mba February 2006

mba@thebarn.com

22 participants
38 discussions

by Al Boyce

-----Original Message----- From: beer(a)surlybrewing.com [mailto:beer@surlybrewing.com] Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 1:21 AM To: alboyce(a)bigfoot.com Subject: Beer is Here! Hello Surly Nation! The day we have all been waiting for is finally here. Surly beer is officially available! You can find both Bender and Furious on tap at Café Twenty Eight in Linden Hills, and Bender is pouring at Solera in downtown Minneapolis. As a matter of fact, Surly is pouring for only $2.00 a beer after 10:00 weekdays at Solera. I know, I just came from there. Prepare for a night out if you are drinking at Café Twenty Eight, as they are a restaurant and do not have a stand alone bar. For that matter, a reservation is a good idea. Surly beers always go well with food. We have bars and restaurants that are trying to drain a tap line for us over the weekend, so keep checking the website next week for additional taps as they develop. We hope to be adding locations fast and Furious. We are a sponsor of this weekends Winter Carnival Disc Sports Fetival, so check us out at Half-Time Rec in St. Paul on Saturday. Five kegs of Bender will be poured, see you all there! In other news, the Surlybrewing.com online store is also up and running just link to Surly Swag. You can find hats, bumper stickers, glasses, shirts, sweatshirts, work shirts and work jackets (though the price is currently wrong should read $50). Buy lots and wear them proud. If we see you around town in the garb, well buy you a beer. To help in that endeavor, if you buy a zipped sweatshirt by Feb 10th, we will ship it to ya for free. We are Surly, but we can be damn nice when we wanna be. The tasting room still has one small thing missing the bar. We have been busy making beer instead, so we will have to keep you posted on when the tours and tastings begin. Until then, head out to every bar you frequent and ASK FOR SURLY. Help us spread to word and encourage quality local beer. I think we will all be glad you did. Prosit, Omar To be removed from all of our mailing lists, click here: http://www.surlybrewing.com/mailinglists/mailinglists.php?p=mlist&rem=alboyc e(a)bigfoot.com

19 years, 10 months

Portland Oregon homebrew club contact

by Mike Behrendt

Does anyone have a contact at one of the homebrew clubs in the Portland, Oregon area? I'm looking for one for my son who now lives in Hillsboro, Oregon. There are at least 3 I've seen on the web but I'm interested in knowing which are the really good clubs. thanks! -- //Mike Behrendt MGBehrendt(a)mn.rr.com Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others. Groucho Marx

19 years, 10 months

MWHBOY '06 Standings

by Steve Fletty

Visit http://www.sphbc.org and follow the MWHBOY link for the '06 standings. The MWHBOY site has received implants, a nose job, and botox injections. A little liposuction remains to be done. Don't forget the next contest in the circuit: http://babblehomebrewers.com/brewoff/ If you see any mistakes in the standings, please let me know.

19 years, 10 months

FW: AUTUMN BREW REVIEW - Oct 7

by Al Boyce

-----Original Message----- From: owner-mcbg(a)mncraftbrew.org [mailto:owner-mcbg@mncraftbrew.org] On Behalf Of David Berg Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 8:04 AM To: mcbg(a)mncraftbrew.org Subject: Greetings All- Hope everyone is having a great 2006 so far. We've got a couple of things going on, so I thought I'd drop a quick note. If you're heading to the Food and Wine Experience (Feb 24-26) look for the Minnesota Craft Brewer's Guild booth. We'll be the one without any decorations (you'll understand what I mean if you go). Planning on having 6 breweries there each day, serving probably 4 beers each, so we'll have a better beer selection in our little booth than most bars in the state. The 6th Annual Autumn Brew Review will be Oct 7, 2006. We're limiting tickets to 2500 this year, and after the Winterfest experience, I don't doubt we'll hit that. This will probably be the last year at Peavey--we need more room. We're kicking around the idea of having a VIP hour for those of you who are willing to pay a little extra and have a run of the event without the crowds. I'll keep you posted. The 6th Annual Winterfest will be Jan 20, 2007 at the Landmark Center in St Paul. New digs, more space, should be fun. Last but not least, I'm putting a PDF on the website (http://www.mncraftbrew.org) of the really cool t-shirts we had printed. Price is $15+ shipping (if I have to send it--I can't believe it would cost very much to send a t-shirt). The only sizes we have now are L and XL. If you need a different size, let me know and we'll get one made next order. Cheers! David Berg Head Brewer, Bandana Brewery President, Minnesota Craft Brewer's Guild http://www.mncraftbrew.org

19 years, 10 months

trib writeup of shootout in today's paper

by Roger Deschner

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE DRINK! Brewpubs take the challenge at Chicagoland Shootout By Nicholas Day Special to the Tribune Published February 1, 2006 These days, local brewpubs aren't satisfied with serving some of the best beers out there. They want the best food, too. So no one brought peanuts at the eighth annual Chicagoland Brewpub and Microbrewery Shootout recently, a food and beer competition sponsored by the Chicago Beer Society (CBS). There were, however, port wine beef medallions with wild berry salad and walnut balsamic vinaigrette, the entry of Brass Restaurant and Brewery of South Barrington. The Shootout's sold-out crowd at the Irish-American Heritage Center in Chicago rated the medallions "best food," closely followed by the jalapeno garlic-seared shrimp and the amber ale-braised pork ribs. The beer aficionados sampled the food and drink of 16 brewpubs that came from as far as Rock Island (Blue Cat Brew Pub) and Munster, Ind. (Three Floyds Brewing Co.), bringing with them butane stoves and kegs of evidence of the vitality of regional brewing. "People want to be part of this event," said Jeff Sparrow, who organized the event for the beer society. "Winning means a lot to them." The top beer, Saison Also Rises from Rock Bottom Chicago, was brewed in the style of Belgian farmhouse ale, or saison. The names of its competitors also sounded like anything but local: Robert Burns Scottish Ale from Goose Island Beer Co., Bourbon Barrel-aged Imperial Stout from Aurora's America's Brewing Co. and Belgian Dubbel from the Onion Pub & Brewery in Lake Barrington. It was an impressive diversity of brewing styles--a range that almost no American brewers were producing just a few decades ago. Positive changes The oldest Chicago-area microbrewery, Goose Island, opened in 1988--a decade after the American craft brew revolution began in California--and the growth since has been exponential. Although a few local brewers, such as Three Floyds and Two Brothers Brewing Co. of Warrenville, have followed Goose Island's lead in bottling their beer, the majority have not. Bottling requires a lot of space and money: a warehouse for production plus the expense of bottles, labels, packaging and shipping. So a lot of brewing innovation happens on a smaller scale in brewpubs, where the essential overhead is a keg and a pint glass. That means that many of the best beers brewed in Chicago, and almost all of those that were on tap at the competition, will never sit in a liquor store's fridge. That's not to say that brewers wouldn't like to see their beer there. Matt Van Wyk, who brews for Flossmoor Station in Flossmoor, has considered selling his beers in cans, a more cost-efficient medium that also has storage benefits (it eliminates light damage and decreases degradation from oxygen). But for the present, his beers, such as a "dry-peppered" wheat ale spiked with a few Anaheim and habanero chilies, are only on tap in Flossmoor. Van Wyk, who started as an enthusiastic home brewer, gave up his day job as a science teacher a few years ago for a few poorly paid brewing gigs. Statistically, it wasn't a smart move: As Van Wyk said, there are only so many brewer positions. Now the brewmaster at Flossmoor, he said brewing "is like a craft. It's like being a carpenter or an electrician in that you learn a lot on the job." Many local brewers have worked with each other or studied together at the Siebel Institute of Technology, a brewing school located above the Goose Island brewpub on Clybourn. "There's a real camaraderie among brewers," said Randy Mosher, a board member of the beer society and author of several books on beer. "Beer's a mission." Itinerant local brewer Greg Browne, who started brewing at Goose Island and now heads Mickey Finn's in Libertyville and teaches a monthly "beer school" at the Map Room bar in Chicago, said he has "worked at every place in Chicago and at some that don't exist anymore." Browne arrived in Chicago from Australia in the early 1990s, when quality craft beer was still an upstart. "I didn't like American beers, the mass-produced stuff, so I started brewing my own," he said. Menus to match It's not only the beer in Chicagoland that has improved. "The first year we did this, people brought hot dogs and chili," said Dave Phillips, president of the Chicago Beer Society. Now, offerings include ostrich and rosemary satay over sticky rice, the entry of Three Floyds, which just opened a brewpub alongside its microbrewery In Munster, Ind. A few brewpubs, like Brass or Emmett's, which has three suburban locations, look more like white-tablecloth restaurants than neighborhood taverns. An auxiliary goal of the Shootout is to demonstrate the flexibility of beer with food--there's even an award for the best beer and food pairing (won by Rock Bottom Chicago for its saison and shrimp combo). Beer enthusiasts are tired of wine getting all the attention. "Beer's much broader," Mosher said. He cites beer's highly variable alcohol content (from 3 to 20 percent) and carbonation (from ticklish to scouring), which makes it more adaptable to a wider range of food, as well as its backbone of bitterness from hops (which cuts through fat and refreshes the palate). But the brewpubs didn't limit their food to cheese or shrimp or even ostrich. A few tackled dessert too. Govnor's Public House in Lake in the Hills offered an Absolution Ale that was soft, rich with malt and a perfect match for a raspberry-caramel-chocolate cheesecake. Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

19 years, 10 months

Saturday Chili????

by Rick Oftel

I heard through the grapevine that this Saturday is the famous (almost missed) Chili contest and annual election at the CSPS. Could someone confirm this event and provide a little info (times, categories, etc).

19 years, 10 months

RE: MhBA CLUB MEETING SAT FEB 4 - CSPS, FEB BOILER ONLINE

by Al Boyce

PS - Sorry, left out the address for the meeting Saturday: Sokol Hall (CSPS), at 383 Michigan St. - above the Glockenspiel, 605 W 7th St. in Saint Paul, MN 55102. http://www.sokolmn.org/. _____ From: Al Boyce [mailto:aboyce@mn.rr.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 8:16 AM To: 'mba(a)thebarn.com'; 'mnbrewers(a)yahoogroups.com' Subject: MhBA CLUB MEETING SAT FEB 4 - CSPS, FEB BOILER ONLINE The February meeting of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association will be held this Saturday, Feb 4, from noon-3pm at the Sokol (CSPS) Hall in St. Paul, at . * The annual business meeting and officer elections will be held. * The Style of the Month is KOLSCH, so if you have a homebrewed example, bring it in for tasting and join the STYLE OF THE MONTH CLUB. * Bring in any other homebrews, ciders or meads you'd like the club to try. * Gera Exire LaTour has developed a cool beer scent kit that she debuted at BJCP class - she will have it at the meeting for you to try it. Also, the February BOILER, the Newsletter of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association, is now available online at http://www.mnbrewers.com/newsletters/2006_02.pdf. This issue marks One year of consecutive monthly issues of the Boiler! Thanks to all who have contributed content during this past year! This issue also includes the results of the 2006 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out, so those of you who won will want to print it out and send it to your Grandma! :-D Remember, archives of past issues of The BOILER are always available at: http://www.mnbrewers.com/newsletters . See you Saturday! - Al

19 years, 10 months

MhBA CLUB MEETING SAT FEB 4 - CSPS, FEB BOILER ONLINE

by Al Boyce

The February meeting of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association will be held this Saturday, Feb 4, from noon-3pm at the Sokol (CSPS) Hall in St. Paul, at . * The annual business meeting and officer elections will be held. * The Style of the Month is KOLSCH, so if you have a homebrewed example, bring it in for tasting and join the STYLE OF THE MONTH CLUB. * Bring in any other homebrews, ciders or meads you'd like the club to try. * Gera Exire LaTour has developed a cool beer scent kit that she debuted at BJCP class - she will have it at the meeting for you to try it. Also, the February BOILER, the Newsletter of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association, is now available online at http://www.mnbrewers.com/newsletters/2006_02.pdf. This issue marks One year of consecutive monthly issues of the Boiler! Thanks to all who have contributed content during this past year! This issue also includes the results of the 2006 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out, so those of you who won will want to print it out and send it to your Grandma! :-D Remember, archives of past issues of The BOILER are always available at: http://www.mnbrewers.com/newsletters . See you Saturday! - Al

19 years, 10 months

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mba February 2006