Beer Review - Arcadia Cereal Killer Barleywine.

Did you miss my drunken ramblings?

Arcadia Brewing Company - Cereal Killer Barleywine

Beer Type: English Barley Wine - 10.00% ABV

Appearance: 22oz brown bottle with a kinda strange serial killer label thing going on. Neat. Beer poured a hazy reddish/brown. No head to speak of.      

Smell: Sweetness, a lot of sticky sweet aromas of dried fruits, molasses and dark sugars, and just a hint of something else? Can't quite make it out.   

First Drink: A little bit of grain but mostly just sticky sweet raisins and cherries. Not much in the hops department.    

Mouthfeel: Very sticky with what I would call a medium body.    

Last Drink: A little bitterness coming though now and something like tart apples or pineapple? Maybe that's not a good thing...           

Drinkability: Wow this is one heck of a beer. Not for slamming that's for sure. I've had other barley wine I liked better but this one is pretty damn complex.            

Notes: This beer is from 2007. Been sitting on it for a bit. Not sure how that may have changed the brew?           

Verdict: 4 out of 5. Local beer, aged a while, now given light and air. Tastes pretty good but I'd like a current bottle to compare.

Progress Report 9/23/13 - Alive and kickin' (butts).

Another month almost done and in the books without much to show for it on the hobby front. Spent most of the month away from home.

Attended Chaos Cup 9/7 and 9/8 with the Trailer Orc Boyz. Had six great games against six fun opponents and came away with 3 wins and 3 losses for my first 6 games playing Orcs. Pretty happy with that especially due to some terrible (very bad) dice luck throughout the whole tournament and being quite ill for the duration of the event. Finished 34 out of 75 coaches and beat the coach of my first Orc game loss! Not too shabby. Didn't manage to snag too many pictures but here is one of me on my second to last game of the tourney (and last loss) against Majortusk's Dwarfs. 

Hi Tom.

Now back on the painting train. Working on commissions, gangers, terrain, ratmen, dirty elves, and more. Gotta get back into painting mode!! On the gaming front I had a great KUBBL 5 season going undefeated with the Khorne R'Backs, winning my playoff game, and the championship game will be played today. With any luck I will have my first KUBBL  championship under my belt with more to come. Until next time...

Chaos Cup 2013 Preview - Year of the Trailer Orc Boyz!!

Tomorrow I head towards Chicago for the annual Blood Bowl spectacle known as the Chaos Cup!! I've been for the past two years now and I have to say it has been one of the most fun tournaments I have attended... and that was with me playing Nurgle both years (and losing terribly most of the time)! 

This year I wanted to bring a team that:

A. Wasn't Nurgle (I love em but they are a terrible tourney team, especially at this point value)

B. Was something I needed to finish painting

My hope was to finish a team to a high enough standard that I might feasibly compete in the painting awards, and feel bad ass about myself, even if I lost most of my games. Towards that goal I finished painting the Trailer Orc Boyz a week or so ago. You can see photos of them in my earlier posts. I feel this team represents my strengths and weaknesses as a painter/converter and I am very proud of how they turned out. One small problem though... I have never played Orcs in Blood Bowl!! My first game with Orcs will be my first game of the tournament this weekend! Oh well. Here's hoping my three recent seasons of Chaos pay off with the Orcs. 

Here is the roster I am bringing to the event:

It's your basic "everyone has block" roster. The small tweaks include 2 x Guarding Blitzers to get my assists where I need them when I need them, and one Dodging Blitzer to get me touchdowns and help on offense. 3 x Rerolls should cover too many mistakes and the Sure Hands of the Thrower will work in a pinch against Strip Ball opponents. A little light with 11 and no Apoth but I hope the higher armor will help keep me on the pitch. We'll see how they do! I can't believe that Ricky and Julian would let me down and I am sure I can always count on Bubbles and Randy right?!!

Going to the even alone this year without any KUBBL buddies... which is good and bad. Good because I won't make them listen to my disgusting METAL in the car nor torture them with all of my eating requirements. Bad because I will be alone and won't have anyone to talk about beer with! In memory of my KUBBL friends and our near repeat victory in last year's Skaven-ger hunt I snagged a few photos from the Chaos Cup website. At least we'll have the memories?

Me losing game 2 of the tournament.

Me losing game 6 of the tournament.

Skaven-ger hunt (red shoes I think) with Furry.

It's a monkey and me. Not sure what the clue was here.

I think this was supposed to be G-dub? That's Furry's nipple pinching hand.

I dunno... it made me laugh?

It's a beer. Mmmm beer.

I'll do my best to chronicle my adventures in Blood Bowl at Chaos Cup this weekend so you can live vicariously through me. Wish me luck!!