The Brewsletter
April 2005
The Official Newsletter of the Hampton Roads Brewing & Tasting Society (HRB & TS)
The
President’s Podium – Tom Byrnes
Last month we met at St. George Brewing Company in Hampton. Many thanks to Andy Rathman for his informative tour and open taps. All who attended left happy. Andy treated us to his IPA, Porter, Wheat and Golden Ale, which were superb. I’m becoming a fan of his Golden Ale, which is really a pale ale. St. George beers are showing up in various restaurants and supermarkets in our area. Be sure to drink local and ask for them. We also welcomed Steve Jones, Vice President of CASK, in Williamsburg. Hope this will be the start of some joint ventures between our clubs.
The beginning of spring renews interest in brewing lighter, hoppier, lawnmower-types of beers. The smell of fruit was in the air last week at Richard Pidgeon’s house as we hosted a very tight Fruit Beer and Cider competition. Check out the Competition Corner for details on that. Looking at our brewing schedule I notice that we have some new and exciting beers to brew and drink for this summer. Besides mead, which has always been a club favorite, we have Pale Ale, Belgian, French ale and Lager. Personally, I’m excited to brew something new, exciting and different. Spring is also a time for cleaning, so be sure to remember to donate any brewing items that you have replaced or don’t need anymore. Just bring them to Mellissa for use in our raffles.
This spring also bring a variety of activities that are sure to please the beer lover. The premier event of course is the AHA Conference in Baltimore, which is selling out fast, so act now if you plan to go. The highlights feature club night and a crab and regional microbrew pairing. Upcoming national and regional homebrewing contests include the National Homebrew competition, Dominion Cup in Richmond and the US Open in Charlotte. There will also be a contest in Greenville NC.
Want to settle in to some good spring books? Farmhouse Ales makes one fantasize about moving to a log cabin and brew Saisons and Bier de gardes. This will also get you psyched for the August contest.
Want to walk on the wild side? Wild Brews will be available this June to discuss spontaneously fermented brews. In case you haven’t seen one lately he last two issues of Zymurgy have significantly improved. Articles on Belgian brewing, artisanal beers, organic brewing and a beer drinking tour of Denmark have been interesting and informative. Brew Your Own continues to be a quality publication.
Want to drink locally? The Town Point Park beer festival will take place in May as will the River City Festival in Richmond.
Want to brew National Homebrew Day? Group brewing will be at Homebrew USA. There are some new hop varieties, yeast nutrients and grains to stimulate your brewing creativity.
Yes, spring is about beer. Please start your spring and post-Easter celebrations by attending our April meeting. I’m sure you’ll love the great location Diane has in store for us. Well,. all of this talk of beer requires a homebrew.
See you soon, Tom.
The Next Meeting Location – Diane Catenzaro
April
6 Meeting at The Bier Garden!
The Wednesday, April 6 meeting will be at the fabulous Bier Garden in Portsmouth! ONLY the FINEST beer selection in Hampton Roads! This family-owned German-style Bistro has a stupendous selection of German and Belgian beers and ales. Right now, on tap, they have St. Bernardus Abt 12, Dupont Saison, Celebrator, Lindeman’s Framboise, Schneider EdelWeisse, Schneider Aventinus, Koenig-Ludwig HefeWeisse, Arrogant Bastard, La Chouffe, and more. In the bottle they have beers representing all the Trappist breweries (Rochefort, Westmalle, Chimay, Orval, Achtel, and, amazingly, the elusive and rare Westvleteren!) Also, several gueuzes, including Hanssen Oud Gueuze and Cantillon, beers by De Dolle (the Mad Brewers of Esen…I just visited this brewery on my trip to Belgium last month and found the family to be super-hospitable and the beers righteous), Mestreech’s Aajt (a Flemish sour), Verhaeghe’s Echte Kriekenbier (the Duchess’ fruity little brother), and lots-lots more. The Duchess herself may make an appearance, although she was not available last weekend. Check the beer list on the Bier Garden website at www.biergarden.com, although they do not always have everything on the list; many of these beers are hard to get. Choose a few backups!
Meeting begins 7:30 but show up as early as 7 to get a head start on dinner. This is a meeting worth getting to early, and leaving late! The meeting will be held either on the patio (if the weather is nice and the walls opened) or in part of the main dining room. We will not be in the “former bar room” because this room is now too small and somewhat unfinished due to renovation construction. You will definitely want to eat dinner here, as the prices are very good and the food goes so well with beer! Many German specialties including bratwurst, knackwurst, bauernwurst, weinerschnitzel, leberkaese (German meatloaf), sauerbraten, linsen spatzel, and strammer max. Ok, I admit I don’t know what most of these things are! My favorite is the vegetarian “special spaetzel” which is spaetzel with sautéed mushrooms and onions and melted cheese….very tasty and it costs $7. I am also very fond of the pickled herring. More familiar items include hamburgers, various sandwiches (reuben, chicken, turkey, veggie burgers, etc.), salads, cheese and fruit plate. See the menu on the website! Come early and have a leisurely dinner with some great beer!
Located at 434 High St. in Olde Town Portsmouth (393-6022), right across from the Commodore Theater. This location is central to all of Hampton Roads and the Peninsula.
From VA Beach: Take 264 W to the Downtown Tunnel. Stay in tunnel right lane and take first exit, at Effingham St. Stay on Effingham several blocks, then turn right on High St. The Bier Garden is at the corner of High and Dinwiddle. To park, turn right off High St. at end of block, onto Court St. Take the 2nd right onto County St. See free parking lot on your right. There is also on-street parking.
From the Peninsula: Take the Monitor-Merrimac toward Portsmouth. Take exit 9 onto Rt 164 toward Portsmouth. This: Merge onto VA‑164 E via exit number 9 toward PORTSMOUTH. After 164 turns to a single lane due to construction, Turn RIGHT onto VA‑164/MT VERNON AVE. In a few minutes, Turn LEFT onto US‑58 E/LONDON BLVD. Continue to follow LONDON BLVD. for 1.61 miles. Next, turn RIGHT onto EFFINGHAM ST, then quickly Turn LEFT onto HIGH ST and look for the 400 block. Parking tips are above.
From Norfolk: Take the Downtown Tunnel to Portsmouth and exit onto Effingham Street right after the tunnel. Follow directions above under ‘Va Beach.’ OR instead take the Midtown Tunnel, once through the tunnel keep straight/left toward Rt 58, once you hit High Street turn left and it is a couple of miles up High Street.
From Chesapeake: Pretend you are going to take the Downtown Tunnel to Norfolk, but exit before the tunnel onto Effingham Street. Take Effingham toward Old Town Portsmouth, turn right on High Street and look for the 400 block.
All others: visit www.mapquest.com!
Treasurers Report – Mellissa Pensinger
Well Spring is finally rearing its head! I am so glad for the warmer weather. We are continuing to recieve reaffle gifts from friends and suppliers but need the club members to continue to bring in unwanted items as well. If you are out and about and see something you think the other members might like, pick it up, we will put it in the raffle. Don't forget about the "Silent Auction" raffle gifts for Octobers meeting as well.
We currently have $1282.05 in the bank. We collected $295.00 in membership dues in Feb/March. The club has a few new members that we would like to say welcome to:
Clifford Creech
Cameron Cuskey
JP & Patti Messier
Keith Miller
Janice & Bill Whorton
Beer Abounds, So Go Grab Some – C. Jones
I’ve been touring the area as of late, partaking of a beverage hither and yon, and thought I ought to tell you what’s new in the area, or at least what’s new by me.
The Farm Fresh by the Virginia Beach TCC campus continues to
bring in killer beers. New to that
location is Weyerbacher Heresy Imperial
Stout and their Raspberry Imperial Stout.
There’s a whole mess of Victory beers there: Golden Monkey; Old Horizontal barley wine; Prima Pils; and Hop
Devil. Dominion has some new stuff
there, including their Millennium and their Spring Brew, an Imperial
Pilsner. I’m not the biggest pilsner
fan, but this is a BIG pilsner, and at 8+ % ABV, it kept my attention. James, the beer guy at this location, told
me he also grabbed a few more Belgians, Gulden Draak, Tripel Karmeliet,
and Deus Brut de Flandres. (Ed. Note: James also brought in a new
Stoudt’s creation, Double IPA, that brought this editor to his figurative knees
after but one bottle)
Diane and I visited Bon Vivant in Smithfield, and came home with a bevy of beers from Mike Adams, including Duchess de Bourgogne, four or five different American imperial stouts, and Lion Stout from Sri Lanka (four bucks for a big bottle). According to Michael Jackson (the beer guy, not the freak) Lion Stout is characterized by “pruney, mocha aromas and flavors; tar-like oiliness of body; and a peppery, bitter-chocolate finish.” Sounds OK to me.
The Biergarden in Portsmouth (site of our next meeting) is in the middle of a renovation that will increase their size by about 100%. Saturday night, they had St. Bernardis ABT 12 on tap (dreamily delicious) and Rochefort 8 in bottles.
Cogan’s had a keg of Dogfishhead 60 Minute Pale Ale on tap last week. That beer rocks!
The Total Wine stores carry Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout. I hadn’t had one in four or five years, so I bought a six pack, and boy, the flavor is still impressive. If you’ve never had one, why wait?
The Colley Cantina continues to have an eye-popping selection of pale ales on tap, including the very hoppy Three Floyds Alpha King Pale Ale, the magnificently malty Arrogant Bastard from Stone Brewing, and the so very delicious Stone India Pale Ale.
(Ed. Note: The following shameless plug is an unpaid solicitation to the Brewsletter)
Say, looking for a new watering hole that gives you the opportunity to hear Tidewater’s Best Blues Band? Come to D. C. Chase’s, located at 20th Street and Debree Avenue in the Ghent section of Norfolk on Saturday, April 9, 2005. My band, Fat Tony, will be playing the blues from 9:30 PM until exactly 12:37 AM, and we’ll be sipping a few beers, too.
Speaking of beers, Oskar Blues, the folks who bring you Dale’s Pale Ale and Old Chubb, has a new local distributor. They can sometimes result in your favorite grocer or tavern running out of either of these two beers because they may not know whom to call to get more. If you hear of anyone being “Dale’s-challenged”, let me know, and I’ll have the distributor get in touch with them. Sometimes you need a great canned beer.
I’ll keep you posted as I discover new “finds”.
2005 HRB & TS Beer of the Month Schedule – C.J. Jones
Cut this out and tape it to your refrigerator along with those pictures drawn by your children!
|
Month (2005 unless stated
otherwise) |
Beer style name & 2004
BJCP beer style category number |
Beer judging date ;
usually two weeks before Club meeting) |
Winner goes to an AHA Club
Only Contest? |
|
January |
Spiced
Beers (21) |
15
December 2004 |
|
|
February
|
Strong
Belgian ales (18) |
26
January 2005 |
|
|
March |
Brown
ales (10C & 11) |
16
February 2005 |
|
|
April
|
Fruit
(20) & Cider (27 & 28) |
23
March 2005 |
|
|
May |
Extract
(all) |
20
April 2005 |
Yes |
|
June |
Mead
(24-26) |
18
May 2005 |
|
|
July |
Dale’s
Pale Ale clone (n/a) |
22
June 2005 |
|
|
August |
Belgian/French
ale (16) |
20
July 2005 |
Yes |
|
September |
Lagers
(all) |
24
August 2005 |
Yes,
for European Amber Lagers (3) |
|
October |
Stouts
(13 A-E, not F) |
21
September 2005 |
|
|
November |
Porter
(12) |
19
October 2005 |
Yes,
for Baltic Porter (12C) |
|
December |
Holiday
ales (21B) |
23
November 2005 |
|
|
January
2006 |
Imperial
Stout (13F) & Imperial Pale Ale (14C) |
21
December 2005 |
|
|
February
2006 |
Doppelbock
(5C) and Barleywine (19B & 19C) |
18
January 2006 |
|
Competition Corner for April 2005, Fruit Beers and Cider – John Mitchell
We had an interesting flight of two ciders and nine fruit beers. The judges endured what is always a challenging category to judge due to the brewer’s freedom allowed in the fruit beer category. The OVBC came out on top with a blueberry/raspberry IPA. In second was Phil Swanson with an apricot wheat, and Victor Perrotti took third with a New England cider. It was a close contest. First place was 34.2 and third was 33, with most achieving at least 28.
2005 HRB & TS Cup Standings (as
of 3/29/05)
|
Name of Brewer(s) |
Total Points Accumulated |
|
C.J. & Diane Catanzaro |
9 |
|
The OVBC |
5 |
|
Tom Byrnes |
4 |
|
Victor Perrotti |
4 |
|
Phil Swanson |
2 |
|
Cory Pettiford |
1 |
|
You could be here …. |
GET BREWING |
Upcoming Regional Competitions – John Mitchell
Charlotte, 4/23 US Open – Info at www.carolinabrewmasters.com My former club, and home club of the owners of Homebrew Adventures. .About 150 entries.
Dominion Cup, 4/30, Richmond Info at ww.jrhomebrewers.org
Chantilly, 5/14, Spirit of Free Beer by BURP. Info from sofborganizer@earthlink.net.
Down East Alers DEA Challenge, Greenville, NC, June 11
Entry Guidelines – John Mitchell
I’m reposting this to emphasize that beers submitted need to include the entry information on a piece of paper submitted with each entry. This will minimize the confusion and delays associated with entries that don’t have a written form.
There is a new contest entry form on the hrbts.org site. This form can be used for all of our monthly contests. Most contests require only the Brewer’s and Entry information. Certain categories require the additional detail on the second half of the form. If you choose not to use the form on the website, the following information must be submitted in some manner with the entry to ensure the beer is judged according to the brewer’s wishes and attribution is given to the correct brewers: Name of all brewers, name of the entry (in case the same brewer has more than one), category and subcategory number and printed name according to the current AHA/BJCP style guidelines.
Winners are encouraged to submit the recipe form to the webmaster for posting to hrbts.org so others can share in the fruits of victory.
Member Of The Month – Mellissa Pensinger
Cory Pettiford has been a member of HRBTS for
just over a year now. Cory started
brewing like many people do with the
“Mr. Beer” System. He was out
looking for “stuff” for his Mr. Beer Kit when he saw Virginia Beach Homebrew
Hobbies, stopped in and discovered a new world of brewing beer. His adventure started!
Cory is an extract brewer with the hopes of turning to all grain soon. As we all know with the Mr. Beer system, you can make drinkable beer but Cory says, “I wanted to make better beer”. I asked Cory what he has learned along the way to make brewing easier… he told me he always makes a yeast starter and that recipe’s are just guidelines… for him half the fun is playing with the recipe’s and inventing brews of his own. When Cory first started extract brewing he did not use hop or grain bags, he now uses them always and says that is the biggest change he has made so far. Cory’s brewing “goal” is to finish building his all electric RIMS system in time for Big Brew. His favorite style of beers is anything Belgian. Cory won 3rd place in HRBTS’ Belgian beer contest in January.
Cory’s favorite commercial beer is Chimay Blue, his least favorite is Miller Lite. .
Cory is in the US Army. He is a musician and loves what he does. Cory is currently single and also plays in a local band names Lemondish, as a lead guitarist and he loves computers. Cory has 3 children; Ben 18, Mike 15, & Kayla 13. He and his family live in Norfolk, VA.
Recipes o’ the month – Will Walker
|
Beer: |
Cherry Garcia Cream Porter |
Style: |
Robust Porter |
||||
|
Type: |
Extract w/grain |
Size: |
5.5 gallons |
||||
|
Color: |
|
Bitterness: |
23 IBU |
||||
|
OG: |
1.075 |
FG: |
1.025 |
||||
|
Alcohol: |
6.5% v/v (5.1% w/w) |
||||||
|
Water: |
Bottled Artesian Spring Water |
||||||
|
Grain: |
0.75 lb. American chocolate |
||||||
|
Steep: |
25 mins @ 150F |
||||||
|
Boil: |
70 minutes |
SG 1.118 |
3.5 gallons |
||||
|
3.50 lb. Amber malt extract |
|||||||
|
1 tsp Irish Moss, 3/4 tsp yeast nutrient |
|||||||
|
Hops: |
1 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 70 min.) |
||||||
|
Yeast: |
WLP001, from 2L starter |
||||||
|
Log: |
Brewed 8/2/2004. No racking. Cherries were frozen, thawed,
and pressed just to break the skin, then steeped at 160F for 15 minutes.
Added directly to primary after cooling. |
||||||
|
Carbonation: |
3/4 cup corn sugar at bottling. |
||||||
|
Tasting: |
Creamy, chocolatey, smoky, only a hint of cherries.
Smokiness becomes more pronounced with bottle aging. A 22 ozer of this is a
complete meal replacement! |
||||||
|
Beer: |
Razzie Pale Rider |
Style: |
Fruit beer |
|
||||||
|
Type: |
All grain |
Size: |
12 gallons |
|
||||||
|
Color: |
|
Bitterness: |
22 IBU |
|
||||||
|
OG: |
1.036 |
FG: |
1.008 |
|
||||||
|
Alcohol: |
3.6% v/v (2.8% w/w) |
|
||||||||
|
Grain: |
10 lb. British pale |
|
||||||||
|
Mash: |
85% efficiency |
|
||||||||
|
|
This beer is my first fruit beer |
||||||||
|
Boil: |
90 minutes |
SG 1.031 |
14 gallons |
|
||||||
|
|
Irish Moss at 20 Minutes. |
||||||||
|
Hops: |
1 oz. Fuggles (4.75% AA, 60 min.) |
|
||||||||
|
Yeast: |
Wyeast #1056 starter ( 3 liter) |
|
||||||||
About the HRB & TS
The Hampton Roads Brewing and Tasting Society is dedicated to promoting the enjoyment of home brewing. The annual dues are $20 per individual and $25 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.