Hop Kiln Road 2017

[Hop Kiln Road]

Ace In The Hole

New doctor took me off Placebo and sold me these pills to block my bater instead. And don't ask me why god gave us a bater cause I'm not suppose to get excited, but it's down by the gall bladder I think. There are a couple traders out there who seem to know all about anything so I'm sure they can more precisely locate the little fella. But, then M put me on a leash. Can't work alone she says. So she gets this young man down to Concord to be my driver, Ace. Nice enough guy I guess, lives in his mom's basement, cleans pools and gives tennis lessons in the summer when he ain't working out in front of a mirror. Me and Ace start tapping on February 23rd and finished on the 27th. Didn't go too well, I mean, yes, Ace could carry a cage tank over his head uphill through the snow, but he snapped a lot of .225 bits cause his hands moved so fast and he never got the hang of the tubing tool but the sap just came a pouring out anyway.

[n8hutch]

Lol that's some good old fashioned Humor right there, funny and nobody's feelings should be hurt.

[Russell Lampron]

Hey Bruce it's good to see that you are posting again. I'm sure there's a bater master out there somewhere that can pinpoint the little bugger. Good luck keeping Ace from falling in a hole!

[maplestudent]

M sure seems to be a fine woman, always looking out for your best interests.

as far as that bater....I wonder if the diuretics I once took made mine work overtime

[sweetvt]

Hey Bruce it's good to see that you are posting again. I'm sure there's a bater master out there somewhere that can pinpoint the little bugger. Good luck keeping Ace from falling in a hole!

Hey, as long as this person is a "bater master" and not a "master bater" type, I'm all for their help and for the good of all of us traders with potential "bater" issues.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Gosh, like Junior High way back in Vermont. But talk about clever, after that sap deluge last season, M let me bury a tank in the driveway. It was a trade actually. She drove a tough bargain with a lot of talk about curb appeal and made me sign an impact statement. But anyway, now I got a 2" discharge off the sap trailer, whoosh, into the dump tank and down a 1.5" line down to the sugarhouse right into the RO, and no raw sap storage in the sugarhouse.

[sweetvt]

It's good thing your not still in Vermont with that tank thing, heck up here you would need a local permit, a design and review hearing and an act 250 study, plus the Pope's blessing before you could of put it in.

I was thinking about that bater issue again, and was wondering if has anything to do with a bater-max? You know the machine we use up her in VT to watch movies on? Part I couldn't figure out is why would your doc want to block that.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Well with all this inclement weather now it looks like a late start for Ace down to the Country Club. Meantime he applied for that bartending gig over to the Ambassador's AirBNB spread to help his mom with her taxes but it turned out he needed a bartending license and he didn't have one. So I've been using him to help me fire. Man, he's quick on his feet. He kinda hunches over, neither foot touching the floor at the same time, staring at the evaporator and BAM FLASH: he's turned around, out to the woodshed and back, fire door open and shut, and the boil never blinks.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Well that got out of hand. The Ambassador's wife was over to pick up some syrup for the included breakfast at the AirBNB the other night and spotted Ace firing the evaporator. Yup, in no time flat, her elder sister, Miss Evangeline, who lives in the palace at the tippy top of the hill, and three of her bridge club show up with folding chairs to, "see how Adonis makes maple syrup." Course Ace is wearing a Under Armour getup that looks sweat wet and he starts bare handling wood, backhand, forehand, left door, right door and right into the evaporator from 4 feet away. Oh, man, sparks flying everywhere, steam bellowing, the gals ooohing and aaahing and clapping. First time I tried to draw, one of 'em hissed, "down in front." I mean, he does have great form: on one foot, follow through above his head, and the wood just floats right in the little door. They left talking about seats for two tables. Now not only do I gotta clean the tanks and the syrup pan but I gotta sweep up all the blue hair.

[sweetvt]

Sounds like a new marketing strategy to me! I bet Ace can get you top dollar pushing your product retail... imagine the possibilities and the potential 😄

[Hop Kiln Road]

This weather reminds me of the winter of 1966 when I was holed up in The Pavilion. Back when it was a creaky floor hotel instead of a governor's bunker. Vermont had just been beguiled into reapportionment in exchange for Ike & Kay's Defense Highways. The big issues of the day were importation of Canadian hydro power and control of deer herd. Fifty years later the power issue is still unresolved. However, that condensed 1966 legislature abdicated control of the deer herd to Fish & Game. Seemed innocuous enough at the time: transferring the welfare of all them little deers from the people to the state, which would take professional care of them with scientific decisions, and not to worry, really only semantics, cause the state was the people anyway. And so the winds started to shift. Yup, climate change, and you don't gotta trudge to the Arctic Circle to see what happened.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Nice sun high pressure yesterday afternoon produced a good flow from 3PM until freeze up. Looks like gal/tap in 4 or 5 hours. High was only 36F and no tree wells yet.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Real problem making syrup last night. Couldn't read the hydrometer too good cause of black spots floating around in my vision. Got a real bad case of 'em over the weekend trying to read the **** tax tables. Geez, no wonder guys get bater issues. Now M wants me to pay some voyeur to examine the intimate details of our life. Chuck ole Head of Household out the window. And don't get me wrong, I think it patriotic to pay taxes. But I also think it is a civic duty to do your own taxes. Bet nobody in Washington does their own taxes cause they're too busy dreaming up more, "first complete the worksheet on page 47 to see if you qualify" worksheets that only cause black spots and burnt pans. Anyway, now after we finally got a good sap run going, M is dragging me off to an eye doctor. Got my bater in an uproar when she said it might be glaucoma, which I thought was white dots, and this morning Ace, who thinks I can't keep my eye on the ball anyway, says the cure for glaucoma is medical whoopie weed, which I really don't need to start taking right before Maple Weekend.

[sweetvt]

Good stuff remember, we're not getting older, just getting better. Last night in SH was having trouble with seeing the lines on ole hydrometer myself, ran and grabbed my spectacles, problem solved. A little later when firing the evaporator forgot I had put the said spectacles on my head and watched them fall into hot bed of coals at the bottom of the evaporator doors...

[Hop Kiln Road]

M had Ace drive me to the eye doctor. Fortunately, after that February 29th deluge last year, I converted the RO to a 2 pass system and added that aforementioned dump tank in the front lawn, by the Abraham Lincoln lilacs, which are about to bloom. Then last November I secured a front row seat in MES Clayton's maple school pep talk. Between the two I got an easy 100% increase in RO efficiency. Sap flows this year ain't been that strong, so Ace whooshed a quick 300 gal into the dump tank and took me down to town. Eh gads Roswell, doc was nice enough, but she had these big glowing blue eyes. Said I must have strained my eyes doing something! Three, two, one. Okay. Went to leave and there was grinning Ace sitting in the middle of the waiting room with all the ladies putting different style of sunglasses on him and giggling.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Really nice maple weekend. Set up a maple tasting with 5 different maple syrups from 4 different local sugar houses. All four different color grades were represented. There were high RO syrups and low ro syrups, sugar maple and red maple, and even a metabolized sap maple syrup from that hot March week last season. Everybody, both days, could taste the very distinct differences and were flabbergasted at the range of flavor. Oh, and something is up with Ace, had to pump the field tanks this week without him. Really nice icy sap too, what little there was... M is quite perturbed and going to track him down.

[Hop Kiln Road]

AH HA! Young Ace claims he's been real busy gardening for ole Miss Evangeline. Says he's been peatmossing and watering her orchards and has to wear a uniform. Right, and the dog ate his homework too! Cept, he don't go to school and he don't gotta dog. So I made some comment about all the snow and inclement weather and he says, straight faced, the orchards are in her greenhouse. Well her greenhouse is a lot bigger than my sugarhouse, and, I've never been in it, but, I kinda very strongly double doubt there's much of an orchard in that glittering over priced hall of mirrors. So now my bater starts acting up. Why that scandalous Coottess has Shanghaied my driver! So I ask him about the uniform business while we're standing around in 15" of new snow pumping the Brook Tank and he says, with that same game face, the harness leather chafe really hurts and he prefers loose clothing when he's playing. Oh dear, why I'm going to call his mom.

[Russell Lampron]

Really nice maple weekend. Set up a maple tasting with 5 different maple syrups from 4 different local sugar houses. All four different color grades were represented. There were high RO syrups and low ro syrups, sugar maple and red maple, and even a metabolized sap maple syrup from that hot March week last season. Everybody, both days, could taste the very distinct differences and were flabbergasted at the range of flavor. Oh, and something is up with Ace, had to pump the field tanks this week without him. Really nice icy sap too, what little there was... M is quite perturbed and going to track him down.

It looks like your taste test went well. Of course I'm curious as to what the tasters thought of my syrup. I got a lot of good comments here but I don't know what the other samples tasted like.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Russ - I want you to try the samples first, blind, before I say too much. However, this particular group of syrups clearly show that the different production techniques of different saps from different terroirs produce a remarkable range of flavor. I'm going to plow out if you want to swing by or I am going by Loudon tomorrow and will drop off a set of samples. Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

View of the Blind Tasting

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[GeneralStark]

Looks like one was WAY more popular....

[Hop Kiln Road]

Supposition General, you probably wouldn't make a good judge even blindfolded.

[Russell Lampron]

I have to say that the taste test was an eye opener. The results were a little different than I expected. There were two clear winners for the best flavor and I'm sure you agree on which two.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Thanks for swinging by Russ. Thought you might like the experience. BTW, he brought his son-in-law Richard with him and I had to stand on my Dr Pepper barrel just to get the blindfold on the dude. I'm going to be around all week if anyone else wants to take the test.

[Russell Lampron]

Richard got a chuckle out of that. It was nice to get away from the farm for a little bit. Did you get any sap today?

[Hop Kiln Road]

Okay had another big time sugarmaker taste taker swing by this morning. He was so stunned that after I got the blindfold off and loaded him back into his truck, I had to hit the home button on his Garmin! The pumps are still open.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Couldn't phone Ace's mom cause she don't have one and besides I've got dribbles sap to deal with. Fortunately, and for the edification of my very concerned new email friends from the Greater Vermont Turpitude League - thanks for the note, like the logo - M straightened everything out, well, kinda sorta. Says its fake news and not to fret, nobody has taken a bite of any apple cause ole Miss Evangeline's greenhouse is really loaded with orchards cause she's seen them herself, blooming in the middle of winter! Whatever. I know when to fold. But, my GVTL friends best button down their coronets anyways, cause the unsavory news is going to break on this dude Diamond Jared blowing his trumpet in the Royal Band. He oughta stick to a cornet but I guess they don't like the sound of it.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Perhaps the most reknown grading system for an agricultural crop is the Bordeaux Wine classifications established in 1855, and which remain a market force today. Since the French knew terroir and vintner skill played a huge role in the quality of a wine, they based the grading system on market prices. To be classified in an upper tier, a Chateau had to consistently sell its wine for more money than the lower tiers. Remarkably, only a handful of Chateaux have changed tiers since 1855, because the open market still supports the range of prices. And the top classification typically sells for more than $1000 a bottle.

Maple is no different, as my tasting revealed a broad and distinct range of maple flavor that any consumer could distinguish. My visitors tasted 5 different maple syrups from four different sugarhouses, run by four experienced sugarmakers, all within 25 miles of each other. There was a syrup from each of 4 color grades and a C sample. Different mixes of trees, different soils, different production techniques, resulted in stunningly distinct maple flavors. And, no correlation whatsoever to the international grading system. The consumers were fascinated with the distinctions.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Me and Ace have been pullng the taps and washing the tanks in the front yard. M came out for an inspection and announced she was ordering me a blue apron for my birthday. Well, sounds like just another frilly expense to me after the weather this bater trying season. Besides, I like the comfort of wearing old clothes and if the filter press plugs, putting them in the wash. Course, Ace is no help, probably wants to see me in an apron, and he says Miss Evangeline has a blue apron. Pretty sure he arched his eyebrows a twitch. Eh gads! So I ask our local Don Juan how he could possibly know that unless he already had kitchen privileges up to the Crystal Palace - and I put my brow half way up my forehead - I know how to play tennis - and he says, game faced as usual, he saw the FedEx guy deliver it. Cripes, for a guy living in his mom's basement, he sure is unflappable. Well M steps in and gives me a little peck on the cheek and says it's blue to match my eyes. Ain't she just sweet!