What makes BFD such a great club?

Brew Free or Die, is based on a simple premise, that great beer, mead, cider is something that is to be cherished and lessons learned from each other, ok the official story is a bit longer, but that's my take tonight.

This club has at least 3 professional brewers, a few who are lurking in the background and working on plans, and dozens of world class home brewers, to guys and gals who just brew as it's what they like to do.

It's a place where homebrewers with little to no experience can grow, and where those that win MCAB, and dozens of other national competitions shine, and share.

I have been an active part of this club for 15 years, and I can't even begin to describe how much this club means to me, and how proud I am that this "little club from NH" is so well respected. We have something here, that's genuine, and we brew as strong as any club in this country.

We are the largest we have ever been... and that's not such a bad thing! Lots of interest, and it continues to grow, and we intern, reinvest in our members.

Hope to see everyone at the Homebrewers Jamboree, in Campton NH, on September 12th. Look me up, and stop by and have a beer, and discuss why you should join up with us.

Who's happier than David????

Patriot Homebrew Winner news update...

David Rosenbaum, will be on the Loren & Wally show on WROR (105.7 FM) tomorrow (Thursday, 9/20/2009) morning at 7am EDT with Jim Koch of Sam Adams. If you aren't in Boston, you can listen at http://www.wror.com, but you have to sign up first to access the stream. He will be talking about beer, naturally!

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.