Home Imbrewment
December 2003
The Official Newsletter of the
The President’s Podium – Chris “C.J.” Jones
Out last meeting was at the Pottery Wine and Cheese Shop at
It is Holiday Season beer time and the big beers have begun to arrive in
Tidewater. The more upscale Farm Fresh stores and the Gene Walters Market (
Speaking of Holidays and Beer, the January issue of “All About Beer” contains an excellent gift guide for the lover of gourmet beers. You can probably pick the magazine up at a newsstand, or order it off of their web page (allaboutbeer.com).
Remember, our next meeting is a Holiday Season party, a chance to celebrate
whatever
The Next Meeting Location – Diane Catanzaro
Once Thanksgiving is out of the way, you are probably thinking there should be a grace period before reasonable people start with their holiday parties. Well, that’s probably true, but reasonable people are also reasonably dull. I’ll bet when they do put up holiday lights, on December 22nd, the lights are all the same color, like off-white or something. Humbug!!!
Your friends in the HRB&TS feel differently. We feel that it is important to start drinking those seasonal ales while they are fresh, fresh, fresh, and to start the party season off promptly. Why procrastinate?? So, hold on to your antlers, here is the good news... the next meeting, December 3rd, will be an HRB&TS Christmas Party!!!!
Where, you ask? Why, at Will and Jonna Walker's home. In keeping with the “party early, and often” philosophy, the party starts earlier than our typical meeting, so we have a bit more time to have fun on a school night! The party begins after 6:30 pm., (no early admission please)! The club is springing for a spiral ham, smoked salmon, and some fine holiday ales. Club members are encouraged to bring a side dish or other food item to share, and of course your homebrew and other cool beers. Since we are at a private residence we can bring commercial beers also. Our party is of course secular and non-denominational; however there may be some beer worship that may be too intense for young children or Bud Lite drinkers. Hope to see you there!
HRB & TS Contest Judging – C.J. Jones & Tom Byrnes
This month’s contest was a head to head match for the HRB & TS Barleywine championship of the World - or at least of the HRB & TS. There were five homebrewed barleywines, plus two ringers (two commercial barleywines) thrown in to check the judge’s palates. Just like last month, the five beers were brewed by a mere three brewers (thank goodness we encourage multiple entries per person per contest, or gracious sakes alive, there wouldn’t be enough beer to judge), and were judged by five talented palates.
The contest had it all: a missing steward (Tom), a substitute teacher, er steward (me), two beers that scored 40 or above, and two that were tied for sixth place with a 27.6. Which beers scored in the 40s? One of the ringers, the 2003 Sierra Nevada Barleywine, which was awarded a 43 (it was dreamy good), and taa daa, Victor Perotti’s “BW VIC, a 2003 vintage beverage, which earned a 40 (it was excellent). Which beers scored the 27.6? One of the ringers, Brooklyn’s Monster Ale 2001, and one of the entries from Diane and myself my entries, a barleywine from November 2002 that apparently didn’t exactly improve with age. Now, on the plus side, we did brew a barleywine as good as Garrett Oliver, and that is pretty cool.
So, here are the three best homebrewed beers in the last contest for the 2003 calendar year:
First Place: Victor Perotti’s “BW
VIC”, with a mean score of 40;
Second Place: Victor Perotti’s “BW
99”, with a mean score of 33.8; and just behind it,
Third Place: Doug Boyd’s “BW”, with a mean score of 33.6.
Two entries from Diane and I brought up the aft end of the contest.
Here are the final 2003 Briess Cup standings:
BRIESS CUP 2003 STANDINGS
BREWER CUMULATIVE POINTS
C.J./Diane 57
Victor Perrotti 42
Doug Boyd 35
Rich Sens 20
Tom Byrnes 17
Mike Pensinger 9
Mike Quanty/Rob Sisson/John Hoover 2
Bruce Parker 1
These are the three finalists we had last year. An unprecedented “three-peat” for Diane and myself, and a very competitive, close race for second and third place that wasn’t decided until the zaftig woman sang. Hokey smokes, Victor picks up nine points on the last day and takes second place by seven. The really cool thing about our 2003 contests is that in the past year HRB & TS experienced ten months of competitive contests for all of us to judge. I say ten because you may recall that one of the lager contests had only one entry, and another lager contest was cancelled due to lack of interest in the style. Ten competitive contests is pretty good for a Club as small as ours. I’m confident that our next set of officers will put together a brewing calendar that encompasses styles that members like to brew when they put together next year’s contest schedule.
The club would like to congratulate CJ/Diane, Victor and Doug, who have distinguished themselves as brewers of quality and consistency. As alluded to above these members have finished in the top three since the inception of this contest a remarkable feat. The awards ceremony should take place at the January meeting providing the cup gets made on time. Finally we would like to thank BRIESS Malting Company for their continued sponsorship of this cup. Their support of our clubs’ endeavors has been much appreciated over the last three years. We look forward to their continued support of this contest but do anticipate a change in the form their support will take next year. It would be nice if our members could email Bernadette Wasdovitch, Marketing Manager at BRIESS at bwasdovitch@briess.com thanking her for support of our club contests.
Next Year’s Brewing Schedule – C.J. Jones
We presently have one Club contest scheduled, listed below along with the AHA Club Only Dates and Club Judging Dates:
Month Beer of the Month BCJP Category Club Only Contest HBBTS Judging
January Holiday Beers N/A N/A December sometimes,
we’ll figure it out at Wil and Jonna’s house
Beers for contests from February 2004 to January 2005 will be selected by
the officers we elect for 2004, perhaps as early as the next meeting. Currently
the AHA has announced the following club only contests in 2004: Mead in April,
an “Extract Only” in May, Wheat Beer in August, Smoked Beer in Sept
and IPA in November. The IPA contest will be hosted by James River Homebrewers in
Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day:
Once again this year we gathered at Virginia Beach Homebrew Hobbies and had a successful day. We brewed three batches of beer using both all grain and extract methods. Especially of interest were types of brewing systems on display ranging from a $64 turkey fryer from Sam’s Club to the $3100.00 Brew Magic system from SABCO. (Rich Sens’ new play toy). Both all-grainers showed the versatility of the Gott coolers. On the inside winemaking demonstrations were ongoing. Judging from the number of people and store sales, I believe we generated some new interest in the hobby. By late afternoon all of the basic homebrew equipment kits were sold out. Thanks to Melissa and Mike Pensinger for hosting this event. Note to Rich: I want to see that brew magic in action!!
Looking Forward:
As, Christmas approaches I look forward to a full two weeks of vacation and to Victors’ annual Barley Wine a thon. In case you haven’t attended, these events have produced not only the infamous “whale” featured two years running at our picnics but also the winners of the above contests. Once Victor announces the date we’ll get out the word via special email. Typically it is the first Saturday following school closing for winter break around 12/20/03. Hope you can come and learn the brewing secrets from a local master of the style (he has the ribbons to prove that distinction).
Elections are next month – C.J. Jones & Tom Byrnes
Here are the positions we will strive to fill:
President: Responsible for setting the club budget, running club meetings,
purchasing beers of the month (BOTM), organizing club parties, appointing a
Meeting Coordinator, appointing a Brewing Coordinator, authorizing
reimbursements to club members and setting the agenda at planning meetings for
club officers.
Vice President: Taking over for the President in his/her absence as well as
anything else the President chooses to delegate to this position. Cup purchases
and deliverer
Treasurer: Tracking the club budget (set by the President), collecting club
membership applications and fees, purchasing or scamming club raffle items,
collecting the club raffle money, reimbursing club members for money spent on
club items, keeping track of all club receipts and "include in the
newsletter a quarterly report on the budget".
Newsletter Editor: Editing and emailing the Club’s newsletter.
Libeerian: Responsible for maintaining the club libeerary (e.g. keeping track of who has what checked out,
etc.).
Competition Coordinator: Responsible for all club competition-related
activities (e.g. finding judges, maintaining ribbons, sending First Place
winners to the AHA club-only contest, etc.).
Other positions, particularly the Meeting Coordinator position (presently held
by Diane Catanzaro) are appointed, not elected.
What the heck, to get the ball rolling, I’m nominating the incumbents in these positions for reelection:
President: C.J.
Vice President: (vacant)
Treasurer: Doug Boyd
Newsletter Editor: Tom Byrnes and/or C.J.
Libeerian: Victor Perotti
Competition Coordinator: Tom Byrnes
Additional nominations and/or declinations will be accepted at the
WE also have 1 ballot initiative to vote on: it has been proposed that we change the contest entry rules to allow members to enter 1 beer per subcategory per contest, conforming to the AHA rules for the NHC. This has been a bone of contention over the years and has resulted in some members refusing to enter the contests. Since this has come up the last three years, I wanted to list the pros and cons of the issue, objectively as possible.
Supporters of this change believe that such a change would require that each member enter their best beer in each sub category. Now despite popular belief you still could enter more than 1 beer per contest. For example in the last judging each member could have technically entered 3 beers (an American barley wine (12A), a British Barley Wine (12B) and an Imperial Stout (12C) what would change is your ability to enter more than 1 subcategory like two American’s. This camp also believes that the change would improve the quality of the contests and judges remarks by allowing judges to spend more time per entry due to fewer entries. Finally they believe that it would make the contests more competitive attracting more interest from members. (Note: it is possible to enter 1 beer per month, bring 10 gallons of homebrew to the picnic and walk off with the cup).
Opponents of this change believe that the purpose of the competitions is to encourage home brewing and to provide feedback to members on all of their beers not just a select few. They see this rule as restrictive. These members would also say that multiple entries broadens the field and encourages competition because it avoids the single entry contest. Regarding the quality issue, this camp believes that inappropriate entries are punished by receiving a low score and that the quality of contests is better than ever based on the high marks members are receiving. They would say the way to keep members interested is to feature beers that members want to brew. As previously stated we have had a very competitive year with minimal problems.
If you should have any questions regarding this rule change please email me or ask an officer prior to the vote. And remember; only members that are paid in full can vote.
About the HRB & TS
The Hampton Roads Brewing and Tasting Society is
dedicated to promoting the enjoyment of home brewing. The annual dues are $15
per individual and $20 per family. Members are encouraged to support the
reasonable enjoyment of beer and observe the laws of the
Visit the HRB & TS online at www.hrbts.org.