The Brewsletter

April 2007

 

 

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

www.hrbts.org

 

The President’s Podium – Jason Kuller

 

Happy Spring Everybody!  Although we had kind of a wimpy winter, it sure is nice to see all of the trees coming to life and the flowers blooming.  I hope everyone else has a little extra pep in their step from the fresh spring air, too!  Aside from the nice weather, April is also very important for beer and brewing culture historically.  On April 7, 1933 prohibition was lifted on beer, and thirsty Americans all over the country were finally able to legally quench their beer deprived mouths and spirits.  It was a little while longer before prohibition ended for all alcoholic beverages, but this day, April 7th, is officially celebrated as Brew Years Eve from coast to coast.  So, this year make sure that you take a nice long satisfying quaff of delicious homebrew or craft beer on the 7th , and whatever you do, don’t take it for granted!

With Spring here and Summer fast approaching, there are plenty of opportunities to get outdoors to celebrate fine beer, great live music and life in general.  Make sure that you have your calendars marked for the Virginia Beer Festival at Towne Point Park on May 19th and keep a look out for other regional beer related festivities.  In addition, this is one of my favorite times of the year because of all of the great concerts that come to Hampton Roads and the surrounding area, many of which feature great micro/craft brewed beer choices.  So, if you can…go see live music, drink a fine beer and get your groove on!

I have had quite a few club members ask me about the Award of Brewing ongoing achievement program that we are starting.  After several conversations and discussion among the board, we are going to begin holding quarterly judgings, starting on the last Saturday in April at 3:00, at our home in Chesapeake.  Email me at president@hrbts.com for directions or more info.  There will also be a judging in July, Oct., and Jan., with locations to be determined.

If there’s a lot of interest and we need to schedule more judgings, we will address that issue when the time comes.

Now is also the perfect time to plant your hop rhizomes as they are very particular about what time of year the like to be put in the dirt and there is only about a 3-4 week period when they are happy.  If you haven’t already ordered or gotten your hop plants, make sure to do it soon so that you can one day pick hops right outside your door for a wonderfully hopalicious beer brewing experience.

CHEERS and have a great month!

 

Jason

 

March Meeting Location – Diane Catanzaro

 

Our April 4 meeting will be at the new Taphouse on Queen’s Way in downtown Hampton!  Peter Pittman’s new baby has 37 beers on tap, over a hundred in the bottle, with an emphasis on amazing American craft beers and bodacious Belgian ales.  While of course you should bring (and share!) homebrew, there are some fantastic beers here as you can imagine!  St Bernardus, Chimay, Bell’s, Stone, Dogfish Head, Victory, St George, Legend….and much, much more.

 

And the food is going to be mighty fine…  this Taphouse has a broader food menu than the one in Norfolk.  The menu boasts sashimi appetizer, North Carolina-style clam chowder, creative burgers, fried chicken and way-better-than usual pub fare…. “creative comfort food.”  There are several salads, sandwiches, wraps, and some vegetarian offerings.  Cajun penne, spicy sausage, potato-crusted crabcake, mussels, and pesto-sauteed shrimp are just several examples of their varied menu items.  For the nostalgic, there is the ‘Frito pie’, which may trigger memories of creative college cuisine. In any case, you won’t want to snack ahead of time!! That would be folly!!!

 

We will meet in the upstairs room.  Meeting starts at 7:30, but feel free to arrive around 7 if you can, to get a head start on what promises to be an excellent evening.  The Taphouse is in building that formerly housed Bobby’s Americana.  Remember…no commercial beers of any kind may be taken to restaurant meetings…just homebrew!!

 

Directions: From anywhere!!! (note…some of you may want to start off with I-664 Northbound thru the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel to Hampton, and then get on I-64 Eastbound).

 

Take I-64 to the County St/Hampton University exit (rt 143), which is just north of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.  Merge onto Rt 60/Settler’s Landing Road. After you cross the water (there will be a bridge under you!), just before the Air and Space Museum, take a right on Wine St. You will see Queen’s Way in a couple of blocks.  The Taphouse is to the left on Queen’s way. There is ample free parking behind the block of Queen’s Way as well as on-street parking.

 

17 East Queens Way
Hampton
(757) 224-5829

 

Beer - the remedy for all sorts of ailments

 

In Babylon and Egypt, long considered as the birthplace of beer, the drink was offered to the gods and was mainly used by kings and at important festivals. The Egyptians also attributed a therapeutic effect to beer, and women of the upper classes used it for cosmetic purposes, i.e. to freshen their skin and reduce the risk of certain skin conditions.

 

In ancient Greece Hippocrates used beer as a remedy to facilitate diuresis and the drink was also considered to act against fever. Alcohol was also used at this time to heal wounds. Aretus of Capadocia recommended it for diabetes and migraine. In the Middle Ages beer was used as a stimulant to improve mood. Appetite generating and calming properties were attributed to the hop, a component of beer. Up until a hundred years ago, hop-filled cushions were recommended for sleeping disorders. 

In the beginning of this century, the harmful consequences of alcohol abuse came to light, and medicine adopted a sceptical attitude towards alcoholic drinks, including beer. The emergence of powerful medicines further pushed out the use of alcohol as a remedy. It is only in the last few years that there has been renewed interest for the beneficial effect of alcohol on health.

Source: Beer&Health

(Article copyright Belgianshop.com, 2006)

Competition Corner, March 2006 – Patty Messier

 

Our monthly judging took place on March 21st, at the home of Ron & Jeannine Jones.  This Virginia Beach location was easy to get to and I was glad to see so many participants!

 

This month’s judging was for extract beers and as we expected, many of you submitted your finest brews!  Thanks to the new 2 beer per brewer limit, we were only faced with a mere 18 beers to judge that night!  Our six expert judges, Tom Byrnes, Doug Boyd, Will Walker, JP Messier, Chris Jones and Diane Catanzaro split the task and the evening flowed smoothly.  Due to the broad category, our elite judges tasted barleywines, porters, IPAs, Scottish Ales, stouts and many other varieties!

 

After the deliberations, the results were as follows: 

First Place (tie), JP Messier with his Uncle Tom’s Porter, good for three HRBTS Cup points;  

                        and Chris Jones and Diane Catanzaro with their  Robust Porter,  good for three HRBTS Cup points;  and 

Third Place, Chris Jones and Diane Catanzaro with their Imperial Stout, earning them one HRBTS Cup point.

 

Our next monthly judging (April 18) will be for India Pale Ales at the home of Terri and Mike Connell.  Choose 2, and only 2, of your favorite IPAs and enter them this month!  With 8 more competitions to go, it’s time for YOU to step up and brew some amazing beers!   It’s still anybody’s game!  Give these guys a challenge!  Look and plan ahead so you too can enter these monthly challenges and join the competition!

 

The current HRBTS Cup standings are in the table, following this text.  Several brewers submitted beers for the first time this month and made a good showing!  Did you?  Enter some beers!  

 

 

 

 

2007 HRBTS CUP STANDINGS (as of 22 March 2007)

 Name of Brewer(s)

Total Points Accumulated

 

J. P. Messier

7

Chris Jones and Diane Catanzaro

7

Tom Byrnes

6

Brian Edgar

3

Victor Perrotti

2

This could easily be you ….

…. if you get brewing

 

Quit throwing away your used yeast vials! – Patti Messier

 

Hey, all you brewers out there!  We need you to save your used White Lab Yeast vials HRBTS will begin collecting your empty vials and redeeming them with White Labs to earn some great prizes for our raffles.  JP Messier will be collecting them at the monthly meetings as well as the judgings.  So gather those empty vials and hand them off to JP at the next meeting!

 

2007 HRB & TS Beer of the Month Schedule – Patty Messier

 

Month

Style

Category

Judging

AHA

January

Holiday Season

21B

Dec 20th

 

February

Barleywine

19B,C

Jan 24th

 

March

Scottish Ale

9A,B,C

Feb 21st

Y

April

Extract

All

Mar 21st

Y

May

India Pale Ale

14A,B

Apr 18th

 

 

June

German/American Wheat & Rye

 

6D, 15

 

May 16th

 

July

Meads

24,25,26

Jun 20th

Y

August

Fruit Beer

20

Jul 18th

 

September

Belgian Strong Ale

18

Aug 15th 

 

 

October

European Amber & Dark Lager, Bock

 

3,4,5

 

Sep 19th

 

 

November

Smoke-Flavored & Wood Aged

 

22

 

Oct 24th

 

 

December

Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer

 

21

 

Nov 21st

 

January

Stouts

13A,B,C

Dec 19th

 

 

February

Strong Ale & Russian Imperial Stout

 

13F, 19

 

Jan 23rd

 

 

 

Recipes of the Month – JP Messier

Each month we will attempt to provide the recipes from the contest winning beers from the Beer of the Month judging.  Below are the three winners from February’s extract only contest.

 

Uncle Tom's Porter – JP Messier,

 March 2007 HRBTS BOTM; 1st Place Tie

BJCP category12-A; Brown Porter

Min OG:

1.040

Max OG:

1.052

  

Min IBU:

18

Max IBU:

35

  

Min Clr:

20

Max Clr:

30

 Color in SRM, Lovibond

 

Recipe Specifics

 

Batch Size (Gal):

5.00

Wort Size (Gal):

5.00

Total Extract (Lbs):

9.25

  

  

Anticipated OG:

1.059

Plato:

14.53

Anticipated SRM:

33.0

    

  

Anticipated IBU:

27.4

  

  

Wort Boil Time:

60

 Minutes

  

 

Grain/Extract/Sugar

 

%

Amount

Name

Origin

Potential

SRM

54.1

5.00 lbs. 

Generic LME - Amber

Generic

1.036

9

10.8

1.00 lbs. 

Alexander LME - Wheat

America

1.037

4

8.1

0.75 lbs. 

Chocolate Malt

America

1.029

350

10.8

1.00 lbs. 

Crystal 80L

  

1.033

80

5.4

0.50 lbs. 

Crystal 105L

Great Britain

1.033

105

5.4

0.50 lbs. 

Biscuit Malt

Belgium

1.035

24

5.4

0.50 lbs. 

Flaked Barley

America

1.032

2

 

Hops

 

Amount

Name

Form

Alpha

IBU

Boil Time

0.50 oz. 

Perle

Pellet

8.25

19.4

60 min

0.50 oz. 

Willamette

Pellet

5.00

6.0

30 min

0.50 oz. 

Willamette

Pellet

5.00

2.0

5 min

 

Yeast

White Labs WLP013 London Ale

Notes

 

1 tsp gypsum in boil
3 vanilla beans in secondary along with bourbon soaked oak chips for 3 weeks

 

 

Almost Anchor Porter - C. Jones & D. Catanzaro

 

March 2007 HRBTS BOTM; 1st Place Tie

 

INGREDIENTS:

10 oz chocolate malt

3 oz flaked oats

0.5 lb wheat malt

0.75 lb 60 L crystal malt

4 oz Belgian biscuit malt (roasted)

4 oz black patent malt

4 oz roasted barley

4 oz Vienna malt

 

All of the above steeped in cold water, heated to 155 degrees F, held there for half an hour, then removed;

 

6.6 lb Munton’s Extra Light liquid malt extract

0.5 lb maltodextrin

 

1 tsp Irish moss, boil, 30 min

 

2 oz Northern Brewer hop pellets, 7.1 AAU per oz, boil, 50 min

No finishing hops

 

Wyeast 1056 American Ale liquid yeast (a third run of it)

 

Brewed – 19 Feb 2006

Secondary – 3 March 2006

Bottled – 5 March 2006

 

IMPERIAL STOUT, 2006 - Chris Jones & Diane Catanzaro

 

March 2007 HRBTS BOTM; 3rdPlace

 

BJCP category13-F; Imperial Stout

INGREDIENTS:

0.5 lb oats

0.5 lb crushed wheat (for head retention)

0.5 lb roasted barley

0.5 lb black patent malt

1 lb chocolate malt

1 lb 60 L crystal malt

 

7.0 lb John Bull dark malt extract (liquid)

2.0 lb Carlson light malt extract (dried)

0.5 lb maltodextrin

 

0.5 tsp Irish moss (30 minutes; to clarify beer)

 

1 oz Yakima Magnum hop pellets, 15.7 AAU per oz, 50 minutes

0.5 oz Amarillo hop pellets, 7.3 AAU per oz, 15 minutes

 

Wyeast 1056 American ale yeast

 

BREWED: 8 Jan 2006          

SECONDARY: 16 Jan 2006

BOTTLED: 24 Jan 2006

 

COMMENTS:  Added the grains to cold water, brought it up to 155 degrees F, then steeped them for 30 minutes.  This is our attempt to make a BJCP 13F style ale.  This took third place in the HRB & TS Club Extract contest, April 2006, and third place in the HRB & TS Club Extract contest, April 2007.  Next time we make it, we’ll add another couple of pounds of malt extract to bump the alcohol content higher. 

 

The 2007 Beerdrinker of the Year Finals - Showdown at the Wynkoop Corral – C. Jones

 

In the mile-high city of Denver, on Saturday, February 24, 2007, three beer-savvy individuals, Logan Perkins, Phil Farrell and Diane Catanzaro, sat side-by-side on barstools in the Wynkoop Brewing Company’s Mercantile Room.  Hailing from the Rocky Mountain west, the southeast, and the mid-Atlantic, respectively, they were the “grand cru,” the top three finalists in the Wynkoop’s 2007 Beerdrinker of the Year (BDOTY) contest.

 

Each brought, either figuratively or literally, a talisman, a good luck charm to help them in their pursuit of the title. 

 

Logan Perkins, a long-time Denver resident, is an avid beer drinker.  His figurative talisman was his passport, because he has sampled beer in 21 European countries, five Asian countries, along with 43 of the 50 US states.  Four thousand beers have crossed his lips in his never ending pursuit of the perfect pour.  Logan was a formidable finalist for BDOTY.   

 

Phil Farrell, who lives outside of Atlanta, is a homebrewer, Master-level BJCP judge, and avid beer traveler.  His talisman could have been his pilot’s license, since he’s a commercial pilot and claims to have sipped beers in every European country.  Instead, Phil brought his homebrewing club’s mascot, a rubber chicken, as his good luck charm.  The Chicken has been featured in Zymurgy, New Brewer, and a variety of other media, usually sipping, or at least hanging its head in the vicinity of, good beers.  Phil was another monster candidate for BDOTY.

 

Diane Catanzaro, as you know, is Norfolk resident, a homebrewer and meadmaker, BJCP beer judge, and another avid beer traveler.  She’s visited 45 brewpubs in six different countries in her sojourns for suds.  What talisman did she bring?  The only one that might negate a passport and a rubber chicken –  Beer Bling Barbie!  That’s right, no government document for Diane, and no petroleum-based naked imitation dead bird.  She brought a vintage 1960s-era wasp-waisted (and very attractive) Barbie who was covered in beer bling – a bottle cap bra, beer charms, and small tokens of beer paraphernalia. Diane was yet another formidable candidate for the BDOTY title.

 

The three of them sat across from black-robed, white-wigged judges, and also in front of a live audience, a television news crew, and under the weight of expectations of all of their friends.  At 2:00 PM, the event began.  For the next two hours, these folks would have to demonstrate their beer knowledge, the beer tasting skills, and most importantly, an ability to demonstrate a sense of humor in a competitive environment. 

 

What kinds of questions were asked?  What skills did the contestants have to demonstrate to win the title?

 

Many challenges were thrown down in front of them; some of the questions were light hearted, and some were nasty.  Can you sing an old beer jingle?  Phil sang the Schaeffer song (“the one beer to have when you’re having more than one”).  Logan moved with Miller (“if you’ve got the time, we’ve got the beer”).  Diane, perhaps remembering her northeast roots, went with Rheingold (“my beer is Rheingold, the dry beer”).  More questions followed.

  • What is wet hopping?
  • If George Bush was to fall off the wagon, what beer would you serve him?
  • If Britney Spears snuck out of rehab to have a beer with you, what beer would you recommend?  What is the major fermentable sugar in beer and how many molecules does it have?
  • Who was Pliny the elder?
  • Name the top five persons in your cell phone list beer history? 
  • Can you demonstrate your beer field sobriety test?

 

And, critically, there is a beer whispering segment, where the contestants each pour a beer they have chosen, sip it and have a friendly conversation with the beer.  Last year’s BDOTY was very likely won during this segment of the contest….beer whispering can make or break a contestant. 

 

Logan gave an impassioned treatise about two killer craft brewers in the USA, Russian River in California and Avery Brewing in Colorado that have both marketed beers called Salvation.  Once they each discovered what the other had done, did they head off to court and sue each other?  No, the got together and blended their two beers together into an aptly named “Collaboration Not Litigation Ale,” which he then shared with the judges.  Nice move, Logan. 

 

Diane stepped up and opened a bottle of Duchesse de Bourgogne and a can of Old Chub, which she introduced to each other like a beer yenta. “I thought they would be perfect together after a late night with some folks from HRBTS where we splashed some Chubb into a glass of the Duchesse” exclaimed Diane.  After commenting to the Duchesse that Old Chub was “into metal,” she then said “Let me describe his package – it’s five inches long and two-and-a-half inches in diameter. Girlfriend, there’s a lot of wham in the can!” She mixed them together, and shared her concoction with the judges.  Two points for Catanzaro! Creating a new beer on the spot during beer whispering was a BDOTY first.

 

Phil’s turn. He began a long discourse about some big-assed bottle of something that made people’s eyes pop open.  I admit that at this stage, with my wife in a seemingly comfortable overall position and a bladder that had reached its maximum carrying capacity, I bolted the Mercantile Room for the restroom.  When I returned, Phil was still chatting and pouring from this magnum of something, so either I was very quick, or Phil wasn’t.

 

There was a bribe the judges segment.  Diane’s bribe was subtle, but significant:  a vertical tasting, six straight year’s worth beginning with 1998, of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine; plus a four-pack of her homebrewed mead with pretty labels and little sticky hearts. Yes!  Logan’s bribe redefined over the top:  individual gift bags of an assortment of at least six whup-ass beers for each of the judges, many of which were 750-milliliter sized bottles.  Logan spared no expense in his bribe.  Phil’s bribe was another pour of some sort of exotic ale, but again, I was struck by a sudden desire to “rest,” so I missed most of it.  

 

Now my take on how things stood at this point in the contest was that while all three candidates had handled the questions and the pressure in top-notch fashion, Diane had put herself in a comfortable position by convincing the judges and the audience that she might be a “head” above the rest of the field. The other two gents would have to wrest the title from her, because she looked like she was in the driver’s seat to me. 

 

The beer listening might separate the trub from the wort.  During the beer listening segment, each candidate is given an unknown beer, and has to try to determine which beer it is.  Hard enough to nail a style down, but the judges are looking for that perfect palate that can pick out a St. George Winter Stout from a bunch of similarly tasting Imperial Stouts.  Tough thing to do.  The three beers given to the contestants were:  Colt 45 malt liquor; Samuel Smith’s IPA; and Great Divide Hibernation, an Old Ale.  No one guessed what the Colt 45 was, although each agreed that it was horrible industrial lager and that they did not drink this type of swill.  No one nailed the Samuel Smith’s either, probably because it was (as it usually is) light struck and oxidized.  The Old Ale was thought to be a bock or a double-IPA, but nobody nailed it as an Old Ale or Great Divide’s Hibernation Ale.

 

So it all boiled down to the closing statements each candidate made to the judges, and to the packed audience.  Logan gave a very fine discourse about the need to encourage more people to experience drinking ambitious ales, and how that is something he has been doing for over twenty years.  Diane mentioned that she was looking forward to using the title to encourage more people, especially women, to experience the joys of beautiful beers that she has been able to savor – then she surprised everyone by belting out her version of Memphis Slim’s blues classic, “Beer Drinkin’ Woman”.  Phil was not about to be outdone, so he, and the Chicken, sang a homily to beer to the tune of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”, along the lines of “Bring me a beer, I ‘m the Chicken Man, bring me a beer tonight …”

 

After over two hours of questions and answers, the judges retired to their chambers for deliberations.  Did Diane hang on and win?  Did Logan’s beer ambassador work over the last twenty years push him to the forefront of the competition?  Did the Phil and the Chicken deal on Diane and the Beer Bling Barbie? 

 

The judges emerged from their chambers and returned to the Mercantile Room. Tension was so thick you could cut it with a mashing fork. The three finalists stood, nervously, holding hands, as the emcee stepped up the microphone. The emcee announced “The winner of the 2007 Beerdrinker of the Year contest is … Diane Catanzaro.”  There were cheers, hugs, beers poured, and daggone it, all was right with the world. “My brain absolutely melted in joy when my name was announced. It was an extremely rewarding moment” says Diane. The coveted title, Beerdrinker of the Year, which had slipped just out of her reach last year, was coming home to Norfolk, VA.

 

++++++++++

 

Next year, you could be the Wynkopp’s 2008 Beerdrinker of the Year.  Start working on your three page beer resume, and detail your beer accomplishments, including the beer festivals you’ve attended, the exotic places you’ve drank beer, and the incredible ales and lagers that have passed over your lips.  Your resume has to be submitted to the Wynkoop (www.wynkoop.com) by December 31, 2007, so you’ve got some time to get it together.  Who knows, you may be making a trip to Denver next year on the Wynkoop’s dime! 

 

 

 

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.