JUNE 2010 MEETING: Byron's Retirement Party, Saturday, June 19

Our June meeting will be June 19th at The Beverage People to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Beverage People and Byron's retirement. The party starts at 1 pm. Please bring your homebrew and some food to share. If you need more details, just call the shop at 707-544-2520. This will be a great opportunity to honor our brewing mentor!

MAY 2010 MEETING: BIG BREW, MAY 1

May 1st is National Homebrew Day. The AHA is organizing an event called "Big Brew". The Beerocrats will be hosting a Big Brew at the Beverage People classroom, 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM. For the history and ifo about this event go to www.homebrewersassocation.org. There are3 recipes set up for this event. John Arends will be head brewer for the American Craft Beer Wheat, Michael Kelly will head up the Scottish Export 80 Shilling Ale, and Megan Kalstad will be lead brewer on the Rocktoberfest.

This event is intended as a homebrewing demonstration and will be advertised and open to the public. These will be all-grain brews. Sign up and get on a team. Everybody takes home wort. These recipes are available for extract brewers also. Extract brewers are encouraged to bring your equipment as well. Team members will have the opportunity to promote home brewing to the people who show up to see how beer is made. John will be making 20 gallon batches. I will be making 15 gallon batches and Megan will be making 10 gallon batches. If there is enough interest, we will mash in twice. That's 90 gallons of beer! The sooner you sign up, the better your chances of being included on a team. Contact John at 495-1614 or at abrewer2@sbcglobal.net or call Michael at 322-5861.

APRIL 2010 MEETING: BBQ POTLUCK, CAHILL WINERY, APRIL 11

Don Payne of Stillwater Distillery and Cahill Winery has graciously offered to host us again---this year it will be a BBQ and Potluck at his family winery in Sebastopol. We will start at noon with lunch anticipated at 1:30 PM. Don does famous work on his enormous BBQ and has offered to prepare us all Drunken Beer Can Chicken along with a side salad (or cole slaw). Please RSVP (on facebook or 544-2520) as soon as possible if you plan to attend and eat, we need to know by April 4 weekend. It will be $10 per person (to be paid at the meeting) to cover the costs. Don has offered for us to do a barrel tasting as well, and wine will be available for sale to accompany lunch. Side dishes and snacks will be done as a potluck, so please bring something to share. Beerocrat Jim Bohn tells us he is prepared for the style talk and tasting on Bier de Garde, a rare treat.

Anyone out there have any wine beers? Barrel or wood aged? Other fruit beers? This would be the time to bring them out. Bob Peak says he will be there with his Pinot and Chardonnay beers and will help organize an informal tasting of any winery-appropriate beers that show up.

Cahill Winery is located at 4950 Ross Road, Sebastopol, Ca, 95472.

MARCH 2010 MEETING: JUDGING IRON BREWER. March 21

Once again, Moira Dossi and Richard Peel have graciously offered to host the Iron Brewer Judging Session in March. They have relocated since last year to a new 5-acre property near their old one. The new address is 1670 Mark West Springs Road. Go through the gate and park.
The meeting will start at 1:00 PM on Sunday, March 21. A judging committee headed by Melissa Lopez and Janet Kelly are organizing the judging (celebrity commentators? Blind samples? Only time will tell...). Everyone in attendance will be able to participate in judging the beers. We will run the judging early, before anyone has done much other tasting, to keep palates sharp. Brew teams note: be sure to get there with your six-pack sample to be in the judging! (Samples should be in 12-ounce brown bottles with labels attached only with rubber bands and no markings on caps.) The winners will get Beverage People gift certificates. (No style talk at this one---plenty of Iron Beers to taste.)

FEBRUARY 2010 MEETING: MALT! February 17, 6:30 PM

After seeing the great job Mike Kelly did with his Yeast presentation, John Arends has agreed to do the same thing for Malt in February. This meeting will be on Wednesday, February 17 at 6:30 PM. Once again, the club will bring in pizza for dinner. We will be back in Suite 15, The Beverage People classroom. To help us order enough pizza, please let a committee member or someone at The Beverage People know you are coming.

JANUARY 2010 MEETING: SUNDAY, January 24, 10 AM - 6 PM

IRON BREWER!

Bob Peak and Marty White will host the annual Iron Brewer meeting on Sunday, January 24, 2010. The brewing will be conducted similarly to previous years, but in response to popular demand, the judging will be operated differently at the March meeting to choose the Beerocrat Iron Brewer winner. Up to eight teams will be accepted: rules and entry forms are available below or on paper at The Beverage People. The fee is $40 for 10 gallons or $20 for 5 gallons and you keep all but one six-pack of your beer. The meeting will begin at 10:00 AM so the brewers can get started, but everyone else is welcome to come, also. It is a fun meeting even for those not on a brewing team, as you get to see lots of different brewery systems and watch brewer try to figure out what to do with the cockamamie "surprise" ingredients Bob throws at them. Come by any time---brewing will probably continue until 5:00 or 6:00 PM. It is chilly in Petaluma in January, so bring some warming winter potluck food to share with others (a gas grill is available) and bring your hombrews for sampling, too. The address is 500 Cleveland Lane, Petaluma (707-766-9330 if you get lost).

Robyn Rosemon and Sierra Burch will present a Style Talk on Brown Ale. If you have a homebrewed example to share with them for their talk, contact Robyn at The Beverage People. They will also have some commercial examples, as well as their own new recipe, Brown-Eyed Girls!

RULES AND ENTRY FORM as PDF. Please print it, fill out the form and turn it in at The Beverage People with your entry free.

NOVEMBER 2009 MEETING: Wednesday, November 18, 6 PM

Responding to several Beerocrat's requests, Michael Kelly has agreed to present a seminar on "Beer Yeast: the Fungus Among Us." He will tell us all the ins-and-outs of starting, propogating, and inoculating your brewing yeast. The meeting will be at The Beverage People in the classroom, Suite 15, at 840 Piner Road on Wednesday, November 18 at 6:00 PM.

OCTOBER 2009 MEETING: Thursday, October 15, 6:30 pm

Celebrate our Beerocrats who have recently turned pro! For this meeting, it will be our own Beerocrat Vice President, Tyler Laverty. Since graduating from the master brewer's program at U.C. Davis, Tyler has been working as assistant brewer at Third Street Aleworks in Santa Rosa, working with Randy Gremp. On Thursday, October 15, Tyler will host a meeting at Third Street, giving us a technical talk and a tour of their brewhouse. If we are lucky, maybe he will have a special brew or two, also. The meeting will start at 6:30 PM upstairs at the brewpub. Food can be ordered from the pub menu and we can bring homebrews to share. Mark you calender. Michael Kelly, Steering Committee Member, will present a style talk on ESB. He hopes to present it in the bright tank room, since the upstairs space is a little hard to hear in.

SEPTEMBER 2009 MEETING: Tuesday, September 15, 6 - 9 pm

Annual barbeque and potluck at Lagunitas! Tony is giving us private access to the beer loft and garden on Tuesday 15th. from 6-9:00 pm. There are two barbeques so bring something to grill for yourself. Also bring a side dish or dessert to share and of course your tasty homebrew. The beerocrats will provide plates, napkins and plastic utensils.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HOMEBREWERS FESTIVAL: September 18-19, 2009

AUGUST 2009 MEETING: Sunday, August 9, 2 pm

Mead! What a great idea for a summertime meeting. Joshua Archer, owner and meadmaker of Beowulf Mead in Marin County will talk about commercial meadmaking and share samples, along with Byron Burch of The Beverage People who will cook up a demonstration mead, talk about home meadmaking, and share samples of his legendary beverages, also. (Together, Josh and Byron will cover mead as a style talk). Jonathan and Aura Morris have graciously offered to host this meeting at their house in Santa Rosa! The address is 1252 Hughes Ave, Santa Rosa 95407. If you need help with directions feel free to call Jonathan 523-3325. The meeting will start at 2:00 PM. Bring mead, or beer, to share, along with some summery finger foods for people to snack on (when tasting meads, it’s a good idea to do some eating, too. The club will provide ample water to drink, too.) Also please note that the August meeting is the deadline for dropping off entries for the August Club Only competition, Amber Hybrid Beers (BJCP Category 7). If you cannot make it to the meeting, bring entries to the store before 5:00 PM on Saturday, August 8.

JULY 2009 MEETING: JULY 10-12

This will be the annual camp-and-brew trip. It will be at Bodega Dunes State Campground---arriving Friday, July 10 and departing Sunday, July 12. We have three sites reserved, each of which can sleep 8 (but only three vehicles each). The Club will subsidize the fees, so costs to campers will be minimal. Please sign up at the store or email here if you are interested in the camping trip.

Results for the 2009 NORTHBAY HOMEBREW COMPETITION

BEST OF SHOW: TYLER LAVERY (AMERICAN PALE ALE)

GOLD:

Robert Sabrowsky (American Amber Ale)

Greg Rasmussen (Southern English Brown Ale)

Tyler Laverty (American Pale Ale) - BEST OF SHOW WINNER

Steve Vantassel (Belgian Dark Strong Ale)

SILVER:

Larry McCullough (Irish Red Ale)

Greg Rasmussen (Robust Porter)

John Arends (Imperial IPA)

Greg Rasmussen (Old Ale)

BRONZE:

Tyler Laverty (American Amber Ale)

Greg Rasmussen (Sweet Stout)

Greg Rasmussen (American IPA)

Jim Bohn (Biere de Garde)

HONORABLE MENTION:

Greg Rasmussen (American Amber Ale)

MAY 2009 MEETING: TUESDAY, MAY 19

Gabe Jackson pulled some strings for this one, and it promises to be unique. On Tuesday, May 19, at 6:30 PM, Don Payne of Sweetwater Distilling in Petaluma will host us at his distillery and will give us a talk on his processes. Sweetwater is located at 611 2nd Street, Petaluma. Our brewing technique talk will be to compare mashing for brewing as compared with mashing for distiller’s wash. Mike Kelly will give a Style Talk on California Common (aka, steam beer). For food on that Tuesday night, the club will bring in deli sandwiches, so we ask members to bring chips, side dishes, salads, cookies, etc. to go with them. And, of course, bring homebrews to share.

APRIL 2009 MEETING: SUNDAY, APRIL 26

Sunday, April 26, we will hold a Big Brew at The Beverage People. The object will be to make beers that Beerocrats will donate for the AHA conference. The meeting will start at 11:00 AM in the BP Classroom (suite 15) next to the store. Before that, for one hour only, from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, we will open the store privately just for Beerocrats brewing that day who have not previously had the chance to buy their ingredients. We will cook up and cool the worts, then each member will take them home to ferment and bottle or keg. Bring some snack foods and homebrews to share, along with all your brewing equipment. We will be able to hook up a few hoses for chillers, but bring yours, too, if you have a spare one. If you form an AHA Conference Brew Team for this occasion, we will feature your team name and profile with your draft beer at Club Night. India Pale Ale and California Common are the featured styles for club night, but we don’t really want just those in our booth, so go ahead and get creative!