Drinking Haikus

From Susan Picard:

Dan Hall and I have toiled long and hard, and have come up with three Haikus that we think describe our favorite Tuesday nite drinking destination. As you're probably aware (but I'm putting it in here in case you're not), haikus are a Japanese 3-line poem that have a particular number of syllables per line: 5-7-5. Maybe they should be on the BFD site - they are good for a laugh. Here they are:

Title: The Strange Brew Tavern

Good cheap beer with friends.
Appetizers at half price.
Bill comes, low money.

Title: The Regulars' Roost
Standing long time sucks.
Must maneuver for a perch.
The peninsula!

Title: Drinking Precedence
Hoegaarden to start.
Then move on to harder stuff.
Victory Storm King!

Hops Direct LLC donates 25lbs of whole leaf hops to the club.

Well I had a great vacation last week, took some time off to attend the Craft Brewer's Conference, where I got to see and learn quite a bit about craft beer and make new friends, and see some great old friends.

One such new friend... the fine folks from Puterbaugh Frams, aka www.hopsdirect.com, they were getting ready to clean up from the event and had this beautiful bale of 25lbs of Willamette Leaf Hops that was looking for a home.



Well as President of Brew Free or Die, I couldn't let said hops go to waste... so I offered my assistance and the promise of a plug (pun intended) or two... so club... here ya go... we have some, ok quite a bit, of hops that can be used for All English-style Ales, and US Pale and Brown Ales. My plan is to bring the bale of hops to the May meeting for distribution to the club. ... BRING baggies, lots of BAGGIES. Kurt Demmer and I get first crack... but the rest is open to the club members.

The hops have been bagged, and placed into my hop freezer, yes my hop freezer is as full as it's ever been.

Thank you Puterbaugh Farms, I really appreciate your generousity!

New Style: Gluten Free Beer

Commerical Gluten Free Beer

The most common Gluten Free (GF) beers available domestically are extract-based using Sorghum. I've included a picture of some of the bottles.

The plan as discussed at the March meeting is to develop a new style for the BJCP Style Guidelines. However, first I would like to characterize some of the commerically available brands with the help of the club members. I will be posting progress on this blog under the topic "Gluten Free Beer".

As an example a new category could be:

XX. Gluten Free Beer.

XXa. American Sorghum Ale GF.

Commerical examples:

AB Redbridge, Bards, New Grist

XXb. Belgium Sorghum GF.

Commerical examples:

Greens

XXc. Light Ale GF.

Commerical examples:

La Messagier

During one of our meetings I will also give a presentation on ingredients that are acceptable for Gluten Free beer. Hopefully I can also set up a tasting.

Please feel free to comment.

Harold

Patriot Homebrew Competition and the winner is???

David Rosenbaum, a very active club member who has previously been vice president of Brew Free or Die, and is currently its acting webmaster, and secretary... has just won the 2008/9 Patriot Homebrew Competition!!!

This competition had over 170 entries from all over New England.



David has been a season pass holder for the New England Patriots for as long as I have known him, here he's in the background at 2007/8 competition, in the #80 jersey.

I can't imagine what it's going to be like to have a beer that you created and brewed at home, be made commercially and have on draft while you are watching the game, but I have to imagine it's going to be incredible. I would also imagine getting to work with the brewers at Samuel Adams is also going to be a blast.

So congratulations David!

Michael Fairbrother

Brew Free or Die --- now owns Mead Free or Die

The first national Mead only competition to be held in all of New England is now for the benefit of Brew Free or Die.

Mead Free or Die, which has support from over 17 sponsors thus far, is scheduled for April 25th 2009, to be held in Manchester NH.

See www.meadfreeordie.com for more information about the competition.

Old Ale -- Utopias barrel aged.

Well today, 7 Brew Free or Die members got together to add the Old Ales they had brewed into a Utopias Barrel.

The colors of the beers ranged from a dark copper to medium brown. The process was to sample each of the beers before adding to the barrel. The flavors ranged from dry to sweet, body of the beers also ranged from thin to medium/full.

Overall the hopes of those entering into this long term project was quite high. The estimate is that we have 43 gallons in the barrel.

The other barrel projects were sampled, keeping sanitation in mind, the Flanders Brown (aka. what was once a Baltic porter) has really started to improve quite a bit. To quote Bill H. "if anyone doesn't want their share, I will take it". The Russian Imperial in Utopias barrel, has a great toasted coconut and vanilla flavor/aroma, medium to full body... really exceptional.

Cranberry Challenge 2008

At the November 2008 meeting I presented information about Cranberry beers.

Here are my notes and a number of recipes for Cranberry beers of all styles.

I will be making the Crandaddy Braggot from Sam Calgione's book, and I invite others to try brewing some cranberry beers that we can taste next year.

Enjoy!

David Rosenbaum

3rd New England Regional Homebrew Competition

I would like to thank all the sponsors, entrants, and staff for the tremendous support that was
given to the 3rd Annual New England Regional Homebrew Competition, which took place on October 25th 2008, in Acton Maine.

We had 290 entries in the competition, up from 250 the previous year. Over 100 homebrewers had submitted entries, from as many as 19 states. The competition is still tallying up how much money was raised for The American Cancer Society, and The Good Shepard Foodbank of Maine.

Complete list of winners can be found here http://www.bfd.org/NERHBC/

Best of Show was won by Alastair Hewitt, who provided the following recipe for his dry stout.

Stout Lite

All-grain

Color

Stats OG 1.035 FG 1.011 IBU 39 ABV 3.10 % SRM 36

BJCP Style 16A. Stout, Dry Stout Description A low alcohol stout, stating at bottom of OG range and ending at top of FG range.

Recipe Details

Tasting Notes Low gravity fermentation is very clean, so drinkable after one week. Awards BOS winner - 3rd Annual New England Regional Homebrew Competition Boil Volume 8.00 gallons Boil Time 90 minutes Batch Size 7.00 gallons Yeast Wyeast 1056 (75% app. attenuation) Primary Fermentation Glass, 5 days @ 68F Secondary Fermentation none Other Fermentation Procedure Single step infusion mash, 75 mins @ 152F. Split batch and add 12oz of lactose to one half for a sweet stout (FG 1.018)

Style Comparison Low High OG 1.035 1.035 1.050 FG 1.007 1.011 1.011 IBU 30 39 50 SRM 36 35+ ABV 3.2 3.10 5.5

Fermentables

% Weight	Weight (lbs)	Grain	Note	Gravity Points	Color
75.7 %	7.00	American Two-row Pale		27.8	1.8
13.5 %	1.25	British Roasted Barley		3.9	575.0
10.8 %	1.00	Flaked Barley		3.4	2.2
	9.25			35.1

Hops

% Wt	Weight (oz)	Hop	Note	Form	AA%	AAU	Boil Time	Utilization	IBU
50.0 %	1.00	First Gold		Pellet	6.9	6.9	90	0.323	23.8
25.0 %	0.50	Willamette		Pellet	5.8	2.9	90	0.323	10.0
25.0 %	0.50	Willamette		Pellet	5.8	2.9	15	0.150	4.6
	2.00								39.0

Miscellaneous Ingredients

Weight/Units	Name	Notes
1 tsp	Calcium Carbonate	Start of boil
1 tsp	Irish Moss	Last 15 mins

European Amber Lager Club-Only Competition

It's autumn and the leaves are all over the ground. That means it's time for our third and final Club-Only Competition of 2008. We are going to be judging entries from BJCP Category 3 (European Amber Lager) under the 2004 Style Guidelines. So bring a Vienna Lager or an Oktoberfest for judging in Novembeer/Decembeer. We will not hold the judging as originally planned on November 21, but will move the date so as not to conflict with the meeting or clash with your Thanksgiving plans.

The same competition rules apply as always:

The beer must be ready to drink by the Novembeer 2008 BFD meeting at Todd and Mary Russell's house. It must be labelled with the brewer’s name and submitted in one of the following containers: 2 12 oz. bottles, 1 22 oz. bottle, or 1 container with at least 22 ounces of beer (i.e. growler, plastic soda bottle, etc.).

Contact any of the members of the Competition Committee (Todd, Phil, Billy K., Bill R. or Mary) if you have any questions.