tickets. Again, I scored some. A sketch comedy show which I was skeptical about but hey, that’s the theme.

I went to the box office with the ticket bit and dropped the secret words (like a spy would. Pretty cool eh?) and got my ticket. Waiting to get in I started chatting to 2 people from England who did the same thing I did. One was a med student and the other was a forensics student (This is the second time I’ve been told forensics is chemistry. It isn’t). They also had heard of and been to BrewDog the night before. The show was decent. The problem I have with sketch comedy is that it has no lasting story to keep you in. Where it lacks that it has a fast paced feel with lots of changing new stuff. This show had its moments so again I’d say it was a quarter good. This wasn’t a win in my books but at least now I know. If you never go, never say it or never step out there you will never know. Theme of the week. The beautiful thing about Fringe is that they are artists and know what’s up. Sadly most people don’t keep an open mind about these things so I’d say go step out of your comfort zone and live a little. Message over.

The timing on this show was brilliant as it ended just as I had to meet Chris. The moment Chris walked in I could tell that something was up and I was right. Luckily him making fun of my recent events cheered him up. That and punching me for knocking cask ale all the time. Glad I could help. We had a quick half and headed out to the Hollyrood 9A for amazing burgers and a quick pint. Sean also met up with us for dinner and then Sean and I headed back to the bar for a few drinks. It might be the last time I see him so we had a good number and dipped into the bottles a bit. As he left Chris and Bruce showed up again as did the guys from Heriot-Watt and little Stewart who works up at the Brewery. Party all night again but I was trying to avoid it since I had an early train. Not happening. I was there until close and got a surprised look from Iain since I wasn’t that drunk (or I tricked him). I’m not sure why but either I’m pacing myself very well or just getting a very high tolerance. That and having real conversations always keeps me a bit sober (by real I mean not bar chat but actual beer and whisky chat). For some reason I’m also very conscious and observant in bars. I spot people who are having a bit too much, see the problems developing and just can’t help watching people. People are so interesting and entertaining. I live by the theory that you only have to regret something if you don’t learn anything from it.

Another late night but this time I had to get up to be somewhere. Thanks for a baller week Fringe. Well done.

August 9- Fringe and Me Act 2

I woke up feeling great. No hangover, no sick stomach and no headache. If there is one thing I love about Scotland it is that it’s helped me not have such bad hangovers. Cheers to that.

My day started off with a quick stop into Cornelius to drop Pete and James a bottle of AB:02 and chat a bit. I got a tin of Big Swell for the road (high-class for Fringe. That’s how I roll. Like. A. Boss) and headed down town to find me some more free tickets. I also stopped by the bar and grabbed a growler of punk for the road. I went a chilled in Pleasence for a few hours, got some food and chatted to people for a bit. I got a ticket to go see 2 comedians. Gotta love free stuff.

Again, this is a show I though I might not like. Why this time? Australian? Midget? Man with a horse face? No, much more racist than that. It was a show by 2 black comedians. I’m not racist by any means (actually we are all a bit racist but we can’t help it. I have sources if you don’t believe me); I’m just not a fan of most black comedians. They are usually relying on overacting, being super loud and being black. If you know Chris Rock then you all know what I mean. I was half right. They show started off with some general banter with the audience and chat amongst the 2 of them. Then one steps to the side and the other starts his act. He was exactly what I expected and was not too happy about it. I pushed through. The next guy got up and started (through a very well done transition) and he was very good. Everything I like about comedy; Quick, relevant, clever and well timed. He didn’t do any of the usual loudness and arm waving. Half win (or is that a tie? Who cares)

Next I headed up to BrewDog to have a quick Nanny State because I had to work. That’s right everyone, I poured beers and worked for 2 hours FOR FUN. I have an odd sense of fun according to most people but for me it helps me see how much people like what I do and makes me feel all warm inside. After my “shift” I was told I had a job if I wanted one but having 2 weeks left and preferring brewing I declined for now. FOR NOW. Remember, I’m back in a year or 2 so keep that offer open.

Then Chris and I met up and headed to Pleasance for a pint of generic beer (which wasn’t offensive oddly enough) and watched the whole thing happen. A few people hyping up shows approached us but then we got an offer we couldn’t refuse: A Canadian comedian who won Newcomer of the Year at Just for Laughs. It was a sign from god (oh, take your pick of what god you want since he doesn’t exist) so there we went. Wade McElwain (Look it up and watch him). Super funny guy with a good number of jokes that are funnier to a Canadian or anyone who has visited. Did I mention this was in a venue called the Caves? They are actually caves and the ceiling drips on you. Cool stuff. Anyway, after his show on the way out I just said to him “Oh Canada” to which he laughed and started chatting. Turns out he is from the same area I’m from, went to the school my dad taught at (my dad taught him) and knows the owner of the brewery that Chris and I used to work for. We left an open invite for him at the BrewDog bar for a few pints of course. Actually, I told everyone about the bar and to go and a number of people did. Working overtime. Anyway, amazing show and worth going to if you are around. Note: Cheers to beers is a line he used a lot and it annoyed me. I tell you because you are reading this and must value my opinion somewhat.

We then headed back to the bar to see if anyone was around because if not I was going to head home early again. That just isn’t the case when I step in that bar. Kerry was back off shift with Chris from Black Isle and another guy who has name but I just can’t remember what it is. After a few more beers, including a half pint of Jah Va. I then got a very motherly talk from Kerry (It was a very drunken one at that. thanks Iain for setting that one up), which did actually make me feel a bit better.

Another badass day out in the city. Man I’m starting to miss it already and I’m only in Aberdeen right now. It seems that 2 or 3 am nights are the trend this week.

August 8- Fringe and Me

This past week I was lucky enough to be given 4 days off in a row so instead of sitting in Fraserburgh contemplating why all the buildings are grey and why the hell I didn’t leave long ago I thought I’d capitalize and see the worlds biggest and best arts festival. FRINGE BITCHES!

I’ll go day by day.

Now, I’m not sure how many of you know this, probably all since no random people read this bollocks, but I’m a huge fan of comedy and magic so being at fringe was unreal. Just walking around and chatting with strangers, getting loads of flyers for shows and seeing the city so alive was awesome. That being said, I hate tourists and they were in my way most of the time and I’m told that’s how I know Scotland is home.

This is how I did fringe: Find shows that are a) free and b) ones that I didn’t think I’d like. I know this sounds stupid and if you are heading to a show that you don’t think you will like you probably won’t like it but I’m so happy I did it this way. I went to see a female comedian because usually, in a non-sexist way, they suck. Most of them just bitch about being women, do a lot of whining and talk about their menstrual cycle. That and most can’t interact well in an audience but that’s just my analytical mind dissecting comedy. This woman was funny, clever, witty and could go off the cuff (and did so very well) when she wanted to. She loved chatting about one mans small balls. Desperation maybe? First show was a hit. Amazing.

 Next I decided, based on a recommendation from my buddy Keith, to see Barry and Stuart who are two magicians from the UK. This was an unreal show. They way they set it up was pure brilliance. They initially gave the audience 3D style glasses but both with red lenses which confused everyone. BUT WAIT: there was a plan. These glasses were your pass to seeing the magic exposed for the first trick. They GAVE YOU THE OPTION to see how it was done and if you didn’t want to, you could just keep the glasses on and have it be a mystery. I obviously watched since I already knew the basics and just wondered if they were doing anything super new. This set up is unreal giving everyone the choice. After that the stuff they did was quick, edgy and very cool ways of doing “classics” (for the record, the argument “it’s a classic” is a piss poor argument) which was amazing to see. The show was called “Show & Tell” and was broken into 2 halves. The Show was obviously what I saw but if you wanted to, you could get tickets for The Tell where they exposed all the stuff they did in The Show. No other act offers something like that. Talk about building your own experience of shows is usually something you have in your head but this takes it to a whole new level. I’m going to stop now but I could go on all day.

Between shows I usually headed down to the BrewDog bar for a quick beer and to either drop off or pick up my sweater or just chilled around the Udderbelly (a giant upside down purple cow) or Pleasence to score free tickets. Later this night after the shows and stuff I headed back to BrewDog and was going to have a quick beer and an early night (about 12 by this time) since I had been up all night working the night before and I was almost dead. BUT no no, life doesn’t work like that. I started chatting to this cute girl at the bar (yeah I know. Girls in beer bars are so hot) after she told me she was Russian and took a drink to her friend I called her on it. She was from North Carolina. After a while chatting more with her and her friends, one of which was having a birthday, they invited me out to Sneaky Pete’s. I don’t say no when cute girls are involved so there I went. Now, I don’t fucking dance. I hate dancing and don’t like clubs so you know that this was a bad move for me. I’ve pretty much put together how my chat ups make girls think. This is it (in their heads)

Hey, he’s cute. Oh wow, funny too. Canadian (everyone likes Canadians apparently) Wow, he’s really funny and clever. Dude, Comic genius. Wow he’s also really smart.

As long as I can stay at a bar chatting, I have no issues but once you bring dancing into the equation I fail. So after about 20 minutes of me pretending I can dance (plus the music kinda sucked. I’d prefer some dubstep to he honest) her roommate fucks off with some guy and she says to me “sorry, you can’t stay with me anymore” (I tried I don’t have a place to stay bit but being in a BrewDog bar who I work for it isn’t that effective). A lapse in communication between Chris and I (who is a legend for letting me have his spare keys and a room for a few nights) didn’t help either.

So after a few good night kisses I headed back to BrewDog to “Dude, I thought you were in.” I had to explain how my club game is shit and how I don’t dance as well as the rest. A few hugs made it better. Such loving bar staff we have (quick note: Edinburgh staff are my favourite. Sorry Aberdeen, I just feel like we don’t know each other any more.) (quick note 2: Word needs to stop being so fucking American and let me CORRECT the spelling of words like favourite and colour permanently)

That’s day 1, an early 3:30 night.

August 3- Pure Excitement

Let me start by saying that I am on night shift so I'm posting this at my 4 am. Why? I'm not really sure but I woke up and can't get back to sleep so I thought getting some of my excitement out on the web might help me get some more sleep before work.

This next month of my life could very well by the most epic and very drunk month of my life. These are my plans and I can't wait to execute them.

This Saturday I'm heading down to Edinburgh to see my mate Chris, get a small taste of the Fringe Festival and hang out with my good friend Laura before she heads back to the land of fat people, baseball and god blessing everyone. This is only phase 1.

On Monday I'm heading back down to Edinburgh for 3 nights to get a real taste of Fringe. Last time I was down I saw the city just at the start of the summer just as the tourists started to come (I say that like I live there but hey, in a year or 2 it will be home. How ballin' is that?) . I'm stoked to see the city and Fringe at its busiest. I know I'm going to see lots of shows (whatever is free at least) and meet lots of people. I plan on doing what was suggested to me by my friend George. Go around and tell blatant lies to tourists about statues, buildings and the lot. This has to be fun since one of my favourite things to do is mess with people.

After coming back up here I only have 5 shifts left. That is a scary small number and can't really believe it. That is almost 8 months gone and I'm still wondering where the last 7 went. Then I have a MUSA dinner before I go, then 1 more shift. After my last shift I am heading straight out to Glasgow to see the new bar. This might be the most exciting moment of it all because I hear nothing less than it's amazing.

From Glasgow I'm heading to Edinburgh for 2 nights to meet up with my friend Mike who is coming up from Reading for the weekend. Seeing as how we both managed to get jobs in the UK it would be stupid not to get together in the best city during its busiest and raid the BrewDog bar for all it has. That weekend will again be very messy.

After I wake up on the Monday I'm back up here to finish packing my stuff, say my goodbyes and then heading back to Aberdeen for my last night in Scotland. Obviously I'll be spending it at the BrewDog bar as this will be the last time (I'm tearing up thinking about it) I'll get to drink BrewDog beer for a long time since I can't get it in Ontario. This is also the last BrewDog bar experience I'll have for at least a year. I might need to come visit next summer for a week or 2.

After I spend a day in and out of airports I'll be home and I gotta admit I'm looking forward to it. While Scotland is great this town is a bit dead and seeing people will be amazing. I also miss driving (on the correct side of the road, the right) and a ton of other little things. I'm only home for 1 night, cramming seeing my family, especially my cousins Blake and Brooke, into the next half a day before I head off to Hamilton to move into school (shivers). I have a night there and then I'm off on my road trip for 2 weeks. Tours set up for Brooklyn, Dogfish Head, Flying Dog and Southern Tier. There are also a bunch of other perks including a saturday night in Montreal (bound to be epic) and a few days in NYC. If anyone has suggestions as to where I should go and what I should see in New York, let me know. It isn't all about beer.

This seems like it might be the "August of Dreams" and let us hope it turns out that way. I'll be keeping you posted in this space with updates as to how it all progresses in Scotland. Once I leave I'll probably start up a YouTube channel for the US trip and then who knows after that. Maybe I'll just travel the world and not go back to school. All I know is that this year will be the best year of my life and school is going to be taking a back seat to travelling, brewing and living (it already did the past few years but my schedule is such a joke I could just forget it and still pull off A's).

August 1- Calibration, Analysis and the Countdown

If you couldn't really tell from my last blog post that actually shared no information, at least not enough to mean anything to anyone, I've had a lot of stuff on my mind lately. Most of it I'm not going to talk about because we know I'm shit at it and frankly, most of you don't care.

This past week I've had a good number of realizations. Some I've discovered for myself and others took a comment from someone else to realize but either way, I'm learning something.

Calibration
Today at work I had my first calibration day in a while. Today reminded me why I really do love my job and why this is about to be the best summer EVER (I still have a month left, put that white towel down). A peaceful Sunday in the brew house was exactly what I needed. Only having slept about 5 hours on Friday and 6 on Saturday I was pretty tired. I didn't do any exercise on my day off and I was feeling a bit like a fat kid. Luckily everyone was tired so it was slow and nice. It was the essentials. Making beer and listening to music. I also got to shovel out the mash tun, twice. This was a good bit of endorphin release. The past few weeks I've been feeling that this brewing thing was actually becoming a job. The same stuff everyday with little to no deviation. Now for you that know me I'm never really content with what I'm doing (or I have ADD, ADHD or some odd combination of the 2) and I'm always looking for more. While I am still learning stuff everyday it isn't as much as I was months ago and it doesn't seem as useful. This is why I have a problem with school, but I won't get into that.

Analysis
Looking at yourself in a honest sense is a hard thing to do. I've been watching a good bit of Demetri Martin lately (he is a genius, so go check it out) and his show "If I" and it was kind of an eye opener. He does a "full" analysis of himself as a person and even though it is a comedy show it isn't all that funny. You get a sense of who he actually is and why his comedy is what it is. Obviously he is acting so the potential for over exaggeration is high it still makes you think. I've realized that my attitude towards partying and actually partying were converging, something I've never seen before. I'm usually all about partying verbally but when it comes down to it I like to maintain my composure and sit back. Analyze a situation and pick things apart. Since being here this sense of wonder about general interactions seems to have faded a bit. It very well might be that when I see people I get so excited that I can't help but go all out but when it is readily available (eg. at school) it seems so much less interesting. I also noticed that I have developed a need to see people as much as I can, whenever I can. This is also a fairly new. I love people, they get me thinking and entertain me but I never had such a strong urge to see people all the time. Again, it might be solely due to isolation but I just need to get out and interact with people. At school I was never like this. Most people need to spend time alone every now and then, it's a fact, and I'm no different. Now that I've been forced to spend my time alone I'm not such a fan of it. I like the option of chilling alone. Maybe I just have a problem with being pushed around by circumstance which is why I make the effort to see the people I like when I can. There was a point where I was kind of down, a bit confused and worrying a lot about my life and the fact that real life is creeping up and I think I lost track of what I'm about. I can safely say that I know again, at least for now. Shit happens and things change. It's life.

The Countdown
I have 9 shifts left. I have just over 3 weeks left in this country before I take a step closer to real life. There are loads of things I haven't done yet that I really wish I had but there are tons of things I never though I'd do that I have so I think I have, at the very least, broken even. I wanted to do some more travelling but my position at the brewery became more crucial each month as I learned more, got trained up and proved myself. I know I'll have another chance to travel so I'm not so concerned. I didn't know what a  céilidh was before I got here and BAM, I've been to one. I have a few days of the Fringe festival coming up which will be awesome to see. Sure, I've missed things on my list but I've added more than I've missed and with just over 3 weeks left, I have a few more to add I'm sure. I am super excited about going home but not for the usual reasons. I'm stoked to see the rest of my family, especially Blake and Brooke, I'm pumped to see my friends and a bit excited to get back to school (not for classes. I'm dreading that the most). I'm most excited because I have a good number of adventures lined up. 2 week road trip with 2 good friends to the US to meet brewers, visit breweries and live it up. Trip to Michigan to see a real college football game (not soccer, football) sometime in the next few months and oddly enough, I'm excited to get home and drink all the beers I used to drink. I'm sure most of them will be dismissed as bad because I've been spoiled the past 7 months but I'm not going in hoping that. I hope this gives me a better appreciation for what they are.


I'm actually not sure where this blog came from, journeyed through or has ended up but I think it makes sense. If you want to get this information as it happens in 140 characters or less you should follow me on Twitter. btaylor55 . You might also get some cool updates about BrewDog, new beers and what secrets we are cooking up. I'm just saying, it is probably worth your while.


Rock on.

July 24th- Too Much

I know I skipped the last day of my trip with my parents but I'll tell you all in person since it is that unreal. You need to see me get all bent out of shape with excitement for it to count. Trust me.

I also know most of you are thinking "too much what? beer? this kids an alcoholic."
I'm not, and it has nothing to do with beer.

It just kind of occurred to me that I only have 4 weeks left in Scotland. I've been gone for almost 7 months now and only have one left. I don't know where the time goes. Home maybe? (an old Bill Nye joke from the electricity episode. Yeah, I remember stupid shit from grade 9 science).

I'm currently juggling loads of things, trying to plan for my return and departure for my road trip, I just found another house mate, setting up and paying for my courses, finding time to go visit friends in the US in Sept/Oct and obviously starting to pack my stuff, sort out what I'm doing with days off and deciding what whisky i'm taking home with me (my collection made it home with my parents if you were wondering. that's one less thing to worry about)

I've hit a point where my brain is spinning faster than ever because I have so much to do. I'll be honest, I do kind of like it but sadly there is no one to share my ideas with. I've started to do some serious planning for my future business endeavours, considered where I'm going next year for my placement and reading lots of books that motivate me. I can't wait to get home because I'm sick of the weather here, I need my friends around to listen to my random ramblings about ideas I have and I need stuff to do. I'm actually going bat shit insane stuck in my own head. That is one cost of working for BrewDog: your sanity.

As you can probably tell from the spastic nature of this post I just needed to get some of the shit on my mind out there, even if its only the tip of the iceberg.

If you detox after a trip to feel better (eg. running, eating healthy, cutting down on drinking), do you pretox before a trip? To me pretoxing sounds like you are getting trained up for a trip of liver destroying consumption so is there a word to describe the act of detoxing before a trip. Eating healthy, little drinking and working out before a trip so you fell less bad sounds like a good idea. Can we make a word or just use pretox? I need opinions.

I'll stop vomiting my thoughs onto the page now and let you carry on with your day. I know its sunday and most of you are probably thinking a detox might be a good idea after last night so I hope this sobers you up a bit. In all fairness it will probably just confuse you as much as it has me.

July 11- Day 5- Edinburgh

Well as I'm sure you guessed, I've been too intoxicated to update this daily as I was at the start.

Day 5 was an early one and I was fairly weathered from the night before so after getting lost in Glasgow thanks to the stupid amount of one way streets and the fact that you can't drive on the correct side of the road like the rest of us we got to Edinburgh. The first sign that our hotel was amazing is because it was beside the Zoo. Why was that amazing? I'm not sure but at the time it seemed pretty awesome even though the zoo looked like shit. We then headed down to the Royal Mile and I gave a faily half assed tour of the city since Chris had been nice enough to do a better tour the next day (I have also only been there twice so I was fairly lost but didn't tell them. It worked out alright in the end). When we finally got hungry I just had to drag them to Oink. Oink is the awesome pulled pork place and it is all they do. The pig sits in the window all cut up and cooked and you see them cut off your bit. You also get a piece of the outside which is very delicious and crunchy. We then decided to pop into an art gallery and three things quickly become apparent.
1) It is obvious why it is free
2) I clearly know nothing about art
3) People who do know something about art don't care for sarcastic comments. Let us just say that when there are 3 women looking friendly while naked the observation "that would be fun" isn't what an art person looks for. I thought it was rather funny.

My parents and sister then wanted to go to the castle but I opted out. They went in and said it was great while I pissed off and went for a walk. I went into every whisky shop on the Royal Mile and ended up in one that carries BrewDog. Since I was rocking the work jacket I was like a strolling billboard all weekend and he instantly asked what my association was. After some chat the owner said they just got it in and said he had moved a few already so he was thinking it was a good choice. I assured him it was.

When my parents came out of the castle they found me, chillin on a bench eating an ice cream cone. While they just laugh and wonder just how many brain cells I've lost since being here I was just happy because you gotta enjoy the little things sometimes. Ice cream on a sunny day is one of those things.

We then headed back to the hotel for dinner. That meal was the biggest piece of shit ever. Over priced, shitty food, small portions, shit service and extremely confused staff. No one was impressed.

My parents were fairly tired from the walking and drive so they opted to stay in with my sister. I decided to head down town to meet Chris and Colin for a few beers at the BrewDog bar. After a few Colin popped down with his Heriot-Watt classmates who I've now met 3 times (Stone night, Black Isle and this time) and I finally remember their names. It turns out most of them are Canadian. We pretty much owned the bar. Oh Canada! (Much better than God Bless America). After the pub closed we headed down the street to Sneaky Pete's for a quick Red Stripe (of which I only had about half) then to Opium for another pint of something else (not great, much better). After one we headed out and Colin and I went for a walk through Greyfriar's Bobby, the most haunted cemetary in the world. It was about 2 am but sadly no Poltergeist sightings. Guess I'll have to try again.

Also with it being this late I missed all buses and needed to get a cab back to the hotel. After walking about 20 minutes on Princess Street I figured "oh, I'm close enough" and decided I'd walk back. I got home at 4, pretty much sober by then, and passed out.

I've already been told I'm an idiot many many times but at least I wasn't puking somewhere (I might have pissed on the street though..)

I can't wait to move back and call that city home, if even for a year.

July 10- Day 4

This trip is going really quick. I mean, it is already half over and I'm pretty happy since I wasn't sure if I'd survive.

Yesterday was easily the best day so far. There is a reason I'm doing this in the AM and not last night. Any guesses?

Got up about 7, as usual, to come down, grab some food and check out what I'd missed in the world over the past few hours of sleeping. I'd usually expect all my friends to have emailed me "I miss you!!" messages but it turns out, not much happens when I'm sleeping leading me to believe that either the world stops for me, which is a touch too optimistic, or that no one gives a shit or misses me. I prefer to stick with the first option.

After a few hours of reading in the hotel lobby we then headed to WEST beer, a cool little brewpub about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. As usually happens with my planning, coordinated with the unpredictability of the scottish weather, it started to pour half way there. I'll just say that I wasn't the favourite person of us at that point.

After what was a pretty good lunch and some well done classic german beers (the word classic explains their reading on the interesting scale) with the exception of the Hefeweizen I headed back to the room. My parents went off to the science centre. I then headed to the pub.

After getting to Blackfriars and having a beer I gave Becca a call and woke her from her massive hangover coma. She then headed down to the pub and we had a beer together. I heard a lot of rumours (that may or may not be true) that were floating around the bar staff, brewery staff and the old "who likes who" thing. I also got a break down of the Taste festival. It was really funny probably helped by the fact that I was already a few beers in. She also tried to steal my work jacket but don't worry, I got it back. We were then talking about Chris, the assistant manager (maybe?) of the Glasgow bar and that he might be up for a few beers later on. 10 minutes later he showed up behind us. Clearly there is some sort of BrewDog magnetic vibe that draws other staff in. I'm hoping to get back down for the launch of the new pub but I doubt that will happen. You can always hope though.

I then left them to meet up with the family for dinner at Brel, a place I was told had good food and a decent belgian beer selection. It's true. A cozy little restaurant which was very quite, due to it being Sunday and since T in the park is this weekend. Awesome mussels and a good seafood linguine with a DT and a Brooklyn Lager. I'd say thats a good meal. After that we headed down to another pub that the cab driver told us to stop in at for a quick whisky (and 2 half pints of some generic lager for my parents). Back to the hotel then off to the other pub we were told to go to, "The Scotia Bar" which was right beside the hotel for a quick pint of some absolute shit beer. We had to go because apparently it was the oldest pub in Glasgow. Weather it was true or not I have no idea. I then took my dad to Blackfriars (for those keeping track, thats 2 times today and once the night before. I've become a regular in 2 days)

After this drinking spree I was pretty done and my tiredness didn't help much. Does anyone else notice that if you are drinking with someone and having a conversation is a challenge that you just feel drunk faster? It is definitely that way for me.

Todays drinks list
WEST Munich Red
WEST Hefe
WEST St. Mungos Lager
Titan IPA
Cutthroat Porter
Mauldons Peggottys Porter
Snake Dog IPA
DT
Brooklyn Lager
St Andrews Ale
Torpedo IPA

With the exception of 1 or 2, thats a solid day of craft beer drinking. I hope today is more of the same and we are off to EDINBURGH!! Easily my favourite city in the world. I might just not leave. Ever.

July 9- Day 3

Well, here we go again.

Today I got up really early and went for a 6 am walk with my mom and let me tell you, Oban is beautiful when you get the right view. I still haven't uploaded pictures but I promise I'd never lie to you. After about a 1 hour walk we headed back for breakfast and met up with the rest of them. At breakfast I had a decent scottish breakfast and just about every pastry I could get. I'm a super fat kid this week. I have good reason though. It's free.

After that we were heading to Fyne Ales which is situated nicely on the way to Glasgow. Well to keep a long story short, we missed the exit. Twice. So I just said move on, I've seen enough breweries. Today was the first day with no distillery or brewery tour. As sad as it is it is also tolerable. I've seen a few breweries in my travels. They got a bit pissed since I was guessing more than reading direction so they were all a bit irritated and I broke into uncontrollable laughter to myself for 10 minutes. I'm honestly losing it.

After we got to Glasgow we got super lost. The driver turned down a 1 way street the wrong way so to fix this said person turned down another street. It was also a 1 way street. We did finally make it to the hotel and within about 5 minutes the funniest string of events I've ever seen unfolded. I'm not at liberty to say what happened to protect the identity of the hilariously guilts. I'm a good person. We then headed for a bite to eat. I managed to add 2 beers to the list on this trip so it was a success. I then hopped in to meet Roy Walton quickly just to say I have. He is a legendary magician if you are wondering.

After that my dad and I wandered about Glasgow while my sister and mom went and bought clothes. Typical women stuff.

After I had a brief session online I went up and it was dinner time. We headed to Bier Halle (or something like that) for pizza and beer. I had a nice bottle of La Chouffe to myself (750 ml) which made everything awesome. I then headed to Blackfriar's for a beer but was too tired for excess pints.

So here I sit, dead tired, and writing the most uneventful blog I've done because I'm dead tired. I need sleep.

Another nigh tin Glasgow then off to the world's best city (to me) Edinburgh. I can't wait becuse it's just generally awesome and b) there is a brewdog bar.

I see no way to lose on that one.

July 8- Day 2

I know this one is much earlier than last nights but I'm still catching up to this awake during the day thing. Night shift really fucks you up.

Today was a lot less exciting as I had much more sleep but the tired level has remained. It has definitely caused for some tension and I'm fairly ready to get back to work. At least at work I get to hang out with enjoyable people who aren't absolute bitches when the slightest deviation from the norm isn't made. They can also accept being wrong from time to time, something said people here can't.

I guess it is just that I'm way more fun. It seems to be the only logical explanation. Anyway.

Today we headed out from the first hotel, which was a really nice old hotel to the Loch Ness visitor centre and took a tour. I'll be honest, the tour was very well put together and kind of interesting but they didn't show us any Nessie. I was pissed. Also, being in the car for long stretches uttering "keep left" to the driver is very boring. It leaves no time for doing anything else. No nessie, cramped legs and not enough beers by this point. It was still fairly fun though. The west coast is beautiful for anyone who was interested.

After what will be called the "Nessie disappointment of 2011" we headed out to Oban for the night, and more importantly a tour of the distillery. While the tour was very formal and the whisky being good but not great it was nice to see. Again, we had a cute tour guide. It seems to be what gets me through these tours, plus a girl talking about whisky (or beer) tends to be a turn on for me. Just a hint for anyone out there who wants a piece of this. Haha. I got a bottle of Distillery only whisky so this trip is great for the whisky but harsh on my wallet.

After that we went out and grabbed a bite to eat and a few pints. Nothing exciting, nothing special just "family time." I'm so happy I don't live at home anymore. Not that it was bad but I now realize why I moved away from home. For the record I do love my family to bits but I'm thinking another 6 nights might be a bit much. Lets hope I, and they, make it through.

Still have some cool pictures to share but not nearly as awesome as bottling my own whisky. I have however had a few cool inspirations for my brewery and learned a lot about the Ontario beer industry as far as structure goes. This will help.

Well I'm going to leave it at that. Can't wait for Glasgow and Edinburgh, my favourite city, for a few nights of proper boozing and new experiences.

This trip is harder than work. Honestly.

July 7- Day 1

Well today was day 1 of my trip around Scotland with my family. I had to work last night so I was up a bit early to see them, worked for 12 hours and then stayed up all day until 8 pm. 26 hours of awake. It's now 4 am which means I only slept 8 hours. Circadian rhythms suck.

We headed over to Dufftown today but passed GlenDronach on the way. I made my family turn the car around for a tour. When we got there I they weren't giving a tour for another hour but after a few minutes of chat with the lady, and my using my charm (haha) she offered to give us a tour anyway. The place was pretty cool and I've never been to a distillery before so I was high on life. I have photos but not uploaded right now. I'll share them with everyone individually once I'm back. I was blown away by the distillery and the set up, the technology and the general location. Tucked away in the hills in a beautiful little spot with hills all around. It would have been easy to miss if we hadn't noticed the one smallish sign.

At the end of the tour I gave her a few bottles of BrewDog for taking her lunch break to give a tour and then bought a bottle. I got to bottle it myself. It can only be done at the distillery. How could a young aspiring whisky fan (who was overtired and gitty as hell) say no to that?  My names in the book of people who have ones. This is now my prized possession since I lost the bottle of Punk I had from the first batch I mashed in. Plus you can't go and buy regular stuff at the distillery, its about the unique experience.

We then headed out to Dufftown, the place with the most distilleries per capita in the world, or something like that, for lunch and Glenfiddich. On the way I got to laughing so much from the tired and mild drunkeness that I was actually crying from laughter at absolutely nothing. (I laughed out loud while I typed that.) I will say that the lunch was pretty good at the distillery. I had haggis, neeps and tatties of course. My dad and I then went on a tour while my mom and sister headed to the car. The tour wasn't super great and wasn't nearly as in detail as the first one but at least we had the cute tour guide.

After that we headed to the hotel and I laid down for 3 minutes. We then headed out for a walk and I found a park. I just had to go play since by now I'm completely delusional and losing my mind. After a quick meal where everyone's tiredness started to show (everyone was grumpy except me. I was just spaced) we then headed back and I hit the sack immediately.

I do have lots of photos, mostly stupid ones and a few with my ass hanging out, to share with you (ass photos not included... for everyone) but just can't get them onto my computer right now.

Tomorrow: Nessie and haggis hunting, and another distillery. WEST COAST FOR LIFE!!! (or a night)

Please read responsibly.

July 1st- Canada Day: Facts and Myths

With it being Canada Day and all I figured that I had to make a post. What kind of Canadian would I be if I didn't? So with this post I'd like to clear up some myths and confirm some facts about Canada, our culture and our people.

Fact: Canada is the best country in the world (in my extremely biased opinion)

Myth: We are part of the US. No we are not. Idiots.

Fact: All Canadians have a statue of Wayne Gretzky in their basements and we pray to it. This is true especially to Americans.

Myth: We say "a-boot." We do not say "a-boot" we say about like anyone else.

Fact: Hockey is the best sport in the world. It is ours. If you disagree, you are wrong.

Myth: Those hats we wear in winter are beanies or just hats. Those are actually called toque's.

Fact: Eh? is a word, and a good one at that. Feel free to use it but make sure you site your sources.

Myth: We all ride moose to school or work. This is not true. In actual fact we no longer do this. It was outlawed in 1972 due to a number of disasterous moose attacks. We now keep our moose at the igloo.

Now that we have cleared up those points I'll share what I'm doing for Canada Day.

I'm working. Some of you may say "you terrible Canadian" but hear me out. I'm working over here, learning to make really good beer so that in a few years when I'm running my own brewery you will all have BETTER Canada Days. Really, you should all be thanking me.

Have a good one, eh?

June 30- JC vs The World

No, not that JC.

A good friend of mine Scotty Hammel is a fantastic magician, juggler and motivational speaker. I actually saw perform and speak before I got into magic when I was in grade 9. In his speeches he pushes one thing on you (in a nice way). "Find you passion, make it happen." This to me is probably some of the best advice I've ever heard and it’s very clear in his shows and talks that he has certainly done so. Sure motivational speakers do actually motivate people (at least the people who want to be motivated and motivate themselves) but when you are friends with these people and you get to really know them for them it is even more inspiring. Guys like Scotty are few and far between. I'm not talking about people who are successful. I'm talking about people who truly find their passion and live their dream. How many people can you say you know that have found their passion, that thing they love and on top of finding it are actually doing it? Few. I can think of 2 or 3 and of those these developments are quite recent.

I'm one lucky son of a bitch to have found what I believe to be my passion at such a young age. I say what I believe I love to do because can you really know at my age? I'd argue that you can think you have but it will take years to confirm it. I used to think magic was my thing and that lasted about 4 years. Beer has been winning for 2 years now and I have a good feeling.

What inspired this bollocks? Well first of all I was recommended by a friend to check out a site called Johnny Cupcakes (http://www.johnnycupcakes.com/blog/) which is not only worth a look for the cool merch but also a really inspiring story. Please go read it, all of it. I'll wait.

...

...

Wow, you read fast. Anyway, this is the perfect example of someone who clearly has found that thing they love to do. Not only is he successful in business but also he makes people happy.

I'm also writing this because of a new intern/assistant brewer we have up here from Austria. He has been brewing and learning about beer since the age of 15 and is now only 19. I'd argue that by no means is he at a level to know what he wants to do with his life. It just seems weird to me but he, what do I know about Austrians (*cough* Hitler was Austrian *cough*)?

And finally I decided to write this bit because a friend of a friend was a trained paramedic, had a job with somewhat odd hours and then decided she didn't like it. She jumped ship and is now looking for jobs everywhere she can and thinking "hey, maybe I wanna be a cop." This to me again is a bit unsettling.

What I've learned so far about what people need to be successful in what they do.

1) Grow a pair and take risks

2) Try shit out and live a little

3) Pay your dues

Break Down

1) If you read the JC website about how he got his company started, you can clearly see that he has done this first thing. I'll assume you have all read it and that you aren't just taking my spark notes. He risked everything for what he has. He had an easy way to success and lots of money with large retailers. He cut that. He risked lots of money flying to trade shows to get known. It paid off. He nearly buried his parents alive in his shirts before he had the money to buy space. Clearly I'm not giving it all away here for you lazy bastards who didn't read it but you get the point. These are smart risks. This friend of a friend, from now on referred to as FOAF, took a risk and quit her job hoping for something better. No research was put in and it was a quick decision. This was a stupid risk. Austria got into what can essentially be seen as a career when he was 15. This is a major risk. It is STUPID how many people get stuck in jobs they hate just because they make these decisions. Think about it, think think about it (Hats off to those of you who get the reference).

2) Try shit out. I've done a number of things in my life to make some money, get experience and ultimately test the waters out in different areas. Our pal JC did this. Bands, t-shirts shops and graphics turned into an empire with a gigantic fan club (something I'm reaching the point of joining because now that I've finally read the entire thing (yeah it actually took this long. Sorry Laura) I can understand the obsession) and I sure as hell respect building something from nothing. There is a reason I loved LEGO as a kid (and always will). FOAF has tried out a few things but clearly not enough to know what she wants to do. Last I talked to her she loved being a paramedic and was all in for it. I will give her this point. Austria has not done this. Essentially choosing a career at 15 is ridiculous and I don't really need to explain why he does not get a Try shit out point.

3) Pay your dues. Again, this one is fairly simple in the case of JC since he obviously has done this (Seriously, go read it you lazy bastards). Being a paramedic for a few months and jumping ship is clearly someone who needs to rethink the whole thing. You can't start out a CEO unless you start a company and you can't start a company without paying your dues. You gotta work shit and irregular hours to finally get to the spot you want to be at. If you just leave when shit gets hard you might as well stop doing anything. In that case you become homeless and that is probably even harder than working these hours. Austria has clearly paid some dues with 4 years of experience in an industry and has deserved what he has and what will come up in the future. Also, I cleaned the kettle, mash tun and everything else everyday for months to finally get to a position where I get to be a brewer on a regular basis. Stop complaining you lazy new guys. If you don't want to work then go back to Uni and get your desk job. I hope you are happy with it. I know I couldn't be but hey, we are all different.

Score Board

           JC                                      FOAF                         Austria

             3                                           1                                 1.5

Well there you go.

I'd like to point out that most of you are learning and know these things but I really like learning with pictures (which I'd add but I'm brutal at them) and by looking at different cases. I hope I'm not acting like a douche and trying to tell you what to do since I'm in no position to do this. On the scoreboard I'd give myself a 2/3. I've paid my dues, and not only in brewing, I've taken risks such as moving to another country but nothing as large as starting something and I've tried out a good amount of stuff. I haven't done it all but I've done enough to make myself happy because at the end of the day that’s all you gotta do.

P.S. Follow me on twitter. Hint: btaylor55.

June 29- Have you ever noticed?

Noticed? Maybe. What was I supposed to notice?

Well, you weren't SUPPOSED to notice anything, but if you did then you get a gold star.

What the hell am I talking about? Read on.

Lately I've been chatting a lot with people who have a company, want a company or and just generally interested in starting one. From these chats I've noticed that for the most part people only consider influences from the same industry. While you need to know your industry and can't ignore the trends, fads and random noise you can't be solely influenced by it.

Thinking of most of the breweries I've stumbled across it seems they have only drawn influence from other breweries in the world from American craft beer to traditional german lagers and classic british styles it is seemingly harder for new breweries to break out of this funk. Most of the Ontario craft brewers have roots running very deep into british origins with only 1 or 2 really starting to get on the american IPA styles with mega hops and crazy high alcohol brews.  The american craft beer revolution runs as far back as 1984 with Sam Adams and the Boston Beer co. While there were canadian craft breweries opening in this time period (Brick in Waterloo for example) none of them ever got to the size that Sam Adams has become and probably never will. Why? First of all, these guys are stuck and the marketing is just stolen from other successes IN THE SAME INDUSTRY and have really shot themselves in the foot with the customer base they built up (the Laker bums). American Craft brewers started to dry hop beers years later and only now is it growing across the border and to other parts of the world (Scotland quickly comes to mind). From what I've found out dry hopping isn't a new technique but is just used more effectively due to more flavourful hops.

What is going to be the next big thing in brewing? Who knows but I really hope that it doesn't come from history. A leading example I can think of is Dogfish Head in Delaware. These guys are doing some crazy shit and while a good amount of it isn't new techniques they are using the old techniques and bringing them forward (continual hopping, serving through fresh hops and using other woods to age beers). Listening to Sam (founder) talk about his influences in life it seems that a good amount of them are drawn from outside the industry. I really want to meet him someday as his book is amazing and you should check it out. Brewing Up a Business by Sam Calagione. You will thank me later.

Why I care? These same people that I've chatted with have made me realize that it takes more than good beer to have a great brewery. It takes innovative thinking, inventive ways to spend (and save) money and a bit of insanity. I thankfully have the last bit, part of the first bit and bits of the second bit as well. It has also made me realize, even though it depressed me quite a bit, that I'll need to get off my ass soon and start to do some work.

I'm 21 right now and what have I accomplished? Well, I've got through 2.5 years of a chemistry degree, I've grown the balls to move to a new country for 8 months knowing next to nothing about where I'd be living, what I'd be doing or who I'd meet and I've met some fantastic people who have inspired me. I'll be honest, it was a bit scary after the excitement wore off but its turned out for the best and I'd never change what I've done. Ever. Why I'm kicking myself in the head a bit is because people only 3 years older than me, as well as people younger, have done so much more. I know it isn't good to compare yourself to other people but at times it's hard not to. I guess I'm actually coming to grips with the things that I've been talking about for a year or so. Owning a brewery, brew pub or both. Its scary to think that in a few years I might own my own business. I know if I do I'll have a lot of support from lots of great people, either financially or emotionally (we all need a shoulder to cry on at times, right?), but I worry and wonder if I can manage the stress, fear and burden of it after that initial excitement wears off. No matter how much research you do, experience you get or planning hours you put into things you just never know.

And what scares me the most (other than my yearly birthday freak out session about getting older)? How can I be different. I want and need to be different from the competition in order to a) be successful and b) make myself happy. b is much more important to me than a but there is definitely a relationship between the two.

You meet new people everyday and in each new interaction you learn something that you can take away and keep with you. I'm an optimist, its a fact but man it gets hard at times to see the bigger picture. I'm fortunate enough that I've had an interesting life and have many things to draw from for inspiration but inspiration is another mystery and usually just shows up from time to time. With that in mind, you have to work hard and find things to learn about to draw inspiration from. I love music, books, magic and movies and from each of those you gain something. Every song has a different purpose to different people. You take away things from a movie that others may not (which is why I hated english class because my opinion was usually wrong. That makes no fucking sense, does it? An opinion can't be wrong you idiots.). Magic is about personal experience. Some people believe, some are entertained and some can't be bothered.

Your life experiences design you. What you do with them defines you (Is that mine? I hope so)

I'm not sure how we got here but this is a long fucking post. Thanks to everyone who read to the end and I'd like feedback. I love collaborations and will work with anyone on anything if you get me interested because once you have that hook the rest is easier. Thanks to everyone, and you know who you are, who inspired it.

Cheers (to the 2 pints you probably drank while reading all this. And you are still reading because I'm still typing. Sorry)

June 24th- 2 Months Today

2 months from today I'll be landed at home, sleeping in my own bed (and a much better one at that) and recovering from 8 months of fairly continuous drinking. I'll also be preparing for another 2 weeks on the road to the eastern US. It all sounds exciting but I'll be honest, its a tough thing to think about.

It is pretty weird to think that I've been here for about 6 months and in general nothing at home seems to have changed. That or no one feels like telling me about it. It probably is for the best since hearing about all the awesome things that people are doing at home would make my life a bit harder.

The past few weeks have been absolute hell for me and seem to be very draining. I've been doing way too much thinking and I'm just constantly tired because I don't sleep. I don't know why although I have suspicions (which I won't share here to save you from boredom). I don't even think about things that matter too much, just random shit that happens to come about. Example, I've woken up abruptly and had song lyrics flowing through my head to a tune I've never heard before. Minutes later they are gone but at this point I'm awake and my mind is going. I'm fucked for sleep.

I have had a few ideas for beers and brewing lately which I would consider productive for the future but I'd like to be able to capture those ideas and then get back to sleep immediately afterwards. It doesn't happen.

I've also started to hang out with normal people more often (by normal I mean people who I don't directly work with so we can't just banter and complain about work all the time) and it might be one of the things that keeps me up. After about 5 months of living in relative isolation with people you probably wouldn't ever chat with if it wasn't for beer and then suddenly shifting to a bit of "normalcy" on your days off is a bit of a shock to the system. You start to think "hey, this is what its like to hang out with people. I miss this." Things aren't so bad if you can manage to forget what you've left behind but when you get a reminder of how great life can be with friends it is fairly disruptive. One of my favourite movies is Donnie Darko and in it there is a brilliant quote. It doesn't make sense unless I explain the whole situation, which I'm not going to do, but essentially it ultimately equates to the fact that every now and then you need to be reminded how beautiful life can be. The same directly applies to being reminded how fun life can be and how good it feels to hang out with people who have the same mindset and attitude about life.

Actually putting this down on "paper" has made me feel a bit better. I shock myself at how honest these blog posts can come across when I decided I don't give a shit about what people think but honestly anyone reading this knows me well enough to know that in general I'm an open person. Most people don't know me well enough to know that I'm absolutely awful at talking about how I feel but I'll tell you right now. I can't talk about how I feel at all and even when I do its watered down with a large dose of sarcasm and off topic jokes. Telling people about how I feel would seem safer since I'm posting this on the web and anyone can read it but for some reason its easier to get things down on "paper".

Well the topic of this post quickly went from excitement to depressing but I'm happy with it. It isn't a pick me up but hopefully it will help me sleep a bit better.

Cheers

Spying on Black Isle Brewery

It wasn’t exactly like this but it sounds cool.

Last weekend I headed up to Inverness with Dempster and Laura for the Black Isle Brewery grand opening for the new facility they just had built. We headed out just after my shift on Friday night and arrived around 10:30. His mom had prepared a really good vegetable stew type thing and both his parents were very welcoming. This house was absolutely spectacular in the dark, and the next day it got even better.

After chatting for a while, a few beers and a few more, we all decided to turn in since we had a full day of drinking ahead the next day.

When we got up we all felt pretty good and had some croissants and muesli before going for a morning hike to Rogie Falls. This place was cool and getting some fresh air was nice. Also seeing colours that aren’t grey (which all of Fraserburgh is) was pretty cool. Sadly we didn’t see the salmon.

Then it was off to the brewery. This place isn’t just a brewery; it’s an organic farm. It wasn’t like going to a brewery; it was like going to someone’s house who just happen to have one. It was a cool feeling. There were bands all day, a hog roast and lots of beer. I’ll be honest, the beers were decent for what they were (low abv beers for typical british drinkers) and lacked lots of flavours and a knowledge of how to use hops. All criticisms aside, it was cool. They are also organic but we all know that’s bullshit. Organic shit is not that great and despite what some people said it does give you a have over.

We managed to get lots of free beers since Dempster used to work there and I met a few brewers from Tempest, a place down south of Edinburgh, who were out for the day. Lots of people to meet and a few came up and introduced themselves from the Stone night in Edinburgh about a month before. It is safe to say that I didn’t recognize anyone since I was a bit too drunk that night.

Near the end of the night a big fire was started and we all chilled around it. I met a few Canadians from Halifax who were working on the farm for the summer. They don’t get paid but they get food, shelter and beer at this place. Clearly the last is most important.

Sunday was a bit rough for everyone but we did manage to go for a hike and get a great view of the entire area. Then we laid on the hill for about and hour in the heather to let the hangover pass. It helped a bit.

Highlights of the weekend

1)   The bed I had was a proper bed and was really comfy. I could have stayed there.

2)   It wasn’t worth spying on Black Isle since they are stuck in the past. Good party though.

3)   I got out of Fraserburgh and saw the highlands a bit. Beautiful landscape up there and the house that Dempsters parents have is amazing. I’m totally in for a return visit.

Ultimately, I just want to thank Dempster and his parents for having us. It was definitely the highlight of my trip so far (except maybe the Céilidh). Good weekends with Laura and Dempster seem to be what I do these days. Clearly I’ve found the coolest people in Fraserburgh and none of them are from here. It’s a hint I’m pretty sure.

The Céilidh To End All Céilidh’s

Just for reference, its pronounced Kay-lee.

I know this blog post is way overdue but if you haven’t worked it out for yourself I’m not keeping with my post a day schedule. Sorry, but I just have too much shit to do and frankly it was too hard. This post is also way over due and was from May 21^st but I promise it’s a good one.

To quote the all-knowing Wikipedia a Céilidh is a “traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing.”

I know what you are saying “hey Brett, that sounds like a fun night and all, but I’d rather shoot myself in the face,” to which I’d respond “You are wrong, that shit rocks. Not to mention getting shot hurts.”

Before I went I was quite skeptical myself since people told me it was like Scottish line dancing. Wonderful. It sounds like a hoot that only people that live in Ponypool would enjoy. I kept and open mind and it paid off. That shit was awesome. It was an ex coworkers 21^st birthday and her brother has a Céilidh.

In most aspects it is like line dancing but it’s more like Oktoberfest with lots of beer (we are in Scotland remember) and lots of swinging people around, spinning and a bit of lifting. To watch it seems like an absolute confusing mess of a shit show but once you get in you are hooked. It was bomb. We also played this hockey game (field hockey, they don’t know what hockey really is) and just chilled.

After the party we went back to Fiona’s house to have a few more beers, which I passed on since I had to work at 8 the next day, and chatted with loads of people. A few people guessed I was Irish, American or had an Australian parent but no one guessed I was Canadian. Confidence booster. I also had some haggis pizza which was caught fresh just for the party. Haggis are quite hard to ask, just ask our American friend Laura. She can tell you all about it.

All in all it was a great night seeing Fiona, Nick and meeting lots of other people.  I made sure Dempster and Laura made it home alive and surprisingly the next day of work wasn’t too bad with only 4 hours of sleep. I guess the lack of beer helped me pull through.

For a more comprehensive and well structured recollection of this event check out Laura’s blog at http://planestrainsandbeer.posterous.com/my-first-ceilidh-kay-lee  so give it a read when you got a chance. It’s much better than mine.

May 17- Another Condition (real) Brewers Get

I have mentioned my cut up wrists that make me look slightly suicidal if someone were to look at my wrists. I've noticed that my wrists are getting more resistant to being so marked by the bags but I've found a new problem with those small, unnoticeable cuts. While mashing in water rises and gets on your arm. You then need to take the salts and throw them in with your hands. These salts dissolve and flow with the water that condenses on your arm and guess where they get to. My cuts. There is nothing like steam and salt to remind you where all your small cuts are. Same goes for caustic burns.

I've also noticed that from wearing welly's all the time I'm missing a ring of hair on my leg. While this doesn't hurt like being suddenly reminded of your caustic burns and wouldn't be noticeable to anyone unless its summer or your pants are off (I prefer being pants less. Boxers in public should be trendy any day now I hope) but its still there. Its funny because you look down and you just see hair, hair, hairless ring and then hair.

Yes, I felt anyone who wants to read this should know about my leg hair.

And why only real brewers? Because if your brew doesn't required to wear welly's while brewing you are probably pushing lots of buttons or working for some faceless shit brewery. Yeah, I said it.

May 16- Perks of the Job

As most of you know, I probably have the best job on the planet for me and a great job by any standards. I get loads of perks such as free beer, a fun work environment and to work with my hands. I'm part of a cool company who are growing very fast.

This is all stuff I've told you before. These are some of the perks you expect from a brewery and things we all want in our jobs (imagine if everyone gave out free beer to employees. life would be awesome). Free whisky is not something you would expect from a brewing job yet there it is. We get loads of barrels to use for aging our beers and when we open them, most have some product left. From these barrels I have bottles  of Ardbeg from 2003, Laphroaig from 2003, Jura from 1972 (yes, 39 years old) and bottles of Jura from 97.

I'd love to know how much money these cask strength single cask bottles would be worth but the distilleries are willing to just throw it out. I prefer to be the saviour of this whisky. It is much better suited in my stomach than on the ground.

In a way, I'm a hero.

I also happen to have the best job ever and being a hero is just part of the job. Win.

May 15- iPhones WORST Application

This is LLLLOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGG overdue. I'm sorry but I've been busy, mostly with having wifi finally and just doing nothing on the internet. I've been doing a bit of work too.

If you know me, I love apple. The iPhone, iPod and computers are top of the line and are seriously innovative and amazing. That being said, this innovation could be the downfall of fun (with the exception of angry birds, everybody loves that one).

I'm talking about arguments. Think about it. If you are at a pub and someone asks a question you can easily look it up online, case closed. But what fun is that? Part of what makes a question good is the possibility of an argument over the correct answer. It gives you something to talk about.

What about if you forget a name and it keeps bugging you that you can remember it. You look it up and thats it. You lose the entire feeling of satisfaction you would have had from remembering the name, even if it were about 3 hours later when the topic had changed 30 times. It still feels better to remember.

Phones are great and do loads of good things but I don't think that in a pub, especially during arguments, it fits. I lost a bet the other day and now I owe someone a stout cake. I don't care about that but I do remember how fun having a brief argument about absolutely nothing was.

These are the little things you need to appreciate. Pint in hand, phone out of sight. The good old days.

May 14- Scotch Whisky Experience

I neglected to tell you about this in the Edinburgh post. This place is on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and is a tour that details the production, variety and some flavours of whisky.

I decided to get on the tour to save my parents and sister the pain of having to sit through it while I'm nearly peeing my pants at the place. You are welcome.

If you have never been to the city and are going to go, this is a cool place to go because you will learn a lot about whisky in general. If you know something about whisky then its still worth the trip.

I didn't learn much while on the tour but this made it all worth while.

THE GREATEST ROOM ON EARTH

This collection is owned by Diageo (one of the 4 share holders in the company) and they house it here. I can't think of a better spot to have it than Scotland. It was a mans private collection of 3300 (give or take) bottles, all unopened. The oldest is from 1897 and the 2nd oldest is from 1902. Amazing.

May 13- Home

I know I blogged fairly recently about missing home and what my reasons were but I’ve learned something within the past few days that has made me miss it even more.

First off, I missed my cousin Brooke’s birthday on the 12^th and missed seeing her getting a pie in the face. Nothing like a kid getting a face full of whipped cream. Priceless.

Also, the other night my cousin Blake said to my uncle Bob (something along these lines. Sentences are made up to make sense):

Blake : “Dad, when is Brett coming home?”

UB: “In august, so 4 months from now.”

Blake: “Oh man, now I have to wait for 2 things”

UB: “What is the other thing you have to wait for?”

Blake: “Brent’s cottage”

To most of you, this might not seem like much but to me it means heaps. Brent’s cottage is probably the thing that Blake looks forward to the most, save maybe his birthday and Christmas. For me to rank right up there with that is pretty awesome and seems to confirm George’s prediction that when I get home I’ll be a mild celebrity for a few weeks.

This story made my want to get home sooner just to surprise him. I love shock value but I just can’t afford it. It also made me feel missed for the first time. Of course my parents, friends and other family miss me but when most people say it, it does sound mildly robotic.

See ya soon Blake!

May 12- Heist

If any of you are Dane Cook fans I’m sure you are familiar with his bit on being in a heist. I’ll tell you its true. I’d love to be in one.

I’m not sure what it is about watching movies with a clever well thought out bank robbery or similar plot but you just think to yourself “fuck yeah I’d do that” and dream of being in a super large con. At least I do.

Since I’ve discovered magic I’ve learned I’m more interested in scams, cons and gambling than in magic itself and while the people in magic are some of the coolest people I’ve met it seems that you get more “characters” in gambling. They are also more legendary and heavily influenced magic.

Some day, I want to be part of a con or heist. There, I’ve said it. Well I can’t be now since I’ve said it but its good to dream, eh?