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| November 1998 | Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsmen | Vol. 6 - No. 11 |
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Our last meeting was held at our relatively new hangout, Sisko's. Sisko's has been very accommodating to our
club and it looks like we could be settling in there for the winter.
Richard began the meeting with a re-cap of candidates for election. Similar to politics in the old USSR, it appears that there
is only one candidate for each office. People are free to vote for whomever they like, dissidents will be shot. Seriously, Jim
Racine is running for Vice President, Mike Arend is seeking the Librarian position (would that be..nah, don't go there), Rich Byrnes
will accept the Secretary slot, I coughed up for Treasurer. We did have a volunteer to be President, but Mr. Cord later discovered
that his course schedule will directly conflict with the meeting schedule and had to defer.
So, while we have most of the positions taken, the singularly most important one is vacant. I will assume that Rich will make
mention of this fact elsewhere in the newsletter, we really must have a leader. The club has had a good 5 year run with Neal and
Rich, but it is time for some new blood. There are really only two requirements for this position: 1. You must be a carbon-based
life form, and 2. You must be a Ford employee. Obviously, we would like to see someone with a good energy level, semi-organized sort
that can remember to call Sisko's a week ahead of time to remind them of our impending presence in their establishment, someone who
can handle minor FERA duties and attend occasional dinners with the FERA council, someone who can organize and delegate a couple of
bitching activities each year and of course, someone who really cares about what happens with the club. But hey, we'll take the
carbon-based life form.
The election will be at the next meeting (which will be a week early due to the holiday schedule, ditto for Christmas), which will
be November 18th at Sisko's. If there is just one candidate per position, this formality will take all of about two beer swallows.
Rich indicated that he is caught up printing out new id cards, so ask him for your's if you haven't gotten it yet.
Jim Rice has been handling the competitions as of late and he caught up with some older winners by distributing the ribbons from
several months ago. After we enjoyed his "Tyler Barber Appreciation Show" ;-) (did you know that Tyler won the AHA National Stout
category?), Jim indicated that everyone is welcome to judge. The upcoming competitions are published later in this newsletter.
That's all that I remember from the "official" part of the meeting. I brought along several second round Michigan State Fair
entries for people to enjoy, spit out or whatever. By the way, check out the dinner specials while you're there. I had the BLT
roll-ups and for $3.95, it was a decent meal. See ya next week!
The next meeting will again be held at Sisko's in Taylor on Wednesday, November 18th. 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 five, people will drift in for an hour or so, and by 6:00ish, we will start our meeting.
Well, this is the last time I will be writing a notes from the Prez, and it feels kind of weird, honest! I have thoroughly enjoyed leading this club and being the president for 2 years. Family obligations and all the other stuff in my life have taken a toll on my available time, and in fairness to the club and all the members, I reluctantly step down. I hope the next Prez has different ideas, new energy, and a love of the club and hobby like I do. This has been a truly rewarding experience, getting to know all the members, some I only see once a month, some less than that, but many of you I have gotten to know on a more personal level and that has made this worthwhile! I am not quitting the club by any means, I will pick up Crispy's tasks as secretary and continuing my support of the club. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the officers and volunteers who made this year possible. David Peters as Treasurer, Chris Frey as secretary (the hardest working secretary I've ever had), Tony Treusch as Vice-Prez (He would have taken a bullet for me, I know he would have...) and Johanne Wilson as librarian (never before in the history of the club have we had so much growth in our library). A special thanks to Gabrielle Palmer, our esteemed newsletter editor who for the first time in our history, has actually published a newsletter on the web, and made it printable too! Gabrielle is also our webmaster. Doug Geiss who is our business manager and Jim Bazzy as our special events coordinator have also made a big contribution this year. And last but not least, a huge thanks to Tyler Barber for being the clubs equipment manager. Tyler houses and maintains our Pico system, the bar, our jockey box and our counter pressure bottle filler. Tyler makes sure the equipment is in working order and CLEAN, a truly thankless job, so I'm thanking him. I would also like to thank ALL the members who truly make me proud to be a part of Michigan's finest homebrew club!
First of all, I enjoyed the last year and I'd like to thank all members for making our library successful. I
measure the library's success two ways: 1. The amount and variety of books that are offered and 2. The number of members who take
advantage of it.
The first measurable was easy to work on. I had few raffles, but since our club finances were in such good shape, raffles were not
always needed to expand the library. We added 6 new books this year: Homebrewing for Dummies, Homebrewer's Gold, Homemade Root Beer
and Soda Pop, Beer Clones, Brewing Real Ales, Hop Growing AND a whole new set of AHA Classic Beer Styles (again, thanks to members who
participated in the AHA membership drive). If anyone has suggestions for the library in this arena, please let me know. We still
might be able to get it before the financial year is over.
I did actively work on the second measurable also, and in the process met a lot of the new members. I especially enjoy that aspect
of the job. Thanks for your patience when I was unable to attend meetings. I am glad it did not deter you from making use of the
library. Having a quick turn around of books allows more members to borrow them, so I thank those of you who were good at this also.
I wish the next librarian all the luck. I am sure he will make some improvements that are needed as our club and library grow. And
though it will be a relief not having to lug the library around next year, I will miss the job. Then again, now I can truly relax and
have a home brew. Cheers!
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| Mmmmm... beer! | Neener, neener, neener! |
October's contest was "If it's not Scottish..." AHA competition. This was a contest of the AHA major category "Scottish Style Ale" (8) including "Scottish Style Light Ale" (8a), "Scottish Style Heavy Ale" (8b) and "Scottish Style Export Ale" (8c), as well as the "Strong Scotch Ale" (10b) subcategory of the "English and Scottish Style Strong Ale" (10) category. There were 10 entries and the winners are:
| If It's Not Scottish... (AHA) | |||
| Place | Name | Style | Points |
| 1 | Gabrielle Palmer & Chris Frey | Strong Scotch Ale | 45/50 |
| 2 | Chris Frey | Strong Scotch Ale | 41/50 |
| 3 | Tyler Barber | Scottish Export Ale | 37/50 |
A big toast to all of the judges (Jim Rice, Tyler Barber, Tony Tantillo, Jim Racine and Gabrielle Palmer) and a
special thanks to Jim Rice for hosting the event. The judging is held each month at Jim Rice's home, on the Wednesday following
each month's meeting. All members are encouraged to attend. Please call 313-277-3865 for more info.
This month's competition is Porters. This is a contest of the AHA major category "Porter" (9) including "Brown Porter" (9a)
and "Robust Porter" (9b).
December's competition will be Holiday Ales and Barley Wines. We will also accept entries for the January "Hail to Ales" AHA
competition at that time.
Arbor Brewing Company and Rave Associates Importers and Distributors are co-hosting an amazing beer tasting event
in December to raise money for the Performance Network. Although there will be over 60 beers and wines at the tasting, the emphasis
is actually on quality rather than quantity. The tasting will be at Celebration Cellars - a.k.a. the Cavern Club (210 S. First Street
in Ann Arbor - three blocks from the brewpub) and only costs $20.00 ($10.00 of which is tax deductible). There will also be hors
doeuvres and appetizers provided by area restaurants. It will be held on Wednesday, December 2 from 5-9 pm.
Some of the featured brews are listed below:
Tickets are available through Arbor Brewing Company and the Performance Network and can be ordered over the phone at 734-213-1393.
All proceeds benefit the Performance Network.
NEW YORK - Miller Brewing is rolling out beer in plastic for guzzlers on the go. The plastic bottles, the first from a U.S. brewer
to hit stores, feature wide mouths and screw tops. The containers are designed for easy toting around stadiums, beaches and other
places where glass is prohibited or inconvenient.
Beginning Monday, Miller will begin introducing 20-ounce and 1-liter plastic bottles of Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft and
Icehouse in stores and some stadiums in Los Angeles; Phoenix; Tucson, Ariz.; Miami; Dallas; San Antonio; and Norfolk, Va.
One-liter containers will cost $1.50 to $2; the 20-ounce version will cost $1 to $1.25. The sizes are new for the brewer.
Miller hopes the containers will bolster sales by making it more convenient for beer drinkers to imbibe. Anheuser-Busch tested a
16-ounce plastic Michelob bottle in several arenas last summer. It plans to sell 16- and 24-ounce versions by year's end.
"We're basically the last beverage to be made available in plastic," says Jack Rooney, Miller's marketing VP. "If consumers love
it, we'll give them a lot of it."
Beer industry experts are intrigued but dubious:
"There's skepticism about whether beer drinkers want plastic," says Benj Steinman of Beer Marketer's Insights.
"Plastic lowers the image of the product in the mind of the consumer," Adams Business Media's Bob Keane says.
William Bitting, chairman of S&P Co., Pabst Brewing's corporate owner, was unavailable for comment, but rumors insist that under
proposed terms of the deal Stroh, the nation's fourth-largest brewer, would be history, passing out of existence; at least five
Stroh's breweries would be closed; and Pabst would sell some of Stroh's brands to Miller.
Bottom line? Lots more market share for Miller Brewing if the deal goes through... stay tuned!
DETROIT, MI - According to published reports, Stroh Brewery Company is being sold to Pabst Brewing, which will
sell some of its newly acquired Stroh brands to the Miller Brewing Company.
(from http://www.HappyHours.com)
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Beer Events, Meetings & Competitions
Gabrielle Palmer |
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As we all know, it takes 1 calorie to heat 1 gram of water 1 degree centigrade. Translated into meaningful terms, this means that
if you eat a very cold dessert (generally consisting of water in large part), the natural processes which raise the consumed dessert
to body temperature during the digestive cycle literally sucks the calories out of the only available source: your body fat.
For example, a dessert served and eaten at near 0 degrees C (32.2 deg. F) will in a short time be raised to the normal body
temperature of 37 degrees C (98.6 deg. F). For each gram of dessert eaten, that process takes approximately 37 calories as stated
above. The average dessert portion is 6 oz, or 168 grams. Therefore, by operation of thermodynamic law, 6,216 calories(1 cal/gm/deg.
x 37 deg. x 168 gms) are extracted from body fat as the dessert's temperature is normalized.
Allowing for the 1,200 latent calories in the dessert, the net calorie loss is approximately 5,000 calories.
Obviously, the more cold dessert you eat, the better off you are and the faster you will lose weight, if that is your goal. This
process works equall well when drinking very cold beer in frosted glasses. Each ounce of beer contains 16 latent calories, but
extracts 1,036 calories (6,216 cal. per 6 oz. portion) in the temperature normalizing process. Thus, the net calorie loss per ounce
of beer is 1,020 calories.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to calculate that 12,240 calories (12 oz. x 1,020 cal./oz.) are extracted from the body in the
process of drinking a can of beer.
Frozen desserts, e.g., ice cream, are even more beneficial, since it takes 83 cal./gm to melt them (i.e., raise them to 0 deg. C)
and an additional 37 cal./gm to further raise them to body temperature. The results here are really remarkable, and it beats running
hands down.
Unfortunately, for those who eat pizza as an excuse to drink beer, pizza (loaded with latent calories and served above body
temperature) induces an opposite effect.
But, thankfully, as the astute reader should have already reasoned, the obvious solution is to drink a lot of beer with pizza
and follow up immediately with large bowls of ice cream.
OK, here's the ultimate diet for you beer and ice cream fans...
| Ye Olde Brew News
published by the F.O.R.D. Homebrew Club |
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| Editor:
Gabrielle Palmer Contributors:
Club Officers:
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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: 313-337-1642
(w) chris.frey-ford@e-mail.com
Visit our website at: http://www.be.ford.com/brewery/
current circulation... 123 |