This is the HOTV Brewsletter
VOLUME XXII, NUMBER 9
September 2001
PRESIDENT:
Derek Whiteside
(541) 791-5083
VICE PRESIDENT:
Scott Leonard
541-791-3291
NEWSLETTER EDITOR:
Kendall Staggs
(541) 753-6538
THIS MONTH'S MEETING
The Heart of the Valley Homebrew Club meets on the third Wednesday of
each month, alternating between Corvallis and Albany. Our next meeting
will be Wednesday, September 19, at 7:00 p.m. at the home of Scott and
Holly Leonard, 34121 Highway 99E, in Tangent. Parking is limited in
Scott's driveway and on the easement on the north side of his house, but
there are spaces across the highway in the McFarland School parking
lot. (Frogger for your life when crossing the road.)
>From Corvallis take Hwy 34 west. Exit on Tangent Road (Highway 99E) and
go north 1.5 miles. Scott's house is on the right (east) side of the
road, past the Goodyear store, with a hay field next to it. From
Albany, take Highway 99E south past the Target distribution center. Look
for Scott's house between Earl's Oregon RV Appliance Repair and Merle's
Well Drilling. Ahhh, Tangent. The rest of the information is the same
as above.
LAST MONTH'S MEETING
by Kendall Staggs
The picnic was, as promised, lots of fun, even though there was no dunk
tank this year. Lee deep-fried Cajun-style turkeys, Helen cooked up
some fried green tomatoes, Scott Caul grilled corn, Jerry provided
sausages and sauerkraut; and there was lots of good beer provided by
John, Eugene, Michael, and others. The pot luck food was all great, but
we had enough pies and cobblers to fatten up the entire population of
Rwanda.
There were games for children of all ages, including water balloon
slingshots and a rough terrain bacci ball tournament.
One highlight of the gathering was a raffle of donated microbrews and
imports. The event had some interesting twists: there were "steal" and
"Robin Hood" tickets that allowed for some heated moments. Thanks to
Jerry and all the folks who contributed beers for the raffle. (By the
way, if anyone wants a Samichlaus 2000 really badly, I will pick it up
for them at cost next time I am at Burlingame Grocery buying beers for
my classes.)
Finally, I conducted a demonstration horizontal tasting of some Belgian
Witbiers. The consensus was that the best one was an American version,
Zon, from the Boulevard Brewing Company of Kansas City. It was even
better than the famous Hoegaarden, the first modern reincarnation of the
style.
A splendid time was had by all.
CLUB HOMEBREW NEWS
from Lee Smith
Four of our members got together with the RIM System in July and created
the brew for our annual holiday party. The recipe is a knock-off of Snow
Cap Ale and, from appearances so far, will closely hit the target.
Primary fermentation occurred in 14 days, in glass, at 68F; the brew was
then transferred to stainless steel for secondary fermentation at 40F.
At that time, two ounces of sterile oak chips were added.
On September 10, the beer will be racked to the tertiary fermenter, at
which time the oak chips (contained in two stainless commercial tea
balls) will be removed. Then it will be placed in storage at 36F until
party time in December. The original gravity was 1.072 and the final
gravity was 1.020. The complete recipe will be on display at the party.
I honestly believe we have produced one of the best brews yet.
Naturally, I tasted the sample from the gravity check and I can't detect
a single flaw. It's smooth as silk, has a trace of chocolate, and a
pleasant alcohol warmth. Thanks for leaving me in charge of maturation.
Finally, we would like to commemorate this brew with a really good name,
one that has some significance with our hobby, our club, our redoubtable
(!) leaders, past or present, or anything else that comes to mind. So,
members, start thinking about this, A nice prize awaits the person whose
entry is selected by the members at the party.
AUTUMN-A GREAT TIME TO BREW
by Kendall Staggs
This is the season to brew beer, whether you have in mind a special
Winter Ale, a Lager that needs a few months to mature, or an ordinary
Pale Ale. If you are looking for some ideas on what to brew, check out
recent issues of Zymurgy, or a book of recipes, or better yet, consult
with your local homebrew supply shop owner. My next brew will be a
Maibock. You may fancy a Porter, a Stout, a Belgian Ale, or a
Barleywine. Now's the time to make some great brews to get us all
through the dark and dreary months ahead.
OBC FALL HOMEBREW COMPETITION
from Mark Wilson, Oregon Brew Crew
Education & Competition Chair
The first annual OBC fall competition will be held Saturday, October 20,
2001, at the Laurelwood Public House & Brewery in the Hollywood district
of Portland, Oregon.
All BJCP recognized beer style categories, as well as mead and cider,
will be judged. Judge registration will start at 8:30 a.m. and the first
round of judging will commence at 9:30 a.m. After lunch (catered by
Laurelwood, yum!) there will be a second judging session in the
afternoon and best of show round.
The Portland drop-off point will be at the Laurelwood Pub; entries will
be accepted from October 5 through 13. Dropping off in person is
preferred (Wednesday night feature $2 pints) but you may also ship UPS
to the Laurelwood. Your package must arrive during the entry period.
Laurelwood Pub
1728 NE 40th Avenue
Portland, OR 97212
503-282-0622
This competition will replace the Rose Festival Competition which has
been held in the spring. It will be AHA and BJCP sanctioned. I should
have entry forms and judge sign-ups on the webpage within two weeks.
http://www.oregonbrewcrew.com/fallclassic.html
BETO'S BEER ADVENTURES IN SEATTLE
from Beto Zuniga
Skagit River Brewery
If you are traveling north of Seattle on I-5, there is one nice spot
worth visiting. The town of Mount Vernon has a nice brewpub, the Skagit
River Brewery. The brews are quite good and they have an excellent
selection. The brews available on my recent visit were Golden Lager,
Washington Wheat, Yellow Jacket Pale, Skagit River Brown, Highwater
Porter and the seasonal brew, Evergreen ESB. We ordered the taster tray
and found that we would have been happy ordering any one of their
brews. But we were still driving and stopped in for lunch on the way
back to Seattle so the sampler was all we had. I have been here once
before about five years ago and they had a very limited menu with items
like a Plowman's Lunch. Today, they have a fuller menu with quite tasty
pub grub. We went in looking for a burger but ended up ordering the
Brewer's Melt, a toasted BBQ sandwich with melted cheese. Mmmmm. It
turned out burgers are not regular part of their menu but available on
Wednesday as a special. We will just have to go back for a burger and a
few pints.
Gordon Biersch
I finally was able to get around to visiting Gordon Biersch in downtown
Seattle recently. I had been to one of the first ones in San Francisco
about ten years ago and wanted to check them out again. From what I
remember, it was a very up-scale establishment. The one here in Seattle
didn't seem as ritzy as I remember the one in SF. It is kind of hard to
find, there are no large signs on the street at 600 Pine. It's tucked
in a shopping mall-ish type of place, you know, with a Nike Town on the
corner and stores like William Sonoma and Restoration Hardware and such.
They are on the fourth floor shared with the movie multiplex. Their
specialty is Bavarian-style beers. The house lagers are Pilsner, Blonde
Bock, MŠrzen, and Dunkles. Their seasonal summer brew is Hefeweizen. We
had the Pilsner, Blonde Bock, and the Dunkles. Their beers are better
than what I remember them as. I don't know if my palate has improved or
their beers got better, maybe both. The best was actually the Pilsner.
I was quite flavorful and crisp and not what I remembered as thin and
too close to macrobrews. If you like good lagers, this is a place to
check out.
