It’s Mother’s Day in the good ol’ US of A and hopefully you either saw or talked to your Mom today. I see my Mom practically every Sunday for dinner and never take a single one of those for granted. She’s the best, she knows it but will never admit to it. If you love you Mom show her everyday, not just today. Make her a meal in August. Buy her a beer or 4 in January.

After a day of making lovely brunch dishes for Moms and their kids and then a meal out with my folks it’s time to unwind with a beer on a rainy evening in West Palm Beach.

Drinking: Terrapin Panama Krunkles Pineapple Papaya IPA
This beer can apparently only be had out of Terrapin’s new IPA variety pack. If you read my first End of the Day Unwind you should know I’m a sucker for Sam Adams variety packs so upon seeing this one in the beer aisle–and it being in code–I grabbed it.

Speaking of variety packs and date codes at my local grocery store. There are a few Southern Tier variety packs on the shelf that were packaged in 2017. Like fall 2017. No bueno.

Anyway, upon first pouring it looks pretty hazy, look at the picture. Oddly it seems to clear up a bit in glass. Is this continually cold conditioning? The tropical fruit are pretty forward right in the nose and of course travel through in the taste. Unfortunately I can’t help but feel that the fruit flavors are very extract like. It has a certain solvent quality, it just stings a bit. They can says Beer with Natural Flavors Added. This is typically lingo for natural extracts but not necessarily. Fruit is a “natural flavor” and the TTB allows breweries to use this catch all phrase for real fruit and other ingredients instead of listing them all individually. So who knows for sure by Terrapin.

Overall it’s not an okay beer. I do at least know I have Hi5 and Recreation in this pack, both of which I am a big fan of.

Edit: I haven’t had Hopsecutioner in years. I’m having one of those now and, damn, is this better than I remember. Don’t hate me Terrapin.

Protect Your Network
I was reminded today of a time a few years ago when I went to a new bar that had opened. After ordering some food I pulled up my phone to see if the place had public, guest WiFi. When the list of nearby spots came up one in particular caught my eye, Kitchen Printer. Not only did I find it strange that an establishment would be broadcasting their private networks for their printers but to not see a little padlock icon next to the name showed me that it was not private at all.

I used this opportunity to teach this bar a lesson, J. Walter Weatherman style. Okay, I didn’t have anyone with a prosthetic arm but it was a good lesson. I connect to said network and opened my Notepad app and wrote:

You need to secure up your network. Anyone can connect to it.

I then sent that message to a printer.

A minute later someone from the kitchen came out to who I assume was a manager with a receipt from a kitchen style printer and a bewildered look on their face. I saw a lot of raised eyebrows and some shrugs. Needless to say, the next time I came in those printer networks were secured.

And that’s why you always protect your shit.

Listening to: The Rain
I love the sound of a normal, steady rain on the windows and rooftops. It’s not too heavy and filled with a lot of wind. It’s calming. It’s soothing. It leads to being in a good mindset to write End of the Day Unwinds while having a beer.

Red Eyes
My girlfriend is catching a red eye from Los Angeles back home to which I will be picking her up at 5 am tomorrow, in Fort Lauderdale, 45 minutes from our home. She can never claim that I don’t love her.

Hot Take
Art deco sucks. Don’t @ me.

People are Weird Volume 2
If you are in the mood for something in particular and you know that the establishment you are at doesn’t have said thing you shouldn’t bargain with that establishment to make the thing you want. Stay home and make it yourself.

A Breed Much Odder Than Yours
I had the opportunity to go down to Pompano Beach and see my friends at Odd Breed Wild Ales this past Wednesday. It was my first time down there since they first opened their tasting room in November. I am happy to report that their beers are tasting amazing. I have believed for years that Matt Manthe was one of the best brewers in the state and I am happy to see people are finally starting to agree with my decree.

I’m working on a nice spotlight piece on Odd Breed right now. Keep an eye out for when that comes out.