Author: Sudzers

Congratulations to the following Silicon Valley Sudzers for outstanding results among the 256 entries in the Alameda County Fair homebrew competition (BABO).

Best In Show: Jim & Jason Williams, George G. Williams, Scottish Export 80/- (also took first in Scottish & Irish Ales)

1st Place: Justin Vincent, English Porter, Robust Porter

1st Place: Justin Vincent, Red Sky at Night, Flanders Oud Bruin

2nd Place: Jim & Jason Williams, Smoken Chipotle Oak Smoked Porter, Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer

3rd Place: Justin Vincent, Belgian Summer IPA, Belgian Specialty

3rd Place: Justin Vincent, Northern Nutter, Northern English Brown Ale

Cheers, gentlemen!

Sudzer Chief Communications Officer Derek W’s latest column from the Los Altos Town Crier: Steins Beer Garden celebrates a year of craft brews in Mtn. View.

http://www.losaltosonline.com/special-sections2/sections/food-a-wine/47393-steins-beer-garden-celebrates-a-year-of-craft-brews-in-mtn-view

Several Sudzers enjoyed the American Homebrewers Association rally at Heretic Brewing in Fairfield on April 26, and at least 6 club members participated in the “free wort giveaway.” Heretic brewed 750 gallons (about 25 bbl) of a brown ale wort, which they gave out to the first 150 homebrewers to sign up for 5 gallons apiece. White Labs provided five different yeast strains for homebrewers to choose, and no doubt the Sudzers will come up with many creative finished products that they can claim as co-brewed with Jamil Zainasheff.

Hello Sudzers! Our April meeting will be held Friday, May 2 at 7 pm
at Nick’s house. Need the address or directions? Email
moresimcoe@sudzers.org. Don’t forget to carpool if possible to make
sure there’s enough parking to go around.

If you would like to pay your 2014 dues, entitling you to many club
benefits, including a 10% discount at MoreBeer and member-only events,
please bring $25 cash.

Meeting agenda:

7:00 Social Time

7:15 Club Business

-Recent events:
-Spring club brew day at Chris Q’s
–AHA Rally at Heretic Brewing

-Upcoming events:
-Thirsty Third Thursday May 15 – TL Beer Garden, 769 N. Mathilda, Sunnyvale
-Members-only off flavor tasting – May 16
-Session ales competition in July – date

7:30 Presentation – Justin V on mash temperatures

7:45 Brewery visit report with samples – Tyler on Faction Brewing

8:00 Homebrew evaluations. Reminder: Bring your recipe – club members
will have lots of questions! Sign your beer in on the whiteboard along
with your name and statistics (IBU, ABV, etc. – optional, but helpful
in determining tasting order)

After homebrew evaluations: more social time/informal commercial brew
sharing. Always welcome: homebrews from any style to share.  Don’t have any
homebrew on hand right now? Feel free to bring other interesting brews
you’ve picked up. Don’t have a beer to bring? Please bring some snacks
to share.

From the Los Altos Town Crier

http://www.losaltosonline.com/special-sections2/sections/food-a-wine/47214-beer-cheese-contrasting-but-complementary-pairings-work-best

Our April 17 Thirsty Third Thursday meetup will be held at Steins Beer Garden with owner Ted Kim and chef Colby Reade available to speak with us about their first year operating Steins. Please RSVP to moresimcoe@sudzers.org by the end of the day Monday April 7 if you plan to attend so that we can have enough space reserved.

Chris R and Linda are unable to host the spring club brew day on April 19, but Chris Q has generously agreed to host at his house on the same day. Stay tuned for details.

At our May club meeting, Justin will do a presentation on mash temperatures. In June, Charles will have a presentation comparing bottle-conditioned and kegged versions of the same brews.

The members-only event to review the BJCP off flavor kit will be held at Nick’s house on May 16. More details will be forthcoming. Steve C also volunteered to organize and teach a BJCP judging class this summer/fall and to host an examination.

At the July meeting, we will have a club-only session beers competition. All beers must be under 5% ABV, and judging will be split into two categories (hop-centric and non-hop-centric), with a best of show winner to be chosen from the top beers in each category.

A small selection of homebrews this month, but they were outstanding!

Derek W’s El Hefe Hefeweizen

Pete’s Saison with Dupont yeast cultured from a bottle and 85 degree fermentation

Charles’ NAB2 Biere de Garde

Charles’ NAB1 Leffe Belgian Blond clone

Mikael & Bill’s Lagunitas Sucks clone

Jim W’s  Smoked Porter with oak and chipotles

 

 

 

Hello Sudzers! Our April meeting will be held Friday, April 4 at 7 pm
at Nick’s house. Need the address or directions? Email
moresimcoe@sudzers.org. Don’t forget to carpool if possible to make
sure there’s enough parking to go around.

If you would like to pay your 2014 dues, entitling you to many club
benefits, including a 10% discount at MoreBeer and member-only events,
please bring $25 cash.

Because of the large number of homebrews that have been brought to
recent meetings, the officers have decided to implement a cap on the
formal evaluations. We will only have 15 beers presented per meeting
(of course, others may be brought and shared and critiqued during
social time before or after the meeting, but we will not pass them
around to every attendee). The first 15 brews (limit one per brewer)
entered on the whiteboard will be part of the formal tasting. If fewer
than 15 brewers bring beers, we can open up opportunities for brewers
to present a second beer.

7:00 Social Time

7:15 Club Business

-Upcoming events:
-Thirsty Third Thursday – Steins Beer Garden (with owner Ted Kim and
chef Colby Reade)
-Club Brew Day – April 19 at Chris and Linda’s house
-May meeting: presentation by Justin on mash temperatures
-Members-only off flavor tasting – date
-Session ales competition in July – judging criteria

7:30 Homebrew evaluations. Reminder: Bring your recipe – club members
will have lots of questions! Sign your beer in on the whiteboard along
with your name and statistics (IBU, ABV, etc. – optional, but helpful
in determining tasting order)

After homebrew evaluations: more social time/informal commercial brew
sharing. Always welcome: homebrews from any style to share.  Don’t have any
homebrew on hand right now? Feel free to bring other interesting brews
you’ve picked up. Don’t have a beer to bring? Please bring some snacks
to share.

On March 8, about 30 Sudzers took a bus tour to visit the breweries of the Santa Cruz coast. We had the opportunity to sample brews and talk with the brewers and/or owners of Santa Cruz Aleworks, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, Discretion Brewing, and Seabright Brewery.

A few sample photos are included below, but you can see many more pictures courtesy of Paul S and Derek W at the Sudzers Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/siliconvalleysudzers/sets/72157642454144895/

The group thanked Nick for arranging the most excellent Gordon Biersch tour with Dan Gordon, which had 41.5 attendees! Ron wrote up the event and captured it in photos here.

The itinerary for the March 8 Santa Cruz Brewery Bus Tour was reviewed, with 5 destinations slated for one day: Santa Cruz Aleworks, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, Discretion Brewing, and Seabright. Approximately 30 people planned to attend. No doubt there will be a writeup/photos on the website in a couple of weeks.

The members-only off flavor tasting had been scheduled to replace the March Thirsty Third Thursday meetup, but logistics are dictating that we need to reschedule in April. The group considered several options for the March TTT meetup, then voted to go to Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City on March 20. The group also agreed that the April TTT meetup will be April 17 at Steins Beer Garden in Mountain View. Derek W mentioned that Steins is also working on creating a beer pairing brunch, and they will keep him informed.

The Spring Club Brew day was tentatively slated for Easter weekend at Chris R’s house. More details will be sent out once finalized.

There will be just a handful of Sudzers attending the National Homebrewers Conference in Grand Rapids, MI in June. If the Worts of Wisdom decide to have a booth at club night and/or serve in the hospitality suite, we may join forces with them.

Derek W asked the group about the idea of a homebrew club bowling competition event. The response was so-so, but not met with wild enthusiasm.

Jim W reminded the group that we are planning a session beers competition within the club in July – all beers must be under 5% alcohol. Jim will lead a group to decide whether we want to develop more specific judging criteria.

As a novelty item, Derek W shared some Pat’s Backcountry Beverages pale ale concentrate that he brought back from Colorado. The consensus was that the convenience of the small pouches would be excellent for a serious hiking trip, and that the beer was not bad considering that it came out of a pouch, but it was not a favorite, especially after a lineup of particularly impressive homebrews had been tasted this month.

Justin V will be doing a presentation on mash temperatures at the May club meeting.

Homebrews:

Adam C’s Dunkel

Aimee & Phil’s Single Hop Simcoe Pale Ale

David’s Wild Cider

Rich’s Tiny Pliny

Duncan’s Ginger Stout

David’s IPA

Justin’s Little Red Rye IPA

Charles’ IPA

Justin’s Belgian Tropics Brett IPA

Derek W’s Dark Matter-ish Imperial Stout

Chris R’s 1st State American Barleywine (speaking of, congrats to Chris and Lisa Linda on their upcoming Delaware adventure!)

Jim W’s Bastard Son Of Younger Imperial IPA

 

 

 

 

From the Los Altos Town Crier

http://www.losaltosonline.com/special-sections2/sections/food-a-wine/46933-