Home Imbrewment
December 2004
The Official Newsletter of the Hampton Roads Brewing & Tasting Society (HRB & TS)
Presidential Proclamations –
C. J. Jones
Well, this column is one of those bittersweet things that the HRB & TS President gets do at the end of his or her term, write one last “Presidential Proclamation,” and reflect upon the last twelve months of beer brewing and tasting. This is probably the fourth or fifth time I’ve been HRB & TS President, and this year was just as fun as previous ones. Thanks for allowing me to be your President, it’s been enjoyable, and I look forward to passing the torch to a successor at the next meeting.
We have a new HRB & TS Cup Champion, Richard Pidgeon. Congratulations, Senior Ricardo. Richard’s his beers are consistently well-made and are typically assigned scores in the 30s at our contests. He brewed a wide variety of styles, came up with recipes that were well researched, and brews a pretty tasty beverage. It’s been said that Richard brews every day. That is categorically untrue. He only brews on days of the week ending in “y”.
Looking at the Club’s accomplishments this year, we can all pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves on another twelve months of harmonious sharing of malted beverages. More of us brew than before, and one of us, Richard Pidgeon, actually brews more beer than Budweiser. We had a collective brewing effort unleashed, the OVBC. We averaged around a dozen entries per HRB & TS contest, thanks to the very ale-friendly beer of the month styles selected by your present Executive Board. And most importantly, we now have new home-grown BJCP judges, Tom Byrnes, Diane Catanzaro, Richard Pidgeon and Will Walker. Kudos to these four folks, who under the guiding hand of John Mitchell, studied beer laboriously, and were rewarded with the title of Recognized Beer Judges.
Beer, what a wonderful thing.
From a sipping standpoint, there’s more fine beer in the greater Norfolk area now than there’s ever been before. In Ghent there are probably 100 taps in four or five locations that all offer palate pleasing pours. The local Farm Fresh stores, along with their cousin, the Gene Walter’s Market, have all dramatically improved their beer inventories. Bon Vivant in Smithfield offers a very impressive collection of Belgian ales, including the Duchess de Bourgogne. The Biergarden in Portsmouth is expanding and continues to offer an amazing collection of draft and bottled beers, particularly Belgians. The Tapastry restaurant in Virginia Beach has many quality beers and a great selection of things to eat with them.
From a brewing standpoint, many of us made leaps into territory previously unexplored. Club members made big beers like barleywines, we made meads, and we apparently had a good time making them. Thanks to the two homebrewing shops in Norfolk, Homebrew USA and Wine and Cake Hobbies both offering discounts to Club members, there has never been a more affordable time to get brewing.
In closing, this has been a fun year to be HRB & TS King, I mean, President. The Executive Board was beer focused. Three people in particular have done magnificent work all year round, Tom Byrnes, Doug Boyd, and Diane Catanzaro, and all deserve your profuse thanks at the next meeting. Tom did a great job of steering the monthly homebrewing contests. Doug handled an important job, Treasurer, raffle prize procurer and ticket salesman, with style. And last but not least, Diane successfully negotiated a place for us to meet every month.
We, as HRB & TS members, have some thinking to do with respect to the upcoming year, so read the other articles in this newsletter. In December, we’ll vote on a dues increase and we’ll have our elections; in January 2005, we’ll vote on possibly changing some of our HRB & TS Cup rules. So stay active, and keep brewing and tasting.
To paraphrase General Douglas MacArthur, old Club Presidents never die, they just sit in the back of the room and enjoy ales.
I’ll see you next week.
Wynkoop Beerdrinker of the
Year Contest – C. J. Jones
One last opportunity to remind you about the annual Wynkoop Beerdrinker of the Year contest is upon us. Go to the Wynkoop’s web site, www.wynkopp.com/beerdrinker/entry.htm read the rules, and consider and signing up.
Road Trip to Dogfish Head
Brewing in Delaware – C. J. Jones
Doing anything on Friday, December 10th? If you aren’t otherwise occupied, you can go on a road trip with some of your HRB & TS brethren, as we travel up the Delmarva Peninsula to visit the Dogfish Head Brewery (www.dogfish.com) in Milton DE, and later on have dinner in Dogfish Head Brewing and Eats in Rehoboth Beach, DE. Dogfish Head makes great beers, and they are only about four hours from here. About a dozen of us have already committed to making this Northern pilgrimage, and you ought to, too. It is an easy drive, and if you arrive in Milton by 3:00 PM, you can enjoy a tour of their brewery. If you can’t get up there that quickly, come up to the brewpub and enjoy great food and great beer with us at 6:30 PM in a nonsmoking environment (all public facilities in Delaware are nonsmoking!). At around 10:00 PM, there’s a band that’s playing upstairs, Stargazer Lily (www.stargazer-lily.com), and they might just rock your world.
We are staying in a hotel that is next door to the brewpub, the Crosswinds Motel (888-581-WIND), where double rooms are $48.60 (tax included) per night. When you get up in the AM on Saturday, enjoy shopping in Rehoboth Beach, have breakfast, and casually drive home. It’ll be a great way to spend a weekend.
If you plan on going to the brewpub for dinner, call me at 623-7448 by Friday, December 3, and let me know so I can reserve a table for us.
HRB & TS Proposed Dues
Increase – C. J. Jones
Our Club has pretty affordable operating expenses, thanks to emailing our newsletters versus mailing them, but it does cost more to operate our Club now than ever before. Our spread for our two parties per year is more ambitious than before, and what the heck, these things do add up.
We haven’t had a dues increase in at least ten years, but your Executive Board wants you to pass a moderate dues increase, effective for the 2005 membership year. We propose increasing dues to $20.00 per person and $25.00 per family. Plan on voting on this at the December meeting, and bring your checkbooks to pay your dues for 2005.
HRB & TS Elections for
2005 Officers – C.J. Jones
Your Executive Board, assisted by emails from Club members, had put together this slate of officers from which to choose for 2005. At the December meeting, only 2004 dues paying personnel will be allowed to cast votes. Here are your nominees:
President: Tom Byrnes
Vice President: Mike Quanty and Richard Pidgeon
Treasurer: Doug Boyd
Competition Coordinator: John Mitchell and Chris Jones
Libeerian: Victor Perotti and Mike Pensinger
Additional nominations, declinations, etc. can be made by members in good standing (you paid your dues in 2004) at the December meeting next week.
Why aren’t we voting on Meeting Coordinator? Because it is an appointed, not an elected, position.
Possible HRB & TS Cup
Rule Changes – C.J. Jones
We’ve operated a Club “brewer of the year” contest for four years now. It can’t hurt to examine the operating rules every once in a while to see if they need tweaking. If you look at the Club’s web page discussion board, you can read some of the comments, predominantly made by Mike Pensinger and myself. All are welcomed to weigh in.
Right now, “entries shall be limited to one entry per recipe” per contest, meaning you can enter as many beers as you want in a style category, as long as they are different recipes. In the opinion of the majority of Club members over the last four years, this is the appropriate way to do business because it encourages and rewards brewing. We’ll revisit this in January 2005. A restriction idea does have some merit. We only have a handful of credentialed judges who happily participate by evaluating our monthly contest entries. Restricting the numbers of entries to some number less than “infinity” may get you a better evaluation of your beer because you’ll have fewer entries being judged per contest. If we do reduce the number of entries, what should we reduce the number of entries to? Here’s an idea. We can have a two tiered vote in January. First, do we need to restrict the number of entries per subcategory in our Club’s monthly contests, yes or no? If “yes” wins, then second, what should we restrict the number of entries to? At our last Executive Board meeting, we had three proposals submitted: three entries; two entries; or one entry. We can ponder all of this in January, 2005.
Right now, “entries will consist of 2 brown or green glass, 10 to 14 ounce bottles of brew ….” Realistically, if you bring your homebrew in a bleach jug, you can enter it in one of our contests, it doesn’t matter to us. Should we codify the style and size of beer vessel, and enforce it to the letter of the law, or scratch this requirement which has not been enforced? We can ponder this, too, in January, 2005.
Right now, our newly elected officers compose our brewing schedule for the upcoming year’s Club contests. We participate in some of the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) contests, but not all of them. Over the last three years, whenever we’ve scheduled a lager contest, participation has been minimal or nonexistent. For example, in 2003, we had two lager contests; we had no entries in one of them, and only one or two contest in the other. We thought that by having two lager styles in 2003, we would encourage lager brewing; it didn’t. So, if AHA wants to have contests in categories that we as a Club do not brew, do we always need to schedule contests for these particular styles? Think about it, and be prepared to discuss it in January.
Because we need to vote on a dues increase and have elections next month, we will not vote on these proposed changes until January, 2005. If you want to have a say, you’ll have to pay, dues that is, in December or January, prior to the vote.
The Meeting Location
Alle ist gut! Festhalten Ihren leiderhosen (hold on to your leiderhosen!) The Wednesday, December 1 meeting of the HRB&TS will be at the German Pantry in Norfolk. Wallace and Sieglinde Bow’les are the most hospitable of hosts and always give the HRB&TS a warm welcome.
Wallace suggested they do a buffet for us to allow more prompt service, and I think this will work out beautifully. Check this out: the buffet will have 4 kinds of wurst, 2 entrees (ramschnitzel and a rolled beef dish), hot and cold potato salad, sauerkraut, red cabbage, spaetzel, and a green salad. All this for $12! If you want to pay $14, a beer or other beverage is included! You may still order off the menu if you choose to. Such a deal! Wallace always takes good care of us. Family-run German restaurants like this are few and far between, and we are incredibly lucky to have the German Pantry as a meeting location. So, show up hungry and try some of the best wurst around. The buffet will begin at 7 pm, and the official club meeting starts at 7:30.
The Germany Pantry has 35+ German beers available, and 4 on tap: Paulaner Hefe-Weisse, Erdinger Hefe-Weisse, Warsteiner, Allgauer Cambonator Dopplebock, and Yuengling Lager. Yes, you will want to order some of the great German beers available at the German Pantry.
But don’t forget to BRING HOMEBREW!!! No commercial beers are permitted when we meet at restaurants, but homebrews are welcomed for sampling! Last month at Granby North only three people brought homebrew!! If you are a homebrewer, BRING HOMEBREW!! If you are not a homebrewer then buy some of the German Pantry’s groovy bottled beers and offer small (1 to 2 ounce) sampling pours around to fellow club members’ tasting cups. That way people can try a small amount of a variety of beers and our collective beer knowledge is enhanced.
The location is only a couple of minutes off I-64 and I-264, so it is an easy and convenient drive from anywhere in Hampton Roads or the Peninsula.
Address: 5329 Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk, 461-5100.
Directions:
From the Peninsula or Ocean View: Take I-64 East to Military Highway South exit. Follow Military Highway about a mile or two. Turn right onto Route 58/VA Beach Blvd. The German Pantry is on the left in just a minute.
From Norfolk, VA Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake - Take I-264 toward Military Highway. Take Military Highway North exit. About a mile down the road is the big intersection with Route 58/VA Beach Blvd. Take Rt 58/VA Beach Blvd westbound, toward Norfolk. The German Pantry is on the left in about a minute.
Norfolk Ghent/downtown easy alternative: Get on Virginia Beach Blvd (Rt 58); you pick it up at the intersection of Monticello and Olney near the Opera House. The German Pantry is in a strip shopping center on the right. You have to get in the service road that runs along the right of VA Beach Blvd. If you hit Military Hwy you’ve gone about a mile too far.
Competition Connection:
Well Victor Perrotti has maintained his status as the King of Barley Wine; his 2003 version of the whale rocked the house and took first place. Right behind him was Richard Pidgeon who had some very respectable entries. Our 4 judges faced the daunting task of judging 14 barley wines submitted by 9 brewers. It was very impressive that we had so many entries for a style that takes a long time to brew. It was a fitting conclusion to this year's HRBTS Cup. Our past president, Sammy Samoluk (founder of this competition) will smile as he reads this. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the members that have entered beers in our local competitions this year. Our contests have been better and more competitive as a result of your efforts. I look forward to your continued support of the HRBTS Cup next year.
The finalists of this contest are listed below:
First Place Victor Perrotti 35.25
Second Place: Richard Pidgeon 35.0
Third Place. Richard Pidgeon 33.75
If you would like to hold a judging meeting at your house, please let me know.
The HRBTS Cup rules are up for revision and will be voted on over the next few months. The current member proposals can be read on the discussion board at www.hrbts.org. You can also post your thoughts regarding these issues for fellow members to read.
Here are the final HRBTS Home Brewer of the Year points.
HRBTS CUP 2004 FINAL STANDINGS
|
BREWER |
CUMULATIVE POINTS |
|
Richard Pidgeon |
90 |
|
CJ/Diane |
68 |
|
Tom Byrnes |
27 |
|
Victor Perrotti |
27 |
|
OVBC (Mike Q, Rob, Erin, John and Catherine) |
24 |
|
Mike Pensinger |
19 |
|
Doug Boyd |
16 |
|
Rob Purcell |
10 |
|
Phil Swanson |
6 |
|
Will Walker |
5 |
|
Corey Pettiford |
2 |
|
Joe Rainer |
1 |
|
John Pearson |
1 |
|
Dodge Hickman |
1 |
Congratulations to out Homebrewer of the Year Richard Pidgeon.
Richard carved out an impressive victory. He consistently had several
entries each month for the contest. Retirement has been good for Richard, not
only did he pass the judges exam but he brewed the most beer in our club.
Richard has remodeled his garage to include a 25 cubic foot chest freezer, an
electric hoist to lift the carboys in and out of his freezer and a 3 tier
brewing system (currently under construction). We could be talking dynasty
here. All of his beers were of high quality with most if not all scores within
the very good range or above.
New Product If your chemistry knowledge impaired like me 5 Star Chemicals has just introduced a product that you may want to research. Their Ph stabilizer will lock in a Ph of 5.2 regardless of the starting Ph of your brewing or sparge water. The recommended dosage is 1 tsp per gallon.
New Feature: Mike
P. had created a new cool feature that allows member to email a digest that
will be distributed to all subscribed members. To take advantage of this
feature send an email to digest@hrbts.org.
Place the word subscribe in the subject line. This is an efficient way to ask
questions or share information with other members. Check it out.
Technical Presentations:
Homebrew USA has been holding technical presentations on brewing on the 3rd
Thursday of each month starting around 6:30pm and lasting around 2 hours. Past
presentations have included beer packaging, winemaking and all grain brewing.
These presentations have been fun and informative. Check the calendar section
of www.homebrewusa.com
or call Mike and Melissa for upcoming topics.
I would like to remind members that both Homebrew USA and Wine and Cake offer HRBTS members a 10% discount when you pay by cash or check. A similar discount is available at Homebrew.com. In order to qualify for these discounts you must have your dues paid up and be on the member list that Doug provides to these retailers.
Contest Since I’m typing in for Will (last seen in Blacksburg celebrating the Victory over UV, who) I wanted to pass on his idea for a contest. Will would like to change the name of this newsletter. To that end he will be taking suggestions from the membership. The winning entry as determined by Will and the officers will receive Free HRBTS membership for 1 year and a six-pack of Celebration Ale. Send those entries to Will.
Bonvivant Market
This little piece of Belgium in Smithfield had several Christmas Gift Sets
available on a recent trip. They include: St Bernardus Abt 12 750ml-$15, Val
Dieu Brown & Triple 750ml with glass $23 ,La Binchoise Brune &
Blonde 750ml's with glass $24, Corsendonk Brown & Pale 12oz w/glass $15,
Val Dieu Winter 2- 750's with glass $23, Belzebuth 4-12oz with 2 glasses
$21, Watou Triple 4/11.4 and 1 glass $18, Corsendonk Christmas 8-11.4 oz
and glass $25 Also coming this Wednesday, not sure of the price or sizes Three
Floyd's Alpha Klaus Ommegang Gift Sets Duvel
These sets would make the perfect gift for the discriminating beer
drinker .They also
have the current year of Thomas Hardy Ale. Check them out.