February 1994 Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsman Vol. 2 No. 2

Well, for those of you that made last months meeting, you know what I'm talking about. First off, we had a total of 35 people at the meeting, 26 of our own people and 9 visitors from the Salicious Homebrewers In Toledo, these wacky guys drove up from Toledo on a freezing cold snowy night just to hang with the Fermentals and see Traffic Jam & Snug, it was really nice meeting them. I think they might visit us another time, an exchange of ideas with another club would be a real treat. I can't tell you how happy I was however to see 26 of our own people there, especially after the December fiasco, this was by far the biggest showing to date. We also had a few new members stop in to check us out, the Fermentals welcomed Susan Kemp. John Aucott, Tom Leone, Hugh Fader, David Byrd, Roger Atkinson, and Bob Fansjer(?). The big news however was the passing of the beer torch of leadership of the club from myself to Neal Petty. Neal approached me in January with some ideas and goals for the club that he had pondering, after a meeting with Mike and myself, we asked Neal if he would like to have a leadership position with the club and he graciously accepted. I will still retain the newsletter and membership responsibilities so please direct any questions or comments to myself. Neal has a lot of fresh ideas for the club and I promise you an exciting year ahead filled with more live demonstrations, informative lectures, possible guest lecturers(i.e. Microbiologists for yeast culturing). Although Neal has a lot of ideas and energy, he would appreciate as much input as possible from all of you. If there's something you would like to see demonstrated or researched, or if you have a suggestion for a guest lecturer, please drop Neal a Profs note, or see him at the meeting, the point of our club is not a division of titles(i.e. Pres. Vs everyone else) but a group effort, We're here for the club, not the other way around. Speaking of what the point of our club is, that's something we will be discussing in upcoming meetings, drafting a club charter, details to follow. To sum up some of Neals goals, he would like to see every beginner to advance to intermediate level, this involves the use of liquid yeast, getting away from kits to using basic ingredients and formulating your own recipes, the use of specialty grains in a partial mash and a better understanding of ingredients, equipment and procedures. Neal would also like to see more people get involved at the meetings, for example, if you have come across any breweries or brewpubs in your travels(domestic or international) that you would like to talk about, we would love to hear about them. We also discussed the possibilities of some offsite meetings to facilitate live brewing demonstrations (possibly all grain?), this could even be separate from the regular meeting schedule.

The other official act was to create a position for organizing the competitions for the rest of the year. This person(s) will create a schedule for the rest of the year for our club competitions, this will include 4 AHA club only competitions and up to 6 other competitions, they will also organize the judging each month which should be done at the beginning of every meeting before the judges palates are jaded and non-objective. They will also be responsible for obtaining prizes for any competitions, these may range from gift certificates, to malts & extracts to beer related books and merchandise. After asking for volunteers, we talked Tom Herron and Frank Depifiano to take on the assignment, once we get the schedule set for the year, I will put it in the newsletter so you know way in advandce what to be brewing .

Competition News

The winner of last months Hail to the Ale competition was Lyle Doerr with his nut brown ale, Neal Petty took 2nd with his IPA and Tom Herron took 3rd with his English Ale. The winner of the postponed December Holiday beer was Frank Depifiano in 1st, Neal Petty in 2nd and Tom Herron in 3rd.

Don't forget to bring your Bocks this month for the AHA competition in March.

Due to a severe mess up at last months meeting inckuding a table of 3 guys who forgot to pay for a pitcher of beer and their tips, and a new waiter who just brought out 1 bill for all 35 people, we will ante up for the tip 1 hour into the meeting and we will HAVE to go back to the 1 bill per table method of billing.

NEW PRODUCTS

New from Millers Genuine Reserve label is Velvet Stout, available in stores now. This beer is a mild sweet stout, nothing like the all out assualt of Guinness on the taste buds. This is the first stout brewed in the U.S. by a major brewery since prohibition and should be a big hit by St Patty's Day.

New from Asaka brewery in Japan is Suiso beer which is carbonated with Hydrogen, "but Rich" you say, isn't hydrogen flammable?(a' la hindenburg flambe') The producers claim the addition of carbon Dioxide with Hydrogen keep it from becoming too flammable, that doesn't explain the flame throwing competitions all over Japaneese bars lately. Actually the intended use for the Hydrogen addition is to raise the voice just like Helium would after drinking it. Remember, the Japaneese are VERY into their Karoake bars, and the ability to sing soprano for a few seconds after taking a healthy swig of beer is the work of a marketing genius. The bottles (made in Tennesee from the same supplier to Zima) come equipped with a pressure release valve in the caps, and each bottle comes packed in a cement lined wooden case to prevent chain explosions. On the positive side however, the labels are 100% biodegradable. The cost is roughly $11 us dollars, but dont look for it any time soon, or ever in the US.

Since no one turned in any recipes for me to publish this month, I will include a couple of recipes to help use that extra Bock beer you may have sitting around this month after the competition.

Bock Syrup:

1/2 stick of butter

2 eggs

2 cups of sugar

3/4 cup of bock(or other full bodied beer)

1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in a large saucepan. In a medium bowl, beat eggs into sugar until fluffy. Slowly add beer, whisking thoroughly.

Add beer mixture to the butter and stir. Slowly bring to a full rolling boil. Boil on medium 6 to 8 minutes without stirring.

Remove and stir in vanilla. Cool and store in refrigerator.

Beer Glazed Onions

4 Tablespoons Olive oil or butter

4 large yellow onions, sliced 1/4" thick

1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

pinch of cayanne(optional)

1/4 cup bock (or other full bodied beer)

Heat oil on medium in a large saute pan. Add onions, salt, pepper & cayenne. Stir constantly

Continue cooking until onions reach a golden caremel color.

Pour in the beer and cook an additional 3 to 4 minutes, serve hot.

Enjoy. Again, I will publish any recipes anyone wants to submit, I vaguely remember someone promising me a recipe for a pasta dish made with beer, where did it go??

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Last updated 11/14/96