As most of you know, both Maltose Express and Veracious Brewing have been turfed out of their spaces because another tenant in the building wanted the whole thing. Maltose has already vacated its portion and moved into the back part of Veracious. They will both shut down completely before the end of May.
Mark and Tess, the couple who ran both businesses, have been awesome to us for 31 years. Veracious has graciously hosted many, many club events: monthly meetings, SNERHC sorting nights, mead-tasting events, etc. It’s hard to imagine that the space won’t be available to us anymore.
It was fitting, therefore, to hold our April meeting in their upstairs space. This allowed us to say a proper goodbye to a place that means a lot to us. More importantly, it allowed us to say a proper “thank you” to Mark and Tess for all their years of support.
Not a coincidence: The April meeting was also the first post-covid meeting which really felt like “the before times”. Attendance was excellent, with some 2 dozen members, including some new ones and some whom we haven’t seen in ages. There was so much homebrew that we could not properly judge it all. It really felt like the club was back to its old strength for the first time.
Mid-way through the evening, Mark and Tess came upstairs. We were able to give them a teeny token of our thanks, thoughtfully put together by Andy Cox. We all reminisced and raised a toast.
The best part? Mark promised that he would start homebrewing again and that they would both start attending meetings as regular members. That would make us all happy.
As mentioned above, there was much homebrew. We started out judging properly. When we ran out of time, we got a little sloppy.
- American Blonde, the Huxfords. “Seems more Australian than American”. Hop-forward. Hints of guava. Easy to drink. 8/3/13/4/7 = 35
- Ordinary Bitter, Andy T. English hops all day long. Absolutely nails the style. Apparently, only 3.4%abv. 10/3/16/5/8 = 42
- American Pale, Matt J. Grass, cat pee, and Meyer lemon. Fruity and very hop-forward. Could use a little more malt. 7/3/12/3/7 = 32
- Brett Saison, Mara. Sweet-tart. Black Pepper. Steve V was “seduced”. 3 years old. Made with kveik and Brett. 8/3/16/3/7 = 37
- IPA, the Huxfords. Beautifully balanced. Some candy sweetness. Bitter finish. Fantastic. Mosaic, Citra, and Sabro. 10/3/15/5/8 = 41
- Trappist Single, Mark V. Banana, bubble gum, and spice. Bready. Needs more bubbles. 6/2/11/4/5 = 28
- Unblended Lambic, Caysey. Barnyard smell. Sour and complex. Pierre says it’s perfect. Juicy, acidic, and bright. 10/3/17/5/9 = 44
- Imperial Flanders Red with Zante currants, Andy T. Red wine nose. Alcohol, fresh figs, chocolate. Just phenomenal. Superb. Yummy. 6 years old. 2 – 3 lbs fruit in 5 gallons.
- New World Cider, Steve V. Apple pie, including spices. Hint of sulfur. Juice from Pine Hill Orchard. Just lovely.
- Hydromel, the Huxfords. Tons of honey flavor and aroma. Carbonation would help with balance. Very, very tasty.
