Thanks to all who attended January’s meeting, especially those who brought beer to share.

In Club Competitions

The first competition will be in March (so start brewing soon). The challenge is to make a beer using only one hop. You can pick any hop, or if you would like one randomly assigned let me know, and use it however you want. Any style beer is permitted, Reinheitsgebot loosely applied, I don’t care about nutrients, clarifiers, etc., but no fruits, spices, or other additives that contribute flavor.

Scoring will be based on 3 criteria, how well the beer is brewed to style, how well the hop is showcased, and overall impression. 5 points each. I’m not sure what the winner gets yet…but I’ll think of something. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU PLAN ON PARTICIPATING AND WHICH HOP YOU WILL BE USING.

We’ll target June for the second competition and try to decide what that will be at the next meeting. Bring ideas if you have them. Some discussed were a cereal/dessert beer, fruit beer (everyone uses same fruit), everyone uses same wort but boils/ferments on their own.

Other Activities

Brewery bus tour – in the works, details coming soon.

The idea of camping was pretty popular, we can wait until it’s more camping weather to make a plan but should happen this year. We may try to coordinate with other clubs, at a minimum we’ll do it with just us. If there are other clubs I’d like to propose this type of contest.

SF Beer Week is coming up soon. Too many events to list, a couple I wanted to highlight:

2/6 – SF Beer Week Opening Gala
2/7 – Double IPA Fest
2/7 – AHA Rally, Magnolia Brewing
2/7 – Woodfour at OG
2/8 – Cleophus Quealy, brew with Yeast Bay 10:00 to 5:00
2/12 – Harry’s, Firestone XVIII deconstructed
2/13 – Harry’s Abyss vertical
2/13 – Mission Creek Brewing Faction and sliders
2/14 – Pucker Up OG
2/14 – Meet the brewers at Hermitage
2/15 – Harry’s IPA Day (PtY)
The National Homebrewer’s Conference June 11 to 13. Reminder you must be an AHA member to attend, discounted registration will be available at the AHA Rally at Magnolia Feb 7. We’ll plan on attending NCHF in September as well, the theme this year will be Prohibition.

Firestone Walker Invitational May 30 (tickets on sale Feb 8). I’ve only heard tales of this event, all very epic.

Remember we will be at Clandestine brewing Roger’s Jalapeno Smoked Pale Ale February 1 at 9:00 AM. Please RSVP to Roger asap if you plan on attending.

Style of the Month

Porters. We got to try 21st Amendment/Elysian’s He Said Pumpkin Baltic Porter (struggled to find any other Baltic Porters), Samuel Smith’s Taddy Brown Porter, Drake’s Black Robusto robust porter, and Mission Creek’s robust porter (thanks Eric!). A good showcase of the different varieties of Porters.

Baltic Porter was 23C, becomes 9C in 2014 BJCP. Lager fermented, not too roasty or burnt, fruitier than other porters
Brown Porter was 12A, becomes 13C English Porter. Softer, sweeter, more caramelly than American porters, less ABV
Robust Porter was 12B, becomes 20A American Porter. More bitter, strong, and dry than English

There’s some great information on 2014 guidelines on the BJCP Website. I also attached the spreadsheet with the 2008 comparisons.

Off Flavor Kits

Postponed until February. We will be substituting off flavor kits with brewing technique presentations after we finish them. If you would like to present on any type of brewing technique let me know and I’ll get it on an agenda.

Homebrew

Eric’s Porter – Inspired by Drake’s Black Robusto, much bigger and roasty-er than traditional robust porter
Eric’s Pale Wheat – inspired by Three Floyds Gumballhead, very hoppy pale, somewhere between a pale ale and IPA
Steven’s Hoppy Wheat – primarily wheat base, hopped with Citra, Centennial, and Mosaic, fermented with CA Ale yeast, strong hop flavors, fruity, mild banana flavor
Sri’s White IPA – hopped with Nelson, orange peel and coriander added. Fermented with Belgian Wit ale yeast, not as clean as the CA yeast but complements the wheat a little better
Kyle’s Brett IPA – 100% fermented with Brett Trois, dry hopped with Mosaic. Inspired by Wicked Weed Amorous. Not as much Brett or hop flavor as intended, but pretty decent results
Eric’s Alt – An underserved style, excellent turnout
Steven/Kyle’s Saison (dry hopped version) – barrel aged sour saison, dry hopped with Nelson. The hops complement the beer well, add a fruity element
Steven/Kyle’s Saison (prickly pear version) – Prickly pear was a little overwhelming, covers up sourness. Very drinkable though
Kyle’s Pumpkin Saison – mild sourness, high FG contributing some sweetness as well
Roger’s Black Belgian Single – As advertised, single done to style with dark malts added to give some roasty characteristics
Eric’s Bourbon Vanilla Porter – Lots of flavor, notes of mint, coffee, cinnamon, coriander despite not having any of those

Commercial Brew

Cellarmaker Dank Statement – 11% triple IPA, very over the top (I mean that in the best way) for an IPA, one of my personal favorite breweries