Category: The Sudzers Blog

Thanks to all who participated in a delightful Christmas party last night – the gift exchange was the usual good time (with three separate bottles of barrel aged Narwhal being stolen a total of eight times!), and the food and beer were fantastic.

Hearty congratulations to the 2014 Sudzers Homebrewer of the Year Charles Stevens, whose name will be engraved on the Sudzer Cup.

Homebrewer of the Year Charles Stevens

Congratulations also to the 2015 club officers:
Jim Williams, CEO
Derek Wolfgram, COO
Pranab Shenoy, CCO (Chief Communications Officer)
Nick Osborne, CFO
Tim Topole, CTO
Mike Conant, CVO (Chief Events Officer)

Finally, thanks to outgoing 2014 officers: CEO Tyler Dassow and CTO Chris Quinn for your contributions over the past year.

Mike C (Chief Events Officer), Jim W (CEO), Derek W (COO), Tim T (CTO), Nick O (CFO), Pranab S (Chief Communications Officer), and Tyler D (outgoing CEO). Not Pictured: Chris Q (outgoing CTO)

In order to avoid visiting Mission Creek Brewing at Whole Foods on the evening of a Sharks game in December, we will defer that to a later month. However, everyone should go check it out on your own. People were raving about Guy’s Punch List Pale Ale last night as they consumed the three growlers that people brought to the party.

December’s Thirsty Third Thursday meetup (on the 18th) will be held at the tap room located inside the Cupertino Whole Foods store. Hope to see you there!

You may notice that the calendar on the right is misbehaving. While we work to remedy the problem, here are the December calendar events:

Fri. 12/5 – Regular monthly meeting is cancelled – no meeting

Wed. 12/10 – BJCP Study Class – Nick’s House – 7:30 pm

Sat. 12/13 – Sudzers Christmas Party – Nick’s House – 7 pm

Thu. 12/18 – Thirsty Third Thursday meetup – Whole Foods Market, 777 The Alameda, San Jose, 7 pm

Thanks to VP Jim W for capturing the minutes!

There is a club Dark Matter brew day on Saturday, November 15 th at Mike Conant’s house. Please contact Mike at Mike@conant.com for directions and RSVP. Mike does not expect many, if any will haul their brew gear down, but all are welcome regardless. Mike will begin brewing around 9:00, but expects most will show up around 11:00. At the same time, the previous Dark Matter in the barrel at Mike’s place will be drained and owning members should bring kegs for filling. Mike has also requested volunteers to brew more Dark Matter to refill the barrel.

The club holiday party is Saturday the 13th at 7:00 (date changed from 12/6 due to scheduling conflicts). Please come prepared for fun and a small beer-related gift for the annual gift exchange.
The club beer evaluation was kept brief in anticipation of Dan Gordon’s (Gordon Biersch fame) arrival at 8:00. We tasted nine different homebrews. In addition, four other Ocktoberfest beers brewed by Justin, Tyler, Rich, and Jim were held in reserve for Dan’s evaluation.
Dan Gordon arrived with a five gallon wooden keg containing GB Festbier and the club compared the club member’s Oktoberfest beers with that from Gordon Biersch. After the Oktoberfest review, a few remaining beers that members had brought were tasted before ending the meeting.

Homebrews presented (in addition to the aforementioned Oktoberfests) included:

Mikael & Bill’s Hot Ginger Beer

Mikael & Bill’s Hoppy Hot Ginger Beer

Matt’s Pale Ale

Paul’s Cream Stout

Jim & Jason’s Saison

Tim’s Sauvignon Blanc Saison x 2

Tyler’s Hop Bomb Red Ale

Jared’s Meankin Pumpkin Ale

Justin’s Pumpkin Dubbel

Justin’s Bourbon Barrel Brown Ale

Charles’ Arrogant Bastard Clone

John S’s Bloody Spur IPA

John S’s Bloody Spur IPA (dry hopped)

John S’s Homestead Hefeweizen

John S’s Rotten to the Core Cider

Congratulations to Guy Cameron on his new brewmaster gig!

http://www.examiner.com/article/whole-foods-brewery-on-the-alameda-selects-brewmaster-plus-beer-manager-q-a?CID=examiner_alerts_article 

Thanks to Sudzers VP Jim W for taking notes!

·         NCHF review – big round of thanks for Mike C in organizing. Overall impression was good beer and a good time. The barrel-aged Dark Matter was excellent.

·         Thirsty Thursday will be held downtown San Jose at Original Gravity. (Editor’s note, we have subsequently decided to go to Harry’s Hofbrau Redwood City, where a keg of 2013 Bourbon County Brand Stout and some other goodies from Goose Island will be on tap: https://www.facebook.com/events/291529714370458/)

·         Beer and food pairing event will be held for members on November 1^st. More details to follow.

·         Dark Matter brew day in the planning. This event will be at Mike Conant’s house, most likely the Saturday following Thanksgiving.

·         Sudzers member Chris R paid a return visit from the East Coast.

Homebrews presented:

Chris R’s Labour of Love ESB

Mikael & Bill’s Ginger Beer

Charles’ DIPA

Chris L’s Spicy Black Ale

Shawn’s ESB

Tyler’s Belgo Wheat Wine

Adam’s Strong Scotch Ale

Tim’s Camping Cider

Doug’s Instigator Dopplebock

Sudzers Chief Communications Officer Derek’s latest column from the Los Altos Town Crier:

Props to crops of nonstop hops: Enjoy the variety of Bay Area IPAs

photo courtesy of Hermitage Brewing Co.

Hello Sudzers! Our October meeting will be held Friday, October 3 at 7 pm
at Nick’s house. Need the address or directions? Email
moresimcoe@sudzers.org. Don’t forget to carpool if possible to make
sure there’s enough parking to go around.

Meeting agenda:

7:00 Social Time

7:15 Club Business

-Recent events:
-Northern California Homebrewers Festival

-Upcoming events:
-Thirsty Third Thursday October 16
-Beer pairing dinner November 1
-Dark Matter brew day in November at Mike C’s place in Aptos – date?

7:30 Homebrew evaluations. Reminder: Bring your recipe – club members
will have lots of questions! Sign your beer in on the whiteboard along
with your name and statistics (IBU, ABV, etc. – optional, but helpful
in determining tasting order)

After homebrew evaluations: more social time/informal commercial brew
sharing. Always welcome: homebrews from any style to share.  Don’t have any
homebrew on hand right now? Feel free to bring other interesting brews
you’ve picked up. Don’t have a beer to bring? Please bring some snacks
to share.

Special thanks to Ted at Steins Beer Garden and his terrific staff for
hosting us

Welcome to new attendees Bill, Kevin, and Sue

Susie C. talked about the BJCP exam preparation class that she and
Steve C. will be teaching. The BCJP exam now consists of three parts:
the Online Entrance Exam, the Tasting/Judging Exam, and the written
exam. The class will focus on the Judging exam, and all participants
are encouraged to visit bjcp.org and take the online exam, which
consists of 200 questions in one hour. The exam costs $10 (or three
tries for $20), and can be taken as many times as necessary until you
pass. The exam list is full, but you can get on a wait list by
contacting Derek W. You don’t need to be signed for the exam to take
the class, but you will need to pay to offset the cost of reviewing 27
styles in 5 meetings! The first meeting is Wednesday September 17 at 7
pm at Nick’s house. Susie will send out more details.

September’s Thirsty Third Thursday meetup/Northern California
Homebrewers Festival Warm-Up will be September 18 at Harry’s Hofbrau
San Jose

Northern California Homebrewers Festival September 19-20: Mike C
is organizing for the 40 Sudzers and guests who are attending. He will
send out more details soon – please contact him with questions.

Beer Pairing Dinner, Nov 1st:
5 courses
Appetizer: Shrimp/veggie kabobs with IPA
Soup with ? beer style
Salad course (including Sudzers barrel Flanders Red dressing) with Saison
Beef Stew with dry stout
Spent Grain bread
Chocolate dessert with Russian Imperial Stout and/or Coconut porter

Contact Justin V or Chris Q to volunteer to prepare a dish and/or beer
– the club will pay for ingredients

Dark Matter Brew Day will be held mid to late November at Mike C’s
house in Aptos – details to follow.

Los Altos Hills Hoedown:
Need to hook up a Jockey box – tomorrow. West wind barn on Moody.  Set
up around 14:00.  Steve C will set up.

Homebrew tasting:
Adam C – Autumn Brown Bitter,  made from the second runnings of a
strong Scotch ale, with carrot cake spices added
Matt – Porter with Pandan extract
Justin – 3 Philosophers clone