March 2005
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March 2005 |
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The Barley Whispers
Official Newsletter of the Forest City Brewers (WEBMASTER NOTE.. I totally changed the font for viewability... Deal)
March 2005 Edition
Next meeting will be held at The Olympic Tavern
President’s Notes: (Time for quiet reflection…..)
Secretary’s Notes:
Man, I really don’t like that term…Secretary. I would prefer El Capitan, Duke of Ales, Minister of Information, Chief Information Officer, or even Vice President. Well, welcome to the new and improved March 2005 newsletter. I made good on all that stuff I promised the last couple months. I would like to add some more features yet. Perhaps guest columns for beer review, share a favorite recipe, favorite gear tip, a homebrewing website perhaps. Something to help us share our brewing tastes with each other. Aww heck, I’ll even get it started this month.
Treasurer’s Note:
Attention all Forest City Brewers! The 2005 yearly dues are now payable. Make sure to bring your dues to the meeting and relieve your guilty conscience. It’s March now, so this means BRING YO’ CHECK!!!!
Meeting Notes:
The Febrewary meeting was held fireside at the Olympic Tavern. Very cozy by the fire. Yes, I think this will do quite nicely. Another Goose Island, ..sure, that sounds great, thanks! The meeting came to order and El Presidente, Charlie Mongan gave us a brief update on the Bus Trip 2005 information. We then welcomed some new faces. Good to see some new blood at the meetings recently, as I’m sure it will add to the quantity and quality of our monthly homebrew contests. We also had a recap of the Christmas party activities, and again we thank Doug and Ann for their hospitality. There was a brief mention of the upcoming Homebrew Competition at Brew and Grow, and Ken Schultz gave some information about the AHA National Competition and upcoming National Conference in Baltimore this year. Charlie, Ken, and Lynn Foster led a session on evaluating the aromas and flavors produced by varying the type of hop utilized in three batches of the same beer. For evaluation, Ken, Charlie, and Chuck Nolen, all brewed the same recipe of a Cream Ale type brew, but each used a different hop variety throughout the boil. Ken used Centennial hops at about 10% AAU, Chuck used Cascade hops at about 7% AAU, and Charlie used Chinook hops at 12.2% AAU. All used White Labs California Ale yeast for fermentation. And we are assured that quality control was beyond reproach to limit any variability. A very fun and informative session. Thanks to those guys for their hard work! Lastly, we had our monthly competitions. The featured style for the month was Scottish Ale. Being as there was only one entry, Ken Schultz easily took first place and took home the fat payday. The Open competition had three entries. Results are as follows: First Place: Maple Bock – Lynn Foster Second Place: Semi-Sweet Mead – Steve and Anita Third Place: American Brown Ale – Tom Hickson Great job, and congratulations to all who participated. The Style Beer for March will be “BOCK”.
Club Event Notes:
To: All members of
the Forest City Brewers, and their guest (..it did say ALL YOU CAN DRINK! ( ..Ed )
In other places…a little friendly competition, and an excellent excuse to check out some Chicagoland Brewpub action… 2005 BOSS Challenge Saturday, April 2, 2005 Location: Maple Tree Inn Blue Island, Illinois The Brewers Of South Suburbia invite you to participate in the 14th Annual Chicago Cup Challenge Homebrew Contest, April 2, 2005. This contest is sanctioned by the American Homebrewers Association and is a part of the Midwest Homebrewer of the Year Competition. It features the Chicago Beer Cup, which is awarded to the Homebrew Club, which accumulates the most points. Ribbons and prizes will be awarded to the winners. It will include separate Best Of Show Judging for beers and non-beers. The entry time frame is March 11, 2005 to March 25, 2005. Out-of-town judges may walk-in entries on April 2nd, provided they are pre-registered by mailing your entry forms and fees to Zbig Banach / 1609 Andrea Drive / New Lenox, IL 60451. If shipping your bottles, carefully pack and ship to: Mastermolding, Inc. c/o Ray Steinhart / 1715 Terry Drive / Joliet, IL 60436 Or drop off your entries at any of the following locations: Bev Art / 10033 S. Western Avenue / Chicago, IL 60643 / 773-233-7579 / http://www.bev-art.com The Brewers Coop / 30W114 Butterfield Road / Warrenville, IL 60555 / 630-393-BEER / http://www.thebrewerscoop.com
Special Guest Section: Today we will be featuring some website suggestions from local homebrewer ,and Vice President of Forest City Brewers (see..it sounds good, doesn’t it?). The two websites I use most often are www.homebrew.com and www.beertools.com . The www.homebrew.com website is maintained by a homebrew supply in North Carolina called Homebrew Adventures. The primary reason I use the site is to interact with other homebrewers from all over the world via “The Brewboard” which is a forum the site moderates. There are lots of experienced, helpful people you can ask questions to in between our monthly Forest City Brewers meetings. The brewboard members are actually recognized as a n online based homebrewer’s club by the AHA. I have never bought anything from their storefront online, but have made adapted versions of a few of their recipe kits, and I highly recommend their Saison, and Honey Wheat. Want to know more? Ask me, or logon! My other favorite is www.beertools.com . Beertools is an online based recipe formulation calculator. I’ve been using it for almost 3 years now. Because it is online based, you can use it from any computer. Want to waste time at work formulating your next brew? Go ahead! The recipe calculator is free to try, however they offer a membership to their site that allows you to save and archive recipes, and also gives you extra features in the recipe formulation tools. For members, there are more choices for malts and hops, and also more kettle additions. Even as a beginner, I found it very easy to use. It works for all grain, partial mash, or extract brewing. I think you’ll like it. Logon, or ask me for more info.
Random Beer and Brewing Notes: Beer pumps $162 billion into U.S. economyBeer-related businesses, including brewers, wholesalers, retailers, and brewer suppliers, contribute more than $162 billion annually to the U.S. economy, according to a detailed study released by the Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA). The industry's economic impact includes nearly 1.8 million jobs paying more than $54 billion in wages as well as more than $30 billion in federal, state, and local taxes generated and paid, including consumption taxes. These results show significant growth in all categories over a similar study examining the industry's economic impact in 2001. The report released last week examines data from 2004. "This study demonstrates that the beer industry is more than just those who make and distribute our products," said Jeff Becker, President of the Beer Institute. "We are an industry of farmers, can manufacturers, truck drivers, retailers, and many others. While the economic impact of the industry is significant, brewers and wholesalers are also committed to promoting the responsible consumption of their products and to improving local communities." According to the report, the direct and indirect economic output of brewers, wholesalers, retailers, and suppliers to the American economy increased more than 12 percent since 2001, growing from about $144 billion to the current $162 billion. Through direct and indirect economic contributions, the industry helped add more than 120,000 jobs and over $7 billion in wages to the U.S. economy over this time period. Directly, the industry includes 555,645 brewing, wholesale, and retail establishments that employ 890,726 workers. This is an increase of 33,526 direct industry employees since 2001. Total direct wages in the industry are just over $21 billion. For a state-by-state analysis or to view the full Beer Industry Economic Impact Study, please visit http://www.beerservesamerica.org. Research conducted by John Dunham and Associates, New York, NY.
(..I already knew drinking beer was good for the economy, what took these guys so long? (..ed)
Joke of The Month: Why do mice have small balls? Because none of them really know how to dance very well! |
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