HOPS Pagosa

HOPS – Homebrewers Of Pagosa Springs

 

Hiya HOPS Heads,

Ever get that feeling like you’re getting old? Some of you may be more used to this than others, but frankly I don’t plan to get used to such things. I don’t have time to get old. (Suddenly I feel like I just quoted some old guy that used to be young.) Take this morning, for example. I got up, looked in the mirror and thought: “Dude, you’re getting uglier.” Granted, some mornings I may be a little worse off than others (depending on what IPA Silver Dollar had on sale the previous evening, for example) but this morning was something different. Ugly was the issue, but it was firmly affixed to the age thing. There were a few extra lines in the face. My uni-brau was accentuated. I had a couple more chins than usual. The mirror sneered back at me. Granted, I’m working on perfecting the perma-eye-bags, and doing well. That part I was particularly proud of. A receding hair line / fried-follicle or two helps add to the look. But there was something else. Something creepy. There was an older looking dude than before staring back at me than normal. And he was ugly. And older than yesterday. I started to get depressed, but then I thought about one of my favorite quotes: “I pity the man who does not drink – for when he wakes up in the morning, that is the best he will feel all day.” – Some Guy. Wow, that there is a depressing thought… If this was the best I was going to feel all day, I needed to change something. Sure, I felt like crapola schlamola this morning but the day would get better. Of course it will get better – there is a light at the end of this decrepit tunnel. Not a light beer, necessarily, but a light none the less. A hop-flavored carrot dangling at the end of a stick that fish hooks me in the nose - feet dragging behind - pulling me forward like a cartoon character hovering over the parched earth. Frosty mug of beer before me, an oasis of chillaxin’ and frothy goodness. Beer. Eureka – the fountain of youth! Here I am now, drinking a fresh, homebrewed IPA (which happens to be the Style of the Month for the homebrew club!) and the day is suddenly much better! I might be the ugly bloke in the mirror, but I don’t really give a damn any more. In fact, I feel pretty good, so I must look pretty good too! You know, some people think alcohol causes people to make irrational decisions. Funny thing – I am perfectly capable of making irrational decisions on my own, thank you. In fact, some may think it was irrational to suck on this IPA and go dancing (on a table top). But you know what? It feels good. And I look pretty friggin’ good doin’ it, too. Care to join me?

 

Until next time, cheers and happy fermenting ~

 

Randini the Beer Spammer

 

 

Quote of the Day:  Remember! Drinking may cause memory loss. Or worse, memory loss!

 - I can’t remember who said that…

 

Tech Tip of the Day: Ok, a simple one. If you are cleaning bottles or carboys, have you learned about swirling the bottle? A lot of people know about this, but if you are new to the ‘bottling line’ then this is a huge help. When you turn your bottles or carboys upside-down, give them a good swirl to get the liquid out. Basically you are creating a little swirley (like in the bathtub drain) that sucks the liquid out super fast. It can save time, and hey – we’re getting older by the minute, so who couldn’t use a little extra time?

 

HOPS Meetings:

 

• HOPS – New Business:
• Next Meeting: Tuesday, the 28^th is the next HOPS meeting, Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00 PM. The GREEN COLOR GROUP is up, so if you are in this group, make sure you have been in touch with your Color Group Leader to find out what is in the pipeline.
• Style of the Month: IPA – Hellz friggin’ yes I just freaked out I am so stoked… :-P
• Discussion: Some ideas we want to go over include the following:

A)      IP FRIGGIN’ A!

B)      State Fair – this weekend! No time for discussion…

C)      GABF – Oct 12-14

D)      Other upcoming events found below.

 

 

UPCOMING LOCAL NEWS & EVENTS:

 

Mark Your Calendars:

 

• October 11-13 – Great American Beer Festival (GABF): So did you hear? If you tried to get tickets you heard. They sold out in 45 minutes. About 2500 taps, a zillion people in a huge arena and they sold out in 45 minutes. That, my friends, is Ludacrisp. Hope you know somebody with connections! (wink, wink - yup)

 

 

For the Calendar:

• August 28^th: HOPS Meeting – Pagosa Brewing Co (6:00 PM)
• October 11-13: Great American Beer Festival - Denver
• Oct 23^rd: HOPS Meeting – Pagosa Brewing Co (6:00 PM)
• November 3: Learn to Homebrew Day

 

NEWS:

 

• Beer News Around Durango – For the latest news on the beer scene in Durango, check out http://beerat6512.blogspot.com/. Our neighbors to the West have a great beer town, along with some great writers and this is a fun place to check up on the happninz. Erich Hennig, my brew-brotha-from-anotha-motha just joined the team. Check it out – I think you will enjoy it!

 

Pagosa Brewing Company News / Events:

 

 

 

• Great American Beer Festival – October 11-13. http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/

 

• Win A Seat In A Siebel Brewing School Course - MoreBeer! Is giving away a seat at the Siebel Institute of Technology's Advanced Homebrewing Program!  For each issue of our "Brewing Techniques" magazines ordered, you'll receive one entry for your chance to win!  This class will run for one week, from July 23rd - July 27th.  See below for contest and class details.Siebel Institute of Technology is a well respected school that attracts thousands of brewers seeking a higher level of brewing knowledge.  Siebel has been teaching brewers the "secrets of brewing" for the past 140 years, and continues to gain popularity.  These students don't only fly in from across the country; They're flying in from across the world!  If you're looking to work in a brewery, become a brewmaster, or open your own brew pub, Siebel is a great place to start.  In fact, to show some lucky brewer out there just how great this place is, we'll be running a contest during the next 4 weeks for a chance to go to one of these courses!  For more info go to www.morebeer.com for more info.

 

FOR SALE / FOR FREE / WANTED:

 

• Fridge (Great for a Kegerator) – If a HOPS member is interested in building a kegerator I found a free fridge that would be great for the job. Email me for more info – randy@speeddirect.com. Again, don’t reply to this email or you will send it to every beer drinking fool on the planet. Really.

 

• Interested in some new stainless steel homebrew kettles? Check out the email below if you are:
  Good afternoon,
  My name is Ben Caya and I'm the owner of Spike Brewing LLC. I wanted to drop a quick note to your home brew club. If you're not aware, we make stainless steel home brew kettles. I just graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Over the past year my 'part time' business throughout school has turned into a full time job. We are a vendor on HomeBrewTalk.com and have been very well received thus far but I'd like to expand our reach to local home brewing clubs. I would really appreciate it if you could pass along information on Spike Brewing to your members. All our kettles can be seen and purchased on my website which is www.spikebrewing.com. As an token of our appreciation we have set up a 5% off coupon for any product we sell. To redeem the coupon members would only need to enter the discount code "Colorado" in the discount code section during checkout. Thanks for your time and if any members have questions or comments I would be happy to answer them personally.
  Ben Caya
  Owner - Spike Brewing LLC
  ben@spikebrewing.com
  262.370.4616
  www.spikebrewing.com

 

Anybody else have anything you want to list? Beer related or not, just lemme know and I will circulate your stuff around the universe. Well, my universe…

 

Links:

 

• Homebrewing News – A website started by our buddy Bill Downs here in the Four Corners area that focuses on product reviews and more: www.homebrewingnews.com

 

• Local Beerlover Networking Website: Check out www.brewerfest.com for a social beer lover’s networking site. It works kinda like Facebook, only without all the loser teenagers counting how many totally irrelevant “friends” they can amass proving how completely lame they are. This site is actually cool! (Yes, a big fan of Facepuke here…) Joseph from Pagosa Brewing started this one up and it has some great photos of HOPS junk, plus it is free to join! Sign in and rock out with your beer out.

 

• Looking to diversify your homebrew? Check out a couple of these links for sharing and browsing tons of different homebrew recipes. Kick it up a notch – BAM!
  www.brewtoad.com
  www.hopville.com
  http://www.tastybrew.com/newrcp/styleview.html

 

UNSUBSCRIBE – Listen here, you old fogie – if you back out now you will be suckin’ smoothies through an IV because you forgot to show up for your own life and then *POOF* yer dead. Well, that may happen whether you unsubscribe or not, but it could happen. Think about it…