In April I had a bit of a set back. A planned surgery didn’t really go as planned. If you remember, the cause of my stroke in 2015 was because of a tear in the lining of my carotid artery (the cause of that is unknown). The hope was that this tear would heal itself over time. It didn’t. So into surgery I went. The idea was to fill in the leftover aneurysm in my carotid artery with some metal coils and then let it heal by itself. Once the surgeon got in there he realized that the aneurysm had ripped open more and he would have to go to plan B. This involved placing a stent in order to “bridge the gap” and seal off the aneurysm. Not what I had hoped for. Unfortunately during the delicate placement of the stent a few blood clots were released and I suffered another stroke. So that unfortunate stroke, that I should never have had, has become two. Thankfully this second one was a bit milder but it has still been quite devastating for family life, and of course It has been a big set back in my recovery. One month before the surgery I had finally started working full time again. Now I am back to half time. Hopefully I’ll be able to work full time by the end of the year.
Now let’s get back to blogging…. again.
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Summer seems to have already ended here in Belgium. Ok thats not completely true beacause Summer never really showed up this year. With the end of Summer also comes the end of my 
The Smoking Bottle has been a little lifeless lately. I’d like to say that is because I have been too busy brewing and cooking but unfortunately the silence has been caused by bacteria, viruses, evil spirits and possibly witchcraft. It all started with Half-Pint bringing home a bad cough from daycare. That was then followed by pneumonia. Of course she handled it well, as she always does, but daddy on the other hand was not so brave. After thinking that the illness was leaving the house, I was hit by the same upper respiratory infection and a week and a half later I found myself with pneumonia too. Of course Mrs. Smokey has also caught this and is now lying in bed waiting for the antibiotics to kick in.
When this blog was started, I thought that most of the posts would be about barbecue. Afterall it is easier and faster to tame that firey passion then it is to scratch the brewer’s itch. There is also a problem of volumes. I do not brew that often since I am usually solely responsible for the disposal of said beer and I also have a commercial beer buying habit. It is great to have a cellar stocked full of goodies covering a far greater range of styles than I could ever brew. However, The Smoking Bottle has been leaning more towards the Bottle and less towards the Smoke. This got me thinking about who is reading this (besides the ones that feel obligated to endulge in my fantasy world) and where their interests lie.