mba June 2003

mba@thebarn.com

33 participants
62 discussions

BeerBus trip - Chicago! Thursday, June 19

by allan.boyce＠usbank.com

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…

22 years, 5 months

Beer Release @ the Town Hall Brewery

by townhallbrewer＠hotmail.com

Hey Beer Fans, The Organic Ale is gone....hope you all feel very healthy now. We will release Hazy Sun Blonde this Thursday 6/26. Stop in at the Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery from 5-6pm and have a pint or two for just $1 per. This beer was fermented with Belgian yeast and is a very light, refreshing treat. Don't let the heat keep you at home, come in and let Hazy Sun Blonde cool you down. Cheers Mike Fishing Tip.......... The big ones are biting on Rainy Lake. The slot limit makes this lake a prime location for you catch and releasers

22 years, 5 months

Residents Measure Civic Pride by the Beer

by Bruce.Butler＠colorspan.com

Interesting article from the WSJ. Makes me want to go buy a 12-pack of Summit EPA and a couple 6ers of Schells' German Pale Ale. Bruce In One German Town, Residents Measure Civic Pride by the Beer By VANESSA FUHRMANS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ISERLOHN, Germany -- Jochen Aron used to drink a frothy mug of Iserlohner Pilsener just because he was thirsty. Then, saving the brand from extinction became his mission. These days, the 49-year-old bathroom-fixture salesman stocks extra cases of the hometown beer in his pantry. He informed his relatives that he wouldn't drop by for Sunday visits unless they served Iserlohner Pils. And one Saturday recently, he arrived hours early to a federal-soccer-league match in nearby Dortmund, armed with bottles of Iserlohner Pils to proselytize at tailgate parties. "If I couldn't drink this beer, I don't know what I'd do," said Mr. Aron as he handed out a round of deep golden beers, then took a gulp himself. Wiping the foam from his lip, he knotted his bushy brow at the thought. "I'd probably have to stop drinking altogether," he said. The threat to his favorite brew isn't hypothetical. Five months ago, the parent company of Iserlohn's 104-year-old local brewery declared it would shut down the plant this summer. Like most of the country's 1,300 breweries, Iserlohn's principal market extends only about 20 miles beyond the city limits. A dwindling population and trendier temptations such as wine have hurt sales. Unless the 99,000 people of Iserlohn started cracking open more beers and sparked someone's interest in buying the brewery, the brew generations of Iserlohners have grown up with would become extinct. While Germany's brewing tradition is world-famous, its fragmented beer industry is in trouble. Germany is mired in its second recession in two years, and its once-vaunted Mittelstand, the thousands of small- to medium-size companies that make up its economic backbone, has been hit with a record number of bankruptcies. But the country's brewers also have another worrisome problem: Germans just don't drink as much beer as they used to -- only about 15 cases a year per person, compared with 17 in the mid-1990s. Most German breweries are now too small to expand abroad to compensate, leaving them vulnerable to foreign takeovers or to shutting down. Nearly 200 are on the block or losing money. Of Germany's 10 biggest beers, two already are owned by foreign companies, including Beck's, its top-selling beer. In Iserlohn, the prospect of a brewery closing drove locals to the streets in protest. It also prompted an unusual collective vow to drink more Iserlohn. "Every liter counts!" became the chant at "Save Iserlohner" demonstrations and beer festivals. Locals began boycotting restaurants that didn't serve Iserlohner Pils and tossing back extra beers at the ones that did. The beer-drinking strategy worked. It pushed Iserlohn beer production up 6% and persuaded three local investors to buy out the brewery last month. Still, the brewery's future depends on Iserlohners keeping the drinking up. "It has made a difference because if you're going to buy something like this, you want to be sure the market is going to be there for you," said Peter Michaelis, the brewery's managing director and one of the investors. In Iserlohn, it hasn't been all that difficult to get people to drink more. "We thought about asking the brewery to hook up a pipeline straight to our house," joked Rainer Schimmel, an Iserlohn engineer who, with his wife, Angelika, drinks about a case of beer every two weeks, often at get-togethers with the neighbors. "We have to do what it takes," he said. Others, such as Mr. Aron's wife, Elvira, changed their drinking habits to aid the cause. Until several months ago, she rarely drank beer, preferring the occasional Ramazzotti, a popular Italian after-dinner drink. Now, she drinks beer almost exclusively and, at a good party, can down as many as 10 small glasses. "It's a pretty strong-tasting beer, but I don't really notice it," she said as her husband passed her another. Beer in Iserlohn -- and much of Germany -- is still considered an essential drink, more on par with milk and orange juice than with other alcoholic beverages. Germans often call it fluessiges Brot, or "liquid bread," and a morning beer is a weekend ritual for many. On a recent Saturday morning, many adults, young and old, stopped for a quick one at an outdoor cafe on the town's main market square, then moved on to do more shopping. Many Iserlohn households say they consume about a case a week. Iserlohn's beer is brewed with water from the Gruener Tal, the lush wooded valley in which this northwestern German town lies. That and a special recipe give Iserlohner Pilsener, the brewery's biggest of three brands, its hoppy, bitter taste. Over the years, the beer has become part of the town's identity. The green and gold Iserlohner Pilsener sign hangs over the door of nearly every restaurant, cafe and bar. The brewery is the main sponsor of the Iserlohner Roosters, the town's national-league ice-hockey team, and a backer of numerous municipal activities, including a summer outdoor concert series. "My father introduced me to this beer when I was seven or so," said Mr. Schimmel, who has stuck to Iserlohner Pils all of his adult life. Since his father didn't like to hang out at bars, after work he'd send his young son off with a jug to fetch some from the neighborhood watering hole. "Even before I ever drank it, it was part of a special ritual in my life," the younger Mr. Schimmel said. For decades, thousands of British and German soldiers stationed here helped locals drink the beer, but those regional military bases have closed in recent years. And a new generation of Iserlohners is often more inclined to drink smoother-tasting beers from far afield. "It's not really my favorite," said Ulrich Bunse, a college student who prefers mixed-beer concoctions, a popular and fast-growing niche with younger German drinkers, or Veltins, a less bitter and bigger beer brand brewed in nearby Grevenstein. By the time Iserlohn's parent company, Brau & Brunnen, threw in the towel in January and announced that it would close the brewery, it was producing only 39 million gallons of beer a year, less than half its capacity. Now, with the brewery owned by a local clothing-store owner and two other investors, Iserlohn's Mr. Michaelis says it will be able to react more quickly to such marketing challenges. It's pinning some of its hopes on a couple of yet-to-be-introduced beverages, including a Pilsener-and-mango-flavored drink. The owners are also cutting the brewery's work force to 50 from 80 and raising prices to position Iserlohner Pils as a premium brand. A small glass now commonly sells in bars for about $1.40. But even local beer-drinking supporters say the brewery will have to find new contracts and markets to keep it growing, and not just rely on Iserlohners to keep drinking more and more beer. "In the end, we can't really save the brewery by ourselves," said Andreas Thiemann, a local journalist, whose household is on the case-a-week regime. "We can only drink what we can, and then that's it." Write to Vanessa Fuhrmans at vanessa.fuhrmans(a)wsj.com2 URL for this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB105606434091202100,00.html Hyperlinks in this Article: (1) http://WSJbooks.com/floating (2) mailto:vanessa.fuhrmans@wsj.com Updated June 20, 2003 Copyright 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printing, distribution, and use of this material is governed by your Subscription agreement and Copyright laws. For information about subscribing go to http://www.wsj.com ________________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned for computer viruses.

22 years, 5 months

Re: Club Cooler

by Steve Piatz

Rick, We decided not to use it before we broke up at the Mankato camp out. We had Curt's "large" copper clad tap box as well as a pile of picnic taps. As it was we had a lot of stuff to haul around for our booth. Rick Oftel writes: > > > So..............I thought someone was going delegate somebody to > sometime pick up the club jockey box PRIOR to the big trip? > > Since you have all returned safely, something must have been mixed up? > > Rick > > -- Steve Piatz piatz(a)cray.com Cray Inc. 651-605-9049 1340 Mendota Heights Road Mendota Heights, MN 55120

22 years, 5 months

Club Cooler

by Rick Oftel

So..............I thought someone was going delegate somebody to sometime pick up the club jockey box PRIOR to the big trip? Since you have all returned safely, something must have been mixed up? Rick

22 years, 5 months

3 for the road - 300 miles toward a cure with the 2003 MS TRAM (T he Ride Across Minnesota)

by Crist, Jonathan

Greetings: Sorry for the e-mail approach but I would like to ask for your help for a very special cause - The Ride Across Minnesota for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. It has been over 21 years since my wife was first diagnosed with MS. Every case is different and we have been lucky - the disease continues it slow relentless attack but so far the progress has been slow. Daily medication helps combat the fatigue but the disease, and it's effects, is always there. Each year I pedal the 300+ miles across Minnesota to raise money for the fight against Multiple Sclerosis. The money goes to programs to help education and services to people with MS, to help them live with MS, stay as healthy as possible and to maintain their independence throughout the course of their disease. This is a fight in which I chose to be personally involved and each year it becomes more important that we find the cure. This is my 13th ride across Minnesota and my 16th year riding for MS, in search of a cure. I am honored again this year to be accompanied by two young heroes in this fight - this will be the 4th year of riding for Eric (13) and the 7th year for Andrew (15). This years ride starts in Ortonville, stops in Montevideo, Redwood Falls, Hutchinson, St. Peter, and finishes in Faribault. Lots of hills, beautiful scenery, and more hills as we wind our way across the state riding in search for the cure. This summer, as a family, we will go over the 10000 mile mark logged toward finding a cure. Every mile I ride, every mile my sons ride, we get a little closer to a cure. Every and every mile we ride we hope this is the mile that earns the dollar that finds the cure. A cure for Diane and for all the other patients with MS. We ride for them and we ride for you. Every mile we ride we thank all our generous sponsors that help us to reach that goal. I also have MS Prism ribbons - not everybody is the same and because multiple sclerosis affects each individual in so many different ways, the Minnesota Chapter has adopted the "Prism Ribbon" to represent multiple sclerosis. This ribbon changes colors with movement, light or position. The changing colors of the ribbon signify that multiple sclerosis is an ever changing and unpredictable disease seen in different lights and different ways but is ever constant. The changing colors also indicate the ever-changing forward movement the Minnesota Chapter makes to meet the needs of people with MS. Our goal this year is to again raise $3000. Any size pledge helps, and you can sponsor any of us or all of us. Please feel free to post this message, or forward it to your co-workers. Thanks again for your support. Jonathan Crist Cristj(a)bsci.com <mailto:Cristj@bsci.com> (763) 494-2745

22 years, 5 months

Re: chi town

by allan.boyce＠usbank.com

The Beer Bus trip and the AHA conference was a fabulous time! I'm sure the stories will be crawling out of the woodwork as soon as we all get a chance to recover. The club took the "Big Al" trophy for winning the popular vote for the best Club Night booth... Chicago Style! (Ask an attendee about that!) In the meantime, here's a link to some of the first pictures, these from Jason Kalenborn: http://photomail.photoworks.com/sharing/album.asp?Key=1~FQQ4aBru.cLs/sVS3mg… And congratulations to Steve Piatz for his silver medal in the Lambic and Belgian Sour category, and a bronze medal in the Traditional Mead category! - Al "Steve Fletty" <fletty(a)umn.edu> To: mba(a)thebarn.com Sent by: cc: mba-bounce@theba Subject: chi town rn.com 06/23/2003 11:16 AM So how was the bus trip, folks? Are you sick of beer for the near term? ;-)

22 years, 5 months

chi town

by Steve Fletty

So how was the bus trip, folks? Are you sick of beer for the near term? ;-)

22 years, 5 months

Don't miss this oppurtunity!

by Zemo

Tickets for the Blues & Brews Cruise and Buses to the Great Taste of the Midwest are now available to non-Chicago Beer Society members. Their aren't many left. For info, go to www.chibeer.com where you'll find links for PDFs to print out and send in. And for your non-member convenience, there is a form to join Chicago Beer Society and get member pricing. Join now and receive all the benefits of membership. Zemo Immediate Past President & Country Busmeister

22 years, 5 months

Lucky Friday Story

by Rick Oftel

Well folks, if you missed last week end's adventures, you missed an interesting trip executed with German precision. Bandana Brewing Company is up and running. Dave is barely keeping up with demand. Just imagine what may happen if he starts selling growlers! All of his beers were very well produced using a neutral flavored yeast (aka 1056). Quite the nice setup with mash over HLT, kettle energy recovery (vapor used to heat HLT). The brewery is fired with low pressure steam boiler using steam traps, vented condensate tank, and a makeup pump. The boiler fits into a separate room keeping excess heat energy out of the brew haus. The special beer of the day was a wit and it was very pleasantly spiced. We dropped off some old bottles of LSBW that were produced using a similar recipe and his actual yeast. Later that evening, back at the camp ground, Dave received a call from Bob (head brewer at Hops Eden Prairie) who told Dave that he placed two beers at the recent beer contest. Make sure you stop by and congratulate Bob for his accomplishments. Next day, we kicked it into high range. The bugler found his bugle and bungled revile. We then headed out to Kasota and Scott was very helpful with best route. About 15 minutes later, we went into Mid-America Brewing and were very pleasantly surprised. You just can't believe the quantity of varieties of malt they carry. And, they pack it in from floor to ceiling. They have a very strong "can do" ethic and supply bagged malt, rebag malt after crushing, provide measured malt containers (grist mixed, measured, crushed). Much of their malt arrives on Semi-trucks and it is off-loaded into a chute, lifted into hoppers, and then metered into bags. Like I mentioned, the variety is almost endless and countries of origin include USA, Canada, Germany, England, France (freedom malt) Belgium, and a few others. They even had some original "Special B" but it was over two years old and lousing quality rapidly. It is not available for brewing. They also supply hops and have a large selection of pellets. We toured the room and thought we would be overcome with aroma. Amazing how little aroma occurs if everything is sealed. They break down hops into smaller packages and flush every bag with C02 before heat sealing. >From here, we went to New Ulm to brunch at the local German restaurant. Food was great but the "Premium" had an off flavor - sort of cidery. Next stop was Schells. The tour was great. They have produced a new video spotlighting the new brewery. The tour guide was great and she identified many new aspects of the old brewery that may have been forgotten. Unfortunately, we did not tour the new brewery or see the new fermenting vessels. We mentioned the cidery flavor at the local restaurant. Next stop was wine country. Ted's brother has a 10 acre farm and is busy planting grapes, chasing critters, and making wine. He has an amazing selection of wines that are produced at his facility. He supplements his grapes using his own grown and purchases various varieties from all over the country. Wines range from a sweet ice wine to a very dry and tart dark red. I believe there were about 15 varieties between the ends. We were rapidly running out of day and time so we headed back to the campground. Tried the remaining beers (only had about 13 kegs) and purchased food for the BBQ. It was so amazing cooking a BBQ without rain.........almost thought about hitching up a garden hose and a sprinkler. So there is the field report from Mankato. No accidents or mishaps. Next club event is in Chicago and the guys and gals are planning on getting a little wild and crazy. Unfortunately, not all can make it. The next official club event occurs next month on July 18-20. Cocato campout. Let's hope for a repeat of the nice weather. See you in July or earlier. Rick O

22 years, 5 months

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mba June 2003