The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 13th at the Fort Street Brewery. As usual, the thirsty hardcore who want dinner will start arriving around 5PM, people will drift in for an hour or so, and we will start our meeting around 6PM.The Brewery is located at 1660 Fort St. Lincoln Park, MI 48146 SW Corner of Fort St. & Warwick - 2 blocks N of Southfield Rd. Meeting in the dining area (5:30 pm - 7:00 pm) Homebrews in the brewery area only!!!!!!!! Phone 313-389-9620 http://www.fortstreetbrewery.com/index.html

We have no results to report. This month's competition is Belgian Strong Ale, BJCP category 18.

Beer News

Rare Beer Club

Chris Frey

I spoke with Courtney at the Rare Beer Clu with the questions posed about how club members can order additional beer selections from them. As you recall, we recently signed up for 6 months of membership with them. Our first selection sadly will not arrive until late December, and they will typically arrive from the Chicago warehouse late in the month, so we will not get to the Dogfish Head selection until the January meeting. However, then we can look forward to monthly unique, high end quaffable!

Since the membership has to be in an individual name, I signed up. We could not sign up the club as a member. However, Courtney told me that we can order anything through me, so I am willing to be the middle man for transactions for club members. What I will ask is that people pre-pay, as this will go onto my already burdened credit card - I think you can trust me to deliver the goods!

Most (but not all) of the selections are packaged in 750ml bottles, with corks secured with wire tops. A few of them are otherwise (the Yo Ho Vintage Barley wine from Japan comes in 330ml bottles), and their costs are adjusted accordingly. They typically cost $12.50 a bottle, and orders of three bottles come with an $11.95 shipping and handling charge, so that works out to about $16.50 a bottle. Remember, these are "rare beers" that you are not likely to find anywhere else in the US. In many cases, small batches are made specifically for this club only. Single bottles can be purchased, but the shipping and handling could be proportionately more on single bottle purchases.

In speaking with Courtney, she indicated that most of the clubs previous selections are still available, with the exceptions of the Malheur Brut from Belgium and the Cuvee de Tomme from Pizza Port in California - an award winning US brewery. These can be viewed at: http://rarebeerclub.beveragebistro.com/rare_selection.html

There are almost 20 to choose from, so choose wisely.

Courtney also mentioned that there are occassional offers that are above and beyond the club's normal offerings - they are currently working on getting some more Malheur Chocolate and possibly some of Tommy Arthur's Synergy - I will pass on this information as I receive it.

Also, I have 4 page color printed information on most (if not all) of the previous selections. If upon perusing the available past selections, you see one that you would like to learn more about, send me a note and I can scan these and send it to you. Otherwise, I will bring the book to each meeting for people to review. I will endeavor to have multiple copies at each meeting with the beer we will be sampling.

Next month's style is another open competition. Any BJCP style for any beer not previously entered will be accepted.

Beer Events, Meetings & Competitions Bob Barrett