> Irish Moss at the end of the boil helps, but once in the fermenter
> gelatin works better than isinglass.
As Mike points out later in the post, different yeasts behave
differently, also in respect to which fining works best. For ease of
use, gelatin is best. Sometimes, however, a particular yeast may not
settle with gelatin.
One other word of caution: be *extremely* careful how much Irish Moss
you use. Too much will strip away excessive amounts of lipids, and
you'll end up with yeast cell wall problems. Flocculation is a cell wall
function, and you may end up with a less flocculent yeast than you had
without the Irish Moss.
David Berg
Head Brewer, Bandana Brewery
President, Minnesota Craft Brewer's Guild
________________________________________________________________
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I've recently rediscovered gelatin. I was having clarity issues every time I
used English maris otter type malt as a base. I think it helps. My last batch
was crystal clear and there was quite a cake at the bottom of the keg after she
fried. My suggestion would be to get the beer as close to freezing as possible
before adding the gelatin or any othe finings. My new sop is to throw my
secondary keg in the fridge and crank it up a couple days before racking. I
heat the stuff up in a pyrex measuring cup w/ about 1/3 cup water in the
microwave until the gelatin fully dissolves. Don't worry if you boil it a
little - it won't ruin anything. I add it after racking, then gas 'er up to
about 15-20 psi & rock the keg back & forth to mix it up good & get some
carbonation for an early taste. The first couple glasses are a little cloudy,
then it clears up. ymmv
Michael Valentiner <mpv(a)yuck.net>@thebarn.com on 06/30/2003 09:59:43 AM
Sent by: mba-bounce(a)thebarn.com
To: Dave Cox <north-shore-brewer(a)earthlink.net>, mba(a)thebarn.com
cc:
Subject: Re: Clarity
suggestions:
If your mashing, skip the protein rest.
Irish Moss at the end of the boil helps, but once in the fermenter gelatin works
better than isinglass. Get some Knox brand gelatin, dissolve one packet with a
cup of sterile water (heat, but do NOT boil), pour on top of beer, let sit for a
week.
Drop the temperature and lager the beer.
Change yeast. Different yeasts behave differntly.
At 7:32 AM -0500 6/30/03, Dave Cox wrote:
>I have recently been having a challenge with cloudiness in my pale ales. I
brewed a batch last weekend, and I used some Irish moss at the end of the boil,
and that seems to have helped.
>
>It occurred to me that in winemaking I have used a small amount of chitosan (or
isinglass) during the final clarifying stages. This seems to work very well for
clarifying and polishing the wine. Would this be appropriate for a pale ale?
>
>Does anyone have any other suggestions for improving clarity?
>
>Dave
--
--
Michael Valentiner, Minneapolis, Minnesota
mpv(a)yuck.net
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I have recently been having a challenge with cloudiness in my pale ales. I brewed a batch last weekend, and I used some Irish moss at the end of the boil, and that seems to have helped.
It occurred to me that in winemaking I have used a small amount of chitosan (or isinglass) during the final clarifying stages. This seems to work very well for clarifying and polishing the wine. Would this be appropriate for a pale ale?
Does anyone have any other suggestions for improving clarity?
Dave
For any of you wine enthusiasts - I took a suggestion from John Longballa and purchased a very sweet Italian floor corker from Windriver.
I used it for the first time last weekend, and found it to be well worth the investment. I bottled a batch of Pinot Noir in no time. It is not only well engineered and works flawlessly, but it just looks cool. It has brass compression fittings and is very heavy duty. I am thinking of putting it in the corner of my living room with a spotlight on it. A blend of function and beauty. Who could ask for more???
Thanks for the tip, John.
Dave
The Trip <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
The alarm clock squealed at 4:15 in the morning for the big trip to the National Home brewing Conference. I had put together my traveling supplies the night before our 9:30 soccer game, so I was going on fumes at this point with a big four hours of sleep. I had placed a six pack of my home brewed Superior Strong Ale in the refrigerator to get ready for the first ever AHA sanctioned traveling homebrew competition. Since glass was not allowed on the bus, I had to sanitize a plastic 2-liter bottle to transport the beer. I wearily opened each bottle and began to pour and wait while the head of the beverage slowly faded from the top of the beer. After about 15 minutes I had an opaque bottle of ale. I was hemming and hawing between entering it as an old ale or a Scottish Ale, ultimately I chose to go with the old ale due to the happier character. I knew I pretty much had no chance in winning the competition with the great brewers in our club making the trip, but it was expected that everyone bring an entry. Plus, more beer for the bus. I threw my luggage in the Accord and made my way the five miles to Midwest brewing. I already saw that there were about 10 guys there unloading their cornie kegs, but no bus. I unloaded my stuff as more and more cars made their way into the parking lot. When the bus ultimately arrived we had 18 5-gallon kegs waiting to be loaded onto the bus. The sight was amazing. When you have an average of 5-8 hours to brew a batch of beer on average including bottling, that was a lot of "Work" in front of me.
Our bus driver was named Adolf, and he had seen a cigarette or two in his lifetime, but he seemed like a nice, elderly man. The bus began our trek to Chicago at 5:30 like Al had planned, and the competition began about 5:45. After about 3 or 4 hours we had worked our way through 21 two-oz. samples of beer and mead and had judged them. I found out later towards the end, people were just putting down total scores, rather than parsing them out between sub-categories. I decided to split my scores out though, as I am still working on the nuances of judging. Chris Hadden had a mead that was raspberry and ginger and this thing was amazing! It was the only two liter bottle that didn't make it all the way around the bus for seconds. Where it disappeared to is still a mystery to me. I knew that this was going to take best of show, since the competition was not split between beer and meads. You were basically up against twenty other beverages. Curt Stock's friend had made three super cool trophies for first, second, and third and a best of show recurring bowling pin trophy was emblazoned by Kris England with a Sharpie pen. The name was of course Chris Hadden with a bunch of best of show votes. Chris even brought along a keg of this mead, which was originally made for mead day, but Chris had decided to bring it along for the trip.
We also decided to have a roulette style game where we divided the bus tire into 25 sections and for one dollar you could pick a section of tire for the next stop. If your number was pointing up, you are the winner! No luck for me though. John Longballa won on two of the stops. I am suspecting a fix.
On our way through Wisconsin came the first film. One of such high importance and cinematic pride it heralds with that of Casablanca and Psycho. That's right it was Strange Brew. I had forgotten what a goofy movie this was. Many scenes had the bus rolling with laughter, especially the first half. We finished her up right before lunchtime.
Our first stop was at a brewpub in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Brewery Creek Inn is a little bed and breakfast in an old building and I have heard the rooms are very cool, with hot tubs and fireplaces. The food we got were mostly pasties. Kind of like a potpie that looks like a calzone. I got the chicken one and it was very reminiscent of David Cross on Just Shoot Me. Very tasty, and I had a couple of samples of our brew master's local concoctions. Pretty good stuff. It turns out that Jeff Donaghue, the proprietor and brew master used to be in our club, and was actually one of the founders. Jeff also gave us a tour of his brewery. He had some pretty good size, custom made mash tuns, and it was a home brewers dream. Jeff mentioned that he didn't need to brew that often and one week he sold only nine gallons of beer. Now that is a small town, especially when you have your own local brews right there. After an hour at the brew pub, Al rounded us up to get back on the bus with full bellies and a few more beers. Here is the Brewery Creek Inn's website. http://www.brewerycreek.com/ Some people have stayed there and have really liked it.
As we rolled through Wisconsin, it turns out our bus driver needed a break so we stopped at a gas station. What goes great with gas stations? That's right, fireworks. Some bus riders decided to shoot off a couple of fountains on the corner of Main Street in whatever town we were in. We were soon off to New Glarus brewery. Brewers of the best fruit beers I have tasted. Their Raspberry Tart could be one of the best beverages I have ever tried. I am now sorry I only picked up one bottle of it. Some other riders were buying it by the case. New Glarus is a smaller operation that is only distributed throughout Wisconsin I believe. They had to pull out of Chicago because the demand was too great for their product. Interestingly enough their fruit beers are only like 5% of their sales. That number blew us all away. Here is their website http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/ Again, their fruit beers are AMAZING! When we got to the brewery, we all got off the bus and paid our 4 dollar admission fee for the tour and tasting. It seemed to be a fairly slow operation. Compared to the "Big boy" tours I have taken, the bottles seemed to be packed at about 6 cases per minute. But we did get to see the barrel where they ferment the fruit beers. Dan Carey, the brew master, was NOT divulging any secrets to us about how they get the flavors they do. His wife Deborah said that they still had kids in college and could not give away any proprietary secrets.
After a voted on 30 minutes at New Glarus, we were off to Chicago and viewed the film The Blues Brothers. I caught some mini-naps during the movie since I was still running on only a few hours sleep, and I knew we would be up until 1 or 2 on the pre-conference pub crawl. I did wake up to see Aretha Franklin singing Respect in the diner. One of my favorite scenes in the movie.
We got to Chicago about 4:30 PM to check into the O'Haire Holiday Inn. Kerry checked in and gave me my key and it was off to get ready to wait until 6:30 for the "El" train pub crawl. It was about a 15 minute walk to the train station in the rain which pretty much sucked, but it was my first time riding the Chicago train and we were off to a much needed dinner at Chicago's Rock Bottom. It was about a 35 minute trip into the city and pretty uneventful. We made a transfer and ended up right in front of Rock Bottom. They had a buffet ready for us and we got all the beer we wanted. They had some great chipped kind of chicken breast, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. I loaded up on the chicken and broccoli. Rock Bottom then pulled out a newly tapped barley wine, which I wasn't too impressed with, but as always I really liked their Red ale. I sat with one of the BJCP board members, and we talked with each other about how the MHBA runs a 14 week beer judging class and some changes they were thinking of implementing.
After Rock Bottom, it was off to the original Goose Island Brewpub. This place was awesome. Nice wood décor everywhere and a ton of beers on tap. It soon was apparent that it would be cheaper and more efficient to get 3 sampler glasses for 5 bucks. They had a bourbon barrel aged stout that was just fantastic. I also had some honker ale. After playing pool and hanging out in our own little banquet room, it was off to the Map Room.
The Map room is renowned for its vast selection of beers on tap. The group eventually got there after some walking and I was starting to get tired so I didn't order anything here and decided to get on the shuttle home because I knew I wanted to wake up before the conference started to go see Sears Tower.
I woke up about 9 and decided I had just enough time to get back downtown via the "El" and see the Sears Tower. This skyscraper was immense. After crossing the Chicago river and paying the 9 bucks to take the fast elevator ride to the observation deck and seeing the Hancock building, Wrigley Field, Soldier field, and Comisky way below me and taking some pictures from what they say is the tallest building in the world, it was back on the train. One more thing I wanted to do in my life checked off. Now if I could have only gotten into Wrigley Field. The only Chicago landmark that's left on the list.
I arrived just in time for the Kick-off lunch. Michael "The Beer Hunter" was to be the keynote speaker and he welcomed everyone with a speech about some of his travels and experiences while writing about beer. Charlie Papazian also welcomed us with a nice little speech. Lunch was a nice 4 course meal with salad and soup and a nice entrée and dessert. All in all the food at the convention was all great, as well as the service. Top notch. One of the meals had two hunks of meatloaf that must have weighed a third of a pound apiece. It was insane. I stopped after one. Mashed potatoes were yummy though. Our club usually sat together and meals were a nice place to get together and laugh and talk about that day's experience.
The seminars began at 1:30 and so did the fantastic hospitality suite which was sponsored a couple of hours at a time by a club. There were snacks and some vendors and all the beer you could ever want free flowing. So I grabbed a 4 oz. sample of something and went off to the Cider presentation. I am currently attempting my first cider, which has turned out super dry. But I picked up some good tips on doctoring it and how to stop fermentation when you are ready to taste it.
After the cider presentation I decided to grab a beer and go back to the room for a quick nap, since I was less than thrilled with the cider presentation and sake was next. Not being too interested in making rice wine, sleep sounded real good. I slept through the wine presentation as well, but not mead. Ken Shramm, who has a great new book, The Complete Meadmaker, available on Amazon. I got my copy signed and learned a bunch about making honey wine. I currently have an 18 lbs. Batch going strong at home, and it is about a month old. I can't wait, but I have heard you need to give them at least 6 months, but with 18 pounds, I think I will give it a year. Chris Hadden's winning mead from the bus contest was a year old, so I'll use history as an extrapolation point. I loved this talk and went back for another nap before the best event of the whole conference began. CLUB NIGHT!
At 7 pm I walked into ballroom sized hall and saw a horseshoe like spread of tables lining the walls with banners from about 30 different clubs. Each club was supposed to have some kind of theme and bring lots of beer. Whoever brought the most beer won an award. There was also an award for the peoples' choice for club presentation. Somehow we received 540 of the votes, and there were 600 attendees and 1,000 ballots. I wonder how that happened. Anyway, we won a cool shot up cornie keg for winning the most popular club booth award. Some other clubs that were notable included a club that used prison as their theme. They all dressed up in their black and whites and had a mini jail. My favorite besides ours was a replica M*A*S*H* tent with some real cool army related stuff, even some kind of M*A*S*H beer. Our club's booth was by far the coolest though. We had a bowling theme to go along with our cool bowling shirts. Matt Peterson organized the purchasing of the coolest club shirts ever. We all chose a "Bowling" name to embroider on the shirt, mine was "Jay" and we had a cool logo on the back with our club logo on a bowling ball, knocking down three bowling pin designed, beer bottles. We could then choose which colors we wanted. I chose black with yellow highlights. It turned out great. Also at our booth was an unbelievable jockey box with four copper colored bowling pin tap handles made by Curt Stock. In addition, we had the Big Lebowski and bowling training videos playing on a portable television. Rice Krispy treats shaped like bowling pins added to the bowling flavor and we even had meatballs and some mini bowling lanes. Then began the fun. There was beer and food everywhere. There were ribs, and pates, sausages, dips, pulled pork, basically if you thought of it, someone had brought it. Then there were the 300 kegs people had brought with them. Any type of beer you could ever think of was represented. So we spent three hours laughing, voting, and eating. A fantastic time. At one time Ken Schramm was opening up 11 year old meads and one that he opened made the cork fly into the air, and a solid stream of honey wine flew vertical into the ceiling. It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. I did get to try some of his other mead though, and it was fantastic. At 11, it was time for bed. As the seminars started at 9 the next morning.
On my way to my first seminar I overheard from a patron at another conference, "They must have less alcohol in homebrew. There is a lot of it here." I kind of laughed to myself upon hearing that one. Then came the members only lunch, which was good, but before it was over a couple of us left to get ready for the Belgium speeches. We had a fantastic speaker from Belgium, Peter Bouckart, from New Belgium Brewing Co. in the afternoon. He was very funny and down to earth. He showed us all the different ways and how to brew Belgium beers. This was a two hour long presentation, so I went back to the hospitality suite and then back to my room for a wonderful nap before dinner. Next was the Grand Banquet. Here is where all the national awards were going to be given out. Three hours later and 4 courses later, Steve Piatz had walked away with two medals from the National. His mead and his Belgium had won.
Saturday at 9 began the coolest days of all the seminars. At 9 AM Charlie Papazian marched in with his drill sergeant hat sunglasses on. Thus began boot camp for brewers. We had a range of speakers talk about ingredients, mashing, sanitation, bottling, yeast. Then at 12:30 Michael Jackson came in and gave a great speech about while judging beers, often times judges are only looking for faults in beers. He urged people to find the good things about a particular beer.
There was no planned luncheon, so I snagged some salmon and horseradish dip and some beer from the hospitality suite and waited to go to a cool food tract. First up was Cooking with beer, by Lucy Saunders, www.beercook.com, she had prepared a smoked duck that had marinated in New Glarus Rasperry Tart. The good stuff. She said she put 8 bottles of the stuff in there. I couldn't taste the beer characteristics too much, but other people said they could. We got some Hungarian paprika, and she did make an awesome couscous with the stuff, that I absolutely loved. Next up was a seminar by Garrett Oliver which was super cool. Garrett has appeared on Emeril's show often, and he had a new book out that sold out at the convention. It was a huge book and a lot of people in the club picked it up, as well as Ken Shramm's mead book. (It seemed like everyone on the bus was reading the mead book on the way home.) Anyway, Garrett was super laid back and gave a great speech about how beer goes a lot better with food than wine. He gave a great analogy of the range in flavor of wine is very small, but with beer, you could go from super sweet, to super sour, like a lambic, to smoky, like a Rauchbier. Then he spoke about how he challenged some wine taster to pair certain foods with wine, and he guaranteed he would choose a better beer to go with the food. He won every time.
Next up was Beer and cheese. This was a very popular session. They had nine different cheeses paired with nine different beers. It was great. They had some smoked cheese paired with a Rauchbier. There was a fantastic horseradish cheese, there was some 8 and 9 year old sharp cheddars with crystals in them that were fantastic. There was Brie and each one was just fantastic with the beer they matched it with. Just a fantastic session. The only complaint is that they had all the cheese at the front of the room so it was very crowded trying to get around.
The next session was beer and chocolate. This was just like the above session, except they had it spread out all around the room, so it was much more comfortable. There were some Belgium chocolates. Lots of imperial stouts mixed with the chocolate. The godfather of beer, Fred Eckhardt read chocolate facts the whole time while people were sampling the items. It was very funny, and Fred seemed like a really cool guy.
After this session I went back to the room for a nap and to get ready for the Real Beer, Real Food night session. This was a gathering of about 15 breweries and 15 delis and restaurants and more sausage than you could ever imagine. It was pretty tough to find something even remotely healthy for food. There were some real good beers here, and I got to taste a real good Belgium Lambic. After lots of laughs, it was time to head back because roll call was 8:30 AM for the bus ride home. I packed away my bottle of commemorative mead and aged stout.
Sunday morning I woke up at 8 AM and we checked out and got loaded onto the bus. I think we were all a little hopped out, because everyone had coffee, or soda, or water in their grips. We started the Big Lebowski and I got reacquainted with "The Dude" We then arrived in Madison and went to a great brewpub called Great Dane. I had some fantastic chicken enchiladas with a couple of awesome cherry ales and discussed mead making with my fellow tablemates. We spent two hours for lunch and made our run for Minneapolis and watched the Farrely Bros. Great bowling movie Kingpin. Everyone seemed ready to get home and get back to "Real" life.
At 7 PM I got home, unloaded the bus, and went to mow my lawn. All in all, one heck of a trip.
We the leeches actually alive in the leech beer?
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Moranz [mailto:mmoranz@net-info.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 9:10 PM
To: MHBA (E-mail)
Subject: FW: Homebrewers Conference Shatters Attendance Record!
As good as this sounds, I think it's understated!
Mo
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association of Brewers [mailto:cindy@aob.org]
> Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 5:16 PM
> To: mmoranz(a)net-info.com
> Subject: PR: Homebrewers Conference Shatters Attendance Record!
>
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> Association of Brewers' annual Homebrewers Conference
> Shatters Attendance
> Record
> Beer and Food a Major Theme
>
> Boulder, Colo. * June 26, 2003 - A record number of America's
> homebrewers,
> professional craft brewers and beer and food enthusiasts
> gathered in Chicago
> this past weekend to sharpen their palates, expand their
> horizons and crown
> the best amateur brewers in America. The 25th annual American
> Homebrewers
> Association national conference, succeeded on all fronts. A
> crowd of more
> than 750 enjoyed 238 five gallon kegs (more than 1,200 gallons) of
> home-brewed beer. Conference attendance was more than triple
> the number from
> the previous year. The American Homebrewers Association (AHA)
> is a division
> of the Association of Brewers. Photos from the conference can
> be found on
> www.beertown.org.
>
> "The attendance, enthusiasm and speaker lineup far exceeded our
> expectations. The Chicago area clubs are a big reason this
> conference was
> such a success," comments Paul Gatza, director of the AHA.
>
> International beer authority Michael Jackson, a long time
> friend of American
> homebrewers, kicked off the conference by stressing the importance of
> homebrewing in the development of the American craft brewing
> movement, which
> is now the envy of the beer-drinking world.
>
> Other conference speakers included renowned brewers and
> authors such as
> Charlie Papazian, president and founder of the Association of
> Brewers and
> the American Homebrewers Association; Ray Daniels, author of
> Designing Great
> Beers and editor of The New Brewer and Zymurgy; Peter
> Bouckaert, Brewmaster,
> New Belgium Brewing Co. former brewer at Rodenbach.; Todd
> Ashman, Brewer,
> Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery; Tom Nickel, Head
> Brewer for the
> Oggi's Pizza and Brewing Co. ; and Larry Bell, Founder and
> Brewer, Kalamazoo
> Brewing Company.
>
>
> Highlights from the conference included:
> Thursday's annual club night, with attendance close to 450,
> had groups from
> different communities vie for attention with homemade beers, foods and
> costumes. Groups dressed as bowlers, monks, prisoners and
> gangsters, manning
> their booths while dishing out everything from Ohio
> sauerkraut balls to
> Texas barbeque and filling cups with everything from roasted
> pepper ale to
> oily black Imperial Stout.
> Judging and sensory training are a common part of homebrew
> activities and
> this year was no exception. Both amateur and professional beer judges
> presented seminars aimed at helping brewers learn more about
> beer flavor and
> the causes of both good and bad flavors in beer. Particularly
> notable this
> year was Dr. Ed's House of Bad Beer Horrors, which presented beer
> off-flavors in a Halloween dungeon environment complete with
> Dr. Ed in a
> Dracula costume and a display of spooky "beers" containing
> live leeches and
> other made-up horrors.
>
> Presentations at this year's conference covered a wide range of topics
> including brewing, beer culture and food. In addition to the
> usual talks on
> specific beer styles and brewing techniques (German Lagers, Wood-Aged
> Beers), this year's program sought to include other food arts
> such as cheese
> making and sourdough bread baking and also included several talks on
> matching beer with food.
>
> "As a shop owner, I can't imagine any better way to have
> hands on contact
> with our customers and potential new customers, plus gaining
> tons of new
> ideas," expresses Chris Graham of Beer Beer & More Beer. "As
> a homebrewer,
> it was the mecca for brewing knowledge and talent. And as a
> Beer Lover, the
> Chicago clubs did a fantastic job supplying great quality beer."
>
> Lucy Saunders, author of Cooking with Beer and beercook.com,
> led off this
> section talking about techniques and approaches for cooking
> with beer. She
> was followed by Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and
> author of the recently published The Brewmaster's Table:
> Discovering the
> Pleasures of Real Beer and Real Food. His talk spanned the
> range of beers
> and food available for pairing. The third talk in the series
> paired thirteen
> beers with different cheeses with some surprising results.
> The overwhelming
> favorite of those present was Alba Scots Pine Ale paired with
> and eight-year
> aged cheddar from Wisconsin's Carr Valley. Finally, the
> afternoon's parade
> of beer and food ended with dessert as Fred Eckhardt paired
> beer with a
> range of chocolate concoctions, which included: Corsendonk
> Belgian Abbey
> Tripel with chile pepper fudge; Three Floyds' Robert The
> Bruce Scottish Ale
> with Belgian hazelnut milk chocolate truffles; Two Brothers'
> Brown Fox Ale
> with Eli's Chocolate Cheesecake.
>
> Saturday night's event called Real Beer Real Food was a
> walk-around tasting
> of food and beer open to the general public. "It's an attempt to
> cross-pollinate the craft food and beer worlds," says event
> organizer Randy
> Mosher. "We wanted to show people how many great combinations
> of food and
> beer there are, to show it off in it's proper context. And as
> it has for the
> last few thousand years, it makes for a pretty enjoyable
> party." More than
> 750 guests enjoyed American and imported craft beer of every
> description,
> along with foods including artisanal cheese, smoked meats and sausage,
> pickles, bread, and more, including beer-infused cheesecake
> and ice cream.
>
> "You guys made a mistake. You forgot Elvis's lesson 'Always leave 'em
> wanting more.' You gave them everything," comments Ken
> Schramm, author and
> conference speaker. Schramm signed and sold 200 copies of his
> new book from
> the Association of Brewers, The Compleat Meadmaker.
>
> The conference banquet, sponsored by Rogue Ales, was held
> Friday evening
> with more than 500 guests. As customary, the AHA Board of Advisors
> Recognition award was presented. This year's winner was Russ
> Wigglesworth, a
> volunteer judge with the BJCP for eight years and pillar in
> the homebrewing
> community.
> Second-round judging of the AHA National Homebrew Competition was held
> onsite June 18 - 19 during the conference. The best of 3,340
> beer and mead
> entries from U.S. and Canadian homebrewers that advanced to
> the second round
> of the competition were judged.
>
> Winners of the competition were announced at the banquet and
> were awarded
> gold, silver or bronze medals in 29 style categories. The
> National Homebrew
> Competition winners list follows in a separate press release.
>
> Some of the highlights of the awards were the crowning of
> Homebrewer and
> Homebrew Club of the Year. Bruce Stott of Hop River Brewers
> in Rockville,
> Conn. was named Homebrewer of the Year for his Cee Cee Schwarz beer.
> Homebrewer of the Year, sponsored by Muntons P.L.C., is given
> to the Best of
> Show beer from the 24 beer categories. Homebrew Club of the
> Year, sponsored
> by Coopers Brew Products, went to QUAFF for the third year in
> a row making
> them only the second club ever to secure the award for more
> than two years
> running.
>
> The Ninkasi Award, sponsored by Boston Beer Company, is given to the
> winningest brewer in the 24 beer categories, with six points
> for a gold
> medal, four points for a silver medal, and two points for a
> bronze medal.
> For the second year in a row the award went to Curt Hausam of
> Salem, Ore.
>
> Meadmaker of the Year, sponsored by Redstone Meadery, was
> given to Paul
> Zocco of Andover, Conn. This award is given to the Best of
> Show mead from
> the three mead categories. Cidermaker of the Year was
> awarded to Steve
> Olson of Menasha, Wis. and is given to the Best of Show cider
> from the cider
> category.
> Tony Simmons of Colorado is the lucky AHA member whose name
> was drawn during
> the awards banquet for the Lallemand Scholarship. The
> Lallemand Scholarship
> awards one AHA member with the full cost of a two-week
> Concise Course to the
> Siebel Institute valued at $2,750 and a $1,000 USD stipend to
> assist with
> travel and accommodations.
>
> The organizing committee included Brewers of South Suburbia
> (BOSS), Chicago
> Beer Society (CBS) and Urban Knaves of Grain (UKG).
>
> The 2003 National Homebrewers Conference sponsors are Goose
> Island, Rogue
> Ales, Tote-a-Keg, Wyeast Laboratories, Inc., Beer Beer & More
> Beer and White
> Labs.
>
> The American Homebrewers Association is a division of the
> Association of
> Brewers, established 1978 in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A. In 1979,
> 200 people
> attended the first AHA National Homebrewers Conference held
> in Boulder,
> Colo. Now the conference is recognized as the world's
> largest-attended
> conference devoted to amateur brewers.
>
> Based in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A., the Association of Brewers (AOB) is a
> not-for-profit educational, trade association for small and
> craft brewers.
> Its mission is to make quality beer and brewing knowledge
> accessible to all.
> Visit the website: www.beertown.org to learn more.
> The Association of Brewers has an additional membership
> division of 8,000+
> homebrewers: American Homebrewers Association.
>
> The association's activities include events and publishing:
> World Beer Cup(r);
> Great American Beer Festival(r); Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo
> America(r); National Homebrewers Conference; National Homebrew
> Competition;
> American Beer Month (July); Zymurgy magazine; The New Brewer
> magazine; and
> books on beer and brewing.
>
> CONTACT:
> Association of Brewers
> Cindy Jones, Sales and Marketing Director
> Phone: +1.303.447.0816, ext. 144
> Fax: +1.303.447.2825
> E-mail: cindy(a)aob.org
> Web Site: www.beertown.org
Al,
It sounds like you guys had a good time. I'll have to go next year. This
year I already had plans. On Friday when you had your Banquet, I was at
10,000 feet and climbing. This past weekend I summitted Mt. Rainier
(that's located in Washington for those that didn't know). It took two
days to do. In 12 hours I saw a difference of 14,000 feet and 120 degrees.
Here's a couple pictures:
(See attached file: At The Summit.JPG) (I'm the one on the right)
(See attached file: Little Tomah 2.JPG) (me walking by Little Tomah)
Jeff
allan.boyce@usbank
.com To: mba(a)thebarn.com
Sent by: cc:
mba-bounce@thebarn Subject: BeerBus trip - Chicago! Thursday, June 19
.com
06/26/2003 05:57
PM
ADDENDUM TO WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18:
* For those curious, Russell won the WHEEL O'FUN the first TWO spins...
definitely suspicious! (The second Wheel O'Fun wagering occurred at the
Brewery Creek Pub.)
THURSDAY, JUNE 19
Since we had already unloaded the bus the night before, we thankfully got
to sleep in on Thursday morning! The first event of the day was the
Welcome Luncheon, which started at noon. There was already quite a line
(actually, several lines) forming when Trixie and I got down there, so I
took the opportunity to pass out most of the Beer Bowling Scoresheets that
we had printed for the event.
The scoresheets were 11x17 full color forms and had a conference schedule
down the right side of them, and logos from the larger Minnesota brewing
clubs, Breweries, Homebrew shops and Brewpubs around the outer edge. The
rest of the form was a regulation bowling score sheet for four people, and
it divided up the conference activities into the "frames" listed below.
The vigor of your participation would measure your "Beer Bowling" score.
ANY FRAME: STRIKE! If total is 11 or more!
FRAME:
1 WEDNESDAY NIGHT PUB CRAWL!
First Half: Number of bars visited
Second Half: Total number of beers sampled
2 THURSDAY KICKOFF LUNCHEON!
First Half: Total food items eaten
Second Half: Drink each time Jackson says: "BeerHunter!"
3 THURSDAY JUDGING / CONFERENCE SESSIONS
First Half: Flights judged or sessions attended
Second Half: Beers tasted in the Hospitality Suite
4 THURSDAY CLUB NIGHT!
First Half: Number of food dishes tried (Max: 5 pts)
Second Half: Number of beers tried
5 FRIDAY MORNING JUDGING / CONF. SESSIONS
First Half: Flights judged or sessions attended
Second Half: Beers tasted in the Hospitality Suite
6 FRI MEMBERS LUNCH / AFTERNOON SESSIONS
First Half: One point for Lunch, One for each afternoon session
Second Half: Beers tasted in the Hospitality Suite
7 FRIDAY GRAND BANQUET
First Half: Total food items eaten (Max: 6 points)
Second Half: Number of beers drank during banquet
8 SATURDAY MORNING SESSIONS
First Half: Sessions attended
Second Half: Beers tasted in the Hospitality Suite
9 SAT. BEER, FOOD AND MORE BEER SESSIONS
First Half: Sessions attended
Second Half: Beers tasted in the Hospitality Suite
10 SAT NIGHT: REAL BEER, REAL FOOD
First Half: Food/Beer pairings tasted (Max: 10 points - STRIKE)
Second Half: Beers drank in the Hospitality Suite AFTER 11PM!
(10-Strike!)
TurkeyOut - AWARDS! - Must have 10 or 11 in Frame 10!
10: You won GOLD!
8: You won SILVER!
6: Bronze!
4: Your club won something
2: You SURVIVED to Sunday Morning!
People seemed amused by it, and it gave our club a little advance publicity
for our Bowling-Themed Club Night. I don't know if anyone actually kept
score with it. I started to for the first few frames, but I was having so
much fun at the conference that I forgot that I was supposed to be scoring!
The lunch was tasty, but I've already forgotten what was served. I do
remember that Goose Island had brought in 4 kegs of beer for the event, and
they were all dry before the luncheon was over. We listened to Charlie
Papazian speak about 25 years in the AHA, and then he introduced Michael
Jackson (the BeerHunter one, not the MoonWalker one). Our Beer Bowling
scoresheet, we were soon to discover, should have given points for every
time Michael rambled off topic instead of every time he said "BeerHunter"!
But his anecdotes and stories all wound together eventually, and it was a
very enjoyable and entertaining talk. Lunch ran late, so the Thursday
afternoon events were all pushed back a half hour, starting at 2pm instead
of 1:30.
I decided I was going to judge Thursday afternoon instead of attending any
of the seminars. I was happy with my choice, but after hearing some of the
other BeerBussers stories about the seminar topics, I am kind of sad I
missed them. They included:
* Introduction to Beer Judging, with Rex Halfpenny
* Mastering the BJCP Exam, with Gordon Strong
* Planning a Doctored Beer Seminar, with Tom Fitzpatrick
* Alternative Fermentations: Sake, with Fred Eckhardt
* Alternative Fermentations: Mead, with Ken Schramm
* Alternative Fermentations: Cider, with Charles McGonegal
* Alternative Fermentations: Wine, with Rick Wilson
...and...
* Dr. Ed's House of Bad Beer Horrors! (a room dedicated to tasting beers
with known flaws, for developing your palate.)
and also the following clubs in manning the Hospitality Suite:
* Midnight Carboys, IL
* North Texas Homebrewers Association
* SAAZ, OH
Orville and I both got assigned to judge Fruit Meads, which made me happy -
that was the category I had requested. We looked at the roster of meads we
had to judge, and I got a little freaked out when I saw that there were
EIGHTEEN OF THEM at one table!!! Orville explained that there were 6
judges at the table, and the norm is to break into groups of 3 and run 2
flights of 9 at the table simultaneously, each flight picking their top 2-4
selections. Then we were all to judge the final 4-8 beers in a Mini-Best
Of Show round. One team took all the cysers while the other took all the
pyments, then each team took some of the "other" fruit meads. Orville,
Cindy (a brewer from Hawaii!) and myself took the Pyments, and Joel
Plutchark (sp?) and two others whose names have escaped me took the Cysers.
I was happily amazed by the QUALITY of meads we judged! Any one of them
could easily have taken a gold medal in any other contest I have judged.
After much discussion, we settled on a Muscat Pyment for first in our
flight, a Raspberry melomel for second, and I forget the third. The other
flight had four - two cysers, a Strawberry/Crabapple, and I forget the
last one. The mini BOS was arduous - one of the judges had set his
favorite on a cyser that the rest of us had lower on our lists, and the
same judge heatedly disliked the Muscat pyment that the rest of us loved.
It really was a chore to throw any of them out! Eventually we sent the
Muscat on as first, the raspberry as second, and the strawberry/crabapple
on as third.
The Metheglin judging table that Tjockis was judging at was already out
when we got done, and Kris had saved us some samples of 1,2 and 3 at that
table. It's good to have friends! The Traditional/Varietal table that
Marty was sitting at was still going on - and I avoided it with great
difficulty, since both Orville and I had meads entered in that category.
When they were finally finished, we shared our remnants of our winners with
Chris and he shared the remnants of their placers with us. I got excited
because two of the meads that placed were very familiar to me... more
about that later.
Most of the seminars were over by the time the judging let out, so I picked
up a copy of Ken Schramm's new mead book, and stood in line with Kathy
Stock for Ken to autograph them. It was moving on to 6:15pm and it still
wasn't over, so I gave up on the autograph line and went upstairs to get
the stuff I had stored there for our Club Night table. The setup for Club
Night began at 6:30pm.
Club Night is the night when all of the AHA brewer's clubs put on their
best show to the assembled delegates. Our theme this year was bowling -
for no other reason that we decided that bowling shirts would be cooler to
have than T-shirts. Tjockis had suggested them, and Yarrrr! had found
beershirts.com and had coordinated the deal with them, and collected all
the orders from our club. The shirts were classic tacky bowling shirts,
each BeerBusser picking their own color and adornments. Trixie and I had
chosen the Black and Pink Loungemaster variety. All of them had our logo
on the back - a bowling ball with the MhBA logo in it, knocking over
several 22-oz beer bottles, with the slogan underneath "MhBA can knock 'em
down!" Gloria Sheehan from our club did the art, and Yarrr! came up with
the slogan and the art idea. We were stylin'!
Well, once we had the shirts, we had to do the rest of the theme in bowling
style as well. Russell was our Club Night coordinator, and Orville was the
overall beer coordinator. We had a variety of "balls" to eat: Meat, Malted
Milk and donut variety, as well as some rice krispy treats in the shape of
pins. The beers all had bowling names - mine were "Powerbowler Pilsner",
"Gutterball" Steam beer, and "Alleywaxer IPA". Orville (or was it
Russell?) made these great, laminated beer menus that allowed our booth
visitors to ask for their request by number -making bartending much easier.
Moe organized all the kegs in numerical order - about halfway through the
night - and that made it easier still. The king of Easy was Oomtirggg
though - his four-tap jockey box sat on wheels in the middle of the floor
in front of our booth, and allowed peole to pour their own. Tjockis
created quite a stir when he put a 40-lb back of fresh Cascade leaf hops
and a box of baggies next to Oomtirggg's jockey box with a sign saying
"FREE - TAKE SOME!" Some brewers just wanted to stick their heads in the
bag and inhale, others took a few in their palms to sniff and examine. A
few less savory characters made 8 or 10 trips to the hop bin. And one
woman had to be told not to throw her TRASH into the bag! (Must have been
a "guest" - not a brewer! Sheesh!)
Our meads and ciders, it seems, were the hit of the conference for their
quality and quantity. We had our own little mead/cider groupies, who kept
coming back for more and more. One person took a sip of my Tupelo mead
over to mead book writer Ken Schramm to taste, and she said "his eyes
rolled back in his head". (I'm hoping it was in a GOOD way!) Marty also
had a whopping supply of mead on hand for Club Night - including a KEG! of
his Raspberry Ginger Melomel. After he won first place and people's choice
on the Beer Good Bus Tour contest, we nearly didn't let him serve it that
night!
Joe Formanek, club night organizer, got on the PA and invited us to "Vote
Early, Vote Often - Chicago Style"! for our favorite booth. That was all
the impetus we needed! Hank went over to where the ballots were stored and
grabbed a couple handfuls of them and we proceeded to set up an assembly
line to stuff the ballot box. Every 20th ballot or so we wrote in "Mayor
Daley" or some other famous dead Chicagoan, but otherwise we mostly voted
for ourselves. A few people noticed the stuffing, and soon the race began
for which club could stuff it the most! Trixie expressed disappointment
because she thought we could win the "Big Al" trophy without cheating, and
now we would never know. All in fun!
The food and beer was fabulous! Prairie Homebrewing Companions had Buffalo
Balls (!!!) and Sunflower treats - produce from their homeland. The Kansas
City Biermeisters had BBQ Ribs in keeping with their tradition. F.O.R.D.
had cabbage rolls - don't know how that ties in, but it was VERY good! We
also sampled some of Jeff Renner's Classic American Pilsner. Jeff is a
prolific contributor to the Homebrew Digest online, and is credited with
having popularized, if not having started, the revival of the style. It
was very good - almost as good as mine! ;-D
The promised song-and-dance routine of Tjockis and the Three Idiots Brewers
never materialized, much to the disappointment of the crowd. There was
talk that they would make it up to us in the MhBA stint in the Hospitality
Suite on Friday.... stay tuned for more on that. The room had to be closed
by 11pm, so soon the clubs started packing up their beers to the "Refer"
truck and stowing all their gear and food. Oomtirggg's bar-on-wheels
somehow managed to follow us down to the Hospitality room after the event
however, and joined by the beers of the Chicago area clubs - the Brewers of
South Suburbia, the Chicago Beer Society, and the Urban Knaves of Grain, we
proceeded to taste our way into heavenly oblivion. I must've went to bed
sometime that evening, but I don't remember when!
Thus endeth the second day of the great AHA National Conference of 2003...
I have added some more pictures to the photo album...
- Al
http://photomail.photoworks.com/sharing/album.asp?Key=1~FQQ4aBru.cJA9u5CX3N…
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-- File: Little Tomah 2.JPG
There you have it! Another year scheduled for the regions best beer fest!
Mo
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David H Berg [mailto:bergbrew@juno.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 11:26 AM
> To: mcbg(a)mncraftbrew.org
> Subject: ABR 2003
>
>
>
> It's been a bit of a slow start this year with all the growler stuff
> going on, but I just wanted to let everyone know that there will
> definitely be an Autumn Brew Review this year, and the date is Sep 6,
> 2003 at Peavy Plaza. Tickets will go on sale sometime in
> mid-July. I'll
> send out another email when they go on sale and I'll try to get the
> website updated one of these days.
>
>
> David Berg
> Head Brewer, Bandana Brewery
> President, Minnesota Craft Brewer's Guild
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
> Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
> Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!
>
More news from the conference!
Mo
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association of Brewers [mailto:cindy@aob.org]
> Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 8:30 PM
> To: mmoranz(a)net-info.com
> Subject: AHA announces Winners of Largest Beer Competition in
> the World
>
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> American Homebrewers Association announces Winners of Largest Beer
> Competition in the World
>
> Boulder, Colo. June 26, 2003 The Association of Brewers
> crowned winners
> of the largest homebrew competition in the world this past
> weekend at the
> American Homebrewers Associations 25th annual National Homebrewers
> Conference in Chicago, Ill. The best of 3,340 beer and mead entries by
> homebrewers from the U.S. and around the world advanced to
> the second round
> of the AHA National Homebrew Competition and were judged
> onsite during the
> conference.
>
> Winners of the competition were announced at the conferences
> Rogue Ale
> Grand Banquet on Friday night and were awarded gold, silver
> or bronze medals
> in 29 style categories. The National Homebrew Competition
> winners list is
> at the end of this press release and also available on
> www.beertown.org.
>
> Some of the highlights of the awards were the crowning of
> Homebrewer and
> Homebrew Club of the Year. Bruce Stott of Hop River Brewers
> in Rockville,
> Conn. was named Homebrewer of the Year for his Cee Cee Schwarz Beer.
> Homebrewer of the Year, sponsored by Muntons P.L.C., is given
> to the Best of
> Show beer from the 24 beer categories.
>
> Homebrew Club of the Year, sponsored by Coopers Brew
> Products, went to the
> Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity (QUAFF) for the third
> year in a row
> making them only the second club ever to secure the award for
> more than two
> years running.
>
> The Ninkasi Award, sponsored by Boston Beer Company, is given to the
> winningest brewer in the 24 beer categories, with six points
> for a gold
> medal, four points for a silver medal, and two points for a
> bronze medal.
> For the second year in a row Curt Hausam of Salem, Ore. won
> the Ninkasi
> Award.
>
> Meadmaker of the Year, sponsored by Redstone Meadery, was
> given to Paul
> Zocco of Andover, Conn. This award is given to the Best of
> Show mead from
> the three mead categories.
>
> Cidermaker of the Year was awarded to Steve Olson of Menasha,
> Wis. and is
> given to the Best of Show cider from the cider category.
>
> Alaskas homebrewers shined, winning 11 of the 87 medals awarded.
>
> The American Homebrewers Association is a division of the
> Association of
> Brewers, established 1978 in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A. In 1979,
> 200 people
> attended the first AHA National Homebrewers Conference held
> in Boulder,
> Colo. Now the conference is recognized as the worlds
> largest-attended
> conference devoted to amateur brewers.
>
> Based in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A., the Association of Brewers (AOB) is a
> not-for-profit educational, trade association for small and
> craft brewers.
> Its mission is to make quality beer and brewing knowledge
> accessible to all.
> Visit the website: www.beertown.org to learn more.
>
> The Association of Brewers has an additional membership
> division of 8,000+
> homebrewers: American Homebrewers Association.
>
> The associations activities include events and publishing:
> World Beer Cup®;
> Great American Beer Festival®; Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo
> America®; National Homebrewers Conference; National Homebrew
> Competition;
> American Beer Month (July); Zymurgy magazine; The New Brewer
> magazine; and
> books on beer and brewing.
>
> # # #
>
> CONTACT:
> Association of Brewers
> Cindy Jones, Sales and Marketing Director
> Phone: +1.303.447.0816, ext. 144
> Fax: +1.303.447.2825
> E-mail: cindy(a)aob.org
> Web Site: www.beertown.org
As good as this sounds, I think it's understated!
Mo
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association of Brewers [mailto:cindy@aob.org]
> Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 5:16 PM
> To: mmoranz(a)net-info.com
> Subject: PR: Homebrewers Conference Shatters Attendance Record!
>
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> Association of Brewers annual Homebrewers Conference
> Shatters Attendance
> Record
> Beer and Food a Major Theme
>
> Boulder, Colo. June 26, 2003 A record number of Americas
> homebrewers,
> professional craft brewers and beer and food enthusiasts
> gathered in Chicago
> this past weekend to sharpen their palates, expand their
> horizons and crown
> the best amateur brewers in America. The 25th annual American
> Homebrewers
> Association national conference, succeeded on all fronts. A
> crowd of more
> than 750 enjoyed 238 five gallon kegs (more than 1,200 gallons) of
> home-brewed beer. Conference attendance was more than triple
> the number from
> the previous year. The American Homebrewers Association (AHA)
> is a division
> of the Association of Brewers. Photos from the conference can
> be found on
> www.beertown.org.
>
> The attendance, enthusiasm and speaker lineup far exceeded our
> expectations. The Chicago area clubs are a big reason this
> conference was
> such a success, comments Paul Gatza, director of the AHA.
>
> International beer authority Michael Jackson, a long time
> friend of American
> homebrewers, kicked off the conference by stressing the importance of
> homebrewing in the development of the American craft brewing
> movement, which
> is now the envy of the beer-drinking world.
>
> Other conference speakers included renowned brewers and
> authors such as
> Charlie Papazian, president and founder of the Association of
> Brewers and
> the American Homebrewers Association; Ray Daniels, author of
> Designing Great
> Beers and editor of The New Brewer and Zymurgy; Peter
> Bouckaert, Brewmaster,
> New Belgium Brewing Co. former brewer at Rodenbach.; Todd
> Ashman, Brewer,
> Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery; Tom Nickel, Head
> Brewer for the
> Oggi's Pizza and Brewing Co. ; and Larry Bell, Founder and
> Brewer, Kalamazoo
> Brewing Company.
>
>
> Highlights from the conference included:
> Thursdays annual club night, with attendance close to 450,
> had groups from
> different communities vie for attention with homemade beers, foods and
> costumes. Groups dressed as bowlers, monks, prisoners and
> gangsters, manning
> their booths while dishing out everything from Ohio
> sauerkraut balls to
> Texas barbeque and filling cups with everything from roasted
> pepper ale to
> oily black Imperial Stout.
> Judging and sensory training are a common part of homebrew
> activities and
> this year was no exception. Both amateur and professional beer judges
> presented seminars aimed at helping brewers learn more about
> beer flavor and
> the causes of both good and bad flavors in beer. Particularly
> notable this
> year was Dr. Ed's House of Bad Beer Horrors, which presented beer
> off-flavors in a Halloween dungeon environment complete with
> Dr. Ed in a
> Dracula costume and a display of spooky "beers" containing
> live leeches and
> other made-up horrors.
>
> Presentations at this years conference covered a wide range of topics
> including brewing, beer culture and food. In addition to the
> usual talks on
> specific beer styles and brewing techniques (German Lagers, Wood-Aged
> Beers), this years program sought to include other food arts
> such as cheese
> making and sourdough bread baking and also included several talks on
> matching beer with food.
>
> As a shop owner, I can't imagine any better way to have
> hands on contact
> with our customers and potential new customers, plus gaining
> tons of new
> ideas, expresses Chris Graham of Beer Beer & More Beer. As
> a homebrewer,
> it was the mecca for brewing knowledge and talent. And as a
> Beer Lover, the
> Chicago clubs did a fantastic job supplying great quality beer.
>
> Lucy Saunders, author of Cooking with Beer and beercook.com,
> led off this
> section talking about techniques and approaches for cooking
> with beer. She
> was followed by Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and
> author of the recently published The Brewmaster's Table:
> Discovering the
> Pleasures of Real Beer and Real Food. His talk spanned the
> range of beers
> and food available for pairing. The third talk in the series
> paired thirteen
> beers with different cheeses with some surprising results.
> The overwhelming
> favorite of those present was Alba Scots Pine Ale paired with
> and eight-year
> aged cheddar from Wisconsins Carr Valley. Finally, the
> afternoons parade
> of beer and food ended with dessert as Fred Eckhardt paired
> beer with a
> range of chocolate concoctions, which included: Corsendonk
> Belgian Abbey
> Tripel with chile pepper fudge; Three Floyds Robert The
> Bruce Scottish Ale
> with Belgian hazelnut milk chocolate truffles; Two Brothers
> Brown Fox Ale
> with Eli's Chocolate Cheesecake.
>
> Saturday night's event called Real Beer Real Food was a
> walk-around tasting
> of food and beer open to the general public. "It's an attempt to
> cross-pollinate the craft food and beer worlds," says event
> organizer Randy
> Mosher. "We wanted to show people how many great combinations
> of food and
> beer there are, to show it off in it's proper context. And as
> it has for the
> last few thousand years, it makes for a pretty enjoyable
> party." More than
> 750 guests enjoyed American and imported craft beer of every
> description,
> along with foods including artisanal cheese, smoked meats and sausage,
> pickles, bread, and more, including beer-infused cheesecake
> and ice cream.
>
> "You guys made a mistake. You forgot Elvis's lesson 'Always leave 'em
> wanting more.' You gave them everything, comments Ken
> Schramm, author and
> conference speaker. Schramm signed and sold 200 copies of his
> new book from
> the Association of Brewers, The Compleat Meadmaker.
>
> The conference banquet, sponsored by Rogue Ales, was held
> Friday evening
> with more than 500 guests. As customary, the AHA Board of Advisors
> Recognition award was presented. This years winner was Russ
> Wigglesworth, a
> volunteer judge with the BJCP for eight years and pillar in
> the homebrewing
> community.
> Second-round judging of the AHA National Homebrew Competition was held
> onsite June 18 19 during the conference. The best of 3,340
> beer and mead
> entries from U.S. and Canadian homebrewers that advanced to
> the second round
> of the competition were judged.
>
> Winners of the competition were announced at the banquet and
> were awarded
> gold, silver or bronze medals in 29 style categories. The
> National Homebrew
> Competition winners list follows in a separate press release.
>
> Some of the highlights of the awards were the crowning of
> Homebrewer and
> Homebrew Club of the Year. Bruce Stott of Hop River Brewers
> in Rockville,
> Conn. was named Homebrewer of the Year for his Cee Cee Schwarz beer.
> Homebrewer of the Year, sponsored by Muntons P.L.C., is given
> to the Best of
> Show beer from the 24 beer categories. Homebrew Club of the
> Year, sponsored
> by Coopers Brew Products, went to QUAFF for the third year in
> a row making
> them only the second club ever to secure the award for more
> than two years
> running.
>
> The Ninkasi Award, sponsored by Boston Beer Company, is given to the
> winningest brewer in the 24 beer categories, with six points
> for a gold
> medal, four points for a silver medal, and two points for a
> bronze medal.
> For the second year in a row the award went to Curt Hausam of
> Salem, Ore.
>
> Meadmaker of the Year, sponsored by Redstone Meadery, was
> given to Paul
> Zocco of Andover, Conn. This award is given to the Best of
> Show mead from
> the three mead categories. Cidermaker of the Year was
> awarded to Steve
> Olson of Menasha, Wis. and is given to the Best of Show cider
> from the cider
> category.
> Tony Simmons of Colorado is the lucky AHA member whose name
> was drawn during
> the awards banquet for the Lallemand Scholarship. The
> Lallemand Scholarship
> awards one AHA member with the full cost of a two-week
> Concise Course to the
> Siebel Institute valued at $2,750 and a $1,000 USD stipend to
> assist with
> travel and accommodations.
>
> The organizing committee included Brewers of South Suburbia
> (BOSS), Chicago
> Beer Society (CBS) and Urban Knaves of Grain (UKG).
>
> The 2003 National Homebrewers Conference sponsors are Goose
> Island, Rogue
> Ales, Tote-a-Keg, Wyeast Laboratories, Inc., Beer Beer & More
> Beer and White
> Labs.
>
> The American Homebrewers Association is a division of the
> Association of
> Brewers, established 1978 in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A. In 1979,
> 200 people
> attended the first AHA National Homebrewers Conference held
> in Boulder,
> Colo. Now the conference is recognized as the worlds
> largest-attended
> conference devoted to amateur brewers.
>
> Based in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A., the Association of Brewers (AOB) is a
> not-for-profit educational, trade association for small and
> craft brewers.
> Its mission is to make quality beer and brewing knowledge
> accessible to all.
> Visit the website: www.beertown.org to learn more.
> The Association of Brewers has an additional membership
> division of 8,000+
> homebrewers: American Homebrewers Association.
>
> The associations activities include events and publishing:
> World Beer Cup®;
> Great American Beer Festival®; Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo
> America®; National Homebrewers Conference; National Homebrew
> Competition;
> American Beer Month (July); Zymurgy magazine; The New Brewer
> magazine; and
> books on beer and brewing.
>
> CONTACT:
> Association of Brewers
> Cindy Jones, Sales and Marketing Director
> Phone: +1.303.447.0816, ext. 144
> Fax: +1.303.447.2825
> E-mail: cindy(a)aob.org
> Web Site: www.beertown.org
