Olde Main
Meetings Starting Again
We have finished
the BJCP class, so our meetings at Olde Main
will resume starting on May 26th. Bring
some homebrews and enjoy some beer sampling and
brewing discussion. If you have any
questions, send an email to
amesbrewersleague@yahoogroups.com
BJCP Class
The BJCP classes will be starting January 27. If
you are planning on attending the classes send
Mark an email. This will allow him to put
together a mailing list for the class. The cost
for the class will be $50 per person to cover
samples and supplies. This will need to be paid
when you come to the first class. There is an
additional cost of $50 to take the test. You can
attend the classes and not take the test. The
test will be given on Saturday May 9th.
Because of the BJCP class, our Olde Main
meetings will be temporarily cancelled until
the class is over in May. Members can
still meet on the 4th Tuesday at Olde Main if
they want, but know that the majority of people
who have come to these meetings will be
attending the BJCP class. A schedule for
the class can be opened and printed below.
2009 BJCP Study Session Syllabus
Powder
Kegger 2009
This event was
setup by the people at Full Court Press and is
designed to teach women more about beer.
Each month will feature different beer styles as
well as food pairings. See the flyer below
for more information.
Powder
Kegger 2009
ABL Beer
Competition Results
Thank you to
everyone who entered beer and participated in
this year's judging. Eric graciously
hosted the event at his house and did a great
job at organizing the competition even with the
short notice. Below you will find a
spreadsheet of the results. Prizes will be
given out for Best of Show as well as the top
score, which Todd and Becka won.
ABL 2008
Competition Results
Raffle
Success!
Thank you to everyone who purchased raffle
tickets to support the Ames Brewers League. We
made over $400 for the club at the raffle off
donations from several local and online
vendors. Here's a list of the items that we
raffled off. Hopefully I got everything that
was raffled off. It's basically from memory, so
I may be missing a few items.
-
Olde Main - $50 in gift cards, Sample 6
Pack, Dinky T-Shirt (remember you can take
it to Olde Main and get another size)
-
Court Ave Brewing - 55 lb sacks of base
malt, Amber (15-23L), and Tom Fawcett Pale
Crystal (20-25L)
-
Beer Crazy - $50 in in gift cards and a drip
tray
-
Malty Tasking - Hat and several keg labels
-
Northern Brewer - $30 in gift cards and
t-shirts
-
Midwest Supplies - carboy carrier, bottle
opener, hydrometer, PBW, other merchandise
-
Wyeast - Yeast coupons and keychain bottle
openers
-
White Labs - Yeast coupons, glassware, and
t-shirts
-
Austin Homebrew - t-shirts and stickers
-
Rock Bottom - glasses
-
Cargill - t-shirt
Our second monthly meeting will be held at Olde
Main on December 23rd. It's a little close
to the holiday, but I think we'll still have it
for those who want to come. I'm planning on
going, so you won't have to worry about being
the only one there :-)
Also remember that our style of the month for
January is open to anything. Whatever you want
to bring and have judged will be accepted. I'll
get a full list of styles and update the
website.
December
Meeting (Dec 2nd)
Our December
meeting had to be moved up a week due to a
conflict at Wallaby's. The new date for
the meeting will be December 2nd
starting at 7:00 pm. We will be judging
Big beers, and then hold a raffle afterwards to
raise money for the club. There are all
kinds of things to be raffled off including the
following items:
- Five $10 gift
certificates to Beer Crazy in Urbandale, IA
- Gift Certificates
to Olde Main Brewing
- A couple sacks of
grain from Court Ave Brewing Company
- Stickers and
t-shirts from Austin Homebrew
- Merchandise from
Midwest Supplies
- Mugs, t-shirts,
stickers, yeast coupons from White Labs
- Yeast from Wyeast
- Items from
Danstar
- Items from
MoreBeer
If you've got any
brewing equipment laying around that you'd like
to donate, it would be greatly appreciated.
The more items we have to raffle off, the more
money we can make for the club. We'd like
for everyone to walk away with a prize of some
sort after the raffle is done. I hope to
see you all on December 2nd.
2008 ABL
Mead Day
The 2008 ABL mead
day was a great time this year. We had
Curt Stock come down from Minnesota to give a
mead demonstration, and he was generous enough
to bring a LARGE sampling of different meads he
and his wife have made over the years. In
case you haven't heard of them, Curt and Kathy
Stock are very well known meadmakers and have
won several competitions including being awarded
meadmaker(s) of the year in 2005. It was
definitely an honor to have Curt come down and
give our club members some pointers about
meadmaking. Below, you can download a
couple articles that Curt has used while giving
mead presentations that do a great job at
explaining his process as well as several
different kinds of honey he has used.
BYO Melomel Article
Mead Day Talk 2006
2008 Iowa
State Fair Results
The results are in!
Several of our members did very well in this
competition, so congratulations to all who
entered. The results are posted under the
Files section, or you can access the results
from the link below:
2008
Iowa State Fair Results
ABL to
Hold Second Monthly Meeting at Olde Main
* Starting
February 26th *
As was discussed in
the February meeting, the ABL will start holding
a second monthly meeting at the Olde Main Brew
Pub on the 4th Tuesday of the month. The
meetings will start at 7:00 PM just as the
current ones and go until whenever. The
exact location of the meetings will be on the
upper level of Olde Main on the restaurant side.
If you can't find it, ask one of the
hosts/hostesses or bartenders.
During this meeting, the club will try to invite
a guest speaker to discuss topics relevant to
beer and beer brewing (for a list of past
speakers, check out the bottom of the
Information Page).
After the speaker is finished giving his or her
presentation, we will open the meeting to
general discussion including recipe formulation,
brewing gadgets, or anything else members wish
to talk about. Bringing samples of
homebrew is encouraged, as a large portion of
this meeting will consist of sampling members'
homebrew and giving feedback. We may also
use these meetings to visit or tour breweries in
the surrounding areas, so be sure to check the
website and Yahoo! Group before heading to Olde
Main.
The first of these
new meetings will be February 26th, and
we hope to have Puff from Olde Main as our first
guest speaker.
Lift
the Limit Bill Started
Like most beer
loving people living in Iowa, I'm sick of the 6%
limit that's put on craft and commercial
brewers. The Iowa Brewers Union (IBU) has
been working with local representatives to get
this legislation changed so our brewers will
have more freedom with the beers that they brew.
For more information related to this movement,
check out the
IBU
Website and be sure to contact your local
representatives to let them know your feelings
on this important issue. The more people
who email and call them, the better the chances
of this bill getting passed.
7th
Annual Upper Mississippi Mash-Out
We hope members of
the Ames Brewers League will visit the Mash-Out
Web page
http://www.mnbrewers.com/mashout for details
on one of the top homebrew contests in the
country. The Mash-Out offers fabulous prizes
for every
winner and hand-made wooden chalices for
best-of-show winners in beer, mead
and
cider categories. This AHA/BJCP-sanctioned
contest is organized by the St. Paul Homebrewers
Club and the Minnesota Home Brewer’s
Association.
The Mash-Out is
the opening event in the High Plains Brewer of
the Year Award 2008, the Midwest Brewer of the
Year Award 2008 and the MCAB 2009.
Key Dates:
Jan. 1-12, entries
accepted
Jan. 25-26,
judging at the Klub Haus in St. Paul
Jan. 26, “Why
Don't We Brew It In The Robe?” - BELGIUM!
themed beer banquet and awards
ceremony
Judge!
Outsiders are very
welcome. Judges and volunteers are pampered
with an in-door “Pub Crawl,” a Brewpub Brewers
Forum, commemorative pint glasses and the
opportunity to pre-order growlers from Minnesota
brewpubs. We also have Guest
Speaker: Stan Hieronymous, author of "Brew Like
A Monk". It’s a lot of fun, and you can sign up
now.
Banquet in Belgium
Chef Manfred Krug
is going wild with a Belgian-themed menu this
year. “Why Don't We Brew It In
The Robe?” at the Belgian banquet on Jan. 26.
The cost is $30. The complete menu will be
posted in the near future.
Special Events
Back by popular
demand: the Eis-Anything category. Put the
cold weather to practical use by doing ice
versions of your beer, mead or cider creations.
Multiple entries allowed. New this year are TWO
New Entrant categories – 1060+ and 1060-
gravities. If you haven’t entered a beer
contest before, this one is for you.
Everyone is sure
to have a NICE time at the Mash-Out 2008. We
hope to see you there!
Here are the results for the
Ames Brewers League, Beer, Mead and Cider Home Brew
Contest (ABL BMC HBC). The full results can be
downloaded below.
BOS overall and BOS All Grain: Ryan McHone
Northern English Brown Ale
