2018 is over, and we’re looking forward to a fresh start in 2019. As is my custom, here’s a quick look back at the past year. As cliché as the year end review may be, it’s still an interesting exercise for me.

The past year was a slower than usual year for adding content to these Musings. As mentioned a few times previously, life just got in the way.

Despite life’s distractions, there were 57 days in 2018 in which I got in some shooting activities, either matches or pratice. I participated in six state or regional level events; the Chesapeake Cup, Virginia Indoor Regional, AAF&G Lt Col Matt Mathys Memorial IDPA Match, Maryland State IDPA Championship, Virginia State IDPA Match, and the Potomac Grail. I was also very fortunate to travel with three friends to participate in the IDPA National Championship held in Talladega, Alabama. In addition, I also managed to get to 16 local IDPA matches. There was also a two day competition focused training class which was a lot of fun. The matches, combined with range trips to practice culminated in about 8500 rounds fired in the year.

I wasn’t too remiss in exploring the craft beer world this year. While I wasn’t as diligent at keeping records as in the past, a quick review of the year’s checkins on Untappd shows about 123 unique beers tasted in the course of 2018. In the slow sipping category, some 23 different whiskeys, mostly bourbons, made the list as well. In a newer addition to my pleasure time, this fall I started tracking the cigars I enjoyed (often with the aforementioned beverages.) There were 42 different cigars tried in the second half of the year. That number is not extraordinary, but they certainly contributed much needed relaxation in a busy and hectic year.

Dealing with some family members’ health struggles, combined with a new role at work, had me missing some desired range time, as well as limiting our family adventures and vacation time in the past year. Although we didn’t get around to an actual family vacation last year, Colleen and I did enjoy many weekends away taking in some college football games this past fall. Those trips also provided some extra opportunity to enjoy good drink and food. I am looking forward to reversing the pleasure travel shortfall in 2019.

Looking forward, I’m already registered for two regional IDPA matches in early 2019, and expect to shoot the year’s first local match within the first week of the new year. There are some beers currently queued up for review as well. Even more exciting, there have even been preliminary talks of summer vacation plans, a discussion we never quite got around to in 2018.

I am honored that you’ve continued to read these Musings over the past year. It’s been especially exciting to meet so many readers in person, and to share the fun times. I have some ideas for more stories to tell, so stand by. Here’s looking to new adventures in 2019!

I made a last minute decision to head down to the indoor range on Saturday morning. That choice was betting on the absence of traffic on the interstate for the drive down, a not too crowded range, and (still) good traffic for the drive home. As luck wo…

This is one of the beers in the Starr Hill Winter Tour variety pack that we picked up on a whim last week. Little Red RooStarr Coffee Cream Stout is a beer that I thought I had enjoyed previously, but checking my UnTappd list, it appears this…

It’s been a couple months since I was able to get to an IDPA match, and I had expected that match to be my last of the year. However, with a fortunate combination of a clear schedule and good weather, I was very excited to be able to attend the December IDPA match the Saturday before Christmas at Cavalier.

For this match I decided to shoot my SIG P320 Compact in the CCP division. I’d recently upgraded the sights on the gun, but had yet to shoot it competitively since the sight switch.

The five stages of the match followed a holiday theme. The first stage our squad shot, called “Who’s Naughty & Who’s Nice?,” had us seated at a table with our unloaded gun and all magazines placed in a box. Nine targets, along with a plethora a non-threats were arrayed out in front of us. Shooting the stage -0 gave me a good start to the match.

“Not Home Alone” was up next. This was a field course where we started holding a wrapped package in our support hand, while our strong had was holding a screw driver that had been stuck in a tire. After engaging an open target we moved through the course to three points of cover engaging multiple targets at each. This was another -0 stage for me.

The next stage saw us hanging Christmas lights in “Get Lit.” Here we started with our hand on a stapler high in the center of a wall. It was the shooter’s choice to begin with targets on either the right to left side. I started my run moving to the left. After engaging four paper targets around the left end of the wall, I moved to the right side to find a couple of falling steel poppers and two more paper targets. It was fun stage and I felt pretty good about it, until the scoring. I had dropped a shot low into hard cover for a miss, which combined with -3 and -1 targets, left me -9 for the stage.

“Crooked Tree” held an interesting target array. Seven overlapping targets, with lots of hard cover, where arranged in a tree shape. We started at the target array with a Christmas package in hand. Up range were two barrels to either side of a shooting box. All magazines were stage on one of the barrels and our gun was in a box on the other. At the start we retreated up range, retrieved our gear, and engaged the targets.

While there was partial open body area on some of the targets, most shooters opted to shoot all head shots. I did make all 14 head shots, though three hits were in the -1 area of the head, for a -3 stage score.

The last stage was called “Charlie B’s Trees.” We shot from two sides of a fenced wall. There were four targets visible from one shooting position and two more from the other. Menacingly placed barrels and pine tree branches where located around the targets obscuring any open shots. This was another challenging stage that I felt I had shot well, again until the targets were scored. I managed to shoot not one, not two, but three (!) low or wide shots into non-threats. Not a glorious finish to the match, but fun nonetheless.

Despite the poor shooting on the last stage, I finish 14th of 32 shooters, and 2nd of 4 in CCP. I enjoyed shooting the Compact gun. The 8 round per magazine limit offered a new challenge, a led to at least one miscount in my stage planning.

In a switch from the wet and cold weather we’ve experienced in the past weeks, the day of the match saw sun and temps in the mid-50º range despite a constant breeze. It was an extremely enjoyable morning of shooting. The stages were creative, challenging, and most importantly, quite fun. The unexpected day of shooting to finish off the year was a most welcome treat.

More pictures of the stages are here.

It’s been a couple months since I was able to get to an IDPA match, and I had expected that match to be my last of the year. However, with a fortunate combination of a clear schedule and good weather, I was very excited to be able to attend the December IDPA match at Cavalier.

For this match I decided to shoot my SIG P320 Compact in the CCP division. I’d recently upgraded the sights on the gun, but had yet to shoot it competitively since the sight switch.

The five stages of the match followed a holiday theme. The first stage our squad shot, called “Who’s Naughty & Who’s Nice?,” had us seated at a table with our unloaded gun and all magazines placed in a box. Nine targets, along with a plethora a non-threats were arrayed out in front of us. Shooting the stage -0 gave me a good start to the match.

“Not Home Alone” was up next. This was a field course where we started holding a wrapped package in our support hand, while our strong had was holding a screw driver that had been stuck in a tire. After engaging an open target we moved through the course to three points of cover engaging multiple targets at each. This was another -0 stage for me.

The next stage saw us hanging Christmas lights in “Get Lit.” Here we started with our hand on a stapler high in the center of a wall. It was the shooter’s choice to begin with targets on either the right to left side. I started my run moving to the left. After engaging four paper targets around the left end of the wall, I moved to the right side to find a couple of falling steel poppers and two more paper targets. It was fun stage and I felt pretty good about it, until the scoring. I had dropped a shot low into hard cover for a miss, which combined with -3 and -1 targets, left me -9 for the stage.

“Crooked Tree” held an interesting target array. Seven overlapping targets, with lots of hard cover, where arranged in a tree shape. We started at the target array with a Christmas package in hand. Up range were two barrels to either side of a shooting box. All magazines were stage on one of the barrels and our gun was in a box on the other. At the start we retreated up range, retrieved our gear, and engaged the targets.

While there was partial open body area on some of the targets, most shooters opted to shoot all head shots. I did make all 14 head shots, though three hits were in the -1 area of the head, for a -3 stage score.

The last stage was called “Charlie B’s Trees.” We shot from two sides of a fenced wall. There were four targets visible from one shooting position and two more from the other. Menacingly placed barrels and pine tree branches where located around the targets obscuring any open shots. This was another challenging stage that I felt I had shot well, again until the targets were scored. I managed to shoot not one, not two, but three (!) low or wide shots into non-threats. Not a glorious finish to the match, but fun nonetheless.

Despite the poor shooting on the last stage, I finish 14th of 32 shooters, and 2nd of 4 in CCP. I enjoyed shooting the Compact gun. The 8 round per magazine limit offered a new challenge, a led to at least one miscount in my stage planning.

In a switch from the wet and cold weather we’ve experienced in the past weeks, the day of the match saw sun and temps in the mid-50º range despite a constant breeze. It was an extremely enjoyable morning of shooting. The stages were creative, challenging, and most importantly, quite fun. The unexpected day of shooting to finish off the year was a most welcome treat.

More pictures of the stages are here.

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. …

Christmas PSA.Be careful out there!HT Borepatch.
[ This content originated at Musings Over a Barrel ]

Figured I better rattle this thing to see if it still works. It’s been an interesting couple of months, but not necessarily interesting in a blogging manner.Once fall arrives, many of our weekends are taken up by college football. Those events do lead …

I often lament the onset of cold weather in these Musings. Despite my aversion to cold and dreary, there are still things I look forward to this time of year. One of those bright spots is the release of Sierra Nevada Celebration Fresh Hop IPA. The beer…

Time to dig out a bottle, or two, of Samiclaus.

Reposted from December 6, 2016.

Today, December 6 is the Feast day of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. St. Nicholas, was a wealthy and generous man. His generosity towards others led to him being the inspiration for the tradition of Santa Claus and gift giving. He is also one of several Patron Saints of brewing. It’s not entirely clear why Nicholas was chosen as a Patron Saint of brewing. Tradition states that Nicholas was having a beer at an inn where the inn keeper had murdered three boys and packed their bodies in a barrel of brine. Nicholas was offered some salted meat with his beer. Due to a local shortage of food, Nicholas became suspicious, found the bodies, and brought the boys back to life. He died on December 6, 345 A.D. or 352 A.D.

Inspired by this feast day, is Samichlaus Bier. Samichlaus is a 14% ABV doppelbock that at one time was billed as the world’s strongest beer. The name means “Santa Claus” in the Swiss-German dialect of Zürich. Brewed only on December 6 of each year, the beer is aged for almost a year and released in time for the following year’s feast day. Samichlaus was originally brewed by Brauerei Hürlimann, and later by Feldschlösschen Brewery. It is currently produced by Schloss Eggenberg of Switzerland.

We have a tradition of opening an aged bottle of Samichlaus Bier on the evening of December 6. Tonight I’ll dig through the boxes in the cellar and find something old to enjoy. Even if you can’t get your hands on Samichlaus Bier, raise a pint to St. Nicholas today for his generosity and the traditions of giving he inspired.

Another tradition surrounding this Feast involves children leaving their shoes out the evening before, and St. Nicholas would fill them treats such as candies or fruits so the children know he had visited. It is from this tradition that we get the Christmas stocking.

Big kids sometimes get treats too.