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As Seen In |
Mayfaire in April BY Brian Vessa (Published in the April 1997 Brews and News)
Greetings fellow Falcons! Yes, if they can have Oktoberfest in September, we can have Mayfaire in April. The Mayfaire judging is on Saturday, April 12th, and the Mayfaire Festival is on Saturday, April 19th. Close on the heels of this is the Southern California Homebrewers Festival on May 3rd, which may see as many as 1500 homebrewers sharing their enthusiasm for this chosen craft. I love spring in LA! After the Anchor dinner in Febrewary, I wasn't sure what kind of attendance we would have at the March meeting. Not to worry-Falcons showed up in droves to participate. After a particularly fine tasting of homebrews, featuring many porters (beer style of the month in January), we had a short business meeting which included a video of the CNN special that featured the All Women's Porter Brew in early January on Maribeth and Steve's 30 gallon brewery. It was the first time I had seen it, and it was really terrific! Lunch was the annual chili cookoff, with eight chilis vying for the first prize of $25. Corinne Pooler won first, Eric Holtz won second ($15), and third was a tie between Lily Wissel and Dean Lynn ($10 each). Thanks to all the cooks who participated in this fun event. It took a great deal of beer to wash it all down, and we had quite a bit of excellent brew at the meeting. During lunch, we had a Troubleshooters' Corner which was very well attended, and showed Jim Hall's video of the Anchor paty over on the side. I and many other Falcons' laughed and enjoyed this for quite a while. Thanks Jim! (The TV was Doug's, which he sold for $5 at the end of the meeting). He put the '94 party on there too.......I have to see that! Finally, Bruce Brode led us on a terrific tour of March's beer style, Brown Ale. A lot of people stayed for the tasting, which ended around 4:30. A very fun meeting. The next weekend, Bruce Brode and I judged at the America's Finest City contest in San Diego. It was held at the Ale Smith Brewery, which has gotten new gear since I was there last year. I was faced with 16 Belgians to judge! What an experience. I got through it thanks to a lunch break which featured lazagna. My judging partner, Dave Ringwood, was a real trooper as well. Right after finishing, (well, nearly right after!), we drove back to LA so I could go to a suit and tie dinner at the Beverly Hilton! I was already late, and I can't believe how fast I got dressed and back out the door. Maybe there is something magic in those brews........ A week later, the honey lovers got together at the shop for the semi-annual mead tasting. We went through 25 meads! There were a lot of really good ones, including some German ones that Tom Nussmeier brought. What a treat! The commercial ones we tried this time were generally better than the ones we tried last September. Of course, the homeade ones were terrific, with plenty of interesting twists and turns. I'm sure Bruce will give a full report in next month's newsletter. After that, (well, after a short nap......) Bruce and I went to a St. Patrick's Day party and drank Guinness all night. What a long strange trip it's been......but I'm here to tell about it! Tickets for the Southern California Homebrewers Festival are on sale at the shop. Call Bruce Brode at (310) 558-8458 if you have any questions. I suggest calling to reserve a camp spot ASAP! See the article elsewhere in this issue. The Mayfaire judging is on April 12th at 9:00 AM at the St. Luke's Church in Woodland Hills. If you can judge, please contact me if I haven't contacted you! If you can help us out by stewarding, please contact Dave Stark. This is our big competition that we do all by ourselves, so please support the club by participating! Steward and judges get free lunch, and the stewards get to taste all the high-scoring brews in the back! What a deal! The Mayfaire party will be at a new location this year. Please see the map and article elswhere in this issue. Please DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT bring any kind of firearms there just because it is a sportsman's club. You will be in a lot of trouble if you do. NO SHOOTING will be allowed by anyone in the club, staff, or anyone else. The shooting range is closed for the entire day! No guests or members of the club will be there. We have it all to ourselves! We are partying there because it is a good spot, and set up well and it's a new spot-we will finally be able to give Barbara Antler a well deserved break! (She has always been so cool to us....we are very lucky) There will be all the usual fun-raffles, great food, live music, homebrew, and some special commercial beer we have never had before! There are built in barbeques and ovens, a cement dance floor, flush toilets and plenty of wide open space. Please feel free to camp out. I'm looking foward to a good time! There should be a lot of people thre, so bring some homebrew and come along for the fun. Please contribute any raffle items you can by calling David Janss at (818) 881-1738. If you can cook a side dish, help with the cooking, or bring items for the bake sale, please contact Gary Smith at (818) 991-5943 It's time to think about activities for the rest of the year. I know we will do another tour of Anheuser-Busch. Hopefully, we can do the long awaited tour of Great Western Malting. There is also the Sunfest to think about-where shall we have it this year? Does anyone have suggestions for other activities? Call David Janss or myself with your suggestions. The club will benefit from your input!
Well, that's it for now. See you at the Mayfaire |
