The Official Newsletter of the Hampton Roads Brewing & Tasting Society (HRB & TS)

The President’s Podium – Chris “C.J.” Jones

Well, the meeting last month at the German Pantry was a fun time, as usual. Plenty of homebrew, and plenty of German food and beverages. Wallace and Sieglinde are great hosts, and Wallace, for one, certainly appreciates homebrewed beer.

You probably saw an article in the newspaper last week indicating that moonshine is typically contaminated with lead (as a result of ingenious folks using a lead-based solder for their copper pipe connections. Drinking shine can lead to all sorts of mayhem in adults. Another lead/drinking connection was illuminated last week, the garden hose and lead combo. Seems that lead is a plasticizer used in PVC-based garden hoses, and that drinking from the hose, particularly in the Summer when the hose is warmer, can possibly lead-to-lead poisoning. Lead, as you know, impairs cognitive abilities, particularly in the still-developing brain of young children. Which suddenly explains all of these adults folks that love light pilsner beers – they drank from the garden hose as a child.

We had a kolsch / alt contest (five entries from three brewers) that was judged at our house last week, and the results are elsewhere in this newsletter. Some of the folks in the BJCP Study Group judged the beers, along with our usual cast of beer loving characters. If you haven’t attended a judging session yet, they are fun. Sometimes they run a little late, but that’s why they make coffee in the morning at your workplace.

The Next Meeting Location – Diane Catanzaro

A new meeting location on familiar turf! The HRB&TS will meet Wednesday, Nov 5 at the Pottery Wine and Cheese Shop at 22 Wine Street in Hampton. This is a new bistro/deli in the location formerly known as 22 Wine Street Gourmet in the cool Old Town section of Hampton.

Club member Mike Quanty brought in the tip that this place would be great for a meeting of our esteemed group of beer aficionados. They have a variety of beers. English ales seem most heavily represented but they also have Wittekerke and St. George products. This is a gourmet-deli type of establishment, with a variety of sandwiches and deli salads on the menu. They have five kinds of chicken salad for your sandwich or side, Greek salad, pasta salad, and so forth. The most popular sandwich is the Langley, which involves country ham, turkey, French dressing, and lots of panache. They do have seating, so you will be able to sit and relax as you enjoy a nice ale and sandwich or salad. And we have the whole place reserved just for us. BRING your homebrew! Leave the commercial brews at home.

The meeting officially begins at 7:30, but feel free to show up around 7 or a little earlier to get a head start. Please remember that the restaurants that are kind enough to host our group hope that people will order food and beverage. The Pottery Wine and Cheese is opening in the evening just for us, and agreed to waive the $50 fee they typically charge for private parties. I think that this is pretty cool of them. So, come hungry and try some of their tasty fare. And if you want to give them a call at 722-VINO they will have your sandwich ready for you when you arrive!

Directions: Take Rt 64 to the County St/Hampton University exit (Rt. 143). Merge onto Rt. 60/Settler’s Landing Road. After you cross the water (there will be a bridge under you!), just before the Air and Space Museum, take a right on Wine St. 22 Wine Street is on the right about a block down the road. There is ample parking. Phone is 722-VINO.

HRB & TS Contest Judging – C.J. Jones & Tom Byrnes

This months contest was a battle royal for the Kolsch / Alt championship of the World, or at least of HRB & TS for 2003. Three brewers entered five beers, and the entries were judged by five to six people. Kolsch is a difficult beer to brew and to judge. If there are any really distinguishing characteristics to the beverage, it probably doesn’t meet the style guidelines. One of the entries was deemed to be an excellent pale ale, but alas, this was not a pale ale contest.

Here are the three best beers in the contest:

First Place: Doug Boyd’s Kolsch, with a mean score of 35.2;
Second Place: Victor Perotti’s Dusseldorf Alt, with a mean score of 33; and
Third Place: Doug Boyd’s Dusseldorf Alt, with a mean score of 27.4.

Doug’s beer will be mailed to the AHA for inclusion into the Club-only Kolsch contest. Good luck, Doug! 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.

Here are the current Briess Cup standings:

BRIESS CUP 2003 STANDINGS

There is one more Breiss Cup contest for 2003, the Barleywine contest. Looks like the beer battle for second place will not be decided until the zaftig lady sings, burps, or something like that, and the fourth and fifth place slots also won’t be decided until the last drop of beer is sipped. This is your final opportunity to suggest changes in the rules for next years contest. Email your suggestions to kmstfb2@exis.net Suprisingly it appears that all member are happy with the current rules as no changes have been suggested.

Our Club contest schedule is listed below along with the AHA Club Only Dates and Club Judging Dates:

Beers for contests from February 2004 to January 2005 will be selected by the officers we elect for 2004. 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. which the newly elected officers will probably take into consideration when they design next year’s schedule.

Historic / Experimental Club Only Contest Results – C. J. Jones

The Ginger Lime Pale Ale that Diane and I whipped up was judged in Williamsburg, VA, by the CASK Club. The final assigned score was a 30, which just gets it into the “very good” category. Two judges it didn’t have a very noticeable ginger or lime presence, while the third judge said it had a pronounced lime presence. Go figure.

Saturday, November 1, “Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day” – C. J. Jones

The is one of the AHA sponsored / hyped events, where home brewers around the world are encouraged to invite non-brewing and brewing friends and family to celebrate Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day and brew a batch of beer together. Mike Pensinger and HRBTS are co sponsoring the brewing session in the parking lot of Virginia Beach Homebrew hobbies. For more info, call him@ 318-7600. Don’t forget to ask about bulk extract or his orange blossom honey offered for $2.50 per pound. Special discounts will be offered to club members and brewers during the day. His hours that day are 10 to 6pm but brewers should plan on finishing by 5pm. Stop on by check out the store and support the club. Nonbrewing members are encouraged to attend.

Elections: Outside of dues month I know this is your favorite time of the year. The club by laws list the following positions as elected:

President: Responsible for setting the club budget, running club meetings, purchasing beers of the month (BOTM), purchasing or scamming club raffle items, 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.
Treasurer: Tracking the club budget (set by the President), collecting club membership applications and fees, 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 mailing/E-mailing club 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.).
All members wishing to run for office should notify an officer. While it is easy to sit back and have repeat officers. It is new officers that bring fresh ideas and energy into the club. Consider running for one of these positions.

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 Commonwealth of Virginia, the Federal government, and the Golden Rule. Persons attending HRB & TS meetings and events are solely liable for actions attendant to their participation. HRB & TS maintains a NO SMOKING policy during all meetings so that members may better enjoy fine beers. Smoking is permitted in meetings held in restaurants in the facility’s designated smoking areas.

Visit the HRB & TS online at www.hrbts.org.