The next meeting will be held back at Sisko's in Taylor on Wednesday, January 26th. Sisko's is located on Monroe (between Telegraph and Southfield), just south of Vanborn. Their address is 5855 Monroe and their phone number is 313-278-5340. Sisko's also has a website at http://www.siskos.com/. The competition for this month is Mild and Brown Ales. As usual, the thirsty hard-core 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.

Well we're on our way through the last year of the millenium (yes, I'm a stickler for this kind of thing). The year does have some interesting things coming our way. The AHA is coming to Livonia! I've started reading the info. I'll pass on all the details when I get up to date. National homebrew day - it would be nice to get into another public demo, any thoughts on locations? The annual Beer-B-Que, I guess I have to attend this one, need to get the date set so I can block my calendar. And we haven't had a road trip in a while - about time for another one. What else? What do you want to see the club do this year? Fresh ideas are always welcome. Falling back on how things have run in the past, we are going to be holding board of directors meetings again. I plan to have them two weeks before the regular meeting, on the same day as the meeting for the month. Not trying to hide anything here, just a smaller working meeting, everyone is invited to come and toss in ideas and or just observe, but you will be more likely to get volunteered to help on stuff if you attend - which may well be goodness. Any thoughts on equipment we should be adding to the club locker? Well, this is all probably more than you really wanted to read anyway, so go pour yourself the best beer in the world, the one you brewed yourself. Looking forward to a great 2000

The winners from the "My Barley Doesn't Whine" barleywine (AHA) and "Holiday Beer" (local) competitions are:

This month's competition will be Mild and Brown Ales competition, BJCP category #10 a, b, c & d.

Gary Shewchuk won the homebrewer of the year competition. The results are summarized in the table below. Each brewer was awarded 5 points for first place, 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for an honorable mention, and 1 for submitting an entry. Jim Racine finished second and Chris Cirino finished third. Congratulations Gary!.

If you are reading this on the Internet, just click on the reference below to see the complete results..

[Jim Racine brought to my attention an article in the November 22, 1999 issue of Modern Brewery Age. -ed.] Germany consumers seem to have taken to a new group of pubs called ``Stechuhr'' or stopwatch pubs. These pubs charge a flat fee per hour for all the beer or wine that a customer drinks. According to the article, `` Customers receive a card when they enter the pub and must `clock in' before they begin drinking. The first hour costs about $6.50 for men and $3.20 for women, and decreases for each hour thereafter.'' The article further quoted the founder of the first stopwatch pub, one Wolfgang Hottgengroth, ` The days of the traditional corner pub are long gone. This is another way to make a pub.' Hottgengroth further goes on to say that excessive drinking is not a problem. `Our formula is for a party atmosphere rather than just a drinking binge'.

Somehow, I don't think that this type of pub would go over very well in the U.S. of A.

"Thanks for your interest in last year's Drunk Monk Challenge homebrew competition hosted by The Urban Knaves of Grain - 1999 AHA Club of the Year co-winner.We are pleased to announce the 2nd annual Drunk Monk Challenge homebrew competition to be held on March 4, 2000 at Two Brothers Brewing in Warrenville, Illinois.This is a BJCP and AHA sanctioned competition as well as a qualifying event for Midwest Homebrewer of the Year.Additional details can be obtained from the competition web site, http://www.synsysinc.com/srcoombs/ukgdmc/ukgdmc2k.htm, or contact competition organizer Steve McKenna at 630-305-0554."

In the January 2000 Michigan Beer Guide (MBG) there is an article about the Cool American Beer Company headed by F.O.R.D.'s vice president, Jim Racine. Pick up a copy at any fine beer vendor and read about Jim's company and the Greektown Lager Beer that he is distributing. Jim's beer is available at several Greektown locations including Fishbone's, Locos, Pegasus, Old Detroiter, Bennigans (!?!) and the Monroe Street Cafe.

The Prison City Brewers Newsletter, the Sentencing Guide, is available from Phil Wilcox of Commerce Township, Michigan. The newsletter is distributed in pdf format so you will need Adobe's Acrobat viewer. Phil's email address is pjwilcox@cmsenergy.com.

Meeting started approx 6:05p. Chris Frey led the meeting. Chris announced the new board members: President: Al Czajkowski VP: Jim Racine Treasurer: Chris Frey Secretary: Howard Klix, Jr. Newsletter editor: Tony Tantillo. Chris introduced us to the Anchorsteam Christmas Ale. He was able to purchase a Magnum for about $10. Annual membership fees are due. Jim Racine held a raffle for t-shirts representing his Greektown Beer. 5 shirts were passed out. The next meeting we will be getting entries for the Mild and Brown Ale competion. December's competition was Barleywine and Holiday Ales.

(from the Association of Brewers website at http://www.beertown.org/) Boulder, CO | 12.21.99 The Institute for Brewing Studies (IBS), with the help of its brewery members and state brewers guilds, has selected July of 2000 for the first annual American Beer Month. American Beer Month is a national promotional campaign designed to raise awareness of the variety and quality of American craft beers.

American Beer Month was created last October during the Great American Beer Festival when IBS members and state craft brewers guilds met to brainstorm possibilities for a national craft beer advertising campaign. Knowing the necessary funds for national-level advertising would be difficult to raise, yet nonetheless eager to channel the industry's collective grassroots energy into a new campaign, the group of 50 asked the IBS to move forward with American Beer Month.

American Beer Month will provide many different avenues for celebration and promotion. State brewers guilds will organize beer festivals and beer dinners. Individual brewpubs, microbreweries, and regional breweries will organize their own events, inviting other restaurants and breweries to partner with them, or will highlight their own examples of American brewing and American beer cuisine. American Beer Month can also be embraced by companies in the business of selling beer, such as wholesalers, taverns and beer retailers. All events will be united under the American Beer Month umbrella, thereby creating instant recognition with consumers.

The IBS will promote American Beer Month by working with other associations including, of course, brewers associations and state brewers guilds, but also wholesaler, retailer, and restaurant associations; barley and hop growers; and suppliers of packaging materials. In addition, the IBS will offer American Beer Month promotional packages to participating organizations. Packages are available by contacting the IBS. The IBS will also compile a calendar of events listing American Beer Month-related functions throughout the nation on the www.beertown.org web site.

(by Terry Soloman, from Brewsgram newsletter available at http://happyhours.com/)

Lebanon, NH - Advanced computer simulation has settled a long-standing mystery haunting publicans and perplexed beer drinkers alike for centuries -- why do the bubbles in a glass of Guinness, appear to go down instead of up? Despite the common knowledge that bubbles float up, beer drinkers over the ages have argued, even after an evening of studying the issue, that a large portion of the bubbles in their Guinness actually move downwards.

Professor Clive Fletcher, of the University of New South Wales - Sydney, Australia, used cutting-edge computer simulation methods to solve the "mystery." Fletcher?s research team simulated the motion of the bubbles, "using FLUENT.com computational fluid dynamics," which Fletcher says allowed them to, "attack the problem head-on, so to speak."

Fletcher's team was in fact able to simulate the motion of Guinness bubbles. The team discovered that most of the bubbles, located in the center of the glass free from the effects of the glass wall, move quickly upwards dragging liquid with them.

That liquid must obey gravity and eventually turns towards the walls and starts downward. The liquid beer moving down the walls drags bubbles back down with it. Larger bubbles have sufficient buoyancy to resist the downward movement, but smaller bubbles (less than 0.05 mm) are continuously dragged to the bottom of the head.

When they aren?t helping college professors prove Guinness Stout bubbles move up and down, Fluent Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aavid Thermal Technologies, does stuff like helping design the escape vehicle for the International Space Station for NASA. For more info, email: info@fluent.com.

Boulder, CO | 12.1.99 Ray Daniels has accepted the position of editor-in-chief of The New Brewer and Zymurgy magazines. Daniels will be responsible for selecting content for and overseeing production of both publications. Daniels will take up the responsibilities starting with the March-April 2000 issue of The New Brewer and the May-June 2000 issue of Zymurgy.

Daniels is an experienced writer and brewer at both the professional brewing and the homebrewing level. In addition to being named Beer Writer of the Year in 1998 by the North American Guild of Beer Writers, he has also published six books on beer and brewing; written over 55 articles for professional brewing, homebrewing, and beer appreciation magazines; and published multiple articles on beer-related web sites. The North American Guild of Beer Writers has awarded Daniels seven Quill and Tankard awards for his work.

Daniels' brewing experience is impressive as well. He has developed recipes for three breweries and worked as a brewer for the Chicago Brewing Co. in 1995. He has also brewed nearly 200 batches of beer at home and has been rewarded with more than 70 awards from regional and national homebrewing competitions. Daniels earned the Midwest Homebrewer of the Year title in both 1991 and 1994. This honor is given to the brewer who wins awards at several competitions in a range of beer styles. Daniels has also served as a judge at the Great American Beer Festival, the World Beer Championships, and the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) National Homebrew Competition.

Daniels' formal education has prepared him for the editor-in-chief position. As a top graduate of the Siebel Institute's Diploma Course in Brewing and the holder of a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from Texas A & M University, Daniels is well equipped to delve into the technical and production aspects of professional brewing and homebrewing. Further, his MBA from the Graduate Business School at Harvard University gives him keen insight into the business side of the craft-brewing industry.

Daniels brings a focused vision to both magazines. "The New Brewer has to deliver information that can be used profitably by the people who own and operate craft breweries," he says. "The industry is evolving as quickly as it grows and we have to keep up with both the growth and the evolution so that our readers can make both better beer and better business decisions."

"On other hand, Zymurgy fills a unique niche amongst beer publications because its audience is made up of people who are both brewers and consumers of beer," Daniels continues. "I believe Zymurgy should address the broad range of brewing and beer appreciation interests pursued by homebrewers. That means everything from brewing chemistry to brewing history as well as beer tasting and beer touring. In short, I want Zymurgy to be the one magazine for beer enthusiasts who love to brew."

"Both of these publications have helped to shape the beer world in North America for many years," Daniels adds. "Clearly one of the biggest reasons that I'm taking this job at this time is because I believe in the team of people that is working in Boulder right now."

(from the Real Beer Page located at http://realbeer.com/)

DEC 21, 1999 - Beer maker La Brasserie Fischer has rolled out something new for the millennium. The French brewery is selling 1,000 3-bottle boxes of a special beer called 63°N46°W. It is made from water taken from ice the brewery says could be up to 250,000 years old.

The ice blocks were acquired during an expedition into Greenland headed by glacionaut Janot Lamberton. They were taken at 63° Northern latitude and 46° Western longitude -- thus the name. Each bottle is numbered and dated.

Fischer promotes this as a beer to taste "at the dawn of the millennium" and claims the water is free of pollution because of arctic cold. The pale beer contains 5% alcohol by volume.

63°N46°W is on sale only at a special Internet site -- http://www.63n46w.com, which is in French. The beer is sold by the box, with each box containing three 33 cl bottles. The cost is 170 Francs ($26 US), with shipping to most places in the world additional.

Beer Events, Meetings & Competitions Gabrielle Palmer

• January 26 (W) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, Mild and Brown Ales Competition, BJCP Category #10 a, b, c & d.
• February 22 (T) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, Belgian Lambic Competition (AHA), BJCP Category #18 b.
• March 22 (W) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, Kölsch/Alt Competition, BJCP Categories #3 d and #8 a & b.
• April 25 (T) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, "Weiss is Nice" Competition (AHA), BJCP Category #16 a, b, c & d .
• May 6 (S) - National Homebrew Day.
• May 24 (W) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, German Lager Competition, BJCP Categories #2 b, d & e and #12 a, b & c.
• June 22 thru 24 - 2000 National Homebrewers Conference in Livonia.
• June 27 (T) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, Porter Competition, BJCP Category #14 a & b.
• July 26 (W) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, Pale Ale Competition (AHA), BJCP Categories #6 a, b & c and #7.
• August 22 (T) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, Lawnmower Beer Competition, All light-bodied beers will be accepted.
• September 27 (W) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, "Best of Fest" Oktoberfest Competition (AHA), BJCP Category #9 a & b.
• October 24 (T) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, Stout Competition, BJCP Categories #11 c and #15 a, b, c & d.
• November 15 (W) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, Historical Beers Competition (AHA).
• December 12 (T) - FORD Meeting at Sisko's in Taylor, Holiday Beers Competition, All Style Categories.

Fermental Funny

The following joke was relayed to Gabrielle Palmer from Theresa Young.

A Texan, a Canadian, and a guy from Michigan are out riding horses. The Texan pulls out an expensive bottle of whiskey, takes a shot, then another, and suddenly throws the bottle in the air, pulls out his gun and shoots the bottle in mid-air.

The Canadian looks at him and says, "What are you doing?! That was a perfectly good bottle of whiskey!"

The Texan says, "In Texas, there's plenty of whiskey and bottles are cheap."

A while later, not wanting to be outdone, the Canadian pulls out a bottle of champagne, takes a few sips, throws the bottle in the air, pulls out his gun and shoots it.

The guy from Michigan can't believe this and says, "What did you do that for? That was an expensive bottle of Champagne!"

The Canadian says "In Canada there's plenty of Champagne and bottles are cheap."

So a while later the guy from Michigan pulls out a bottle of beer. He opens it, takes a sip, takes another sip, and then chugs the rest. He then puts the bottle back in his saddlebag, pulls out his gun, turns around and shoots the Canadian.

The Texan, shocked, says, "Why did you do that?!"

The guy from Michigan says, "Well, in Michigan, we have plenty of Canadians, but bottles are worth a dime."