Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Porter Rico. This coconut coffee porter is probably going to be a horrendous failure since it's my first brew, but I'm optimistic. Flavoring one's first beer isn't the smartest idea, but I've never claimed to be smart.

The interwebs were all over the place on flavoring technique, so I went for a subtle combination of three ostensibly successful strategies.

• I mixed sweetened, shredded coconut and whole coffee beans with the hops that steeped for about an hour.
• I ground more into a pot of cold water which I poured into the final boil with the finishing hops.
• Still more is floating in the carboy (briefly boiled to avoid contamination).

Maybe one or two of these approaches will render the desired flavor, I doubt they will be too strong. The brew is, in fact, fermenting, so it's a good start.

If it works out, there'll be an awesome Porter Rico/Puerto Rico tasting/game night in early February.


Oh games. Oh Twilight Imperium. In a nutshell:

• The combat/unit mechanics of Axis.
• The board setup of Settlers.
• The roles system of Puerto Rico.
• A significant tech tree.
• Game changing political resolutions.
• Asymmetrical races, randomly assigned.
• Action cards, negotiations, bribery.

It's a long game, but rewarding. Way more rewarding than the last A&A:1940 match that reavled Sealion can be conducted by sending fighters from West Germany due to the new airfield rule.


A little while back Shar and Kaf splashed around at dog beach.