The Brewsletter
June 2005
The
Official Newsletter of the
The
President’s Podium – Tom Byrnes
Well, May was a good month indeed for homebrew. First, I understand the meeting at Rob’s was very successful and brought in several new members. Thanks to Rob for welcoming us into his backyard. Second was the very successful Hampton Roads Beer Festival, with a Club gathering organized and hosted by our two “Honorary Hopheads”, CJ and Diane. The club booth was outstanding, fronted by our brand new banner donated by Jason Kuller of Signs By Tomorrow. Thanks Jason. Yes Hampton Roads loves homebrew, Mike Pensinger reported that the beer line for his store and the club was longer than Dogfish Head! The only problem was that we ran out of beer in 90 minutes. Next year we’ll have a brewing session to brew more beer for this event. We finished the month with our mead contest, 13 entries with 4 judges and a great variety of product. I think Doug is still recovering from my chocolate mead!! It was also nice to see Rob Purcell again. As I was judging I was thinking that we should enter more regional and national mead contests. Our meads are very competitive. You’ll have a wide variety to sample at the meeting.
This month also marks the mid way point for this current group of officers and since nobody is screaming “Impeachment!” yet, I guess we’re doing ok. Recently a member approached me and said that he loved the tasting but what have we done for his brewing lately? Yikes!, That age old conflict reemerges. So I’m asking for member feedback. How would you like to see HRBTS address the brewing issue? What would you like to see at the meeting that’s currently missing? Or Are you happy with the current meeting format. Please email me at president@hrbts.org or kmstfb2@exis.net with your comments and suggestions. I’ll bring responses to the next officers meeting.
Congratulations to Mike Pensinger for his outstanding performance in the Dominion Cup contest. I believe that he won 2 first place and 1-second place ribbons. Glad to see somebody is giving CASK some competition at this event. I also wanted to congratulate Steve Jones of CASK for winning best of show among other ribbons. You will remember that Steve attended our March meeting.
Several of our members have been
traveling lately. Richard was in Chicago, Will and Jonna were in
Next
Meeting Location – Diane Catanzaro
Get ready for big fun sugarlips…..it’s the HRB&TS’ annual MEAD-ing!!! Our June 1 meeting will be a celebration of the fruit of the bee, the elixir that put the honey in “honeymoon”, that medieval honeywine that created such a buzz in the days of Beowulf…..
We will meet at Tom and Kate Byrnes' home in Ocean View, on their porch, which is blessed with a lovely bay breeze. Thanks once again to Tom and Kate for hosting our annual tribute to the elixir of the gods and goddesses. A bottle of your finest mead or homebrew would be a lovely token of esteem for our noble hosts.
For those of you who want to get medieval, or maybe just get wet, the hot tub will be ready to go. Bring a bathing suit and towel!! Whether you like it sweet, dry, spiced, fruity, tart or traditional…. methoglin or melomel….still or petillant…..braggot or pyment (that’s fancy mead talk)…..you may just meet the mead of your dreams....
Speaking of mead, I am hoping that those who entered meads in the mead contest will bring some of their meads to share!! Personally speaking, judging the club’s annual mead contest last Wednesday was just an amazing, wonderful experience. The range of creative meads brewed by club members is outstanding. Imagine, being required to taste each and every one of them! Let’s just say it was a privilege, not a chore! Traditional mead, heather mead, ginger-coriander mead, maple mead, vanilla mead, chocolate mead, ginger-cinnamon-orange peel mead, pyment, apricot mead, braggot, cherry braggot…. .And of course any mead is welcomed at the meeting, whether it was in the contest or not. Also, nothing wrong with bringing some commercial mead, homebrew, or commercial beer. After a bunch of mead you might want a little hops to balance things out!
A
Selection of Mead Inspired Music
(found
these in an old newsletter thought you’d enjoy them) J
MEAD
LET
MEAD ENTERTAIN YOU ~ Ethel Merman’s inspiring anthem to mead
HONEY,
I MEAD YOU ~ Bobby Goldsboro’s tender ode
HELLO,
IT’S MEAD ~ Todd Rundgren discovers the joys of honey, water and
yeast
MEAD THE BEATLES ~John, Paul, George and Ringo’s first albulm
LET
IT MEAD ~ The beatles final disc (and timeless mead tribute)
WALKING’
AFTER MEAD NIGHT ~ Patsy Cline’s woeful tale of over indulgence
Miscellaneous Beer News Items – C. J. Jones
The Virginia Beer Festival was a rousing success, and a pretty good time. There were great beers, lost cars (temporarily lost), wind-blown educational displays, and probably the finest collection of beers to sip that you’ll ever find in Tidewater at one time. Plan on attending this annual event next year; it’ll be around May 14, 2006.
As reported in this week’s New York Times, if you administer kudzu extract to a heavy beer drinker (for testing purposes, a person who usually knocks back five or six in one sitting while watching TV), the individual drinks almost fifty percent less beer. Kudzu extract apparently enhances the effect of alcohol, so the Barcalounging drinker needs less to get that good feeling. No word on whether or not the kudzu makes them grow a foot a day.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down state bans on wine shipments directly to the consumer. Although the bans specifically mentioned “wine”, it makes sense that this will also remove the ban on beer shipments as well. Yippee!
And finally, there was on “on air” beer tasting last week on
National Public Radio, featuring none other than Michael Jackson, live from a
See you later on, beer brethren.
Treasurers Report
~ Mellissa Pensinger
Balance from last
meeting: 1307.91
Richard Pidgeon (cups) 7.60
Deposit 93.11
Check Works (checks) 18.80
Mike Pensinger (bus.cards) 29.79
Richard Pidgeon (cups) 5.55
Diane Catanzaro (copies) 4.12
Balance as of
5/27/05 1320.60
NEW MEMBERS:
Ron & Jeannine Jones from
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 |
|
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 June 2005, Meads– C.J. Jones
Last Wednesday (5/18/05) we convened the judging for our mead
contest at the home of “me and D”, the home Diane and I share in
So the table was set; fifteen entries, and only one winner. The big question – which person would spill the first mead. The answer came quickly. No, it wasn’t Doug; Doug can only spill dark beverages. No, in this case, it was the evening’s hostess, Diane, who tipped the first glass. One that was out of the way, the judging commenced. Three hours later, after the dust had settled, here’s how things stood:
So, tallying the HRBTS Cup votes, that’s three points for Diane and I, two points for Tom Byrnes, and one for Phil Swanson.
Last month, Mike Pensinger won a first place ribbon at the
12th Annual Dominion Cup contest in
Our next contest is our Dale’s Pale Ale contest, so get your entries ready for that. Happy brewing.
2005 HRB & TS Cup Standings (as of
5/20/05)
|
Name of Brewer(s) |
Total Points Accumulated |
|
C.J. & Diane Catanzaro |
15 |
|
Mike Pensinger |
7 |
|
Tom Byrnes |
6 |
|
The OVBC |
5 |
|
Victor Perrotti |
4 |
|
Phil Swanson |
3 |
|
Richard Pigeon |
2 |
|
Cory Pettiford |
1 |
|
Doug Boyd |
1 |
|
You could be here …. |
GET BREWING |
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
Visit the HRB & TS online at www.hrbts.org.