I have really been struggling with motivation recently with this project. I drank this beer before Christmas however only just got round to writing up the rest of the blog. Poor show on my part, it know. Anyway, it’s...

I have really been struggling with motivation recently with this project. I drank this beer before Christmas however only just got round to writing up the rest of the blog. Poor show on my part, it know. Anyway, it’s time to start exploring again so let’s start back stateside. I’ve seen many photos of New Hampshire in Autumn with the leaves turning different colours, however I know very little about the area itself. I looking to researching it. Right, beer time…..

Spyglass Brewing Company – Blockchain

This 8%, 1 pint can cost an eye watering £10.60 from the winesellar in Wolverhampton. Sadly I can see these costs increasing if I want to complete this challenge.

After just 1 mouthful I’m already blown away. Some beers take a few slips before you get the full nature of the beer & understand the concept. I can safely say I understand this beer already…. as much flavour & hop in a beer as is physically possible! I think that sums it up. Some people would say you get what you pay for. The flavour profile is intense! The double dry hop nature of this beer gives tropical notes of pineapple, mango & lime. It also has a creamy nature which adds to mouthfeel. Carbonisation is on completely on point & head retention is exactly what you want from a Dipa. In a perfect world, all beers would be this good, but we don’t live in a perfect world so those lesser beers can still be enjoyed. I am certainly taking my time with this can today. It certainly hasn’t gone straight down the hatch (although it could have).

The brewery is based in Nashua. Built around the now-departed textile industry, in recent decades Nashua’s economy has shifted to the financial services, high tech, and defense industries as part of the economic recovery that started in the 1980s in the Greater Boston region. Major private employers in the city include Nashua Corporation, BAE Systems, and Teradyne. The city also hosts two major regional medical centers, Southern New Hampshire Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital. The South Nashua commercial district is a major regional shopping destination, lying directly on the Massachusetts border and taking advantage of New Hampshire’s lack of sales tax. It is anchored by the Pheasant Lane Mall and numerous smaller shopping centers. Nashua has three main commercial districts. Centered on Main Street near the geographic center of the city, Downtown Nashua is the oldest of the commercial districts, featuring commercial, entertainment, and dining venues, near historic commercial buildings and homes as well. Recent plans have incorporated the Nashua River into the design of a pedestrian-friendly walkway. The downtown Nashua Riverwalk is a large, public/private venture funded through the use of tax increment financing. Amherst Street Route 101A, is in the northwestern part of the city and is a large thoroughfare with commercial centers along both sides. The South Nashua Commercial District, centered on Daniel Webster Highway near the Massachusetts border, is anchored by the Pheasant Lane Mall, attracting many people from Massachusetts taking advantage of the lack of sales tax in New Hampshire. The city is home to a number of technical firms, including Nashua Corporation, which took its name from the city and river. Nashua Corp. was a leading producer of floppy disks through the early 1990s, making the Nashua name well known in the world of personal computers.

The Nashua Silver Knights is a collegiate summer baseball team. It is a charter member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, a wood-bat league with a 64-game regular season comprising eight teams ranging from New Hampshire to western Connecticut. The team’s home games are played at Holman Stadium in Nashua. The Silver Knights are one of the seven FCBL teams playing in a stadium that used to host professional baseball. The Silver Knights have won the FCBL Championship in five of the league’s eleven years of existence and have qualified for the post-season every year, except for 2021. They are the last survivor of the original four FCBL teams. Holman Stadium, which also was funded by the federal Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, was dedicated to the youth and people of Nashua in memory of Holman’s parents. Philip S. Avery, a Nashua native, was the architect. The original Holman Stadium was a plain seating bowl in which fans sat on bleachers and concrete steps. It was used for baseball and football. The stadium has hosted concerts by famous artists including Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, Bon Jovi, David Cassidy, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, The J. Geils Band, Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, Carlos Santana, Phish, Warren Zevon, and Bonnie Raitt opening for James Taylor. In 1996, the stadium was a site for celebrations along the Olympic Torch Relay route. The stadium was home to several minor-league affiliates of Major League Baseballorganizations, beginning with the Nashua Dodgers, affiliated with the Brooklyn Dodgers and managed by Walter Alston. Holman hosted the first integrated U.S. baseball team in the modern era when Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe played for the Nashua Dodgers in 1946. After the Dodgers’ four-year run, baseball did not return to Holman Stadium until 1983, at the double-A level: an affiliate of the California Angels for one year, then the Pittsburgh Pirates. While home to the Nashua Pirates in 1985, Holman Stadium hosted the Eastern League All-Star Game. The Nashua Hawks of the North Atlantic League played at Holman Stadium in 1995, ending in 1996 with a mid-season eviction for nonpayment of rent. In 1998, Holman Stadium became home to the Nashua Pride of the Atlantic League. The Pride acquired turquoise-colored stadium seating from Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The Pride’s pre-emption of dates from high-school football became a focus of neighborhood opposition, but eventually the city built Stellos Stadium for football. Between the 2001 and 2002 seasons, the stadium was upgraded generally: The open-air desks in the brick press box were raised, enclosed and modernized; a new level of luxury boxes was built above it, the concourse outside the seating bowl was upgraded with a ticket office and gift shop, and the business offices were upgraded. In 2003, Holman Stadium hosted the Atlantic League All-Star Game. In 2006, the Pride switched to the Can-Am League with its shorter season. In 2008, the team was sold to an ownership group including former Boston Red Sox General Manager Dan Duquette and renamed the American Defenders of New Hampshire. The Defenders played a single season in 2009, concluded on the road because of non-payments to the city; in 2010, the team moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts to become the Pittsfield Colonials. In 2011, the Nashua Silver Knights brought baseball back to Holman Stadium. In 2012, Holman Stadium hosted the inaugural FCBL All-Star Game. The former football bleachers, down the left-field line, were removed, reducing the stadium’s capacity to the current 2,800; the football press box remains but is now used as a storage shed. In 2017, the city installed a new sound system and a small videoboard beyond left field, costing $173,000, of which $56,000 was paid for by the Silver Knights. The videoboard supersedes a two-line alphanumeric message board that had not worked for the preceding four years and could not be repaired. The Silver Knights were a charter team of the FCBL, as Drew Weber, former owner of the Lowell Spinners, wanted to also operate a franchise in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. When this was not feasible, Weber and others created the FCBL. Chris Hall, who had been the General Manager of professional and collegiate teams in Nashua, became the league’s commissioner. The name Knights was chosen over three other club nominations by a vote of Nashua grade-school students. The club modified the winner to “Silver Knights” to avoid conflict with an existing amateur baseball team in the city.

Nashua Airport dates back to 1934, when the city of Nashua bought a small existing airport, which lacked a hangar and had a grass runway. Over the next several years Nashua, with federal help, paved the 2,000-foot runway and put up some buildings. According to the history in the airport web site, the hangar was constructed from bricks reused from a Nashua factory that burned in 1930 in what was known here as the Crown Hill Fire. The Nashua Airport Authority was established to oversee the airport in 1961. The New England Aeronautical Institute was founded here in 1965. The NEAI’s Daniel Webster Junior College division was founded in 1967. The two schools merged in 1978 to form the Daniel Webster College (DWC). Nashua Airport would become one of the busiest airports in New England in terms of take-offs and landings due to its use by DWC for flight training (the flight training program would eventually be shuttered in 2010). In 2012, runway 14-32 was moved 300 feet to the northeast and extended by 500 feet, to 6,000 feet to accommodate larger corporate jets. The runway officially opened on August 31, 2012. The original runway was removed. Many taxiways to the new runway were rebuilt during the construction. Boire Field covers an area of 400 acres at an elevation of 199 feet above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 14/32 with an asphalt surface measuring 6,000 by 100 feet there is space for 441 aircraft located on the field. Air Traffic Control is at the airport from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. It has no scheduled commercial service. The airport has private flight schools offering training and certification in fixed-wing airplanes and helicopters. On-demand air charter is offered by providers, including Air Direct Airways and Infinity Aviation, which operates a number of Hawker mid-sized business jet aircraft. Infinity Aviation Services is a fixed-base operator (FBO) that provides aircraft servicing, fueling and maintenance and flight planning resources. GFW Aeroservices, a former FBO, ceased operation in March 2011. The second-floor Midfield Cafe is open for breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., six days a week, closed on Tuesdays. The airport hosts the Southern New Hampshire University Aviation Center, Aviation Operations Management Program, and an accelerated Flight Program.

The Chinook is a breed of sled dog, developed in New Hampshire during the early 20th century. The Chinook is New Hampshire’s official state dog. Standing 21 to 27 inches in height at the withers and weighing 45 to 90 pounds, the Chinook is balanced and muscular. The United Kennel Club (UKC) breed standard states, “The ideal coloration runs from light honey color to reddish-gold. Black markings on the inside corners of the eyes are preferred. Dark tawny to black markings on the ears and muzzle are preferred. Guard hairs on the tail may be black. No white markings are allowed. Buff markings on the cheeks, muzzle, throat, chest, breeches, toes and underside are acceptable.” The UKC standard faults any color other than tawny and disqualifies albinism. Other proposed standards state that the medium-length double coat is tawny in color, with darker shadings on muzzle and ears; white dogs are not allowed, nor are other colors. Eyes are brown to amber in color. Ear carriage is variable, but dropped is preferred and the head more strongly rectangular than other sleddog breeds. The tail is a well-furred saber and not the usual brush or plume of Arctic breeds. The Chinook is an affectionate and playful family companion with a special devotion toward children. It is a willing worker who is eager to please and enthusiastic to learn. The Chinook is highly trainable, adaptable, and versatile in his abilities. Gregarious with other dogs, the Chinook works well in teams and within family packs. The Chinook is a dignified dog; some may be reserved with strangers but should never appear shy or aggressive. The Chinook owes its existence to one man: Arthur Treadwell Walden of Wonalancet, New Hampshire. The breed derives principally from one male ancestor born in 1917, named Chinook, who was Walden’s lead dog and stud. Chinook derived from a crossbreeding of a female Greenland Dog from the Peary North Pole expedition with a large, tawny male Mastiff/St. Bernard mix. Photos of Chinook show a drop-eared dog with a broad Mastiff head and muzzle. Walden’s leader was bred to Belgian Sheepdogs, German Shepherd Dogs, Canadian Eskimo Dogs, and perhaps other breeds; the progeny were bred back to him to set the desired type and was apparently a strong reproducer of his own traits. Arthur Walden was an experienced dog driver with years of experience in the Yukon; he was the lead driver and trainer on Byrd’s 1929 Antarctic expedition. He is credited with bringing sled dog sports to New England and founding the New England Sled Dog Club in 1924. The 12-year-old Chinook was lost on the Byrd expedition. Control of the core breeding stock passed from Walden to Julia Lombard and from her to Perry Greene in the late 1940s. Greene, a noted outdoorsman, bred Chinooks in Waldoboro, Maine, for many years until his death in 1963. Rare and closely held by Greene, who was for many years the only breeder of Chinooks, the population dwindled rapidly after his death. By 1981 only eleven breedable Chinooks survived. The Chinook obtained registered status with the UKC in 1991. The current number of registered animals is around 800. Only about 100 puppies are born annually worldwide. The registry has a cross-breeding program under which Chinooks are bred to individuals of other breeds thought to have contributed to Chinook development; fourth-generation backcross descendants of such crosses may be accepted as UKC purebred Chinooks if they meet the Chinook Owner Association’s Cross Breeding Program requirements. Chinooks joined the American Kennel Club (AKC) Foundation Stock Service in 2001 and were later added to the AKC’s Miscellaneous Class in 2010. Finally, in January 2013 the Chinook became the AKC’s 176th breed and joined the working group. Chinooks are still working for recognition from other major kennel clubs. Although still used for recreational dog sledding by some owners, Chinooks today appear to be used largely as family pets. Individuals are also used for dog-packing, search and rescue, skijoring, and obedience and dog agility trials.

Well that was rather good wasn’t it! Next week (hopefully) I’ve got something a bit different for you. A new map! See you then

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