The November Meeting
By Sue Smith

The last monthly party of the year 2000 was a resounding success. If you missed the party at Greg and Sandra's house, you missed one of the best parties of the year. The t-shirts were in and seemed to be a big hit with their earth tone colors. The meeting was short and sweet. There was no official tasting, but nobody missed it,because the star of the show was homebrew, and we had lots of it, and it was good. Among the expected oohs and ahs were Wayne's brown ale and Mark's avacado honey mead, both of which had been shared before. George Perrin brought some of his super wee heavy scotch ale, a best bitter, and a mild he made from second runnings. Robert Riley brought an incredible rauchbier with just the right amount of smokey flavor. Brad Seeling brought a surprisingly good pear cider made from the juice off the sand pears in my yard with no added sugar. We had a a great Russian Imperial Stout and spiced bitter that was brought by Pete Turner, who has been following the clubs' doings but had never attended a meeting until this one. Coming from someone who has only been brewing a couple of years, the stout was one of the biggest hits of the night. Chad Draizin brough his very hoppy IPA. I'm sure there were lots of homebrews, that I have not mentioned, that were passed to me (and through me), with no explanation of what and whose. All were tasted and enjoyed. Not a sucky beer was to be had all night. We had samples brought back from out of state, including an Old Jock (thank you, whoever brought it) and some Brooklyn Brewery beer from Dave Perez, and some of this year's Celebration Ale from Mark. Thanks to all who brought beer, and keep up the good work.

Unless someone would like to volunteer to be an officer of the club (and do lots of work for no pay and little recognition) the following people have been suckered in for another year: Mark Tumarkin - primary fermenter, George Perrin - secondary fermenter, Wayne Smith - treasurer, Sue Smith - scribe (with appologies for sometimes drinking too much to take notes properly), and Robert Riley, web geek and propagandist .

Next meeting (first week in January) look forward to a hopefully-not-too-boring talk on Porters and Stouts by yours truly and accompanying tasting. Pete, come back and bring more imperial stout. Everyone else, bring what you have of porters and stouts.

Don't forget the party Saturday the 16th at our house.

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