Gadget « Mike's Craft Beer

I have always been a fan of watches but have not worn a wrist watch for some time. My last one I wore back in college over 11 years ago but it broke and I have not replaced it since then. I have at many times looked to buy a new one but my tastes always ran in the $600 and up range and I just can not make sense of spending that much on a watch. I am also not a fan of smart watches. Your phone takes up so much of your time you do not need your wrist ringing and pulling you away from what you are doing all the time.

Then I caught wind of the company Happy Hour Timepieces and what they were doing. I would have purchased the watch as soon as I heard about it but it was only sold in the United States. Luckily for me my Wife bought it for me as a wedding gift.

They have multiple watches that they sell but my favourite and the one that I was given was THE ISH.

The watch face on this piece does not spell out the hour and expects you to know how to read an analogue watch. It does have the hour hand (big circle) and the minute hand (small circle). From there you can either get the proper time or a quick approximation of that time. Or as you can see on the face of the watch it is always 5 o’clock somewhere the standard time for happy hour. A fun feature of this watch is the buckle for the strap. The buckle is also a bottle opener! How do you not want a watch that can also open your beer when it is beer-oclock?

Here is the diagram from their website on how to use the bottle opener.

If you are like me and you do not need or want the bells and whistles of a smart watch this or one of the watches from Happy Hour Timepieces would be the right thing for you and I hope you will give them a look. This watch is a very reasonable $99 USD currently. If you live in Canada like I do then you will have to have this watch shipped to the closest state to pick it up down there.

https://www.happyhourtimepieces.com

I have always loved a good Black and Tan when out at a pub but had never thought to make one at home as it takes some skill to pour a perfect black and tan.

I guess I should actually explain what a black and tan is for the people that do not know. A black and tan is typically a Lager or lighter ale poured carefully with a stout to make a multiple layer beer. The Perfect Black and Tan device makes pouring a black and tan easy. The only real difficult part is making sure you know what beer is more dense than the other as it will sink to the bottom if poured on top. Do a small scale test of the two beers you want to drink before going for the full glass as to not waste your beer and time.

My first try pouring I did not do a test even though I thought I should.

You can find great instructions on layering beer at The Perfect Black and Tan website. But the basics are to pour the more dense beer into the glass to the half way point. After you have done that you up the Perfect Black and Tan device on top of your cup. Now you are to pour the second beer slowly as it takes a little longer for the beer to pour through the small holes in the device. If you have picked the correct order of the beer then this device will work amazingly well.

Here is my review of my first black and tan.

Sadly the Pale Ale that I picked for this test was much darker than I expected as I had never had it before so it is not as striking and drastic as it could be. Still you can really get an idea of what this device can really do.

The price of the Perfect Black and Tan is quite low and for how well it works I would recommend anyone that enjoys a black and tan or anyone that likes to experiment buy one.