The Brewsletter

December 2006

 

 

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

www.hrbts.org

 

 

The President’s Podium – Tom Byrnes

 

 

Well, it’s hard to believe that another year has gone by already.  As I write my last presidential letter, I’m feeling pretty nostalgic but very enthusiastic about the future of HRBTS, which looks brighter than ever.  In reflecting back on this yea,r I believe that we have had a good year as a club.  We brewed a lot of beer, recruited new members, sponsored a few beer related activities and incorporated the club.  We have also just completed the closest HRBTS Cup competition ever where the winner won by two points.  This meeting we will have several tasks to complete: First, it’s time to pay your club dues.  This year we will be asking members to sign a liability waiver similar to the one used for judges in AHA and BJCP sponsored competitions.  You will receive a copy of the form on the distro list, which we ask you to complete in advance and bring to the meeting.  Second are elections, we will be voting on a new slate of officers and for the first time in awhile there will be a substantial change in the board.  Your nominees to date are: Jason Kueller, President; JP Messier, Vice President; Ron & Jeannine Jones, Secretary Treasurer; Patti Messier, Competition Coordinator and Will Walker, newsletter Editor.  I wanted to acknowledge and thank these members who have stepped up to help make next year a great year for HRBTS.  Nominations will be closing on Monday December 4th to allow for election preparation.  Finally I wanted to thank the people that made this year successful.  Your current officers are Jonna Walker, Rob Sisson, Will Walker and Chris Jones.  Also Diane Catanzaro has served in the appointed position as meeting coordinator and has done an outstanding job of exposing us to new venues and providing a taut balance between commercial sites and home meetings.

 I also wanted to acknowledge Victor Perrotti who will be assuming the position of web master.  Be sure to let these individuals know that their efforts have been appreciated as they have worked hard for you over many years.

 

In terms of brewing events, it would not be Christmas without the annual brewing of the “whale” which has reached legendary status in our club.  This is the 5th year that Victor has hosted this event that will be held on December 16, starting at 9 and going to about 5 pm.  All are welcome to attend and watch the brewing, share a Christmas beer or even brew a batch yourself (please plan to be finished by 5 pm).  I will send out an announcement on the distro list with Victor’s contact information, but mark your calendars now for an event that has become an HRBTS holiday tradition.

 

On Saturday, I found a new beer store in Virginia Beach with a beer selection worthy of mention.  Grape and Gourmet is located in Loehmann’s Plaza shopping center on Virginia Beach Blvd.  The proprietors Kevin and Deborah Aylesworth have put together a powerful combination of food, gifts, beer and wine.  They seem committed to offering a diverse but concentrated selection of imported and micro brews as well as tasting events.  Although the power was out the day of my visit, I saw a radiant light emanating from the middle of the store.  Moving into this light, I found the likes of Dogfish Head, Allagash, Three Floyds, Rochefort (8&10), Rogue, Chimay, Smuttynose, Green Flash, a full line of arrogance (regular, oaked, and double) and of course the Duchess.  There were also local favorites like Williamsburg Ale Works and others too numerous to mention.  Also, there will be a beer-tasting event on December 22 starting at 4:30pm.  The theme will be Microbrews and Wines suitable for Santa. Please keep this business in mind for your beer related dollars.  It will be a fine addition to the Virginia Beach beer scene.  When visiting please identify yourself as an HRBTS member.  Good luck Kevin and Deborah and thanks for remembering those of us that appreciate quality beers.

 

Happy brewing and looking forward to seeing you at the December Elections Meeting On behalf of the officers of HRBTS I wish members and their families a happy and prosperous holiday season. Tom

 

 

December Meeting Location – Diane Catanzaro

 

The December meeting features Belgian Ales as the beer(s)-of-the-month. It doesn’t get much better! Belgian ales are truly the crowning glory of the brewing arts!  Wits, Tripels, Flanders reds, Saisons, Dubbels, strong goldens, strong darks, Lambics, and all those category-defying concoctions that don’t fit any style but alter our preconceptions of what beer can be.  This is one of the most varied categories of beer on the planet.  Ideally, a good Belgian ale meeting should have a range of amazing and unique flavors to sample.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm….but where to meet?  In a perfect world, somewhere that we can taste not only the amazing Belgian-style homebrews that HRB&TS members are crafting, but also commercially available Belgian ales. So, it seems ideal to meet in a home, as opposed to a restaurant. With that in mind, the December 6 meeting will be held in the Catanzara/Jones home in the Ghent section of Norfolk and will start at 7 pm,. Come one, come all, and bring any kind of Belgian ale you’d like to share with your fellow HRB&TS-ers! We’ll have non-alcoholic beverages available for both tasters and designated drivers.

 

So many great Belgian ales are available at places like the Bon Vivant, Total Wine, Coastal Wine Connection in Newport News, and even some of the better Farm Fresh stores (including Gene Walters’ Marketplace). And, while many club members have brewed fantastic Belgian ales (see results of the most recent competition) it is nice to have tasters be able to share their Belgian ale discoveries, too. Hope that you can attend! We’ll start at 7 pm. BRING BEER!

 

 

ROADTRIP, MECCA OF MALT, DOGFISH HEAD – C. J. Jones

 

Folks, soon the Holiday hustle and bustle will be behind you, and you’ll have nothing to do.  No cards to address, no shopping to do, no packages to mail, and no return lines to stand in with all of those gifts that you received.  You’re liable to be, I don’t know, sad or something.

 

Well, let’s turn that frown upside down, and let’s hit the road. On Friday, January 12, 2007, grab some friends, grab your keys, and head up the Eastern Shore to the Mecca of Malt, the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton Delaware, and the Dogfish Head Brewing and Eats in Rehoboth.  A bunch of us have been chatting casually about making the drive, so now it is time to get that planning etched in stone. 

Here’s the plan. 

 

We leave Tidewater in oh, twenty different cars, and head north, through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, stopping at the tunnel’s pier for that free cup of Coca Cola, Diet Pepsi, whatever that coupon is for that they give you as you pay your toll.  Then we casually drive, at 55 MPH, up the shore, to Milton, Delaware, arriving in time for the 3:00 PM brewery tour.  After the tour and tasting session, we all enjoy the Dogfish Head shopping experience – buying glasses, shirts, sweatshirts, and Dogfish Head beer at prices less than the price you’d pay in any retail store. 

 

Around 5:00 PM, we head to Rehoboth Beach, about 20 minutes from Milton, with all of our goodies in hand.  Where should we stay?  How about the Boardwalk Plaza hotel, a hotel “featuring elegantly appointed accommodations, furnished with reproductions and authentic Victorian antiques blended with our modern hotel amenities”?  You can look at the place on the web (www.boardwalkplaza.com) and make your reservations, or phone them and make them.  You can spend from $94 to $200 for a room for the evening, depending on how much swank you want for the dollar.  After you check in to your fine accommodations, out we go and up the street we stroll, to the Dogfish Head Brewing and Eats brewpub.  There we enjoy great company, fine food, killer beers (often including Randallized 90 Minute IPA), fresh made-on-the-premised liquor, and more than likely, live music.  We hang there until we can’t hang no more, then we head, at a much slower pace, back to the hotel, where we change in to swimming attire and dip into the hotel’s spa-pool, a heated indoor-outdoor mega hot tub that allows martinis in plastic glasses, and fine canned beers.  I said fine canned beers – Dale’s Pale Ale, Old Chubb, Gordon, Wittekerke – no blah beer at the spa, dear.  After a few hours of that action, we jump back into our winter threads, to roam the streets of Rehoboth, endlessly searching for taverns and places to bond with beers.  Finally, back to our rooms, surrendering to the slumber that an evening’s worth of fun can bring.

 

Then up in the AM, to enjoy a killer breakfast at the hotel, or in one of the other fine dining establishments along the main drag of Rehoboth Beach.

 

Are you in?  You ought to be?  Make that reservation.  Sometime in December or early January, we can compare notes, arrange carpools, and prepare for a killer evening of beer, beer, and more beer, all enjoyed responsibly, on foot.  See you in the First State on January 12, 2007! 

 

 

 

Competition Corner, August 2006 – “C.J.” Jones

 

Twelve months after the start of the HRBTS Cup season, it was all coming down to this: three sets of contestants, all within reach of the title, a title which wouldn’t be decided until the close of judging of the last event of the year.  Diane and myself, J. P. Messier, and Jason Kuller were all in it at the end, we all “went the distance”, and on November 15th, one of us might just beat the other two “by a head”. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Belgian contest judging session was held at our house, and there were 18 entries from seven different brewers vying for those three ribbons.  This was the largest number of entries we’ve had in any event this year.  Man, that’s a whole mess of beer to evaluate.  Our judges, Tom Byrnes, Diane Catanzaro, Jason Kuller, J. P. Messier, Jonna Walker and Will Walker, were up to the task, and had pencils or pens ready. 

 

When the totals were tallied, the three folks in the running for the title were the three folks grabbing the ribbons, and here’s how things stacked up:   

 

First Place, J. P. Messier, with Slack’s Farmhouse ale, a saison, good for three HRBTS Cup points;

Second Place, C.J. and Diane Catanzaro, with a saison from June of 2005, good for two HRBTS Cup points; and 

Third Place, Jason Kuller, with a Belgian Blonde, earning him one HRBTS Cup point.

 

The final HRBTS Cup standings are in the table, following this text.  Congratulations to our top three finishers:  Diane and I; J. P. Messier; and Jason Kuller; and kudos to the rest of the contestants who stepped up and entered these monthly events, helped steward them, and helped judge them.  Remember, having your beer judged in these sessions will lead to you making better beers, because you are provided excellent feedback (and I know all about feedback). 

 

Now you can get cracking on next year’s competition.  Assume that there will be a pale ale contest, a wheat contest, that sort of thing, and brew over the Holiday season.  What the heck, if you guessed wrong on a particular style, don’t despair.  You still made an excellent homebrew, and you didn’t send any of your cash to A.B., SAB-Miller, Molson-Coors, InBev, or any other corporate mega-brewer.  

 

 

2006 HRB & TS CUP FINAL STANDINGS (as of 30 November 2006)

 

Name of Brewer(s)

Total Points Accumulated

 

Chris Jones and Diane Catanzaro

23

J. P. Messier

21

Jason Kuller

16

Brian Edgar

12

Victor Perotti

11

Doug Boyd

7

Tom Byrnes

7

Curt Aasen and Ron Jones

6

OVBC

4

Phil Swanson

4

Mike and Melissa Pensinger

4

Richard Pidgeon

3

Tim Hobbs

1

Bill Berry

1

This could easily be you ….

…. if you get brewing

 

 

2006 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 (2006 unless stated otherwise)

Beer style name (and 2004 BJCP beer style category number)

Beer judging date ; usually two weeks before Club meeting)

Winner goes to an AHA Club Only Contest?

July

 

Meads (24, 25, 26)

21 June 2006

Yes

August

 

Stouts (13)

19 July 2006

Yes

September

 

Fruit beers (20)

23 August 2006

 

October

 

Octoberfest (3B)

20 September 2006

 

November

Thanksgiving Ales (an ingredient is associated with the Thanksgiving holiday) (23)

18 October 2006

 

December

 

Belgian beers (16, 17B-F, 18)

15 November 2006

 

January 2007

Holiday Season beers (21B)

20 December 2006

 

February 2007

 

Barleywines (19B & C)

24 January 2007

 

March 2007

To Be Determined

(TBD)

21 February 2007

 

 

 

Recipe of the Month – C. J. Jones

 

FLOWERED FALL SAISON

 

MALT:  45 minute boil

 

  • 3.3 # Muntons Liquid Extra Light malt extract
  • 1.0 # Muntons Plain Wheat dry malt extract – for head retention
  • 1.0 # Muntons Extra Light dry malt extract
  • 1.0 # Belgian Candi sugar (Williams) – just because
  • 0.25 # Maltodextrin – to add body

 

HOPS:  Added at 45 minutes

 

  • 1 oz First Gold pellets, 8.2 AAU/oz

 

CLARIFIER:  Added at 30 minutes

 

  • 1 tsp Irish Moss

 

SPICES:  Added at 0 minutes, at the end of the boil; all dry unless otherwise indicated;

 

  • 2 tbl Lemongrass
  • 0.5 oz Bitter orange peel
  • 1 tsp Coriander
  • 0.25 tsp Sweet Gale
  • 0.25 tsp Black pepper
  • 0.5 oz fresh lemon peel
  • 2 tbl Lavender flowers
  • 2 tbl Heather tips

 

YEAST:  Williams 3724 Belgian Saison yeast

 

BREWED:  24 Oct 2006

SECONDARY:  08 Nov 2006

BOTTLED:  24 Nov 2006

 

A great saison is one where you can tell there’s some sort of herb or spice in it, but you’re not quite sure what it is.  This one may not quite be there, because I wanted to taste the lavender and the heather tips, but there are worse things than an over-the-top home brew. 

 

 

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