HOPS Brewsletter - May, 2012

by Jason Cox

HOPS – Homebrewers Of Pagosa Springs

 

Hello HOPS Heads,

Ahhh yes. Another beer, another memory. Sometimes our little homebrewed concoctions can become part of us, in good ways and in bad. Have you ever sampled a beer that made you question your worthiness of being a “Beer Taster”? Holy crap man, I brewed such a brew-hah-ha. My wife and I concocted a dark ale that tossed before me a liquid Right of Passage, a test of will and a down right challenge of my ability to fathom greatness, all at once. It may not have been the greatest beer ever brewed, but it was certainly a tribute, if you catch my gig. I peered into the bottomless, malty abyss within the pint glass and asked myself: Am I man enough to drink a beer this complex? The answer was clearly NO. I tried but was found lacking. I grew my goatee to unreasonable lengths and shapes, trimmed my toe nails with a cutting torch, ate nothing but lumber and peat moss for a week and even head butted a moose or two. The beer chuckled at my failed attempt at manliness. I was defeated and embarrassed. You would feel better about yourself if you tried to kiss your sister through a single pane window. EEEWWE. (Ya’ll aint from ‘round these parts, now iz you?) Yes, sometimes we unknowingly achieve a beer-magnitude to the point we have outdone ourselves. Will a beer like this ever be appreciated? Can any plain multi-celled organism called a human ever be capable of grasping a brew this complex? Perhaps not. But someday, my friends, someday, I will tame this slobber-hurling beast called… wwhuh? Where am I? Awwwe, it was all just another beer soaked dream (and a delightful one at that)! Well, while I try to figure out the recipe for “The Best Beer In The World Tribute”, I’ll quit rambling and get back to what is really important: Beer and other fun fermentables.

 

Until next time, cheers and happy fermenting ~

 

Randini the Beer Spammer

 

Tech Tip of the Day: Don’t be an A-Hole. – Eddie Vedder

 

Quote of the Day: “Don’t be an A-Hole.” – Eddie Vedder

 

 

HOPS Meetings:

 

  • HOPS – New Business:
    • Next Meeting: Tuesday, the 22nd (TONIGHT) 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: Bock              
    • Discussion: Some ideas we want to go over include the following:

A)      Aztec Homebrew Club Gathering on June 2nd – Road Trip!!!

B)      Other upcoming events found below.

 

 

 

UPCOMING LOCAL NEWS & EVENTS:

 

Mark Your Calendars:

 

  • Tuesday, May 22nd – HOPS Meeting: Tonight is the HOPS Meeting (the fourth Tuesday of the month). We will meet at Pagosa Brewing Company at 6:00 PM. This month we will be going over some of the upcoming events and agenda items above, along with the Style of the Month. This time is Bock. For more info on these styles, check out the descriptions listed on the BJCP website here: http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php. Check out the posts from local liquor stores on our website at www.pagosahops.org to see what is in stock.

 

  • First Friday Out, June 1st – The first Friday of the month we like to drink beer. Ok, we like to drink beer more often than that, but we usually get together somewhere around town, and this time around we will meet at The Pines at the Golf Course. See you there at 6:00!

 

  • Aztec Homebrew Clubs Gathering, June 2nd – The Celtic Brewers are putting on a fun shindig in Aztec on Saturday, June 2nd. If you did not see the post on our website, be sure to check it out at www.pagosahops.org to see what is involved. We will discuss this more at the meeting, but this will be a good one! The details for this event are listed at the bottom of this Brewsletter.

 

  • Hooch Brew Off, June 16th in Durango – The event that throws a wrench in your typical judging – this is more like a prison party without the convicts. Brew up your own hooch and bring it to this one of a kind event. For more info go to: http://pagosahops.org/#!/houch-brew-off-on-june-16th-durango (Then scroll to the very bottom of the page)
    Here are some more details:
    Getting tired of all the BJCP sanctions, all the category guidelines and beer-snobbery that comes with brewing? Actually, I'm not either, but that doesn't mean we can't branch out and have some fun exploring different 'not-so-snobbish' forms of fermenting. And so I present to you the 'Houch Brew Off' brought to you by our friends from Worth Dreams. This is a new (actually, no, it's quite old) take at fermenting hooch. Basically, take some fermentable matter and turn it into alcohol, just like they do in prison! (You can even use a toilet to ferment in if you so desire.)
    This event will take place at Durango Brew Supply on Saturday, June 16th. Please see the attached flier for more details (I hope I can figure out how to attach this thing). Ferment whatever you want as long as it falls within the guidelines in the attachment. There is no charge per entry and you can enter as many as you want. The guys at Durango Brew Supply will probably 'cellar' your entries for you if you can not get to the competition / hooch party the day of. This sounds like a lot of fun, though 'judging' this could be a risky undertaking... 8-{

 

  • Archuleta County Fair, August 2-5 – Be sure to keep in mind the beer competition for the Fair this year!

 

 

For the Calendar:

  • May 22: HOPS Meeting – Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00
  • June 2: Four Corners Homebrew Gathering – Aztec
  • June 16: Hooch Brew Off – Durango
  • June 26: HOPS Meeting – Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00
  • June 21-23: National Homebrewers Conference
  • July 14: Salida Brewer’s Rendezvous
  • July 24: HOPS Meeting – Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00
  • August 2-5: Archuleta County Fair – Beer, wine and mead competition
  • August 4: Mead Day
  • October 11-13: Great American Beer Festival - Denver
  • November 3: Learn to Homebrew Day

 

NEWS:

 

  • Hop Rhizomes Available – If you are looking to grow your own hops, Tony with Pagosa Brewing Co has sent some information on getting a wide variety at pretty good prices. They normally take about two years to get established. If you are interested in getting some let me know. They are about $2.50 each (unless you order 40 ormore) and they have a wide variety to choose from.

 

  • 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:

 

 

  • Now on Tap! – Check out some of the new brews on tap at Pagosa Brewing Co:

 

- Double Black
Imperial Black IPA - One of the most extreme, and yet deceptively quaffable IPA's we’ve ever crafted.  As such, we call it Double Black and it’s not for the faint of heart.  It’s got an amazing balance of black malts and hops with an intense depth of character of rich malts, but not too heavy.  First featured during the Opening Reception at the Big Beer Festival in Vail in January 2011. 

 

- Peachy Peach

Champion Light Beer - San Juan Brewfest '11

Gold Medal Fruit Beer - Colorado State Fair '10

Our Peach Wheat is a real treat.  Brewed as an American Wheat, it's got amazing aromas of real peaches and a wonderful balance of light beer and peaches in the flavor.  Peachy Peach™ is exceedingly quaffable and one of our top sellers in the warmer months.

 

  • Also, Open Mic Night has started up again for the summer. I believe it starts at 6:00 PM on Tuesdays, but check with Pagosa Brewing Co to be sure on that!

 

 

FRONT RANGE & BEYOND NEWS & EVENTS:

 

  • Salida Brewer’s Rendezvous – July 14th (One of the coolest beer fests in CO if you ask me. And yes, I heard you askin’.)

 

 

  • 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.

 

  • Wanted – Looking for desperate people willing to work long hours in the sun for minimal pay in dirty, unforgiving conditions. Seriously, I need help picking lots of spruce tips for my side business. Must be willing to work for beer and potato chips out in the forest. You are allowed to bring a lawn chair, but the more you harvest the more beer you get paid with, so you may want to consider putting casters on your lawn chair.  Desperate high school kids would be perfect (over 21 of course) because they need to fix their Yugo and are hurting for beer money. If there were college kids here I would try to wrangle them but there aren’t any. So I’ll try to wrangle homebrew club members instead. (Hey, sometimes they are trying to fix their Yugo and are desperate for beer money too!) And yes, I am using the club brewsletter for my own personal spamming. Hey, it has to do with beer – the spruce tips are for brewing man! Interested? Contact me at randy@speeddirect.com. You know you want this job…

 

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.

 

 

 

Details about the Homebrew Clubs Gathering in Aztec on June 2nd:

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CELTIC BREWERS <celticbrewers@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, May 12, 2012 at 2:01 PM
Subject: Home Brew Clubs Gathering June 2nd
To:


Hello Home Brewers. The Gathering of the Four Corners Homebrew Clubs is ON! Saturday June 2nd at the 4CCHBC World Headquarters 121s Main, Aztec. Doors open at noon, talks start at 3pm. 

 

The Head Brewers from Carvers (Jeff Albarella), Ska (Patrick Jose), 3 Rivers (Peter Fieweger), and Steamworks (Ken Martin) will be giving short lectures on varies aspects of brewing, followed by a Brewers Panel where they will answer questions from us homebrewers, each giving their take on it, so write down any questions you have on brewing.  We will be giving away swag from the Breweries.

 

This is a Potluck event. Bring whatever beers you would like to share, we have 6 open taps if you want to bring a keg.

 

Please pass this along to your brewclub members and anyone else that may be interested. If alot of you brewers can make it, I think the Breweries will continue to support a Gathering and it would be great to make this an annual Event having a different club host it each year.

 

Starting at 7pm in the same building, the San Juan Scottish Fiddle Society will be having a Ceilidh (Gaelic for social gathering) with a live Celtic band, more food and beers and ceilidh dances. This is a fundraiser for the Aztec Highland Games and Celtic Festival in October, a $5 donation is suggested if you can stay for this event.

 

There are some cheap places to stay in Aztec for you out of towners who want to stay for the ceilidh and spend the night, or crash at a brewclub members place, just ask.

 

Also,  Aztec Fiesta Days are going on on this day, just a few minutes walk away, you know the traveling fair thing with rides, games to win stuffed toys, cotton candy, elephants ears, tattoos. Bring the kids!

 

 

 

UNSUBSCRIBE – But if you do, your sister will try to kiss back. FREAKY!!!