When: Saturday February 2nd, 11AM – 5PM
Where: 2456 Sundown Drive, Glassell Park, 90065, (323) 258-2751
This Saturday we’ll be meeting at our member Scott’s house while he brews a Belgian Dubbel as an all-grain demonstration for those of you considering the jump from extract. Street parking is available but limited to certain parts of the street, so I encourage you review this map that Scott kindly made explaining how to get there and where to park. If you can’t make it for the whole brew day, we’ll be having meeting announcements around 2pm.
I also encourage you to bring a folding chair, a tasting glass, perhaps a snack, and definitely lots of homebrew! We’ll have Yeastside Brewers logo glasses for sale, just in case.
The style of the month is English Browns. Please note that our website formerly denoted Barleywines as February’s Style of the Month, but we officially changed this. The Club Only Competition (“COC”) this month is still Barleywines, but Style of the Month is English Browns. This change was made with hopes that we can use the Style of the Month as an educational opportunity to discuss the style and prepare you to brew them for future COC’s. The English Brown category would be a great entry for the May 2013 COC, which is Extract Beers. The English Brown beers are especially subtle and delicious if made properly, so please feel free to pick our brains on this after reviewing their respective BJCP categories. There will be some commercial examples of English Browns on hand, so don’t miss out!
Aside from that, any style of homebrew you wish to bring is welcome. We are here to share and discuss them with your fellow brewers. It is a great idea to bring a copy of your recipe, too, because the technical details are very helpful in discussing and developing feedback and pointers.
Road Trip with Strand Brewers, Pacific Gravity, Maltose Falcons, & Crude Brew Crew to Stone AHA Rally: March 16th
There will be a private bus trip to Stone Brewing on March 16th for the March Madness AHA Rally. This is being organized by the Strand Brewers Club, but they’ve invited us, as well as Pacific Gravity, the Maltose Falcons, and the Crude Brew Crew to fill their party-mobile. This event is a blast, and some of our fellow Yeastside Brewers will be competing in the homebrew rally taking place that day, namely, Josh Jensen, David Ochoa, Jeff Koehler and Ward Walkup! Only 30 entrants were accepted, but these four managed to slip in under the wire. Entry to this competition has since been filled and closed, already having filled the 30 allotted competitor slots. Sadly, no more entrants will be accepted.
Note that, to attend, one must be a member of the American Homebrewers Association (“AHA”). Luckily, they are accepting renewals and registrations at the door for $33, but it may be a good idea to sign up now so you do not have to worry about it later. Existing AHA members get in free, but you must RSVP as soon as possible. The 30 competing homebrews will be available for tasting and evaluation, and the top four of those beers according to a people’s choice vote will go to a best of show round. Stone crew then picks the best one of those four to be brewed and released nationally, as well as representing their Pro-Am entry in Denver at GABF.
Since the Stone rally “only” lasts from 1:00 PM – 4:30 PM, we’re also going to visit Hess Brewery and the White Labs tasting room prior to heading home. A visit to Societe Brewing is on the table, too, but only if time permits. It’s a 12-hour day trip, departing from West LA (exact location still TBD) the morning of March 16th. The departure time is tentatively set at 10:00 AM, but that could change. Cost is $40 for the bus ride, payable to Strand Brewers. Note that this $40 is ***in addition*** to the AHA membership fee of $33 needed to enter the rally (if you are not already an AHA member, of course). Please RSVP to ***both*** the Stone Rally itself and to Tammy at Strand Brewers who is the bus trip organizer.
2013 Doug King Memorial Competition Results
Results have been posted and score sheets emailed out for the 2013 Doug King Memorial Competition. Two Yeastsiders placed in this competition: Ward G. Walkup IV won 1st place in Class 24, Specialty Beer (Fruit/Vegetable & Herb/Spiced) with his Vanilla Chai Milk Stout, and Jeffrey Cannon took 3rd in the same category with his Citrus Green Tea APA. Congratulations to Ward and Jeffrey!
Upcoming Competitions in and around February
Competition season is in full swing! Check the site regularly for deadlines. If you learn of a good competition that is not on our list, please let us know by emailing competitioncoordinator@yeastsidebrewers.org!
* Time is running short for the Bruery Batch 1000 competition; the deadline is this Friday, February 1!
* As mentioned above, the AHA Club Only Competition for Barleywines is coming up, and entries are due Saturday at this February meeting. Be sure to fill out your forms for submission this Saturday at the meeting. Both American and English styles will be accepted for judging.
* The Americas Finest City competition submissions must be submitted by Feburary 13.
* The Romancing the Beer competition submissions must be submitted by February 15 (additional details).
* I hope you have mead that will be ready in time for the Mazer Cup! Entries are due March 1.
* And, on a tangentially related note, this month’s Style of the Month is English Brown Ales. Homebrewed versions of these will make great entries for the COC in May, Extract Beers!
The Southern California Homebrew Festival (SCHF)
The 2013 SCHF date has been announced as Saturday, May 4, 2013. Here is a recap of last year’s 2012 festival. We want to make a strong presence this year, so please start thinking about attending. Ideally, we’ll be pouring our own beers under a Yeastside Brewers banner! Details are a bit scant at this point, but its an outdoor festival at Lake Casitas, and it requires your membership in the California Homebrewers Association (“CHA”). We already have a campsite reserved and are looking for volunteer committee members to organize our attendance. Volunteers please email president@yeastsidebrewers.org.
The Jockey Box Project!
We are building a Jockey Box serving station for our club! We are looking for a clean, functional and durable ice chest cooler for donation to the project. Ideally it would be 40+ quarts in size so we can eventually install two taps. Potential donors please contact president@yeastsidebrewers.org.
Thanks for reading! Happy Brewing, and we’ll see you on Saturday!
Jerl Leutz – Yeastside Brewers President 2013