Every year as the college basketball tournaments approach, I’m reminded it’s time to make The Big Nob Double IPA again for release on March 22nd, the day our dad left this world for heaven. This year’s edition is a New England Style Hazy Double IPA filled with lush, juicy flavors of mango, orange, and candy fruit. We pounded this beer with Citra and El Dorado Cryo Hops in both the whirlpool and the fermenter and I’m pleasantly surprised at how smooth the bitterness is for 90 IBU. I need to give some credit to Shane at Monolithic and Randy at Heavy Brewing for sharing some of their secrets on how to make a great NEIPA. Thanks guys and our quest for the perfect DIPA goes on!
Brewing this beer is a true labor of love because, well, The Big Nob, was our dad. For that nickname I blame Gene the guy who lived next door to 6300 Birch St #51 where I spent my high school years. You see Gene and Phyllis were dads drinking buddies in those days. Dad would do something ridiculously cheap like duct taping his fishing rod together and Gene would yell across the lawn “what a Nob!”.
One day my friend Demian and I pulled up to our trailer in his 1972 Ford Maverick and there mowed into the front yard was a perfect “N O B”. Demian was so speechless all he could do was point and grunt. We have no idea how he mowed those letters so perfectly. Dad was known by pretty much all of us kids, our friends, and even his friends as simply The Nob. It was later in his waning years that I began calling him The Big Nob because in my world he could be the biggest nob of all.
Dad used to make the bitter beer face whenever he tasted one of my dry-hopped beers. So in a bit of a rebuke for all of the times I had to endure a lengthy session of scolding I decided to name our flagship IPA after him. Nob’s “Bllleeaagghh” IPA. That middle word is the sound he made whenever he tried a hoppy beer. When it came time for us to brew our first Double IPA it was only natural to name that one after him as well. The Big NOB.
Now despite his nobisms (more on that later), dad really did teach me a valuable thing or two. Here are some I will never forget until senility seeps in.
(The Big Nob on a Florida fishing trip wearing signature cheap-ass fishing t-shirt with pocket)
“You can do whatever you want in life”. This was usually during a lengthy lecture about how my grades weren’t up to his standard. This from a guy who aced college Physical Chemistry and has a few patents under his belt. His statement was true. I co-own and operate a brewery and never thought I would. I still tell Jack that he can do whatever he wants in life.
“Get behind the toilet”. He said this one the moment you told him the bathroom was now clean and you were trying to walk out the door with your buddy. He knew we never cleaned behind the toilet unless we got yelled at first. He was right but now as an adult I always clean behind my toilet (unless Misty beats me to it).
“When wind blows from the north, no fisherman shall go forth. Wind from the east, fish bite the least.” Any fisherman knows this is definitely true. This knowledge has never really kept me from fishing but you learn to pack a lot more beer because, go figure, they don't bite! Ever.
There are a lot of other “Nobisms” dad used to say all the time and some of those are captured on the 2024 Big Nob T-shirt which goes on sale this Friday. We only ordered a few so get yours before they’re gone. Don’t be a Nob!
If you’ve gotten this far into this blog post you probably deserve a reward of some kind. I believe we all have a little nob in us from time to time. If you post a comment on the Facebook post telling me something you or your dad did or said that was kind of nobby, you’ll be entered into a random drawing to win a free 2024 Big Nob t-shirt. It’s a Ting of Beauty.
(The Big Nob cooking a meal on a Canadian Fishing Trip. “What a nob”)
