Lootcorp.com announcements » lootcorp

Results of the fast brew, Lootcorp’s rebranding, and brewing with beagles

Aug 182011

So, last time I posted here (ahem…cough…almosttwomonthsago!… cough cough) I spoke of rushing a beer and going from grain to glass in one week. Well, the experiment was a smashing success! I decided to go with a nice American wheat flavored with some boysenberry extract.

The beer was definitely green, but it was surprisingly drinkable. I told everyone at the Fourth of July gala that it was an experimental brew, so I figured people would stay away from it. Boy, was I wrong! I heard from several people that this beer was their favorite of the three (the others being an IPA and a Kölsch), and it was the clear favorite of the ladies. So, brewers, never again let your procrastination and poor time-management skills stop you from your mission!

In other news, I have finally decided to change the name of this blog to something more beer specific. Coming this fall, I will be re-launching the site at BrewBrewDrink.com. This dovetails nicely with some other beer-related programming projects/websites I am working on, and I’ll have more news on those as they develop over the coming months.

Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to another Connecticut brewer I had the pleasure of meeting recently. My friend Jeff and I were able to spend a great Saturday assisting Brewmaster Dan of Two Beagles Brewing with a batch of American Pale Ale. Dan is an extremely knowledgeable brewer and a great host, and I was able to see the Sabco Brew-Magic in action. I’ve been considering upgrading to a system like this for awhile, and this brought me one step closer to pulling the trigger. It was great to watch another brewer in action, and I was able to pick up a lot of tips and tricks I’ll be applying to my own process. Many thanks to Dan for his hospitality, and the great Vienna Lager and Maibock he allowed us to taste!

It’s Not You, It’s Me

Miscellaneous No Responses »

May 172011

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a horrible blogger.

My previous redesign of the site failed epically. It was so much work to maintain the site with that layout, it killed any interest I had in posting. And I miss it – as I ease into the 2011 brewing season, it reminded me how much I love beer, the art of brewing, and writing about it for you guys.

So, I’m going to try this again. I’ve switched to a fairly generic theme, but work is underway to code my own. The only way this is going to work is if I setup the site to match my workflow and time constraints, something I should’ve done a long time ago. I’m not running an online magazine or a social networking hub…I’m just a guy posting pictures of beer he made in his backyard.

I’ll be trying to focus this site primarily on the homebrew stuff – technique and equipment articles, DIY projects, brew session reports, ingredient reviews, all of that good stuff. The more general or local beer stuff – event announcements, commercial beer reviews, beer industry news – will be written up on my Examiner.com page and linked to here.

Thanks for reading, and I hope I can give you a reason to subscribe and keep coming back.

-Jim

I'm Live on Examiner.com!

Examiner.com 2 Responses »

May 152009

Check out my Examiner.com page!

OK, it’s official! My first post, titled “What’s so special about craft beer, anyway?” is now online at Examiner.com. Check it out, tell me what you think, and subscribe to the email feed while you’re over there. I have my next batch of articles planned and in the works, and I’m hoping to get my page fleshed out as soon as possible. Next step is building some link lists – let me know if you have any favorite Connecticut/New York breweries, brewpubs, beer sites, etc… you’d like to see linked to.

I’ve also reached out to the NY Craft Beer Examiner to see if we can collaborate on some stuff. And hey, none other than Charlie Papazian is filling the slot at National Beer Examiner, so hopefully I’ll be able to work with him a bit! He was kind enough to let me interview him for this site, and I hope this new position will lead to more interaction.

I’m always looking for new story ideas as well, both for this new venture and right here at Lootcorp. If you have any requests or hot topics you’d like to see addressed, shoot me a comment and I’ll work them in.

Thanks, as always, for your support and readership!

Hey, I’m an Examiner (and Tweeting)!

Examiner.com No Responses »

May 142009

Check out my Examiner.com page!

Cool, I’ve just been informed that I’ve been accepted as the Fairfield County Craft Beer Examiner at Examiner.com’s New York Edition. I’m pretty excited about this – I’ll be writing articles for them on beer bars, breweries, events, etc… going on in Western Connecticut and beyond. I’m hoping I can grow that into a nice little community and maybe get a few more people jumping on the craft beer bandwagon. I’ll be doing some cross-promoting between Lootcorp and Examiner – hopefully, I’ll be able to slant this site more towards actual brewing stuff and put most of the beer reviews and other general stuff on Examiner.

I sent over my first article to them today. Once it is approved, the site will officially go live and I’ll post the link and details here. I’ll be counting on you, my faithful Lootcorp followers, to check it out and let me know how I’m doing. I’ll make sure to post links here to my “best of” Examiner stories.

Speaking of followers, are you following me on Twitter yet? If not, why the heck not? Just head on over to my Twitter profile and join the Web 2.0 revolution. Come on, all the cool kids are doing it, and I keep my tweets at least 38% beer or brewing related.

Phew. Things are picking up, friends. Grab a beer and hang on tight!

Announcing Session #19 – Deutsches Bier

Beer Ramblings 17 Responses »

Aug 042008

The Session is a monthly event for the beer blogging community which was started by Stan Hieronymus at Appellation Beer. On the first Friday of each month, all participating bloggers write about a predetermined topic. Each month a different blog is chosen to host The Session, choose the topic, and post a roundup of all the responses received. For more info on The Session, check out the Brookston Beer Bulletin’s nice archive page.

Lootcorp.com is pleased and proud to announce that Session #19 will be hosted right here! In honor of the start of Oktoberfest, I’ve decided to make September’s topic Deutsches Bier – German beer. I want you all to focus on the wonderful contributions our German neighbors have made to the beer world. You can write about a particular German style you really enjoy, a facet of German beer culture which tickles your fancy, or any other way in which Germany and beer have become intertwined in your life. Bonus points for Bavarian-themed posts.

I’m going to ask that no one submit an actual Oktoberfest trip report unless it really had some profound impact on you – the goal is to dig a little deeper and write about how German beers and beer culture have worked their way into your life (and hearts). Oh, and if you absolutely hate all beers German, that’s fair game, too – tell us why!

So, crack open that Märzen, Kölsch, or Weizen and put some polkas on the iPod – get to writing, and I’ll see you back here in a month!

To participate, simply write up your post on Friday, September 5th, 2008. You can leave it as a comment here, or drop me a line!

Deutsches Bier!

Lootcorp.com to Host Fermentation Friday…in 2009

Beer Ramblings 3 Responses »

Jun 122008

This is pretty cool – Adam at Beer Bits 2 (now an official Friend of Lootcorp!) has started up a new, um, “beer blogging community day” – for lack of a better term… You know, where beer bloggers agree on a topic and all post about it on the same day every month.

We have The Session, started by Stan Hieronymus of Appellation Beer back in early 2007, where all the bloggers post about a particular beer style or beer-related topic on the first Friday of every month. However, Adam thought it would be cool to have a beer-blogging day just for homebrewers and homebrew-related topics, and I couldn’t agree more. He has hereby designated the last Friday of every month “Fermentation Friday”, the homebrew blogging day, and I am happy to say that lootcorp.com has already signed up as a host! Many thanks to Adam for the opportunity!

Now, the bad news…this idea was such a success that the host roster filled up pretty quickly, and I’m going to have to wait until January 30, 2009! So, for now, just mark your calendars, and drop me a comment if you have any suggestions for a good early winter homebrewing topic. In the meantime, I’ll be participating in Fermentation Friday every month – this month it is being hosted by Travis at CNYBrew.com, topic TBA (check out the list of scheduled hosts for future months). I can’t wait!

One Week Old and Still Going Strong!

Miscellaneous No Responses »

May 232008

As we head into the long Memorial Day Weekend, I’d like to reflect on this past week of beer and brewing blogging fun and talk about some things I have planned for the site.

First of all, the page layout. I’m using a pre-coded theme to get up and running, but am working on making my own custom layout for the site. I like the clean look, but it is a bit visually boring, so I’m going to try and jazz it up a bit while keeping it clean and simple. I doubt I’ll have anything ready to roll out for quite awhile, but if you detest this layout, relief is on the horizon.

Next, the page needs a logo and more appropriate title (something that indicates that Lootcorp.com is actually a beer-related site). I’m thinking of running a contest (perhaps giving away the current hottest commodity in brewing, hops?) for a new title and logo design, but until I have some regular readers it’s a pointless endeavor. So, I’ll be working on putting something together, but if a few people leave comments that they’d like to have a go at it, I’ll make an official contest announcement.

I’ve been busy writing some articles covering various brewing topics – you may not have noticed the articles section…it kind of gets lost in the sidebar. Check it out, and I’ll keep adding to it as time goes on.

Finally, if anyone wants to contribute any articles, posts, or other material, I’m certainly open to it. If you’d like to send me some beer you’ve brewed, I’ll review it on the site. If you’re using some clever gadget or interesting technique you’d like to share with other brewers, let me know. If you have a question or comment about the site, I’d love to hear it. Leave a comment or send me an email!

I hope everyone enjoys a safe, happy, healthy, and beer-filled holiday weekend!

Welcome (again)!

Miscellaneous No Responses »

May 152008

Welcome to lootcorp. This was a finance blog a few weeks ago, but I just couldn’t keep it going. Finance may be my profession and I love it, but after working all day the last thing I want to do is write about it. Since I just renewed my domain for 2 more years, I figured I’d better find something to be passionate and write about. Or, turn this into a free porn site.

So, brewing. It’s something I am ridiculously passionate about. I started a few years ago and have invested countless hours, tons of cash, and a bit of blood and tears into this “hobby” (don’t worry, it didn’t get into the beer). I am now at the point where I can brew some consistently great beers (IMHO), and my next steps will be entering competitions and trying to build up some credentials in the homebrew world.

I’d like to bring back the old Lootcorp (which you can read about on the history page), but I feel like the “stream of consciousness blog” idea is overdone. When I feel I will be able to produce some good content, I’ll expand this site to include some other stuff, but let’s keep it simple for now. Simple will be complicated enough, and you can quote me on that.

So, let’s try a brewing blog. Not sure how this will play out, but it’s damn sure more interesting than finance - and if you follow along at home, you get to drink the results. I’ll take some pictures of my equipment and describe my current system. I’ll tell you some tales of woe from the early days, and tales of triumph as I gained experience. I’ll share some recipes and tips to get people started in the craft if they wish. And we’ll see where it all goes.

Alright? Alright. See you on the other side.

(To all the people who found this page searching for “free porn” – sorry. There is none here. Really. You can leave now.)