Bubblings from the Fermenter
Mark Tumarkin (El Jefe Major)

Just before the August meeting we were threatened by Hurricane Dennis, and a week or so before the September meeting Floyd almost paid us a visit. That's way too much tropical storm action to make me happy. But when it came right down to time for the Septembeer meeting, the weather was gorgeous. Cool and clear, wonderful fall weather. We were able to have the meeting outside in Erin and Bradley's back yard. There were a few mosquitoes around, but after sucking our 150 Proof blood a couple of times, they mellowed right out and didn't bother anyone too much. We had a great turnout for the meeting with 21 people attending (which looked at from a scientific or statistical viewpoint, is more than usually attend). We gained one new member, Deena Bray (of Brays Brewing Supplies), and a promise to join soon from another prospective member, Jeff Batchelder.

I began the meeting with a congratulatory announcement about the BJCP test. Five of our study group members took the test on July 17 and we just received the results this week. All five candidates were successful in passing the test. I suspect that this is a very unusual event, I can't imagine that it happens very often. We all attribute this to the excellent preparation given us by Ed Wolfe, our study group leader. Thanks, Ed! The five new judges are Sue Smith, Greg McGann, George Perrin, Dave Williams, and myself. We will be planning and holding another BJCP study group soon, so think about whether you'll be willing to make the effort and commit the time that this requires. I think I can safely speak for the entire last group and say that it was a lot of work but we all had a great time doing it.

This was a very productive meeting -- and fun too. Lots of good beer and we still managed to get some business done. The next meeting will be a combo business meeting/Halloween Party at Sandra and Greg's house. We will have it on Sat, Oct 30 rather than the traditional last Friday in order to better accommodate the Halloween partying after the meeting (as if we don't party at every meeting).

We discussed and chose the first few beer styles for next year's competitions, did the initial planning for a spring camping trip (Erin will be checking on beer-friendly sites), planned the X-mas party (to be held at Wayne and Sue's), did some planning for incorporating the club as a non-profit corporation, and discussed doing an upcoming bulk buy for grain and hops.

While we were holding the business meeting; our newly certified BJCP judges, Dave and George, were inside judging the Porters for the style contest. We had four entries this month. First place went to Mark Tumarkin, second to Wayne Smith, and third to Karrie Comatas. Greg McGann also entered his porter to finish out the field. While the judges were inside doing their thing, we judged Shepard Neame's Original Porter as a group. We used the new BJCP style guides and the judging forms to help everyone get a better sense of how beer is judged. We plan on doing a group judging of one beer at each meeting. I think this will give everyone a better understanding of the judging process and beer tasting/evaluation.

Erin gave a great presentation and tasting of Winter Warmers. This is an eclectic style -- if you can even call it a style. Winter Warmers range from spice beers to really alcoholic, high gravity brews. Basically, it's "beer to drink while the weather sucks." Most of the beers for our tasting were sent down from NY by Jim Brangan. Jim bitched and moaned about the difficulty of finding Winter Warmers in September, but I think he did a great job. Thanks Jim, we really appreciated it! He sent us Fuller's Old Winter Ale, Sam Smith's Winter Welcome, Young's Old Nick Barley Wine, and Theakston's Old Peculiar (he also sent a couple of great stouts for our next style tasting, as well as some Belgian Trappist ales for a future tasting). Erin added Spaten Optimator, Bert Grant's Imperial Stout, and Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine. So we had quite a varied selection of wonderful beers to try.

The next style contest was supposed to be Octoberfest, but it seems that nobody will have one ready. So we have cancelled the contest and will do a doctored beer session instead. We will be adding different flavors and chemicals to beers in order to give you the experience of detecting and tasting some of the common flaws in beer. We did this as part of the BJCP study group and it can be very helpful and enlightening. So till then, keep those fermenters bubbling.