Home Imbrewment

The Brewsletter

July 2005

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

www.hrbts.org

The President’s Podium – Tom Byrnes

Welcome to July; the month that the AHA has designated as American Beer Month, a sort of second Independence Day, liberating our palates from the light lager style that has dominated the beer scene. Indeed, through the craft brew movement, we have traded in our corn and rice for a variety of malts and hops that exploded on our palates.

Club members: we encourage you to make it a point to purchase American beers this month and share them with your friends. While statistics indicate that the craft brew movement is on the rise, so is the massive consolidation in the brewing industry. Clearly, three mega-brewers are competing to dominate the landscape by purchasing small local breweries and influencing their distributor network to carry their mass-produced products. Recently the business section of the Virginian Pilot featured an article on the renewed popularity of beer that our fathers and grandfathers drank. The time is now for supporting our craft brewers and to cast our vote for uniquely American artisanal Ales. Our club honors this month by designating July’s BOTM as Dale’s Pale Ale clone.. Dale’s is a uniquely American beer that is full of hop flavor. It’s also one of the first craft brews to be packaged in a can.

We want to thank Andy Rathman head brewer of St. George Brewing Company and club member for bringing quality English style craft brews to our area. Thanks Andy, we hoist a glass of your Golden Ale or IPA in your honor. We would also like to thank our local brewshops, Homebrew USA and Wine Cake and Hobbies, for their continued support of our club. Club members are reminded that it’s important to both drink and brew locally and to support these fine merchants that support you.

Last month also brought the AHA National Convention to Baltimore where a new attendance record was set. Hopefully, this will bring more events and festivals to the (Y)east coast. Some of our alumni were also in attendance: Sammy Samoluk, past president, now a member of HRBTS sout,h came from Florida and George Bach, currently president of Northern Libations Association, dropped in from suburban Baltimore., It was really great to these guys again and relive some old HRBTS memories. I think the convention sparked a renewed passion for craft beer and brewing. Look for more on this convention in an article from CJ.

Finally, I wanted members to know of my intention to boycott Hilltop Brewing for comments made in the June/July 2005 issue of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News. Referring to the Virginia Beer Festival and residents of Norfolk as “yahoos,” Kurt Fuhrich continues to prove that he is not interested in the growth of craft beer in this area. These comments also serve to discourage other brewpubs from entering this market since they were made in a regional publication that exceeds 45,000 copies . I have concluded that Mr. Fuhrich does not deserve my business and that an apology is in order.

July Meeting Location – Diane Catanzaro

The July 6 meeting of the HRB&TS will be at our home in Ghent. Official meeting time is 7:30 but feel free to come at 7 or a bit earlier if you like. We’ll meet in our courtyard out in the back-forty (feet) and sip homebrew in the shade of the hackberry tree. Late night we might be able to enjoy some toad-petting, but it depends on if the toads are in the mood. Feel free to bring a sleeping bag and you can camp out overnight and drive home after a nice breakfast of cage-free eggs and faux bacon.

If you are a homebrewer, bring homebrew (of course)!!!!

If you are a taster (a club member who does not homebrew) please bring some commercial/artisanal American microbrews or imported (say, from Belgium) ales to share. Summer home-based meetings are the only ones where tasters can bring beer to share with club members (since we can’t bring commercial beers into restaurants). Turn us on to something you like, or buy something adventurous and different we can sample together! We are a brewing & tasting society! So some homebrew and some do not, but all can bring beer to share and sample and expand our beer horizons.

AHA National Homebrewers Conference “C.J.” Jones & Diane Catanzaro

The National Homebrewers Conference was held 16-18 June 2005 in Baltimore, MD. It promised to be three days of beer education, beer tasting, and homebrew celebration. Was it? Absolutely! This event was a great time for many reasons, primarily beer drinking, beer education, and immersion in beer culture. Fourteen HRB&TS members attended the conference, including Sammy Samoluk who now lives in Pensacola (but is still a club member). Two former club members, George Bach and Lyle Brown, who now live in the DC/Baltimore metro area also attended, and it was nice to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.

There was a fantastic range of exciting homebrews to drink and enjoy. Club Night was Thursday night, where about 20 homebrewing clubs had set up and decorated tables with various ‘themes’, to better serve the kegs of homebrews and meads that their members have made (and in many cases lugged cross-country!) There was beer from all over the USA, and all of it was delicious. Lots of creative ‘out of the box’ brews from some very talented brewers. Chris fell in love with an orange-ginger-cinnamon ale from some of the Boulder, CO homebrewers. Diane went head over heels for a seductive coffee-vanilla porter from the on-line BrewBoard club. Other interesting beers were too numerous to mention (ok, too numerous to remember), but I do recall that Lyle Brown brought a tasty smoked rauchbier and somebody made a lychee mead with fresh fruit that was pretty amazing. Some trends noted are more homebrewers using brettanomyces and other ‘wild’ Belgian yeast strains, and more homebrewers using oak barrels to age their beers. The results were some complex and amazing beers that rival anything commercial brewers are making.

If you didn’t get enough homebrew during Club Night, there was a hospitality suite open from 0900 until 0300 every day of the conference, and homebrew was always on tap. Over the course of the weekend it was great to meet and share homebrews with folks from other homebrewing clubs, such as FOAM Rangers (Texas), MALT (Maryland), the Urban Knaves of Grain (Illinois), the Chicago Beer Society, and Virginia clubs such as BURP, CASK, and the Wort Hogs. Our nomination for best club name: ZZ Hops.

The judging sessions and the lectures were educational and informative. Both Tom Byrnes and Diane Catanzaro represented us in the judging arena as BJCP certified judges. Tom, weighing in at 200 pounds, got stuck judging American Light Swill Style lagers, or something like that, while Diane, weighing in at 115 pounds, was blessed with Belgian Strong ales to judge. That must be a rule – give the biggest beers to the lightest person to judge. (DC’s note: Ok by me!!)

The lectures were informative, and very entertaining. Sam Caligione (he’s the owner and creative force behind Dogfish Head) gave an entertaining talk about how he got started brewing historical beers based on a biochemical analysis of dregs found in shards of crockery unearthed by University of Pennsylvania archeologists in a 2700 year-old tomb thought to belong to the ruler who may have been the basis of the King Midas legend. Molecular archeologist Pat McGowan of Penn asked Sam to create a beer based on this chemical residue that included thyme honey, white Muscat grapes, saffron, and rice, which has developed into Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch ale. If you ask me (I realize nobody did, but here I go…) Sam Calagione is pretty close to King Midas as it seems everything he touches turns to gold! He is currently beginning to produce very limited quantities of what he calls “Chateau Jiahu” or “Chateau Jizhou”), based on liquid found preserved in caldrons flattened in some tomb cave-in 9000 years ago in China.

Chateau Jizhou is made from sticky-fermented-rice mold-cake (don’t ask), barley, honey, hawthorn fruit, chrysanthemum flowers, grapes, and a sake yeast. We got to try it during Sam’s talk and it is quite tasty, similar to a gueuze with a refreshing sour flavor. I wish it was commercially available, as I would definitely buy some!

Sam did a “meet-and-greet”, autographing his new book, “Brewing Up A Business”. There were other authors present, too. Both Phil Markowski, author of Farmhouse Ales, and Jeff Sparrow, author of Wild Brews (two excellent new books from Brewers Publications) were present and more than happy to autograph their tomes to homebrewing.

If homebrew and an education weren’t enough for you, Friday night was Pro Brewers Night, and the joint was jumping with great commercial beers, including the always delicious Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, some meads from the Redstone Meadery in CA, and a wide variety of Mid-Atlantic brewed beers.

The host city, Baltimore, has more than its share of temples to beer and we spent some quality time visiting Max’s on Broadway, The Wharf Rat, The Brewer’s Art, and DuClaw Brewing Company. Get in your car, or jump on the train, and get to Baltimore for a suds-soaked weekend. You will not be disappointed.

Next June the AHA Conference will be in Orlando, and it would be great to have a strong contingent of HRB&TS members attend. You’ll be favorably impressed with the brewing camaraderie that one finds with other homebrewers from across the country, and the wealth of knowledge about homebrewing that can be gained from this conference. Beer drinking, and beer thinking. It doesn’t get much better than that, my friends.

Directions: Take I-64 to the Northampton Blvd exit. (or, I-264 to I-64 W to the Northampton Blvd exit). Stay on Northampton Blvd about 5-6 minutes, then take the Shore Drive exit (the last exit before Ches-Bay Bridge Tunnel). You bear right onto Shore Drive, but then get immediately in the far left lane and take the first left onto Greenwell Rd. Follow Greenwell for ½ mile, see long gravel driveway on right and HRBTS picnic sign. Please call if you get lost or if it looks like a possible rain date may be called: (757) 363-8726 or (757) 469-8466.

Miscellaneous Brew Bits – “C. J.” Jones

Here are three new books that beer lovers need to read:

Brewing Up A Business: adventures in entepreneurship from the founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, by Sam Calagione (2005, John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, N.J., $24.95);

Farmhouse Ales – Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition, by Phil Markowski (2005, Brewers Publications, $17.95); and

Wild Brews – beer beyond the influence of Brewers Yeast, by Jeff Sparrow (2005, Brewers Publications, $17.95).

Need to go on a peaceful, beer-filled, somewhat expensive vacation? How about the Dogfish Head 360 degree Experience, a two day weekend in scenic Delaware. Your weekend includes: a guided tour of the Dogfish Head brewery in Milton, DE; two nights in the Brewmaster’s Suite at the Inn at Canal Square in historic Lewes, DE; all sorts of Dogfish Head goodies to enjoy while you’re there; a Saturday evening boat tour on board the S.S. Dogfish to the Dogfish Head Brewing and Eats Brewpub in Rehoboth, DE; a fifty buck gift certificate to spend while you’re in there; and finally, transportation back to your Brewmaster’s Suite. This might be the perfect birthday, anniversary, or whatever gift for your other half.

In the New York Times on 6/29/05, a tasting panel dove head-first into 24 pale ales in an attempt to decide which were the best to sip on a hot summer day. Which beer finished on top? Dale’s Pale Ale. Go to the Times web site (www.nytimes.com), go to Dining and Wine, and read “Ales of the Times – Crisp, complex and Refreshing”.

Want to go do a little primitive camping in August? If you can swing camping sans running water or electricity, but want to be surrounded by lots of homebrewers, each of whom is packing a keg of great beer, come to BURP’s MASHOUT on 8/20/05. It only costs $25.00 per person, and ought to be a good time; more info at their web page (http://www.burp.org/).

Have a hankering to enter one of your beers in an out-of-town contest? MALT (Maryland Ale and Lager Technicians are having their Turkey Shoot homebrew competition in mid-November 2005; more info at their web site (www.maltclub.com).

Need to go to a beer festival, but don’t want to wait until the next one in Town Point Park next May? Try the Charlotte, NC, Octoberfest (www.charlotteoktoberfest.com); folks in NC can make pork BBQ, so maybe they can make a decent bratwurst

And finally, need to find a place to hear a great blues band while sipping a malted beverage? Drop in and listen to my band, Fat Tony, at D. C. Chase’s, located at the corner of 20^th Street and Debree Ave in Norfolk’s Ghent on Saturday, 7/2/05. From 9:30 PM until sometime much later, we’ll be giving you quality music to drink beer to. My guess is that the more you sip, the better we sound ….

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, June 2005, Dale’s pale ale contest – “C.J.” Jones

On June 22, we convened a panel of judges to separate the wheat from the chaff, and judged homebrewed versions of Dale’s Pale Ale, the deliciously hoppy pale ale brewed in Lyons, CO by Oskar Blues. A panel of four judges, Richard Pigeon, Tom Byrnes, Diane Catanzaro and Doug Boyd tasted the beers and compared them to a benchmark Dale’s purchased at Gene Walter’s Marketplace in Ghent. To minimize the risk to furniture of spilled beer, and to enjoy our unusually pleasant June weather, we judged in our backyard.

We had six entries. Four were judged to be closer to the mark than the other two, so these four will be shipped to Colorado, where we hope they’ll be judged by the Dale, Dale Katechis, founder and owner of Oskar Blues. Those four beers were brewed by Victor Perotti, Diane and I, and Paul Schurke (who had two entries in the top four). I’m shipping them tomorrow, so it is possible that we’ll have results from our contest by the meeting in July.

So, until we get our results in, here are the HRB & TS Cup standings:

2005 HRB & TS CUP STANDINGS (AS OF 26 JUNE 2005)

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

OTHER COMPETITION-ISH NEWS: John Mitchell, who has been sharing the Competition Coordinator’s position with me, is taking a leave of absence from the position and stepping back from Club activities for personal reasons. I’ll “cowboy up” and take the reins. John, thanks for the hard work and sage advice you’ve given us, particularly regarding competitions, since you’ve been a member of HRB & TS. I know I can call on you for input and ideas during the remainder of the year, and I’ll miss working with you in the meantime.

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.