The Hogtown Brewers Newsletter
August 1999
The big event for July was our first BJCP exam. After months of hard work by our study group, the fateful day was Saturday, July 17th. Ed Wolfe, our study group leader, gave the test to five of us: Sue Smith, Dave Williams, George Perrin, Greg McGann, and myself. It was an exhausting test; three hours of ten written essay questions, and four beers to evaluate. George Perrin compared it to his doctoral exam. What did you say you were studying, George? Anyhow, we all felt good after the exam, everyone felt that they had at least passed. Unfortunately, Ed told us that it sometimes takes 2-3 months to get the results. We'll keep you posted.
We went to Market St. afterwards to celebrate. However, Ed informed us that he had two kegs that had to be emptied before he moves, and that we couldn't go to Market St until we had emptied them. Well, we emptied the pale ale, drained it dry. We didn't empty the dunkles weizen but we did put a serious dent in it. All just part of our continuing beer studies. Then on to Market St for dinner and more beer. Maybe we should have eaten something earlier, all that beer kind of snuck up on Sue. But she deserved to tie one on. Of all of us, I think she made the most progress. She can talk like a beer geek now, just ask her.
The July meeting was at my house. We had a good turnout and some tremendous beers. Greg McGann and Sandra Powers brought back a cooler full of interesting brews from their recent trip to Indiana. My favorite was a pale ale from Three Floyds in Indiana. Ed Wolfe brought a variety of his meads and homebrew. We were all shocked and dismayed to learn that he also brought some Coors Non-Alcoholic Beer. He claims that he bought it just to find out what it was like, sort of in the spirit of zymurgical exploration.
I don't think he really convinced anyone, we're all a little concerned to say the least. Especially since this was his last Hogtown Brewers meeting, at least for the foreseeable future, and we won't be able to keep an eye on his beer choices. Carol is already in their new home in Michigan, and Ed is August 6th. I hope the brewers up in Michigan are able to help Ed with his problem. Just say No, Ed. We'll miss you!
I gave a presentation and style tasting on porter. I think I might have gotten a little wordy , but I don't think I bored anyone too badly. Although, Bradley had to go to the fridge to get the porters for the tasting in order to get me to shut up. (Brewers, you're welcome -- cbd.) I couldn't help it, there is so much to say about porter. Historically, it is a tremendously interesting beer and there are a lot of fascinating stories related to porter. I hope I was able to give you a little understanding of how porter developed and some of the factors involved in brewing a great porter for our next contest. Speaking of which, Wayne Smith won the German Wheat contest with his dunkles weiss. Next month the contest will be brown ales. We also had a new member this at month's meeting - Andy Wilcox, long-time brewer and ex-Hogtown Brewers member. Welcome, Andy. Until then, keep those fermenters bubbling.