Wraiths In The Dark, session notes from the Rogue

Ghostly swell, 47th Street OCMD. 10/25/2018

   Savings time almost done. If I'm not in the water by 5:45 pm at the very earliest, darkness envelopes everything in a blink. Perfect example...last week. In the water just before 6, within fifteen minutes, the thigh-high swell shoved sets through that were nothing more than wraiths in the dark. Caught inside or passed by before I could gain position. Managed one late take-off that ended in a ride that sank shortly thereafter. Plenty of paddle-time though. Got wet. Always good. Even in near pitch blackness.
    "Well, another Halloween has come and gone." -Charlie Brown
Signs of the coming of Standard Time. Add to the shorter days. Colder evenings. Dropping water temps. Atlantic's now in the lower 60s. Surf has calmed as has Hurricane Season. Surf more due to surrounding storm fronts cruisin' through. Some befitting brews out there to combat the harvest chill and surrounding spooks...

Too much drink usually means a destiny with a pole.
St Michaels, MD 10/20/2018

My annual Oktoberfest

brewski. Paulaner's Marzen

at 5.8% ABV. Poured a clear

amber with about a finger

 puff head. Good carbonation,

thin lacing. Notes of malt

and toffee. Light hop finish at

24 IBUs. Rated a B.

Witches wrath. St.Michaels Highway, 10/20/2018

Backyard bonfire, Lookout Point. 10/20/2018

Burley Oak put out the 

perfect autumn Sour. Carrot

Cake JREAM. 4.4% ABV, 6.0

IBUs. Drank like tart cinnamon-

spice in a glass. Poured a cloudy

orange. Thin white head
with notes of fruited carrots

and cinnamon. Rated an A.

Trick or Treat in Berlin, MD
was pretty hard to beat. Especially
when pulled in tow by a 4-year old.

The Pumpkin Beer aptly

named for All Hallows Eve.

Two Roads Brewing's

Roadsmary's Baby. Rum barrel

aged for depth. Poured a hazy

brownish amber with a thin

white head. Aromas of vanilla

and spice. Light pumpkin. 

Flavors of malt, allspice, 

nutmeg, with rum in the 

background. Lighter pumpkin.

A fair brew for the season.

6.8% ABV, approx. 20 IBUs. 

Rated a B-.

Arrested Development, session notes from the Rogue.

Smooth, green anklets glaze the shoreline. Holidays on 66th, 10/18/2018.

   I know the cliche "in like a lion out like a lamb" refers to spring, but that is pretty much what has happened with the hurricane season this year. All that activity in the southeast Atlantic just shut down. Combine that with a sun settin' at a seemingly sonic rate, and the sudden arrival of cold temperatures and I was having to psych myself to enter the surf. Trunkin' it with a rubber top, so when the wind off the water hit it was easy to understand the need. Then I crossed the dune. Empty beach. Empty surf. Arrested development of recent conditions. A few clean ripples. Maybe... emphasis on the maybe...ankle high. Though the water's still warm...around 70F...the wind and shorebreak made the decision not to just float around and chill an easy one. Virtually flat. Stayed out.

Always in pursuit; road to the next ride. 

   We got about twenty some odd breweries on the Peninsula. So, I read somewhere that now becomes the time when as new ones open, others will close. 16 Mile Brewery closed at the end of September. Lot of mystery and speculation as to the reasons why, but at the end of the day their brews had become sought after. Delaware Oyster Stout, their autumnal offering, clocked in at a stout 6.2% ABV. Poured an opaque black with a thin, tight brown head. Immediately smelled strong aromas of coffee, roasted malt, and smoke. After tasting it, initially the roasted malts and came out strong; mixed huge with a hint of brine and metallic oyster shell, semi-sweet dark chocolate, and more coffee. Medium-thick body with a kinda-sorta dry finish. Good cooler weather beer that measured in at 12 IBUs. Rated this a B/B+.  

"My playground is full of

moonshine, mason jars, beer
bottles, and bonfires." -Big Smo

 

Shattered, session notes from the Rogue.

"Fear before the calm. Calm before the storm. Storm before the ride."  -SU Mag
Autumn tranquility before Michael's arrival. Sunrise on the St. Martins; Shell Gut Point, 10/8/2018

   Post equinoxal weather has been shattering conditions all over the place the last couple weeks. Hurricane Michael...but 1mph under a Cat 5 as it slammed into the Florida Panhandle. Left Mexico Beach looking like a war zone. Prayers gotta go out to the people in Michael's path. Then it headed up the west side of the Right Coast. Floodin.' Drenchin.' Creating all kinds of sloppy havoc.

After all that, hard to complain about shattered surf conditions. However, I looked at the surf report...walked out on the beach...with the exception of a day or two, sectioned, chopped up swell for most of the month. Tis the season.

Paddling into the slopes; head high sets rolled thru all night. Holiday's and 66th, 10/4/2018.

"Moulinex me." Late takeoff on the way to gettin' torqued, 10/4/2018.

AND look at Me, 
I'm in Tatters, Yeah
I've been Battered
What does it Matter
Does it Matter, 
uh-Huh
Does it Matter,
uh-Huh,
I'm a Shattered
- the Rolling Stones



Head high the first week. Painful working sesh. Spent good amount of time takin' it on the head (as I was climbing out at dusk some dude, who had sense to leave earlier before the loss of light, gave me "credit" for paddling back out despite the beating). About waist or so this past week. A few respectable rides. Almost got covered. Still devoured and regurgitated periodically. Appreciated what I was able to squeeze out of the evening.

A strong northbound current kept fins and lines separate.
 Thigh high wrap-up at daylight's end. 65th Street, 10/10/2018.

The last of the warm weather brews are both a couple of local choices. Big Oyster Brewery kicked in with their Belgian Witbier, Solar Power. Hazy orange-gold, with a fast dissipating finger thick white head. Strong aromas of zesty lemon and orange. Juiced oranges mixed with coriander in the taste. Sweet, but not too. Very drinkable at 6% ABV. Enough hop presence (approx. 20 IBUs) to finish crisp. I put off trying this one until it appeared in a mixed six. Not disappointed. Rated a 
solid B.

Wai Ola. The "water of life." Beer of life? Maybe? Crooked Hammock makes the effort with this Cali Style Coconut Ale. Poured a surprising golden amber with about a one finger fizzy head. Could smell a slight aroma of coconut...like very slight. Grass and malts detectable. 20 IBUs of up front hop bitterness in the initial taste. Not like an IPA. Closer to a pilsner. Grains, and more malts. Definitely a brew that's better cold. 5.5% and sessionable, and it took more than one to grow on me. Not bad. Not a jump out at'cha good. Rated a C+/B-.

   Post Thursday (10/4) pounding. O.City hosting the Endless Summer Cruisers. A veritable deluge of automotive muscle. Back in high school; deep rumble of the duals (exhaust), throaty hum of the 305, cruisin' Ocean Highway again. Radio blastin'. Six pack in the back. Car full of friends. Good times, good times.

We had flames comin' from out of the side.
Feel the tension. Man! What a ride!
I said, "Look out boys, I've got a license to fly!"
And that Caddy pulled over and let us by.
-Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

Lights Out, session notes from the Rogue.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade but when life gives you hurricanes, you go surfing."
                                                                                                                                         -Jon Freeman 
Kirk's reach, Assateague 9/23/2018.

   Learned something the other night. Sun sets by just about 7pm. Arrive fifteen minutes before, and by the time I'm in the water, lights out. With tropical storm Kirk down south, Rodeway's was a torn up mess. Put on the rubber top, more because of the wind and dropping temps than the water which was still in the lower 70s. Deep troughs between jacked waist-high walls that seemed to lose power the moment I paddled into 'em.

Cloudy skies that darkened like worn out glow sticks made judgement near impossible within a short period of time. A side note on Kirk...towards the end of the previous week it was a fizzled hurricane that took a backside outta the Atlantic, seemed to reform, and carved it's way into the Caribbean. Was hoping it would clean-up. Should have known otherwise after the blow I witnessed at Assateague over the weekend.

Horses ain't the only occupants. Whitetail and Sika loadin' up. 

Got the scoop the other night. More like a shovel. Like many times in sloppy conditions I got impatient and found myself lured inside. After taking a number of pounders on the head, I'd get back out. Grew darker and darker. The waves too. The next set would be on me before I was in position. Tried to jump 'em fast, most of the time as they were breaking. Not pretty. Tough night. Autumn had arrived.

Mangled conditions in fast fading light. Rodeway's wind shear, 9/27/2018.

   First seasonal brew check. Elysian's Night Owl Pumpkin Ale. A Seattle favorite this time of year. Light sediment swirl in the cloudy amber pour. Fast dissipating, less than finger head. Aromas of vanilla, ginger, and cinnamon. Light pumpkin, though it comes out a little more in the taste. With additional cinnamon, some nutmeg, and pie spice on the back end. Easy to drink a couple, even at 6.7% ABV. Not too sweet. Smooth with a relatively mild hop profile that contributed to a dry finish. Only 18 IBUs. Wouldn't call it a huge standout, but good tastin'. Rated a 
solid B.

Time continues to fly...4 years past by.
Happy Birthday Little Girl!