Fall

 A busy Summer has already given into Fall that is half way over! We spent much of our Summer running Joseph to and from swim team practice and meets. In his first year, he not only made it to the conference meet, but won a couple of medals while he was there! There was a get together in Des Moines and a podcast with some of the guys from Strange Men Brewing (basically some guys that like to drink good beer and harass each other on the internet.) We did do a 2 part podcast that you can listen to on Patreon, just search Crinkletalk.  Now we just wrapped up football season, but more on that later.

First, let's get to some beer!  After missing the last bottle release from Pulpit Rock, I made it a point to get to the latest release.  Two kettle sour beers aged on fruit, Peaches and Cream and Pillow Talk (pictured to the right.)  http://www.pulpitrockbrewing.net/  There's a reason I've written about them before, and I will continue to do so.  They make fantastic beer and they are also wonderful people.  I love visiting the brewery as much for the beer as for the conversation with the brewers, Bob, Mike, and Justin.

 1982, their latest DIPA (pictured to the left) shows that these guys are leading the way in NE IPA's (or NE IA IPA's as they like to call them.) I've had a lot of DIPA's from the East Coast to the Midwest, and they consistently make my favorite ones.  They can make a beer balanced more than any other brewery I've had that are making this style. Of course they are juicy, and they can be dank, but they still have solid malt profile, and a good amount of bitterness to make them dangerously easy to drink. This is where Bob, Justin, and Mike really shine.

That being said, their stouts, porters, and sours are all great beers as well.  Pillow talk really let the natural raspberries be the star of this brew. The lactose smoothed the beer out so the tartness wasn't overpowering, instead it lent itself nicely to this delicate beer.  I'm really looking forward to trying my bottle of Peaches and Cream too.

Thanks to my friends Lisa and Rick, I have a few beers from Narrow Gauge to enjoy.  And a big thanks to my uncle Mike for flying some crowlers of Weldworks beer to Iowa for me.  I really can't wait to try those!

In August I started coaching Joseph's YSF 5th/6th grade Football team.  I was the Defensive Coordinator and assistant offensive line coach.  We had 12 5th graders and just 6 6th graders making us the youngest, and smallest team we saw all season.  Luckily we had a great group of coaches too, Shain, Scott, Jason, Cory, and Jon were all a pleasure to work with, and I feel we gave these kids a good understanding of the fundamentals and what it means to be a team. 

Joseph had a great season at defensive tackle again, recording a few sacks, several tackles for loss, a forced fumble, fumble recovery, and numerous other tackles.  On offense he was a blocking tight end, sealing the edge for his running backs to rack up the yards. He even caught a 14 yard pass in our last game. His upbeat attitude, and willingness to work hard has really paid off for him this year, and I'm incredibly proud of him.

I'll leave the offense write up for Shain or Scott, but as for our defense?  I couldn't be more proud of this group either. They all worked hard, learned a lot, and really worked as a team.  That was especially evident in our last, thrilling game of the season (we won 20-19.)  We faced a passing team, the only one we saw all season. Our kids not only adjusted, but many of them really stepped up. From Bob and Kevin shutting down the middle of the line (our two girls that rocked by the way,) to Kallen and Joseph putting pressure on the QB, to Colton stepping up at safety, getting a huge interception and nearly running it in for a TD, to Brady the middle linebacker, who sealed the win with an interception over the middle. All of these kids came a long way since the beginning of the season, and they way they worked together and supported each other was awesome. It was truly and honor coaching this team, and I'm going to miss working with these kids.

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Our family is now on to winter swim league, so lots of travel in in our future.  Luckily many of the places we will travel to, has some good local breweries to check out.  The Iowa Beer game is strong right now, and we are all spoiled and lucky because of it.  Cheers!