I have several hobbies, and building websites is one of them, and that is what I have been doing. As a brewer, and beer drinker, this will always be a top concern of mine, not just my brewing and drinking, but promoting the hobby in general. I get calls from other brewers who have found this site, and are looking for a homebrew club near them, and can’t find one. Why can’t they find the other sites out there? That is an easy one, they don’t get promoted the way this site does. I spend a lot of time on promoting a lot of websites and have finally decided to build a special site that will help my fellow brewers to promote, not just their favorite brew sites, but their business sites as well!

Many of the webmasters out there are home brewers, many have multiple sites, and everybody has been to those “autosurf” sites, wanting what those sites have to offer, but don’t want to have to look at a bunch of “get rich quick”, “E-mail Harvesters”, or other scam sites, the list could go on forever. So, when I built this site, there were several things that I learned, as a surfer myself for years, I knew what I was sick and tired of seeing, and those things are not allowed on this site!

Why you might ask? An autosurf site is very useful in several ways, first, the more traffic to your site, the better it ranks, so it comes up in the searches people do all day long! Second, people see your site and could possibly get involved with whatever it is you are doing or promoting. However, if your site is buried with all of the junk, who can find it?

If you have a website that you would like to promote, I would like to invite you to join, and yes, it is FREE, but you do need to surf a bit, that is what makes it all work! So, come take a look, register, and surf! TrafficComplex.com

When you join, you will receive 3000 FREE credits to apply to the sites you want to promote, not to mention referral bonus for anyone else you refer, and yes again, it is FREE! If you are a reader of any of my Blogs, or the posts they contain, you know that I am about half crazy, so when you are an active surfer, you will get all kinds of free credits by watching the surfbar, just click the link and they will get added to your account!

There is also a blog incorporated into this site, it is even the home page, so that you can see what is going on at the site on your way to login or register! We have also added a forum, bulletin board, or whatever you want to call it, so that we can all share our knowledge and report problem websites that somehow slip through the cracks.

So, get you a cold brew, sign up, surf, and tell everybody you know, it will help your sites get seen, and we all need that!

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Hello Home Brewers, do you have a favorite Brew Blog or other Website, want more traffic to your site?

Anyway, it got me to wondering, is it true? Do beer drinkers really skew towards John McCain?

If this theory is true, I can just see the party now! It would make a political rally a good thing!

Heck, I’m in! Free Beer! Dang right I’ll vote for him! Well, I actually like John McCain, and can’t stand any of the dumbocrats, so, Free Beer is just a bonus!

Any other beer drinking McCain fans out there?

The post also says that wine drinkers lean toward democrats, that is disturbing, because I know a lot of homebrewers that also make mead and wine. Come on folks, post a comment, tell me what you think!

Technorati Tags: beer drinkers lean toward John McCain

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This is important! Do beer Drinkers really prefer John McCain?

Beer prices have gone up, way up! I last bought a six pack of Dead Guy Ale for about 7 bucks, now it is over $11!

Anybody else know why? Because they are using all of the corn,wheat, and barley, etc, for making methanol, to mix with gasoline! Hey gas prices at $3.00 a gallon is one thing, beer at $11 a six pack is another!

We need to all understand that when you take something from one place, it comes out of another!

These dreamers, that think using corn, wheat and barley, as a renewable fuel, are doing some good, need to slow down, as they increase these fantasies, they also increase our realities!

What we need to do, is FIND MORE OIL! Thus leaving our BEER alone!

Here is my analysis, my gas costs have gone up about $20 a month, but my BEER went up about $75 a month. What good will that do!

Our fuel costs less than in Europe way back in the 80’s, and our BEER costs even more than gas! The Europeans pay major tax on everything, everything but BEER!

This is America! We need to find a better way!

Speaking of increases, my dog food was at about $7 a 20lb bag, now it is at $9!

Has gas gone down? NO! So, why are they doing this? You tell me! Any other opinions about this?

Technorati Tags: beer, gas, dog food, prices, tree huggers, ethanol

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Beer Prices, Gas Prices, Even Dog Food Prices have gone up! Why?

The only thing bad is that since they all look alike, how do you get your product to stand out? I can tell you with this one, all you have to do is taste it! One sip and you won’t forget it!

When I opened the first bottle, I heard a familiar crisp sound, which usually means “bottle conditioned” Who knows, maybe it is? I didn’t find anything on the Great Divide website, does anybody know?

As this first brew poured into the glass, the first thing I noticed was that it was actually a bit dark to be a “pale” but, this did not upset me, when I brew an IPA it is always darker than the “specs” say it should be, so that is a good thing!

As I got to the last bit in the bottle, I noticed a sediment! Yeast! Maybe it is bottle conditioned? Then I noticed there was a slightly green tint to the sediment, I got a great big smile at that point because surely they haven’t filtered all the flavor away and green, that means HOPS! (I hoped)

This beer, in my opinion, has a full body and a thick foamy head, compared to many others, so as I took that first sip, I didn’t want that flavor to end, and it didn’t disappoint, the hops were there all they way through!

Below you can read an excerpt from Great Divide Brewing’s Website, and see what they say, and when you click the link to read more, you will also find what others have said about this brewery and their beers, I saw nothing that I could disagree with.

Titan IPA
Traditionally India Pale Ales, the hoppiest of all pales, were brewed with more alcohol and large quantities of hops in order to survive the lengthy ocean journey from the U.K. to India. Unlike our brewing forefathers, Great Divide enjoys the modern benefits of refrigeration and we don’t have any plans to ship Titan IPA to India. Instead, we brew Titan IPA for hop disciples – independent beer drinkers seeking out robust, flavorful beers characterized by their abundance of hops flavor, aroma and bitterness. As a big, aggressively hopped India Pale Ale, Titan IPA fills this bill – beginning with piney hop aromas and citrus hop flavors, and finishing with a rich, malty sweetness that is carefully balanced with crisp hop bitterness.

Titan IPA weighs in at a considerable 65 International Bittering Units (IBUs).

(Read more)

Many of you may be familiar with this brewery, it is new to me, if I have seen it before, maybe that packaging issue got me, and I thought I had already tried
it, it looks a lot like Pyramid, same color etc, but I can
assure you, it doesn’t taste the same! I can’t wait to try the rest of
their brews! That Hercules Double IPA sounds really good!

While I’m thinking about it, I have another question, if a young person can join the military, and vote, why can’t they drink beer? It seems to me that if they can’t be trusted to drink a beer, how can you trust them to vote? Do you have an opinion? Visit my other site, OpinionHead.com, I told you it was coming, now it is here and I need help! I need more OPINIONATED authors, check out the site and drop me a note if you are interested. OpinionHead.com

Technorati Tags: great divide brewing, Titan IPA, hophead, opinionhead

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Great Divide: Titan IPA

I will be back to my regular reporting on anything I can find about beer! Tonight, I have to do a follow up to the Keystone Light post The main thing I have to say is, if you like beer, not just the expensive stuff, but all beer, you have to have a baseline or benchmark to go from, and personally, for regular beer, it is Budbrewski for me! Since my break, the keystone post, I haven’t had a beer! Tragic I know! However, after it is all done, except for the fine tuning, I wanted to have a beer! Remember, keystone is the norm here, I wanted a bud, and comparing the two is a bit like chalk and cheese! They start out the same, but finish much different.

When drinking the Keystone, I had this overwhelmingly stupid feeling, my brain was out of order, yes, gettin drunk does that, but I barely had a buzz! After drinking just 6 of my Budbrewski’s, I had mor of a buzz, but don’t have that cloud in my head! Hmm, for $3.24 a twelve-pack difference, I will buy the Bud!

I still have some work to do, and guess what, I can do it, even on my “vacation”, I know this, once I get my hands on some Arrogant Bastard, I will appreciate it even more!

Technorati Tags: budbrewski, hophead, keystone

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Now, the transfer is done! I am drinking a Budbrewski!

I have been paying $526.20yr for my hosting, but once I get everything switched to HostMonster, it will only be $125.40! Better Service at a Better Price! I love it!

I do want to say this, when I first signed up with Yahoo, it was perfect, and for anybody that has zero knowledge on web-design, or only wants a simple site, Yahoo is perfect! But, once you learn a bit, get more than one site etc, it is time to move on!

Homebew Fanatic.com is the first one to get moved, but the others will follow soon. I have to admit I was a bit scared, I didn’t want to mess up the mess I already had, and I will no longer be able to use Yahoo Sitebuilder for my sites, this is the best WYSIWYG editor available, but I have learned how to use other tools, I will miss the simplicity, but it is time to move on!

I want to thank everyone for their patience, I have a million plugins to set up, RSS feeds to be replaced etc, but things will be rolling again soon!

Have a cold one for me!

Technorati Tags: hostmonster, yahoo, homebrew fanatic, hophead

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Transfer from Yahoo to Hostmonster almost complete!

I mean how often do you find cheap beer in a bottle, much less in a longneck! I do have to admit, for $6.99 a 12 pack, it is drinkable, if you chug down the first 3 or 4, it works just fine!

Where I live, in the sticks, this is actually the beer of choice! In fact, the best beer you can buy around here is Bud! Maybe a Shiner, for $7 a six pack! (Not worth $5), but when visiting a store here in the Somerville area, you will find the most, buying this stuff. Today, I just had to know, so, I looked and there it was, a 12 pack of longnecks for $6.99! This is a place that Bud longnecks are $12.99! Any wonder why it sells?

So, now that I have slammed all 12, what do I think? The buzz sucks! I am going to have a hangover from hell! I can tell that this is an adjunct brew, I don’t think it even has any barley malt in it! Nor does it have any hops! I have a strange buzz, almost scary, yet a Bud is way stronger, you don’t know that you will have a headache until the next day. I have to say this, if you want a cheap headache, this is the way to go, but unless you are an alcoholic, don’t mess with it!

Technorati Tags: beer review, keystone light, coors, alky brew

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Coors Brewing : Keystone Light (Longneck)

One remarkable thing is that this beer didn’t taste like an ale, which usually has that ale yeast characteristic, I would hate to think that a brewery with a name like “Real Ale’ could possibly be using lager yeast, and no I am not accusing them of that. What I am saying is that it has a very clean, crisp taste. As far as the rye part goes, it just doesn’t have that bitter twang from rye (I don’t mean bitter from hops!), but it does have a nice hoppiness.

Overall I give this beer a thumbs up, it was different from other rye beers that I have tried, I actually liked it, so go get some of this and tell me what you think about it!

Technorati Tags: Real Ale, Full moon Pale Rye Ale, beer review, hophead

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Real Ale: Full Moon Pale Rye Ale

So, while you are out browsing, check out OpinionHead, my newest creation. If you too have strong Opinions, register, post a comment, and if you are interested, I need authors with varying opinions to keep the site content balanced, you’ll find a link on the About page that will send the email to me, just tell me a bit about you and so on, and I might make you an Author!

Remember, as it always is, it is about sharing ideas, that way we can all learn from each other. Should you want to go directly to the first serious post, you can click here

I hope to see you all there, and bring your attitudes! Bring some facts too!

Technorati Tags: new blog, carpetguy, opinionhead, attitude, opinions

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OpinionHead: My Newest Blog

No, I am not a big fruit beer fan, but this stuff is pretty good. I decided to get a second opinion on it before I wrote this because I am a Hophead and I wanted to be fair, so, I gave a bottle to my mom! She is not a beer drinker, although she does like Arrogant Bastard, she just doesn’t drink much of anything. Her first sip of this beer, her eyes lit up! She told me she wants more of this Pumpkin Ale! I was shocked and gave her 3 of the beers in the six pack!

My opinion of this beer is simple, it is good, it is different,and no, it doesn’t taste like pumpkin pie.

Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale has a strong resemblance to a German Hefe Weizen that I used to drink when I lived there, this is a spiciness that I believe comes from not just the cinnamon and spices, but it is also the yeast that gives it a bit of a clove flavor.

I really like this beer, but it doesn’t bother me that I won’t find it again until next year. If anyone sees this in the store, buy it, try it, and see what you think, I feel it is worth drinking  and I will get more next year. I just wonder if I can find any of their other beers?  If so I will try them too.

Check out the Buffalo Bill’s website, it is also pretty unique! They don’t offer much information about their beers but this is a Brew-Pub/ Brewery that sounds like a good place to go and they have a nice website.

If you have tried this beer, any of their other beers, or have been to the restaurant, post a comment and tell us about it!

Technorati Tags: buffalo bills pumpkin ale, pumpkin ale, fruit beer, beer review, brewpub, hophead

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Buffalo Bill’s: Pumpkin Ale