Home Imbrewment

Well again a good month all in all. We had a great meeting at Will and Johnna Walkers house in October! Thanks again for hosting us!.

We have an important date coming up… November 2^nd is the AHA’s National Teach an Friend to Homebrew Day. The club has arranged with Rich Sens to hold a group brew session in the parking lot of his store to promote this event. Please consider coming out and showing your support for this great hobby of ours.

We have been revising the Briess Cup rules in the discussion forum on the web page (www.hrbts.org) . Make sure you go check them out and make your inputs known as we will be voting on a final copy at the general meeting. Also check out the other great additions to the web page like the new photo album and the discussion forums. We even have an area to post for sale or wanted items.

Well that is about it until the meeting. I hope to see a lot of you at the brew day on Saturday and please let me know if you are going to be able to make it.

The November 6 Meeting of the HRB&TS will be at Enrico’s Ristorante, in Norfolk. We have their private meeting room all to ourselves, with a personal server to cater to our whims and bring us beer, including Williamsburg Brewing’s Porter, Wheat, and Pale Ale on draft, and Greek- and Italian-inspired pastas, pizzas, and entrees. In bottles they have Hoegarden (yum!) and Sam Smith’s Nut Brown Ale. And naturally you should bring plenty of homebrew! Many of you may remember the fun meeting at Enrico’s last January. Well, so does Maggie, the owner. She thought our club was very nice and therefore she has waived the $60 fee that Enrico’s has started charging for use of the private room. She waived the fee because I said that you all were a hungry bunch and would keep her server busy with food orders!!! So, come hungry and eat a nice dinner! Also, there should be something for everyone because the food at Enrico’s is really good, the menu has a lot of variety, and the prices are extremely reasonable. We can order any of the salads, appetizers, and pizzas on the menu, the daily specials, and will have a choice of 5 entrees so they can give the best service. We will choose the 5 entrees at the Executive Committee Meeting/Judging meeting Wednesday Oct 23 at our place....all the more reason for you to come to the judging meeting!

Enrico’s is at 4012 Colley Avenue, at the corner of 41^st and Colley, 423-2700. It is really easy to get to from everywhere.

Directions: From the Beach via I-264 - Take 264 West and get off at Waterside Drive. Follow Waterside (it becomes Bousch/Llewellyn) to 21^st Street. Left on 21^st Street, then right onto Colley Ave. Enrico’s is on the right in about 5 minutes.

From the Peninsula or the Beach via I-64 - Take I- 64 East to Granby Street exit. Follow signs for Granby and stay on Granby till 38^th Street. Right on 38^th Street, then right on Colley Ave. Enrico’s is on the right in about 2 minutes.

First I wanted to acknowledge Victor Perrotti for winning the AHA Belgian Club Only contest out of a field of 37. This is the first time anyone in our club has won this contest. Thanks to Victor we are now tied with the James River Brewers for 1^st place in the Homebrew Club of the Year Contest. I encourage all club members to continue brewing for these club only contests. It would be good for our club to get this type of national recognition.

Also I wanted to recognize our president Mike, as he has become the brewer at Hilltop Brewing Company. So stop in for a Baldheaded Brew and whatever else Mike has in those serving tanks. Do I hear a vote for Vanilla Gorilla Mead or maybe a braggot since it is a brewpub?

This month we judged the Fruit & Vegetable beer categories. This produced some very interesting beers like a Berry Hefeweizen, Lemon Pale Ale and a Belgian Fig Beer. entries. I think this was the first time that the judges ever had a fig beer, which was quite tasty. The winners are listed below:

Remember any member is welcome to come to the judging’s. This is a way to learn about the styles and help your brewing. Besides you get to drink good homebrew two days per month. We do, however, ask members to be sure their entries conform to the BCJP guidelines. These can be accessed at www.beertown.org. If you would like to hold a judging meeting at your house, please let me know.

Several members brewed beers for the club picnic. I think we set a record for the number of kegs brewed. I counted 10 kegs of homebrew and 1 commercial (legend brown ale). In case you missed the picnic, here were the featured beers as I remember.

Mike Pensinger Hefeweizen, Classic American Pilsner and one beer I can’t remember 8 points. (Sorry Mike)

I believe this list is complete but please let me know if I unintentionally left a beer out. Any memory lapses can be credited to the Barleywine!! Thanks to Kevin and Amy for hosting this again this year.

BRIESS CUP 2002 STANDINGS

BREWER	CUMULATIVE POINTS
CJ/Diane	47
Victor Perrotti	36
Doug Boyd	31
Mike Pensinger	22
Tom Byrnes	14
Pat Dabbs	8
Wes Mc Gibney	5
Dodge Hickman	5
Kevin Oliver	4
Will Walker	3
Mike Marshburn	2
Sammy Samoluk	2
Tony Miller	2
Doug Hollingsworth	2
Jennings Lyon	1
Mike Allain	1

At this month’s meeting we will finalize the proposed rule changes for Briess Cup 2003. Please consult the discussion board at hrbts.org to review the current proposals. It’s not too late to let your voice be heard.

As we begin to develop our brewing schedule for next year. We are looking for suggestions regarding creative contests to supplement the typical style oriented beauty contest. In the past we have done extract only, strange-brew, dead beers and the club recipe. So get those creative juices flowing and submit your ideas on the discussion board. Tom

The cup, sponsored by Briess Malting Company, will run from January through December of a given year. Members will accrue points from entering and winning the contests sponsored by the club. The only criterion is that multiple entries in the same contest must be different recipes. Points are as follows: 4 points for 1^st place, 3 for 2^nd, 2 for 3^rd and 1 point for entry. The entry point is not awarded if the beer places in the contest. It is intended to encourage entries. The club officers may also award Breiss points for members brewing for special events. The Competition Coordinator will keep the points. The club president will be the final arbiter of any disputes.

Briess Malting has been kind enough to sponsor this award, so please look for their products at your local homebrew retailer.

Month	BOTM	AHA Style Category	Judging Date	AHA Club Only Date	BOTM Brewer
November	Fruit/Spice Beer *	21/22	October 23	November/December	Mike Pensinger (G)
December	Stout	16/12C	November 20		Rich Sens (X) (Imperial Stout)
January	Bitter & English Pale Ale *	4	December 18	January/February

For the first time since its launch in 1997, our website will be sporting an entirely new look. The updated website is scheduled to launch in May and we invite you to visit .

While its appearance will change, the content will remain essentially the same—lots of it! All of the previous issues of Brewing' With Briess will remain on the site; product information will be available for every product in a printable pdf format; and fun features like our photo gallery remain intact.

We welcome all news items, original articles, business notices, and letters to the editor. Submittals for publication in the Home Imbrewment must be send to us as an e-mail or an e-mail attachment in any version of MS-Word or WordPerfect. Mail to dabbsp@cox.net.

A quick note from Tom Byrnes our Competition Coordinator. The 2nd annual Teach A Friend To Homebrew Day is happening next Saturday November 2 starting a 11:00 AM. We will be brewing at Rich's store, Virginia Beach Homebrew Hobbies, in the front parking lot. This is located at 3700 Shore Drive Suite 101 near the foot of the Lesner bridge coming from Norfolk or just after the bridge coming from the hilltop/oceanfront area. His phone is 318-7600 so call him if you need more specific directions. The store opens at 10:00 if you need some supplies. This is your chance to come together and brew beer and support Rich by giving him some free publicity. As the title says this day is dedicated to expanding the hobby so if you have a friend that interested in brewing or have never brewed a batch yourself here's your chance. There will be people there to answer your questions and demonstrate the brewing process.

If your planning to brew that day please email Mike at beermkr@bellatlantic.net so he can get an idea of who is brewing. Tom will be doing an intermediate extract, American Amber Ale to demonstrate brewing for beginners. Pat will be brewing an all grain batch of IPA. For you other extract guys, Rich has bulk extract priced at $2.00 per pound you bring the container or $2.50 he supplies the container. Can't beat that price anywhere.

Rich says that you may want to bring items to level your equipment since there is a slight slope on the front parking lot.

Looking forward to seeing you out there. This is a fun activity to promote the hobby as well as our club. Tom

About the HRB&TS

The Hampton Roads Brewing and Tasting Society is dedicated to promoting the enjoyment of homebrewing. The annual dues are $15 per individual and $20 per family. Members are encouraged to support the responsible enjoyment of beer and observe the beverage laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Persons attending HRB&TS meetings and events are solely liable for actions attendant to their participation. HRB&TS Maintains a NO SMOKING policy at all meetings so that members may better enjoy fine beers. Smoking is permitted during restaurant meetings in designated smoking areas.

November 2002

BRIESS CUP 2002 STANDINGS

We welcome all news items, original articles, business notices, and letters to the editor. Submittals for publication in the Home Imbrewment must be send to us as an e-mail or an e-mail attachment in any version of MS-Word or WordPerfect. Mail to dabbsp@cox.net.

About the HRB&TS