December FABTS Meeting Beer List (Update 1)

The December FABTS meeting is coming up on December 8, 2007 at Kybecca. We have quite a list of beers going already. If you have anything to add, please let us know.

Lyle Brown
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Hook Norton 12 Days (Hook Norton Brewing Co. - Oxon, UK)
Jenlain Noël (Brasserie Duyck - Jenlain, France)
Fantome Speciale Noël (Brasserie Fantôme - Le Village de SOY, Belgium)
Oppigårds Winter Ale (Oppigårds Bryggeri - Hedemora, Sweden)
Nøgne-Ø Winter Ale (Nøgne-Ø Brewing Co. - Grimstad, Norway)
Corsendonk Christmas Beer (Brouwerij Corsendonk - Purnode-Yvoir, Belgium)

Dave Frederickson
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Mad Elf Holiday Ale (Troeg's Brewing Co. - Harrisburg, PA)

James Russ
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Pursuit of Happiness Winter Warmer (Clay Pipe Brewing Co. - Frederick, MD)
K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale (Flying Dog Brewery - Denver, CO & Frederick, MD)
Bad Elf Winter's Ale (Ridgeway Brewing Co. - Oxfordshire, UK)
Santa's Butt Winter Porter (Ridgeway Brewing Co. - Oxfordshire, UK)
Scaldis Noël (The Dubuisson Brewery - Pipaix, Belgium)
Smuttynose Winter Ale (Smuttynose Brewing Co. - Portsmouth, NH)
Roxy Rolles Winter Amber Seasonale (Magic Hat Brewing Co. - South Burlington, VT)
Odd Notion '07 (Magic Hat Brewing Co. - South Burlington, VT)
Santa's Private Reserve Ale (Rogue Brewing Co. - Newport, OR)
Celebration Ale (Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Chico, CA)
Abita Christmas Ale (Abita Brewing Co. - Abita Springs, LA)
Heavy Seas Winter Storm "Category 5 Ale" (Clipper City Brewing Co. - Baltimore, MD)
Delirium Noël (Brouwerij Huyghe - Melle, Belgium)
'06 Samichlaus Bier (Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg - Vorchdorf, Austria)

Scott Fisher
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Stoudt's Winter Ale (Stoudt’s Brewing Co. – Adamstown , PA )
Lump of Coal Dark Holiday Stout (Ridgeway Brewing – Oxfordshire , UK )

Rob Abbott
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1996 Samichlaus Bier (Brauerei Hürlimann AG -- Zurich, Switzerland)

*NOTE* - Hürlimann discontinued production of Samichlaus in 1996 when it was taken over by the Feldschlösschen Brewery. In the following years, many people clamoured for it and finally, in 2000, it returned, this time produced by Schloss Eggenberg.

October Meeting Notes - by Kevin Brown

1. Wiessen Brau
Or meadow brew as in the meadow in which Oktoberfest is held (supposedly also originally held) after many complaints from locals for a lighter more easily drunk beer some of the brewery’s have started to brew Wiessen Brau instead.

2. Höfbrau München (HB) - Donated by Kybecca
Joe - “Smell the aroma carefully. Sharp and pungent then immediately behind that, something like concord grapes, sweet like taste, Saaz.”
Dave - “Like a Heineken Plus.”
Joe - “That’s what Heineken is take the to the lowest common denominator and you get Heineken.”
Dave - “eh… I'm an ale guy.”

3. Weihenstaphaner Festbier
Hallertauer - more malt sweeter

4. Saranac Oktoberfest
Honey in the nose, toatsy and thin

5. Lancaster Oktoberfest
Diacetyl - Diacetyl is a product of yeast more so in lagers and the way you get rid of it is bring the temperature up to 60°F for two days and the yeast will consume a lot of the diacetyl.

6. Mendocino Oktoberfest
Very dry, like the way it pours, nice crowned head

7. Dominion Oktoberfest
Little old, roasted barley is obviously used to bring up the colour

8. Legend Oktoberfest - Donated by Kybecca
Dave - “I note something about diacytel, its got ass right in the middle of it."
Kevin - “When diacytel is really strong like this it kind of reminds me of strawberries and cream, like the fake flavour used in processed food."

9. Blue and Grey Oktoberfest
It's an old bottle when fresh this years was amazing, but this was a disappointment.

10. Stoudt’s Oktoberfest
It's decocted (take the thickest part of the mash and boil it and throw it back into the kettle, this converts a portion of the sugars to malliard browning reactions.
Dave - "Man that’s good shit."

11. Dogfish Head Dogtoberfest
Very nice, honey

12. Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest
All Hallertauer, identifiable as the Märzen

13. Paulaner
The malty cousin of Hacker-Pschorr with very similar flavours.
Joe - “Very nice.”

14. Spaten Oktoberfest

15. Clipper City Balto MärzHon
Acetalaldehyde (green apple) and a lot of acetone.
Dave - “Asselaldahyde, Assetlyahyde!"

16. Bell ’s Oktoberfest
Lyle “2nd best made in America. I say 2nd because Victory Festbier is first.”

17. Victory Festbier
Toast not roast. It got a gold in Vienna category.
The depth there... that’s the decocotion. It gives such a depth that it shows dramatically the significance of decoction.

** Other discussions **
Schneider und Sohn is the first non-Royal brewery allowed to brew wheat beers as before only royalty could brew with wheat, (Hopfen Weiss by Brooklynn and Schneider, but its for a very specific tongue you either love or hate it, very hoppy and very phenolic.)

Biergarten in Portsmouth has Eisbock on tap (the Aventinus Eisbock is where they take their weizenbock and freeze it removing the ice from the beer thus concentrating the flavor and alc % )

There are three main stays for supplies: B3 or Beer Beer and More Beer (www.morebeer.com), www.Williamsbrewing.com, and Homebrew USA (this one is for those events “oops I brew tomorrow and I need this”). A few others such as Northern Brewer and My Local Homebrew Shop (in DC 7 corners).

5th Annual Blue & Gray Octoberfest

On Saturday September 29th, Blue and Gray Brewing Company of Fredericksburg, VA held their 5th annual Octoberfest. And while the Bowman Center in Fredericksburg can't match the atmosphere of "die Wiesn" in Munich, it was a great gathering.

The historical background: the first Oktoberfest was held in the year 1810 in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig’s marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities began on October 12, 1810 and ended on October 17th with a horse race.

In the following years, the celebrations were repeated and, later, the festival was prolonged and moved forward into September. By moving the festivities up, it allowed for better weather conditions. Because the September nights were warmer, the visitors were able to enjoy the gardens outside the tents and the stroll over “die Wiesen” or the fields much longer without feeling chilly. Historically, the last Oktoberfest weekend was in October and this tradition continues into present times.

The Blue and Gray Octoberfest started the first year I moved to the region, 2002. Some of the mainstays have been at the festival since the beginning. Beer, Brats and Bavarian music. The beers this year were all of the normal Fredericksburg Brewing Company line of beers, Fred Red, Falmouth American Pale Ale, the Classic Lager and Stonewall Stout. I sampled the American Pale Ale. The hop character hits you right away with this beer. I think it's a little overpowering. The Fred Red has a malty sweetness and little hop flavor. I talked with some of the brewers there and they say that they make a 50/50, Half Falmouth, half Fred Red to balance out the flavor.

They had a little bit of the Hefeweizen left but that was tapped out in the first half hour. The other two specialty beers were a Baron von Steuben Oktoberfest lager and a Temporary Insanity Imperial Stout. The Oktoberfest was brewed back in February and has been lagering since then. It has a dark amber color and caramel malty flavor. As it warmed up I noticed hints of chestnuts. The beer drinks as smooth as milk with the bitterness hitting your tongue at the end. A very good Fest.

The Temporary Insanity Imperial Stout poured an opaque black with a tan head. The beer was medium-bodied and its mouth feel was a little thin for the style. But the beer had a great taste of coffee and bittersweet chocolate. Due to its 11% ABV you felt every swallow of beer on its way to the stomach. Very nice.

The entertainment provided was what you expect at Oktoberfest. German band "The Low N Brows" provided enough polka and waltzes for the crowd to get into the groove and played the "Ein Prosit" German drinking song enough to get the author thoroughly buzzed in the few hours we were there. The Spotsylvania Sheriff's K-9 Department also put on a demonstration of their tracking abilities. I knew I had had enough when I started heckling a cop. Cut me off!

The crowd at the festival was very jovial and was still having a good time when I left. Congratulations to the Blue and Gray Brewing Company for putting on a great Oktoberfest.

BMWs and Craft Brewing

Every labor day BMW hosts a homecoming for the Z3 and Z4 cars that were built in their plant in Greenville / Spartanburg, SC. The 2007 BMW Homecoming was BMW's 11th year of doing this and the first year Angela and I went. There were over 600 Z3's and Z4's at the reunion. On Saturday morning they take a panoramic picture of all of them in from of the very plant where they were created. It was an awesome experience.


During the weekend we had a chance to visit the local brewpub, The Blue Ridge Brewing Company. Prior to 1995, in South Carolina you could not legally open a brew pub. Then, Bob Hiller lobbied the state and won. In 1995, the Blue Ridge Brewing Company officially opened its doors for business. All of their beers are brewed on site by brewmaster Jay Simpson.

The Blue Ridge Brewing company is located in Downtown Greenville. We found downtown Greenville to be very nice, very clean, and appealing. Tree-lined streets and a river running through downtown with a waterfall. The Blue Ridge Brewing Company fits in very well; a nice atmosphere inside with outside sidewalk seating in summer.

Angela and I enjoyed the outside weather and settled in to sample a few beers. I started with their Colonel Paris Pale Ale and Angela had their Kurli Blonde Ale. You got to love a Pale Ale with a great Cascade nose. As this was a warm day, the Pale Ale went down too fast. The Kurli Blonde was an American-style wheat beer. Another one that was easily drinkable on a warm day.

For a snack Angela and I had the Southwestern Quesadilla. It was loaded with Smoked Chicken, Black Beans, Roasted Peppers, Cilantro, Onions, Artichoke Hearts, and Cheese. To wash it down I had their Double Ball and Chain High Gravity IPA. From their menu it states that this beer is overflowing with Chinook, Cascade, Amarillo and Centennial hops. At 110 IBU and 10% abv, it was a perfect match to the spicy quesadilla.

After we finished the quesadilla I had room for one more. I decided to try their Rye Patch Pale Ale. There was definite rye character in the nose, but a different mixture of hops were used as compared to the Colonel Paris Pale Ale. This beer finished a little more dry than that 0ne as well. This was their new seasonal that they had just tapped less than a week earlier. We just missed out on their Hurricane Hefe Weizen.

The other beers they had on tap were the Rainbow Trout ESB and their Total Eclipse Stout. I wasn't expecting much but was pleaseantly surprised with the quality of the beers at Blue Ridge Brewing Company. They also offer us these rules to live by.

- James

Rules to Live By:

• In all things, practice moderation. Except with regard to beer, ale, and whiskey.
• Be kind to animals, children, the elderly, and anyone or anything else that can fetch you a pint.
• If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Better yet, trade the damn lemons for some barley and yeast and brew yourself some ale.
• Silence is golden, but ale is goldener.
• Patience is a virtue. Remember this when letting the pint settle.
• The truth shall set you free. This does not apply when the question is "How many pints have you had?"
• Never use profanity. Except when the^%$#@&! damn pub has closed.
• Never leave a pint undrained; It gives the glass low self-esteem.
• Always choose your words carefully, especially if you're slurring.

3rd Annual Shockoe Craft Beer Festival

Angela and I went to the 3rd annual Shockoe Craft Beer Festival on Friday night. After a stressful week for both of us, going and having beers with hundreds of strangers seemed like something that would help our moods. It did!

We decided against driving back from the festival and got a room at the Marriott in Richmond. It’s located about 5 blocks away from the festival location – walking / stumbling distance. The beer fest was held in Kanawha Plaza in downtown Richmond. Admission to the event was $15 for one day/$25 for two. We opted for one day’s worth of fun. Along with the admission you received a 6 ounce plastic pilsner tasting glass as well as 5 tasting tickets. Additional tickets were $1 apiece. The location of the event was great for the size of the crowd on Friday night. It was fairly intimate and not long lines to wait for beer. I kept telling Angela that come Saturday, I assumed the place would be a madhouse.

I’ve been to numerous beer festivals in California when I lived out there and I’ve been to a couple of the Old Dominion festivals. So, I knew what to expect. Angela had never been to beer fest before and was surprised that it was outdoors. The beer selection didn’t disappoint. There were 25 -30 brewery tents each pouring 2 or more of their offerings. A lot of the brewers were also pouring kegs from other breweries as well. The best thing about going to beer fest with someone is that you can taste two separate beers at each tent. That way you get half as hammered as you would be if you tried to taste all of the different beers. Angela and I went through about $40 worth of drink tickets.

We started the day with Troegs Hopback Amber and Dreamweaver Wheat as we perused the park. The Hopback Amber was malty and has a flowery nose. The Dreamweaver Wheat was spicy with clove notes. It’s funny how each tent nearly had the same types of beers. Most had a Pale Ale and either a Wheat or IPA. So, For Pale Ales, by far my favorite was Bluegrass American Pale Ale by Bluegrass Brewing Company in Louisville, Kentucky. There were a ton of wheats and I thought the best one was Richmond’s own Legend Brewing’s Hefeweisen. It had an intense aroma of bananas, cloves, and pepper. The initial flavor is sharp and tart, yielding to a little malty sweetness in the middle. It was very refreshing on a hot afternoon.

For the IPAs it was a tie between my favorite regional brewer out here Delaware’s Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and the Double Simcoe IPA from Weyerbacher Brewing Co. in Pennsylvania. I was disappointed in Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche. This was supposed to be a peach-flavored Berliner-Weisse. To me the peach flavor was totally overcome by the tartness and sourness of the beer. Maybe it’s just not my style. The other notable beers from the day were Clipper City’s Uber Pils. Angela and I went back for this one 3 times.

There were a few food vendors there that had BBQ, brats, and Mediterranean fare. Angela and I had the BBQ from ExtraBilly’s Smokehouse and Brewery. It was very good. Haley Scion of Richmond was one of the sponsors and gave out the most schwag. We got tshirts, sweatshirts and coffee mugs. They also had free pizza. Angel specifically enjoyed one token received from Flying Dog Brewery. She thought she was picking up some matches and it turned out to hide a condom. The other good schwag was from Oskar Blues Brewery. Free coozies, stickers, and mug holder necklaces.

As the night wore on Angela and I settled down to listen to the live music. It was mostly Bluegrass which neither of us like. The first act was the Shockoe Bottom Boys, then Billy Ray Hatley and the Showdogs finishing with Jackass Flatts who were the most talented of the bunch.

We decided to walk back to the Marriott after the festival completed at 10pm. While the walk to the site was no problem, we didn’t realize that the walk back was all up hill. Sweat was pouring off our backs by the time we made it back to the room. We were never so appreciative of air conditioning. We had a great time and are looking forward to next year’s. Let’s plan now for a FABTS trip.

Beer Radio

I am a big Howard Stern fan. So when he moved his show to Sirius satellite radio, I had to make the decision to either pay or not for the show. I've been a subscriber since December 2005 and while I still listen to Howard, what I found is the rest of Sirius is great. No commercial music channels are great!

I heard there's a show on Saturday afternoon dedicated to beer. It's supposed to be on Sirius Channel 147 from 4-6pm. Here's the description of the show from their website. I will try and check it out today and report here with a review of the show.

NOTE: The podcast for the show is available in iTunes, but the last show they have on there is from April 28th. Hopefully, the show is still on. I'll let you know.

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Welcome to Beer Radio!

Cheers! Raise your glass high for Beer Radio, the official radio program of the United States Beer Drinking Team! As the only internationally broadcast radio program dedicated to the "sister and brotherhood of beer" we bring a frothy episode of Beer Radio to you live every Saturday in the USA and Canada as well as streaming and podcast around the world over the Internet.

Each week we bring brew to you. As the first "all beer; all the time" show dedicated to your best beer on your best day with your best buddies, we talk about all everything you want to hear including Beer Radio host talk with Ray "Redstar" Hoffman and Tim "Beerman" Gallagher talking about their great beer week, Beer Radio news and lifestyle report with "Chicago Bill" Krejci, Beer and fitness report with former U.S. Navy Seal, Stew Smith, "America's Beer Authority", Gary Monterosso with the Beer Radio Draft Report, "Beer Adventurer" Alex Wolf reporting from the land of sky blue water, "Beer Evangelist" and former "Beer Drinker of the Year", John Marioni reporting from Beer Land in America's great northwest ...... and a lot more.

You can call into Beer Radio live each Saturday from 4-6PM eastern time @ 866-USBDT-Beer (866-872-3823) and let's talk beer!

Drinking Appreciation TV Shows

At the August FABTS meeting we briefly discussed a few TV shows that focus on the appreciation of drinking adult beverages. The shows are Three Sheets, Beer Nutz and Uncorked with Billy Merritt. The shows are on the HDTV MOJO network. MOJO is available on Comcast Spotsylvania/Stafford channel 774 and Cox Communications channel 710.

Three Sheets is an international drinking tour with comedian Zane Lamprey who takes you around the world to master the local drinking customs. The show is funny while being informative. I have seen shows about Tequilas, Rums, Champagne and Irish beer. There was a great show recently about Sake'.

Beer Nutz limits itself to US beer travel. While this show should appeal to our group, it's the most uninteresting of the three. The best thing about this show is that they go to various different places in the US and highlight the brewpubs and microbreweries of the area. The worst part of the show is that they give the various brewers/drinkers/places a rating. The rating system which they use to give people and places from 1 to 5 "kegs". For some reason, MOJO does not have a home page for the show but doing a search on their site brings up an episode list. I've linked to it above.

Uncorked with Billy Merritt is about a beer guy trying to make the leap to wine snob. The good thing about this show is that he's willing to ask the dumb question so you don't have to. Sometimes the hosts acts a little stupid, which gets a little annoying, but you end up learning from his feigned ignorance.

August FABTS Meeting

August is non-barley month at the FABTS meeting. We will also have the owner of Blacksnake Meadery here as guest speaker, plus may have an additional, surprise guest. Here's the list of the different beverages.

Sake:

• 5 different sakes
• Sparkling Dessert Sake

Cider:

• Piore Granit - A Perry made from pears grown on 300 year old legacy trees, in Normandy, France by Eric Bordelet.
• Sydre Argelette - Another Eric Bordelet Perry made by the same company from 100 year old trees.
• Cidre Doux - An apple cider from Eric Bordelet from legacy apple trees.
• Aspall Dry English "draft" cider
• Normandy Cider

Mead:

• 2 different Hilltop Berryfarm Rockfish River Cyser (one sweet, one dry) (VA)
• Redstone Juniper Mead (CO)
• Redstone Blackraspberry mead (CO)
• Redstone Cinnamon Vanilla Mead (CO)
• Iqhilika South African Bird's Eye Chile Mead (SA)
• Misty Mtn Wildfower and Ginger mead (VA)
• Misty Mtn traditional mead (VA)
• White Winter Cyser (WI)
• Chouchen Oak Aged mead (Brittany, France)
• Polish Mead
• Carrolls Mead (Washingtonville. NY)

Summer = Less Content

I have not been in the mood to update the website since the weather's been nice. I missed the last FABTS meeting and it was one I was looking forward to (Pale Ales). Alas, as summer is also wedding season, Angela and I were at a friends wedding. I couldn't say I hated it, everyone knows I like to get my groove on. Not to mention my two favorite words in the English language - Open Bar!

Look for more updates as the days get shorter and colder.


James

June FABTS Beer List

Here's the list of beers that we are going to taste tomorrow at the June FABTS meeting. I'm sure we won't tasted all of them as the list is quite long.

• Bell's Oberon Ale (Summer Wheat) (Rob)
• Julius Echter Hefe-Weizen (Rob)
• Widmer Hefe-Weizen (Rob)
• Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat (Scott)
• Lancaster's Strawberry Wheat (Scott)
• Abita Strawberry Lager (Scott)
• Paulaner Hefe-Weizen (Joe)
• Mahrs Der Weisse Bock (Joe)
• Franziskaner Weissbier (Joe)
• Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier (Joe)
• Half Moon Hefeweizen (Joe)
• Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat (Joe)
• Leinenkugel's Berry Weissbier (Joe)
• Pyramid Apricot Weizen (Joe)
• Pyramid Hefeweizen (Joe)
• Bayerischer Bahnhof Berliner-style Weisse (Joe)
• Brauerei Weihenstephan 1809 (Joe)
• B&G Virginia Hefeweizen (Joe)
• Jan De Lichte Dubbel Wit (Lyle)
• Floris Wit Blanche (Lyle)
• Ayinger Ur-Weisse (Lyle)
• Ayinger Brau Weisse (Lyle)
• Wurzburger Julius Echter Dunkel Heffe-weizen (Lyle)
• Hoegarden (Lyle)
• Allagash White (Lyle)
• Widmer Wheat (Lyle)
• Penn Weizen (Lyle)
• Redhook Sun Rye (Lyle)
• Sea Dog Wild Blueberry Wheat (Lyle)
• Jan De Lichte Dubbel Wit (Lyle)
• Floris Wit Blanche (Lyle)
• Ayinger Ur-Weisse (Lyle)
• Ayinger Brau Weisse (Lyle)
• Wurzburger Julius Echter Dunkel Heffe-weizen (Lyle)
• Dogfish Head Zwaanend'ale (Kevin)

Homebrew:

• Rob IPA
• Scott Scotch Ale and another variety