 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
| August 1999 | Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsmen | Vol. 7 - No. 8 |
Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see a big turnout in the middle of summer, figured everyone would be on vacation. Chris started off the meeting by collecting entries for the Michigan State Fair Homebrew competition. It was agreed that anyone who won a monthly competition this year would get their entry fees paid for if they entered that same beer. Chris also announced that Paul Gatza, the director of the AHA, would be in town to help scope out sites for the 2000 National Homebrew Conference which will be held somewhere in S.E. Michigan (more info on this from Crispy later in the newsletter).
Jim Racine appealed to the club for help with the upcoming annual Beer-B-Q to be held September 18th. Jim can be reached at 313-277-5516 if you want to volunteer before we start assigning duties. Jim also passed out some past due ribbons for the label competition. As usual, Gary Shewchuk took top honors this year... nice job Gary! Tony Tantillo also collected a first place ribbon for his mead, yum!
We had 2 new members join, Theresa Young and Craig Rinrel. I had a stack of Rapids catalogs to pass out as well as a newsletter from the Great Lakes Brewing Company. Our friends from Adventures in Homebrewing were in attendance with many fine samples of homebrew to share, way to go guys! Gabi announced that the September meeting (9/22) will be at the Dragonmead Brewery in Warren, can't wait for that one!
The next meeting will be held back at Sisko's in Taylor on Tuesday, August 24th. 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 Porters. 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.
| Don't forget that the annual Beer-B-Q will be held in September this year, Saturday
September 18th. Like last year, it will again be held at Heritage Park in Taylor (see map below). We need your help to make
this another fun and successful event! If you are interested in helping, please give Jim Racine a call at 313-277-5516.
This is a family event and will be free again this year, but you will need to bring a dish to pass. Please RSVP to Jim , letting him know how many people and what dish you will be bringing. The rest of the details are in the process of being worked out, but like past Beer-B-Q's, we will probably have games for the kids and a raffle (if you have prizes to donate please bring them). We will also bring the club's bar so if you have kegs you wish to share, please bring them as well. If you have any other questions, come to the August meeting or give Jim Racine a call. |
||
|
The Wednesday, September 22nd meeting will be held in Warren at the Dragonmead Brewery. At the Dragonmead tasting room you can usually find 23 style-specific beers finely crafted to meet the most discerning tastes. Their wide range of beer styles consists of kolsch, marzen, witbier, hefe-weizen, bitter, ESB, pale ale, IPA, altbier, abbey ale, dubbel, trippel, red ale, brown ale, scotch ale, porter, dry stout, imperial stout, barleywine and sometimes even more! For those of you who haven't visited Dragonmead before, be warned that it will quickly become one of your favorites. Since Dragonmead is a brewery and not a brewpub, they don't have a kitchen where we can order food. Instead, we will buck up to order some pizza to be delivered to the brewery. We will also get a tour of this unique brewery. A map and additional information will be supplied in the September newsletter.
We will be holding a brewing demo at Wine Barrel Plus on Saturday, September 25th. Mark George from Wine Barrel Plus has been out of town so I haven't worked out the details with him yet, but I hope to have more info at the August meeting. Anyone interested in participating in or helping with this demo, please see me at the meeting to sign up.
| Dale Anthony Garner | 
| |
| Parents: Date of Birth: Weight: Length: | Jerry & Johanne July 31, 1999 at 8:50PM 8 lbs. 14 oz. 22 inches | ||
| Gifts of beer will be gladly accepted.
Congratulations to Johanne, Jerry and Dale from the Fermentals!!! | |||
About two dozen people from the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild, F.O.R.D., Prison City Brewers, Pontiac Brew tribe, The Down River Brewers Guild and the Clinton River Association of Fermenting Trendsetters (CRAFT) were in attendance at the Livonia Holiday Inn to meet with Rex and Mary Halfpenny (Michigan beer geeks extrodinare) and Paul Gatza , the American Homebrewers Association Director, to discuss the upcoming year 2000 National Homebrewing Convention. It is definite, it will be held in Michigan!
The meeting started with a site survey of the hotel. While there had been some discussion about holding the conference in Ann Arbor, there are really no hotels capable of handling the crowds and the lesson learned from Kansas City was that it is important to keep the conference near the gateway airport. While you may think the Holiday Inn is nothing special, there is one ace in the hole - the general manager of the facility is a homebrewer! Paul was also going to other hotels in the area on Friday, so it may yet be in another facility. But from what we saw, the Holiday Inn can handle the crowds.
Paul, Rex, Spencer Thomas and Ken Schram began with a discussion of the 1999 Kansas City National Convention, things gone right and things gone wrong. Overall, everyone agreed that with the focus more on homebrewers and having several of the homebrewing clubs actively involved made this years convention a hit. Apparently there were 70 kegs of homebrew supplied by various clubs and they brought back the homebrew club night. Every hour a different club would set up their kegs and serve munchies provided by their members. Apparently there was a lot of one-upping going on, all in good fun!
Several teams were then created with volunteers solicited and responsibilities doled out. I signed up for networking with the Canadian clubs and to be part of the Events crew. There was discussion about having an all grain demo at the convention and guess who volunteered for that duty. The date of the event is still TBD. Historically, it has been held on the third week of June (Thursday-Saturday). Rex has offered to pair up the Michigan Brewers Guild festival at Greenmead with the AHA convention in late July. While this is an excellent tie-in, there is some concerns regarding the storage of National Homebrew Competition entries spending an extra month in cold storage (the final judging is done during the convention). Rex's participation in this event is highly desired, as he has tremendous organizational skills and has offered to assist the convention with any legal red tape regarding beer, beer consumption and similar issues. However, he expressed the fact that he is pretty maxed out with all of his current commitments, so there needs to be other leaders to handle the various teams and events.
I will write more about this event and how you can get involved in upcoming newsletters. In the meantime, if you are interested in being a part of the team that will make this the best AHA convention ever, contact me and I will get you involved!
 |
| Proof that even squirrels can have bad taste in their choice of beer! |
The following ratings were published in the March 1999 edition of All About Beer Magazine. Although I don't agree with some of the ratings and rankings, I thought the descriptions were very interesting. They rated over 81 porters, but I decided to list only the 18 porters that I remember seeing on shelves in Metro Detroit beer/liquor stores.
| The Beers: | Looks & Taste: | Rating: |
| Bottle Conditioned Old Porter
King & Barnes, England | Dark black coffee appearance. Moderately full bodied. Mild bitterness. Subtly hopped. Rich malt. Pours with a large, lacy, light tan-colored head. Rich roasted malt aromas have a delicate spicy hop accent. Big roasted chocolatey mouthful has a creamy smooth mouthfeel with moderate carbonation and a spicy tang on the finish. Very luxurious, decadent even. | 96/100 |
| Okocim Porter
Okicim Brewery, Poland | Dark blackish color. Full bodied. Mild bitterness. Subtly hopped. Rich malt. Sweet soy-like nose leads a rich, sweet, roasted palate with chocolatey, molasses-like flavors expanding on the palate and lingering through the finish. Very rich and viscous, this is almost a meal and leans toward a dopplebock in style. | 95/100 |
| Flag Porter
Darwin, England | Pale black coffee appearance. Medium bodied. Mild bitterness. Moderately hopped. Rich malt. Fruity, vinous nose leads an outstandingly smooth, balanced palate with a refreshing mouthfeel. Flavors showcase fruity English hops. This has the perfect balance for quaffing, yet all the sophisticated flavors of a fine porter. | 94/100 |
| Wild Goose Porter
Wild Goose Brewery, Maryland | Espresso appearance. Moderately full bodied. Moderate bitterness. Moderately hopped. Balanced malt. Rich, fruity, smoky nose. Outstanding vinous, fruity flavors have well-judged smoky, burnt character and lingering spicy hop notes that are in good balance through the finish. Assertive, full-flavored style. | 93/100 |
| Carnegie Porter
Pripps, Sweden | Dark coffee-like appearance. Moderately full bodied. Marked bitterness. Mild astringency. Sweet chocolate and caramel aromas. Rich, chewy mouthful of sweet malt flavors are subdued by hop bitters that assert themselves through the finish. A decadent, warming style of porter. | 93/100 |
| Fuller's London Porter
Fuller, Smith & Turner, England | Rich chestnut color, with a light tan head. Medium bodied. Mild bitterness. Mild astringency. Attractively sweet, malty aromas have a chocolatey theme. Generous sweet malt flavors are blanaced by grain dryness on the finish and a touch of aromatic hops. Fine-beaded carbonation is quite subtle. Wonderfully aromatic and subtle on the palate. Stylish and highly drinkable. | 92/100 |
| The Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
Great Lakes Brewing Co., Ohio | Dark chestnut-brown hue. Moderately full bodied. Moderate bitterness. Mild astringency. Chocolatey, floral hop aromas. Dark-roasted, black malt flavors with full hop bitters on the finish. Well-carbonated, vibrant mouthfeel. Very flavorsome with a long, lingering hop-accented finish. Big in every department, giving an overstated balance. | 92/100 |
| Anchor Porter
Anchor Brewing Co., California | Dark black-brown, with a generous creamy, tan-colored head. Moderately full bodied. Mild bitterness. Fruity, vinous, burnt-raisin aromas. Sensationally rich, decadent palate with opulent roasted malt flavors and a touch of sweetness to keep this in perfect balance. A classic, rich interpretation of the porter style. | 91/100 |
| Spanish Peaks Porter
Spanish Peaks Brewing Co., Montana | Full coffee appearance. Moderately full bodied. Mild bitterness. Moderately hopped. Balanced malt. Excellent mouthfeel with nice viscosity and good, fine-beaded carbonation. Full coffee-like aromas reveal a dark roasted grain palate with a hint of grain astringency through the finish complemented by lush floral hop flavors. | 90/100 |
| Shepherd Neame Original Porter
Shepherd Neame Brewery, England | Weak filter coffee appearance. Moderately light bodied. Mild bitterness. Subtly hopped. Balanced malt. Smooth, light but creamy with a delicate burnt, sweet lingering finish. Exhibits a sweet fruity character throughout. Carbonation is moderate and frothy. Very drinkable and well balanced. | 90/100 |
| Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter
Samuel Smith Old Brewery, England | Dark chestnut brown, with a rich, lacy head. Moderately full bodied. Mild bitterness. Mild astringency. Fruity, hoppy aromas are quite distinctive. Sweet, malty, chocolatey flavors with some grain dryness through the crisp, faintly salty finish, featuring subtle hop notes. A rich, creamy and vinous style. | 90/100 |
| Rogue Mocha Porter
Rogue Ales, Oregon | Dark chestnut brown, with a persistent frothy tan head. Moderately full bodied. Marked bitterness. Assertive floral hops dominate the nose. High hop bitters throughout, especially on the finish, do not obscure the well-roasted, dry, bitter chocolate flavors. An assertive style with some warming alcohol. | 89/100 |
| Deep Enders Porter
Anderson Valley Brewing Co., California | Black coffee appearance. Medium bodied. Mild bitterness. Subtly hopped. Balanced malt. Rich caramel entry has a clean grainy edge that keeps this on the refreshing side. Lingering smoky notes assert on the finish. Well balanced for drinking by the pint. | 89/100 |
| Bert Grant's Perfect Porter
Yakima Brewing & Malting Co., Washington | Darkly hued with brilliant clarity and creamy tan head. Medium bodied. Moderate bitterness. Moderate astringency. Burnt grain aromas are quite pronounced, showing a peaty, Islay whisky-like character. Dry, grainy and roasted flavors finish with a note of astringency and blast of bitter hops. Shows a well-carbonated mouthfeel. A dsitinctive, assertive porter style. | 88/100 |
| Founders Porter
Canal Street Brewing Co., Michigan | Chestnut brown. Creamy head. Medium bodied. Moderate bitterness. Mild astringency. Roasted grain aromas with bitter hop notes. Crisp and zesty with a bitter hop snap through the finish. Well balanced, though showing a hop accent. | 87/100 |
| Saint Brigid's Porter
Great Divide Brewing Co., Colorado | Deep coffee colored. Moderately full bodied. Mild bitterness. Balanced malt. Reminiscent of smoke, toasted grains. Smoky toasted aromas. Pours with a rich head. Flavor profile has a malt accent. Nicely textured with a weighty palate presence. Well balanced and highly drinkable. | 84/100 |
| Sierra Nevada Porter
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., California | Dark chestnut red. Medium bodied. Marked bitterness. Attractive floral hop aromas. Fresh floral hop flavors dominate the palate with roasted malt character staying in the background. A substantially bitter, hop-dominant style. | 82/100 |
| Haystack Black Porter
Portland Brewing Co., Oregon | Dark chestnut. Generous, dense, tan-colored head. Medium bodied. Moderate bitterness. Mild astringency. Chocolatey, roasted aromas. Fine-beaded carbonation. Vinous, crisp and refreshing with a note of hop bitters lingering through the winey finish. Well balanced, very drinkable. | 82/100 |
"Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen,
for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer."
-Dave Barry
 |
Beer Events, Meetings & Competitions
Gabrielle Palmer |
 |
I have approximately 20 Coke (pinlock) kegs for sale, $10 each. Call me at 810-558-9844 or e-mail me at rbyrnes2@ford.com if interested. I will bring them to the next meeting (well, as many as I can fit in my car), but I can bring them to work before the meeting if you want... first come first pick. I also have several fittings (both gas and beer) for these kegs for sale at $3 a piece.
 |
Fermental Funny
W. Renn |
 |
| Ye Olde Brew News
published by the F.O.R.D. Homebrew Club |
|
| Editor:
Gabrielle Palmer Contributors:
Club Officers:
|
F.O.R.D. is a private, non-profit organization of homebrewers. The main goal of this club is to
promote awareness and appreciation of the quality and variety of beer; to share information regarding technique, equipment and skill
required to brew quality homemade beer; and to encourage responsible use of beer as an alcohol-containing beverage.
Correspondence should be directed to:
Work: 313-390-9369
(w) rbyrnes2@gw.ford.com
Visit our website at: http://www.be.ford.com/brewers/
current circulation... 125 |
