A Box of Rocks and a Problem Solved

I typically bring target stands with me when I go to the range. During a recent outing, I skipped the stands, knowing the ground would be muddy, opting instead to hang my target on the provided rope. Wouldn't you know it? Before I fired the first, the wind picked up and the target was pushed to a horizontal position.

I thought for a moment, and quickly scrounged a solution. The plastic box from a new magazine, some rocks, and a bit of tape solved the problem. The wind-driven swinging that still occurred simply added to the challenge.

It ain't pretty, but it worked. And the box of rocks has been added my range supplies.

Brewing For a Good Cause

Last week twenty area brewers got together at Fair Winds Brewing to support a fellow brewer's wife. Kerri Rose is a new mom, and the wife of Matt Rose, who runs Forge Brew Works in Lorton, VA. Kerri is battling cancer and the local brewing community gathered to brew a special Belgian Pale Ale. Proceeds from the sale of the beer at the breweries involved will go towards the Rose's medical bills. 

This special beer will be available on January 29 at the following breweries:

Adroit Theory Brewing Company
Adventure Brewing Company
Bad Wolf Brewing Company
Caboose Brewing Company
Capitol City Brewing Company
Corcoran Brewing Company
Crooked Run Brewing
Fair Winds Brewing Company
Forge Brew Works
Heritage Brewing Company
Lost Rhino Brewing Company
Mad Fox Brewing Company
Ocelot Brewing Company
Old Bust Head Brewing Company
Old Ox Brewery
Ornery Beer Company
Port City Brewing Company
Spencer Devon
Tin Cannon Brewing Company
Pro Re Nata Farm Brewery

For more on this worthy effort, see "Special Batch of Beer to Benefit Brewer's Wife Battling Cancer." And then get out to one or more of those breweries and enjoy a pint or two later this month.

Mass, Brass, and Beer

It was a pretty good Sunday for a Catholic beer and shooting enthusiast. The day started, as it should with Holy Mass. Though it was overcast in the morning, by the time Mass ended the sun was shining and the temperature had hit 60°, which was remarkable for January.

I quickly loaded up the car and made an unplanned trip to the range. Despite the exceptional weather, I got in before the crowds showed up. The fun of spending an hour shooting wasn't dampened by standing in, and retrieving brass from, an inch of water from overnight rains.

After that it was a quick lunch and a trip to the grocery store for supplies. The rest of the day was spent feet up, reading and watching football good beer in hand. The beer I enjoyed, Devils Backbone Eight Point IPA, coincidently was gift from a fellow Catholic shooting enthusiast.

Yea, a pretty good Sunday indeed.

Commander in Deceit

"Dana Loesch strikes back at the president's extreme overreach by shedding light on his dishonest history of enforcing existing gun control legislation. The "Commander in Deceit" continues to empower and enable gang members, felons and repeat offenders … while the only people he continuously punishes are law-abiding citizens."

Hardywood Gingerbread Stout Flight

Gingerbread Stout is a much sought after seasonal release from Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. The brewery also brews up a number of variations of the popular beer and Fredericksburg Capital Ale House recently held a flight night offering four Gingerbread Stout varieties. When our family visited for dinner this week, Colleen and I started off with a flight of the beers to go along with our appetizer course.

When the beers were served, there was no visual distinction among the glasses, and our server gave a somewhat hesitant recital of the order. However the aroma of each beer is unique and we were able to confirm the order from smell alone. First up was the "standard" Gingerbread Stout. The 9.2% ABV Imperial Milk Stout is rich with flavors of milk chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger. The initial sweetness and spice flavors give way to a roasted bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is creamy and smooth, a trait which carried across the beers.

The second beer in the flight was Christmas Morning. The base Gingerbread Stout is conditioned on fresh roasted coffee. The aroma of dark coffee is strong a precursor of the rich flavor to come. The spice of the Gingerbread Stout is complimented by the taste of strong, full-flavored coffee. The combination works extremely well.

Next we moved on to the barrel aged versions of the first two beers. Just lifting the glass of Bourbon Barrel Aged Gingerbread Stout to my nose gave an excellent hint of what was to come. Twelve weeks of aging in Virginia bourbon barrels adds strong, flavorful oak and bourbon notes.

The flight ended with Kentucky Christmas Morning. The original Gingerbread Stout is aged in Kentucky Bourbon barrels, and then filtered through roasted coffee beans. The whiskey aroma and flavor is more subtle than in the Bourbon Barrel Aged Gingerbread Stout, but still unmistakable. The creamy, sweet milk stout combined with the sublime bourbon notes was reminiscent of a fine Irish Coffee.

All four variation of the Gingerbread Stout were very enjoyable. It is apparent that the beers are "cousins" sharing a common root. My personal favorites were Christmas Morning and Kentucky Christmas Morning. In both, the coffee addition was especially well done. I was tempted to order a full serving of the very limited Kentucky Christmas Morning to enjoy with my dinner. However, the barrel aging bumps the ABV of the beers up to 10.6%. I wasn't prepared to linger that long over dinner so we selected more moderate beers from the menu to enjoy with our main course. I do hope I'm able to get back to Capital Ale House before the Hardywood Gingerbread Stout kegs are kicked.

It Was A 'Shoot-cation'

My annual staycation between Christmas and New Year's Day was made extra long this year thanks to a surprise Christmas Eve day off and the bookend weekends. I also added January 4th to my break to burn some "use or lose" time, giving me a nice twelve day break. Making the time off extra nice was being able to get in some extra range time too. Our "holiday range time" got started even before my vacation with an early morning range trip with my son who was home from college. That outing set the tone for a fun "shoot-cation." Next up was the annual Gabriel Posssenti Range Day with family and friends.

Later in the week I made a solo trip to the range. During that outing, I spent time working exclusively with a new M&P Shield. The Shield was a fun purchase that I'll use for some IDPA BUG matches. Eventually it'll be added as another conceal carry option. After putting another couple hundred rounds through it, as well as some snappy +P self defense ammo, I was getting decent accuracy with the small gun out to 15 yards, as well as achy hand. I'll work on shooting even longer distances with it as time allows.

On the second day of the new year, we had another impromptu gathering of friends at the range. Another couple hundred rounds downrange was the order of the morning. During this outing one of the guys brought along his young sons. It's always great to see young boys getting an early start in learning the responsibility, and enjoyment, of firearms. After the rest of the group left, I stuck around to do some shooting-on-the-move drills, which weren't possible with the group.

On this, the last day off before heading back to work, my son and I took another trip out to the range to shoot the AR-15. It was too windy for the cardboard targets, so we set out shotgun clays on the 50 yard berm. We enjoyed good success hitting the 4 inch targets and even got extra return on our money since a lot of times the .223 round goes right through clay, allowing requiring them to be shot again. After that we decided to set more clays on the 100 yard berm. And we hit them too! I was quite pleased especially since the rifle has only iron sights, no scope or magnification, and my distance vision isn't all that sharp. To finish off we went back to the 50 yard berm and shot more clays, this time off-hand. I have to admit the youngin' was much better than me when shooting unsupported at the small targets at that distance.

Tomorrow it's time to get back to the grind. The longer the break the harder it is go back, but at least I'll be starting back with a four day week. I am glad I was able to enjoy so much trigger time, and the range time spent with family was especially rewarding.

Now I better start replenishing our ammo stores!

No Fly List Explanation

This pretty well sums it up.

It's double secret probation mandated by tyrants.

Happy New Year

We stayed up late and drank a few beers and enjoyed fondue, at home. That's enough excitement for me, and it removes the irritation of being on the streets on New Year's Eve. It's now 2016 and I need to change the wall calendar, but otherwise life goes on as usual.

I'm not big on New Year resolutions, they tend to be over-ambitious anyway. I will say I am looking forward to getting to the pistol range to practice a little more regularly, and trying to shoot a few more matches in the coming year. There are a few local breweries I missed getting to this year, so I'll try to remedy that in the future. But otherwise, I'll continue to be thankful for the blessings of my life and pray for the continued blessings of health, family, and friends in the coming year. I wish the same for all of you.

May your troubles be less, 

And your blessings be more. 

And nothing but happiness come through your door.

-- An Irish Blessing