Fun on Sunday-We Tour Cooperstown Brewery

Cooperstown Brewing is located in Milford, NY, just a few miles outside of Cooperstown. The names of their beers such as "Old Slugger" call forth the game of baseball, absolutely appropriate to the baseball village and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Glenn and I paid a visit to deliver some of my books to Stan Hall, President of Cooperstown Brewing. He's pictured left with the big grin on his face, and why shouldn't he be smiling. He makes some of the best ales in the Northeast. While there, we decided to take the tour, and I'm glad we did. I'm not a brewer, so anytime I can get information to rock my knowledge of brewing, I do it.

You must go. This tour, lead by Joe, the guy with the beard standing next to the large white vessel used to heat the water to begin the brewing process, was an excellent tour guide. He walked us through the process of crafting beer with detail, enough to understand the intricacies of the process and appreciate the creativity and science that goes into brewing. The picture at the top left shows one of the heat exchangers with a view of the fermenting tanks in the background. Remember those little yeastie beasties are busily converting the sugar to alcohol and releasing carbon dioxide, so don't think you can hang out in the room where those fermtners are located!

The picture taken outdoors shows the hops growing on the tall poles. These hops along with others from the Pacific Northwest are used in making Copperstown Brewery's "Back Yard India Pale Ale". We bought a six pack to take home with us after the tasting. Yum!

Many of my friends and readers tell me they do not like beer, but craft beer is not like manufactured beer. It's a different drink. Try one. You might like it.

Thanks, Stan and Joe and all the staff that make up Copperstown Brewery. Keep doing what you're doing. Fine ales, and the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Visit their website at http://CooperstownBrewing.com

Hera's New Beer-A Contest

I am working on the second of the Hera Knightsbridge mysteries. Hera has informed me that she wants to craft another beer, but is undecided whether it should be a a lager or an ale. Go to my webpage www.lesleydiehl.com and click on beer to find out what beers Hera already has in her brewbarn. There is a description of each of her four brews. What beer do you think she should create? A light, clean lager or a foamy, complex ale?

Help develop Hera's next brew by deciding whether it will be a lager or an ale, but, more importantly, give it a name. If I choose your name for the beer, I'll send you a free copy of A Deadly Draught, autographed to you or anyone you choose. The contest will end on August 30. Post your ideas below or send them to me LesDieh60@aol.com.

Another book-yippee!

My college roommate recently got in touch with me to say she was reading my book. She even sent me a picture to prove it, and consented to let me use it on my blog. So here is the former Kathy Gosselink, now Kathy VanCorbet , Pella, Iowa’s most beautiful and talented Tulip Queen. She dressed with more taste than any college coed I’ve ever met. And from the picture, you can tell she still has that pizzazz. We did not know each other before we were assigned the same dorm room as freshmen in college. While I was not a fan of tulips before I met her, I came to appreciate them, and a good thing, too. Our room was usually filled with them each spring.

This week I was offered a contract for Dumpster Dying. It will be released by Oak Tree Press sometime in the fall. I’m very excited about the book because it is set in my second home, Okeechobee County, Florida where I spend my winters. Here’s a short synopsis of it:

Although set in Florida, Dumpster Dying is not just another story about sunny beaches and bikini-clad beauties. In it, Florida natives collide with winter visitors in murderous, yet often humorous ways.

Emily Rhodes, the new bartender at the Big Lake Country Club in rural Florida, lifts the lid of the club’s dumpster one night to discover the dead body of the wealthiest rancher in the county. The authorities are certain they have the killer since evidence at the scene points to Emily’s friend and boss, Clara, but Emily has doubts. She believes Clara is hiding a secret involving the dead man’s family, but unraveling how Clara and the rancher’s lives are intertwined competes with Emily’s own problems.

Emily’s life partner has recently died, and the only will she can locate leaves everything to his ex-wife. Despite the grief she feels over her partner’s death and the money problems it has created for her, Emily sets out to identify the rancher’s killer. She must outwit a vengeful widow, fend off the advances of the man she believes to be the murderer, get to know an adult daughter she’s never met, and flee a fire bearing down on the drought-ridden pastures and swamps of her adopted community. Suddenly, the golden years of retirement seem more like pot metal to Emily.

Imagine Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum surrounded by alligators while a herd of stampeding cattle close in on her.

Emily will join my more serious-minded protagonist, Hera Knightsbridge, on my blog and my website. It’ll be great to have these gals each with her unique personality add to the mix of beer, food, alligators, cowboys, and brewers on the site and blog. You’ll notice the changes on the website beginning the end of the summer. I’m sure Fred will enjoy yet another feisty female joining us on the blog. That will probably mean he’ll have to do something outrageous just to get attention.

Happy Fourth of July, however you choose to celebrate. Of course, I recommend doing what my former college roommate is doing in the picture above—reading a great book!