Sonoma Beerocrats

The Beerocrats survey administered by John Arends has given us some new info about our membership. 75% of respondents have been brewing for 3 years or more. No one had trouble attending meetings due to times or locations. A few thought a fixed day every month would be easier, but 15% said maybe and 42% said no, so we will continue to mix it up. As for how-to meetings and the balance with social meetings, preference was nearly even, but with a slight tilt toward more how-to meetings. One result of that preference will be the new style presentations, to put some brewing knowledge even in social meetings. One hundred percent said Iron Brewer should be an annual event. 92% said they would like to see some kind of Big Brew Day, either on the official date or an alternative date. People are interested in every suggested activity, but a pub crawl was the most popular. So, if you have comments or questions on the survey results, corner John Arends at a meeting and quiz him!

Sunday, August 31, we will be hosted by original Beerocrat Mitch Mackenzie at Carol Shelton Winery in Santa Rosa. The meeting will start at 1:00 PM and will feature a presentation by Beerocrat VP Tyler Laverty on “Brewing for Competition” and another by Bob Peak on “Beers Brewed with Wine Grapes”. The latter talk will include tastings. Mitch will also host tasting of Carol Shelton wines for those interested. Bring homebrew and an appetizer, side dish, or dessert to share—Mitch will cook up some tasty barbeque for us! Famous winemaker (and very nice lady) Carol Shelton, Mitch’s wife, will be there too—if she doesn’t have to go to Cucamonga to oversee the harvest of this year’s Monga Zin. To help with planning, we will take RSVP’s for the August meeting at The Beverage People. Call in to get directions to the winery and tell us how many are in your party.

Brewing friends, the Bear Republic meeting has been conclusively set for July 27. It will be at the production facility in Cloverdale (address to be posted later here and in the July newletter). The plan is for those wishing to brew to show up at noon, and those just wishing to just BBQ and socialize to join up at around 3pm.
Brewers need to RSVP ahead of time to John Arends (495-1614) so that Rich Norgrove can plan the mash for us. Plan to be flexible, but here a few details we have discussed at the steering committee meeting yesterday:

1. Rich will do the mash and will runoff wort for those of us brewing
2. We can setup in the parking lot with our equipment to boil and cool
3. Hops and yeast slurry will be available at Bear, but The Beverage People will also sell hops and yeast to those wishing to plan their own program
4. Five gallon batches only

As usual for our meetings, bring some homebrew and a side dish or dessert to share (Rich Norgrove will generously supply salad and barbecued meat). So put the date on your calendar—Sunday, July 27!

Thanks to Mike and Nicole Hewitt for hosting a very enjoyable April meeting at their home. With assistance from our new Vice President Tyler Laverty, the Hewitts cooked up a big “clean out your freezer” barleywine. Tyler managed to figure in all the miscellaneous types and amounts of hops that Beerocrats donated to the brew.

Congratulations to Tyler and the other Steering Committee members, who were all elected by acclamation at the April meeting. Robyn Burch is Past President, Bob Peak is President and Newsletter Editor, Tyler is VP and Competition Coordinator, Gabe Jackson is Treasurer, and John Arends and Mike Kelly are at-large Committee Members.

Thanks to Melissa Lopez and Tyler Laverty for organizing the campout in Duncan’s Mills for the May meeting. Everyone seemed to have a great time. We are looking forward to trying their Redwood Tip Beer brewed with Austin Creek water.

Congratulations to Gabe Jackson and Jim Bohn for placing entries in the Western Regional judging for the AHA. Gabe’s “Cotati Kolsch” placed third in Category 6, Light Hybrid Beers, and Jim’s fruit mead placed third in Category 25, Melomels. Both are going on to be judged in the Nationals.

Also thanks to everyone who submitted entries for the May club-only Extract Beers competition. Bob Peak’s “Sail Away” Foreign Extra Milk Stout was selected as the Beerocrat entry and went on to win third place at the National judging. Check out Beertown.org — the Beerocrats have club points!

I’m in the initial stages of planning a Beerocrats competition for early next year. There will be an exciting prize for at least one lucky winner. Details to come…

(let me know if you are interested in helping me organize the event)

Cheers!

Thanks and congratulations to the five hardy teams of Iron Brewers who brought their finished beers to the March taste-off. Winning first place was the Maerzen Madness team, second place went to Brew Crew and their porter, with Side Yard winning third for their IPA. The taste-off was lots of fun and all five teams produced very tasty beers.

April Meeting (Sun, date to be announced):
On Sunday, April 20, at 1:00 PM, Mike and Nicole Hewitt will host a clean-out-your-freezer Club Barleywine meeting. Since hops are in short supply this year, we thought we would make good use of what we have by asking each Beerocrat to bring an open, partial package of random hops to the meeting. We will total them all up, figure out the additions, and Mike and Nicole will cook up a big barleywine. They promise to bring a couple of bottles to Beerocrat meetings for years to come! Be a part of it—bring some hops. As usual, bring some food to share—let’s go for a fresh, springtime theme for this one. Children are welcome. And don’t forget to bring some of your fabulous homebrew to share and be praised! Mike and Nicole live at 128 Chadwick Way, Cotati. If you get lost, the phone number is 792-9905.

May Meeting (full weekend, date to be announced):
Beerocrats Melissa Lopez and Tyler Laverty have organized a club camping trip on the first weekend in May, at Cassini Ranch campground in Duncan’s Mills. A beautiful group campsite (McLarty Field) is reserved for as many Beerocrats and guests want to come. We have the site for Friday night, May 2, and Saturday night, May 3. While the club will pick up most of the cost, there will be a nominal fee of $10 per party per night with your reservations. Please call The Beverage People at 544-2520 or come by the store to sign up for either or both nights. For those who would just like to come out for the day (or stay after the noon checkout time on Sunday), day passes are available for $3.00 per person. Families are welcome and it is fine to bring friendly, sociable dogs for a fee of $1.00 per day. Tyler promises some kind of Camp Brewing on Saturday, so feel free to make suggestions. So far, people have suggested brewing with river water (the Russian River beach is just a short walk away) or a steinbrau (made by heating rocks in a fire, then dropping them into the wort to boil it).

June Meeting (Thurs, June 12th, 6:30PM):
BBQ in the Lagunitas Beer Garden! Thursday, June 12th, at 6:30 PM. Bring something to grill on the Lagunitas Weber kettles and also a side dish to share. Bring home brews for sampling, and expect a good selection of Lagunitas beers for tasting as well, generously provided by our hosts.

July Meeting
We are working on the long-delayed visit to the Bear Republic production brewery in Cloverdale for July.

If you would like to have the Beverage People carry your Western Region National Homebrew Competition entries to Concord, please bring them to the store by close of business (5:30 PM) on Tuesday, April 8. Be sure you have registered your beers online at Beertown.org and bring your labels and check made out to AHA (unless you also paid online). If you cannot get your beers to The Beverage People by Tuesday, you will need to get them to Concord yourself by 5:00 PM Friday, April 11.

We will be tasting and judging the Iron Brewer Beers at 6:30pm on March 25 at the BP classroom.

If you’ve found yourself short on hops this year, consider growing your own. Last year I put 6 plants in the ground and had enough hops to brew a batch of Fresh Hop IPA. This year I’m adding a bunch more plants and am looking forward to being able to brew a bigger batch of wet hop IPA and still have a bunch of dried hops left over for aroma additions and dry hopping.

The Beverage People and other outlets are now taking orders for rhizomes (hop root cuttings). Of course, you’ll want to support your local brew shop just like I do!

Sonoma County was once a major hop producing region and the plants are pretty resilient to even the worst efforts of an amateur gardener (like me). Ideally you’d put ‘em in the ground, but a half wine barrel will do the trick, too.

For more info on planting hops check out the Freshops.com website, shoot me an email, or pick up the little paperback book that the Beverage People carry.