We don't see many Italian craft beers around town, so this should be a good event to check some out.

From the beeradvocate blurb:

Beachwood BBQ is hosting their first Italian Beer Festival May 6-May 9. We've brought in 18 rare Italian craft beers, plus one rare Italian craft brewer. We're really excited to showcase these often unnoticed but well crafted beers. The list is as follows (it could change):

Consensus is that the SCHF on April 30 and May 1 was one of the best ever.  My article summarizing the course of events there is attached.

Bruce Brode

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Mild beer, last in fashion when the Beatles were still at school, is making a comeback in Britain, according to a real ale lobby group.Responding to a growing number of requests from beer buffs, breweries are beginning to produce more Mild and pubs are finding demand for the dark, malty ale is rising.

In a survey of 500 real ale drinkers across the UK, the group found that 64 percent of them had seen an increase in the number of Mild beers served at pubs and beer festivals over the past 5 years.

 Great Canned Beer Tasting!

Canned beers have had a bad rep long enough!

From: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/4172/Southwest_2010_First_Round_Winners_For_Web.pdf

We have 3 Falcons moving forward into the Second Round of the NHC.

Congrats to:

Kevin Grizard - 3rd Place - Brown Ales

Bob Kunz - 3rd Place - Fruit Beer

Hank Hofmann, Rick Kinkel - 3rd Place - Smoke Flavored / Wood Aged
 

Good luck in the next round guys!

http://www.calhomebrewers.org/index.php?act=viewDoc&docId=29

Can I get a level a interest as to who would want to bring a stout to the fest?

cr

It's that time of year! Gear up for Lake Casitas and the biggest homebrewing party of the year. Join with 25 or so other club's on the lake shore and stand back in awe of the massive amount of beer being poured and the amount of creativity behind it.

Purchase your membership to the CHA online at: http://calhomebrewers.org/ - Remember the festival is only open to members of the CHA and is free of charge!

The Falcons have reserved camp sites. Activities Director Mike will coordinate the camping assignments.

Here is an interesting website that covers news from a variety of worldwide sources on honey and bees, for those of you meadmakers interested in this important subject.

The website is based in Argentina, and the translations aren't always perfect, but there is an impressive degree of coverage.  And, you can sign up for emails with links to the various articles currently posted there if you like--I managed to do that but in looking at the website I am not sure how to go about it now.  Try inquiring at newsletter [at] apinews [dot] com.

www.apinews.com

Bruce

The folks at Beer & Nosh posted this news today - Anchor's been sold!

http://beerandnosh.com/2010/04/anchor-brewing-sold/

Eep! - What will this mean for the future of the California Homebrew Club of the Year? What does this mean for all our friends at Anchor?

And see what I meant about us reaching that magic point for the first generation of craft brewers? Anderson Valley sold and now Anchor! It will be an interesting period to see the effect this has on the spirit of Craft Brewing

Ok, so in reality - it's not terribly new - we've been doing this for three years now as a pilot program to get entrants their scoresheets back as quickly as possible.

Our annual mead tasting attracted nearly 40 people and more than 40 meads, of which we managed to taste 33, including a scattering of commercial meads contributed.  It was noisy, animated, and clearly a good time for everyone with very good questions posed to the meadmakers presenting their creations.  You can read all about it in the attached article which will also appear in Brews and News (subject to the editor's discretion).

In Mazers of Mead!

Bruce Brode

Join us for a Sunday evening of ball tossing at Canoga Bowl, 5pm. The best day to get together is a Sunday, so there will be less competition for lanes with various leagues.  Drop a comment here to let us know you will be coming by (so we can estimate attendance).  Then just show up!

Hey folks, the April newsletter has gone out (finally) via email and if you are a paid up member and have not gotten the newsletter email, send me your email address and I will send you the link.

Cheers!

Cullen 

Issue Information

Volume: 

v. 36

Issue: 

i. 4

Cover Image: 

Editor’s Note 2

From the President 3

Red Velvet Debuts at Eagle Rock 4

http://vimeo.com/10439829

This is a cool interview with Mikkel from Mikkeller...

cr

Tony's Darts Away on 1710 Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank opened yesterday. They have 32 beers on tap, about half are IPA's and imperial IPA's, and gourmet sausages and other food to eat. The prices are amazingly low, they serve true pints, the staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and the place was rocking last night. The owner Tony is a great guy who truly loves good beer, and he is a home brewer as well. Tony also loves the Falcons.

Mead Tasting!

Bruce Brode has arranged again to do another tasting for our annual mead exploration

1PM at the Shop - Bring your mead and some snacks!

The deadline for registering your beers is April 10, 2010 online. 

If you would like to bring your entries to the club meeting on sunday the 11th.  you MUST do two things:

1) Pre-register on the website

2) Bring a check, NO cash will be accepted period!

thanks

cr

Public Release of Eagle Rock Brewery's "Red Velvet", winner of this years Doug King Memorial Competition! Event is at the Surly Goat in West Hollywood.

It was a gloomy and chilly morning yesterday, but the sun soon came out for the April club shop brew. It ended up becoming a beautiful day for brewing. My enthusiastic brew crew was raring to go. The team  consisted of our President Steve Cook and his First Lady Irene,  Ed Kochanowski, Tyler, Kris Schimdt, and myself. We had one no show, but Sean Fitzgerald from the shop was able to benefit from this brew day and get a portion of the wort.

 Shop Brew May 9

American Brown Ale

Based on Jonny L's "Texas Warrior," recently published in Drew's book.

Lots of chocolate malt. Lots of Palisade and Amarillo hops.

Your Mother Should Know.

P.S. To be on the crew you need to be a paid-up Falcon with a clean carboy and get to the shop at 8am.

Not only does Izzy get his picture inthe the paper and become a beer celebrity that way. KTLA used the photos from the LA Times article in a MyKTLA segment hosted by Brand X . (An internet project from the Times)

So if you want to see Izzy's basement and hear about the Surly Goat as well, click the magical go button. Link

It's a beautiful day here in Pasadena. My thermometer in the garage reads 70F and there's a nice little breeze. Both dogs are bouncing around the yard and yapping, playing in the sun while I sit here writing and doing my day job as well (instead of a coffee break, I'm taking a brewing break!)

I started brewing late today and I'm doing a split Saison and Amber Belgian Speciality. (more on that later)

 At the shop

lunch ~ $6 

This event will have two times one can attend.  The first is from 1:00 to 4:00.  The other is from 5:00 to 8:00

Is the HWBC shop a drop-off point for entries in the NHC/AHA competition?  If so, what are the dates we can drop off for transport to San Diego?  I remember seeing something about it a while ago, but can't seem to find the info.

Great idea.  I do think that at least two BJCP judges on the board, preferably the grand hydro, should taste every entry before it is put into the barrel.  I'd hate to see a bad beer infect the whole barrel.  Also, put some clean beer in the barrel now.  Try it in a month or so before you add the Imperial Stouts.  One never knows if some unwanted critters are living in the wood.

John

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6_s4FfjDuz-ZDEzYjRlNWQtOWVkYi00NWI...

How does this make you feel? Jason Alstrom of the BeerAdvocate brothers has a good point - we're reaching the point where many first generation brewers are thinking of retiring. If you don't have a successor in mind or an heir to throne, what happens?