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Anchor’s Aweigh! BY Brian Vessa (Published in the Febrewary 1997 Brews and News)
Greetings fellow Falcons! I'm so excited about the trip to Anchor, I can hardly think of anything else. The plans are falling into place very nicely, and I know we will have an incredible time. A huge dinner, all the Anchor brew you can drink, and your own Brews Band to boogie to--what could be finer? We have a block of rooms booked at the Travel Lodge at Fisherman's Wharf, and we'll be partying at Jacks at the Cannery after the Anchor dinner in the room upstairs. What a great night it will be...... There have been a couple of changes in the overall plan for the Anchor trip. Since there were not enough people signed up and paid for the bus, it has been cancelled. We apologize to those who were planning on it, but we couldn't support the bus on the few that wanted to go. The good news is that we have arranged for limosine service to Anchor and back from the Travel Lodge!! It will cost $5.00 EACH WAY to ride the limos-far cheaper than a taxi or a 502. The limos hold 10 people each, and there will be five available at a time, so that is 50 Falcons per trip. The limo company is willing to do as many trips as we need each way. The limos will be at the hotel at 5PM to start loading up, and will pick us up at Anchor at 11PM. What a class act-the Maltose Falcons arrive at the Anchor Brewing Company in limosines! They are willing to drop us off at Jacks at the Cannery on the way home for the party instead of the hotel (which is only a block away anyway). In addition, they would be willing to make airpot runs on Sunday if there are enough Falcons going to an airport at the same time (same deal-up to 10 people per limo). We will have more details by the time you read this-call David Janss for details. Just another in the line of fine times for the finest club in California!..... The January meeting was a really good one. I thought the homebrew tasting at the beginning of the meeting had some great offerings this month. Doug King's demo on brewing with cereal grains was first rate, and I learned a lot--Doug really has it down. The tri-tip lunch was equally terrific, and I saw a lot of Falcons enjoying some fine food during the demo. The monthly style tasting of Porters was also really interesting. Bruce found some real gems for us to taste, and a lot of folks stayed and participated. Overall, a very well-attended and successful meeting. Speaking of Porters, we brewed several this last month. Most notable was the All Women's Brew, which was taped by CNN and shown on Monday January 13th. I didn't get to see it, but I'm sure it was taped....maybe we can see it at the March meeting if someone can bring a TV and VCR. Congratulations to MB and the girls for a fantastic showing! I heard that AHA president Karen Barela actually flew out to participate in the brew--I guess we're finally getting some recognition from them! I can hardly wait to taste it...... Speaking of the AHA, we finally won a first place in an AHA club-only competition! Tom Pope's Saison won first place in the Belgian Blockbuster!!!!! Congratulations, Tom! The board tasted all the Belgian's that were entered at the November board meeting, and we unanimously picked his.......we all agreed it was an excellent Saison, and I guess the judges agreed too. I am most proud and impressed with this accomplishment. Usually, it seems we enter these contests and never hear a thing........this time, Tom got a phone call while he was out of town telling him he had won, and they also posted it in the AHA publication: "Club Report". Wow. The next one after January's Hail to Ale is the Luscious Lager competition. Entries are due March 10th, so bring your entries to the March meeting on March 2nd, and the board will taste them that week to determine which one will represent the club. Also, brew now for Bock Is Best...those entries are due in mid-May. Another Porter that was brewed last month was the "Presidential Porter", on Saturday January 18th. See the Pilot Brewery Report for the recipe......I led the brew, and we pitched 3 different yeasts. It should be interesting to taste the difference, which we will probably do at the March meeting. Maribeth Raines led a yeast culturing class on Saturday January 25th, I heared that 25 peole were there, and they stayed until 6PM. We'll get the full report next month. The Finest City homebrew competition is coming up really soon. The entries are due from Tue. 2/25/96 through Tue. 3/4/96. See the calendar for more info. The judging is on March 8th at Ale Smith Brewing in San Diego. I really enjoy this competition, and I hope we will get a lot of Falcons to enter this year. Our own Mayfaire is coming up right afterwards. Everyone on the current roster plus others that have entered previous competitions should receive a packet with forms, etc. in the next week or so. The entries are due on March 19th at the shop. The judging is on Saturday April 5th, and the Mayfaire festival will be Saturday, April 19th. This competition is recognized as one of the most important and well-run in the state, and Sierra Nevada considers it one of 3 competitions worthy of counting toward the California Homebrewer of the Year Award. Your club Competition Committee has worked very hard to update the style categories and get this package together for you in time to plan your brewing schedule, not to mention organizing the competition. This is a very important club event, so ENTER AND JUDGE AT THE MAYFAIRE!!!!! Well, that's all for now. I'll see you at Anchor on Febrewary 8th for an fantastic time.....we'll show 'em all how to party-Falcons style!
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