Little To Show, from the Rogue's notebook.

Rural coast...golden brown fields give away the season's timeline. 9/15/2021

     The balance of September left little to show for itself. Seemed like the off-season was getting away from me. Hurricane season had quieted down. Local farms were seeing a rapid advance in the crops coming to fruition (my roadside seasonal measure). Last couple sessions dealt mostly with shore-break although mid to low tide made for a handful of rides. Water remained in the low 70'sF, and the air temps stayed pretty much in the mid-70's.

Quickie front and backside mushies.
Holidays, 9/16/2021.

September 22nd saw a Nor'easter blow through...typical after hurricane season. Wife calls me a hardhead. Must be right, as out of the northeast means left breaks, and I seem to insist on trying to find that right-breaking frontside. Near chest-high, steep drops that I've struggled to pull thru this year- especially breaking in shallow water close to shore. 

Lookin' down a right breakin' drop. 67th Street, North Holidays, 9/22/2021.

     Drowned my performance-lacking sorrows in a couple of  autumn brewskies I dug up in a Georgetown, DC back ally dispensary. DC Brau's collaboration with the Salt Line Oyster & Ale brought up See You At The Bottom, an Oyster Farmhouse Ale that was apropos to last week's sesh. Poured a pale gold with a finger thick, off-white bubbly head. Malt with some citrus in the nose. The saline of the Chesapeake Skipjack Oysters came out in the taste. More lemon citrus with a malty spine. Light hop finish...maybe 30 IBUs. Liked the 4-Pack of this brew. And at 4.8% alcohol, very easily crushed. Rated a solid B.

Hey, can you help me down?

What's lost is better unfound

Say, can you wait me out?

Cause I will see you at the bottom

-Seether

The next pumpkin beer of the year was a bit of a disappointment. Captain Lawrence Brewing, just north of NY City. Autumn Blaze Pumpkin Ale touted nutmeg, pumpkin pie spices, and pureed pumpkins in the boil. I tasted a watered down beer. Clear amber pour with a less-than finger, white head. Very little lacing. Smelled the pumpkin and nutmeg, tasted very little of either. Tried to like this one. But even at 5% ABV/20 IBUs, the sixer was hard to finish. Rated a C-.

Piece of Ass-ateague, from the Rogue's notebook.

 

Late afternoon lineup...20mph+ winds, 70F chop. Somewhere in Assateague's OSV Zone, 9/5/2021.

    Got these neighbors. C & C. Great people. Man, the most active. Always biking, or kayaking, or hiking, or 4 wheelin' it to the beach and doing the whole bonfire thing. We'd been trying to get a date set to hit the wilderness beach together... finally. Labor Day weekend. Good friends. Classic Rock thru a speaker. Dinner of surf 'n turf- ie clams and steak, sunset, and a bonfire. OSVing on a piece of Assateague Island. Throw some beer in the mix. Good times, good times.

Greetings from Assateague, 9/5/2021.

Straw yellow pour, 2-finger

fizzy white head. Fin City's

Pilsner collab with Pure Lure.

Lite haze. Grains and grass

in the smell. Hopped herbs in

the taste. On the beach, or on

the bay- crushable at 4% ABV.

Snappy bite in the finish at 18

IBUs. Basic pilsner. B-/C+

rating.

Camp set-up.

R-Coast Peace. Git-it Son!

Sam Adams latest Pumpkin

Ale. Jack-O. 2nd pumpkin of the

season. First was Sin-Brew's.

One of my favorites. This, not so

much. Clear amber pour. Finger

and a 1/2 off-white head. Thin

lacing. Good pumpkin aromas.

Semi-sweet, but watered down

taste. 4.4% ABV, 25 IBUs.

Rated a C/C-.

Middlenecks

NY Strips!

End of day Stoke.

Leftovers, from the Rogue's notebook.

“We get no swell in the summer at all, so we do look forward to hurricane season as a chance
 for a respite, maybe even some heavy waves,” he said. “But the excitement is tempered because the threat
 is large enough that surf quickly disappears as a priority.”  -Alex Dick-Read
No heavy threat, but plenty of stoke in the leftovers. 47th Street Break, 9/2/2021.

    Finally, a stoked night of surf. The warm Atlantic. Peeling thigh to waist high rights either next to, or behind the 47th street jetty. A small crowd at the break...four of us. Enough to hoop, holler, and/or encourage without gettin' in the way. Paddled out to the left of the jetty and let the current carry me into the lineup. Couple of headers thrown down. Some sweet rides both frontside and back.

 

The evening glided by as it seemed set after set rolled in. Smooth folding swell. Crushing wash that crossed the nose of my board. Misted salt spray that filled my head. Lackluster season for surf but for an end of summer session, stoked to see the OC's Right Coast save the best mid-week stretch for the last courtesy Hurricane Ida leftovers.

Ida's western track = southwest offshore winds.

     Possibly one of the best Session IPA's I've had. Sierra Nevada's Summer Break. Light pine resin, juicy citrus, and sweet malt swirled in the aromas. Flavors of mango, tangerine, tart, bittersweet pineapple and grapefruit. Crackery, bready malt balancer. Peppery hop bite (30 IBUs) in the finish. Super hazy, straw-gold pour with just under a 2-finger, fizzy white head. 4.6% alcohol level. B+ rating.

"You say alcoholism, I say Liver

Crossfit." -PMB