|
|
As Seen In |
Happy New Year BY Brian Vessa (Published in the January 1997 Brews and News)
Greetings to all Falcons! I hope your holidays were as fun as mine, and that this new year brings all of us happiness, prosperity and great brew! The big news is that we have a date for the trip to Anchor, which is Saturday, Febrewary 8th at 6PM. David Janss, our activities guru, is making arrangements to block book a hotel, charter buses and get rates on airplane flights, so if you can't sign up at the January 5th meeting, be sure to call him at (818) 881-1738. The board will meet before the meeting so we can have pricing arrangements together to announce. There is room for a lot of Falcons, but since we have such a large club and likely interest, I would encourage everyone NOT to bring a bunch of guests.....Yourself and one other person is really the most we can do if we want to accomodate all interested club members. I am hoping to give a head count to Bruce Joseph after the club meeting, so if you want to go, PLEASE be sure to let David know before then. I think it's going to be a real blast. Bruce said everyone there is really looking foward to it, so mark your calendars! The December meeting was a real blast with a lot of homebrew at the beginning of the meeting and a wild Holiday Beer Tasting after lunch. We decided to postpone Doug's demo on brewing with cereal grains until the January meeting, because we rightly assumed that there would be general pandemonium, and no one would be in a frame of mind to pay much attention. I am looking foward to the demo, as Doug is the resident expert! At the meeting, I mentioned that George Reisch of Anheuser-Busch is looking for college interns (over 21!) to work at the brewery. It is a great opportunity to learn the fine craft of brewing in one of the most incredible breweries I've ever had the pleasure to see! George says that right now A-B is knocking on the Dean's doors at college campuses trying to find seniors to intern. If anyone in the club is interested, please contact me. I called and invited George to the January meeting-he said he would try, but couldn't guarantee if he could make it. He saidhe is interested in tasting some Dougweiser..........It would be great if he could be there for the demo-right up his alley! He also wants to schedule another tour for the spring, so we will discuss that at the January meeting as well. Also at the December meeting, I mentioned an article that a friend gave me about the danger of dogs eating spent hops. This is not a joke! If you have a dog, be absolutely sure that you dispose of your spent hops in a covered trash can that is dog-proof-many dogs have died from eating them. Apparently, fresh hops don't have the same effect, although it is under study right now. I'll bring the article again to the January meeting. We passed around Steve Keppler's artwork for a vote, but I'm afraid we really didn't get an majority vote for a particular one. I will foward the comments to him and see what he wants to do. I wish there were some other artists contributing to this, but, as usual, apathy prevails. I wish I was an artist-I would be proud to see my artwork on Falcons' paraphernalia. I was, however, inpressed to see more people sign up for the Brewers' Support Network. This club is full of surprises.... The Holiday Beer Tasting at the Stuffed Sandwich on December 14th was a ROARING success-I could barely talk or hear above the general roar of happy Falcons. The menu had 16 beers, all of which were picked by Sam, and featured many from California and several from Europe. I think everyone was amazed at the Saxer offering-as Sam said "Saxer finally brews a beer!" Two of the beers were surprises; The first was served inside a paper bag, and the second one in a pitcher. Many people guessed the first one as a Young's product, but I was floored when it turned out to be from 1988! It didn't seem to have as much age on it as some of the beers we had tried from 1992. The second beer was guessed correctly as an American IPA, but no one guessed the brewery. I expect that our loyal scribe and Grand Hydro Bruce Brode will have a full report in this issue or next month's for sure-suffice to say it was a blast. Thanks again to Sam and Marlene for hosting 36 crazied Falcons for the 5th or 6th time! You guys are he best! January is Porter month, and we have several related activities in store. On January 4th, Maribeth Raines will lead an All-Women's Porter brew on her home system, which will be filmed by CNN! I'm really looking foward to seeing this on the TV-way to go MB! The next day at the meeting, Deacon Brode will be serving Porters for the style tasting after lunch, which I know will be terrific. Then, on Saturday January 18th, I will lead a "Presidential Porter" brew on the shop system. I haven't brewed on the shop system in a while, so this should be fun! There will be a sign-up sheet at the meeting. Also on the shop system this month, Peter Sheppard and Doug King will lead a brew for the Anchor Bus Trip, which will be a batch of Dougweiser. This will be on Saturday the 11th. There were a lot of signups at the December meeting, so this one may well be full-give Peter a call at (310) 454-8214 if you are interested, and call me at (310) 397-8352 if you are interested in the Presidential Porter Brew. Also at the January meeting, we will have new t-shirts and glassware for the 1996 Club of the Year. Bring money for these and wear them to Anchor! Maribeth will teach a hands-on Yeast Culturing Class on Saturday, January 25th, 1PM at the shop. This is an incredible chance to learn about the mystery art of yeast culturing from our resident expert! I took the class last year, and I can attest that it was a very educational experience. We got some signups at the December meeting, and we will have the sheet there again at the January meeting, so if you are interested, please sign up or call MB at (818) 881-3291. CONGRATULATIONS to Falcon Nick Franke! He is leaving his job at a law firm and moving to New Hampshire to start a brewery/restaurant. It seems like only yesturday that he came to his first meeting and brewed his first batch on the shop system. Another Falcon sucess story! Good luck, Nick, and keep us posted! Well, it looks like the start of another stellar year for the Falcons! I'll see you at the January 5th meeting!
|
