November 2014 Tasting Notes (and Gose Notes)

The November meeting was held at Pivo’s house in New Haven. As usual, we had a number of truly excellent homebrews to judge. Very unusually, we also had a presentation on a beer style by Handy Andy.

The tasting notes are attached below. You’ll notice that all of the scores are above average. I don’t know if this means we are getting better as brewers or worse as judges. I’m hoping it’s the former. Either way, we didn’t taste a bad beer or cider all night.

Andy’s presentation on Gose was a huge success. So much so, we are planning more such presentations in the future. Andy has already posted his lecture slides to the Facebook group but I’m including my notes here just to show that I was paying attention.

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Holiday Party a rousing success!

Many thanks to Dave and Gena for hosting the Holiday Party and Silli Biere Competition! The party was, as always, a rousing success. Many excellent bottles were swapped. The Competition was small, but all the entries were clever and wonderful.

Handy Andy took many pictures. Look for them on the Facebook page.

Our next meeting will be in January at Clone and Carole’s house in Stratford. Full details will be sent via the usual channels. With luck, I’ll have the November tasting notes posted by then.

Don’t forget: The club birthday party is coming up in March!

Oct 2014 Meeting Tasting Notes

We have a major problem!!

The October meeting, hosted by Steve Medd and his lovely wife at their home in Danbury, featured a ton of excellent homebrews. Really, truly excellent.

I finally found the time to scan in the tasting notes for posting here. And when I did, I realized that almost all of the scores are missing the brewer’s name. Oops.

If you recognize your beer here, let me know and I’ll identify you properly.

Sorry.

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40th Birthday Bash

Club Birthday Party May 9

The club turns 40 years old this year. And to celebrate, we’re having a party on May 9 at Two Roads Brewery. More details will follow, but get it on your calendars now!

Many things need to get done to make this party a success. Want to lend a hand? Contact me.

SNERHC 2014 Results are up!

Please follow this link for full results from SNERHC 2014.

Scanned score sheets should be available at this site before Oct. 10.

Scores and score sheets are now available. Log in to the registration site to view and/or download your score sheets.

If the writing on one or more of your score sheets is too faint to read, send me an email (address on the entry list page) and I’ll rescan it darker.

Many, many, many thanks to the awesome crew who made SNERHC such a success yet again: the organizing committee, the judges and stewards, and the sponsors. You were all fantastic.

Sept 2014 Meeting Notes

Just back from Dan and Alison Mages’ home and the September meeting. As usual, Dan went overboard on the food, with excellent cheese and bread and pickles and a wonderful tabouleh-like thing. Delicious.

Dan also showed off the swag he’s collected for SNERHC prizes. Completely over the top. SNERHC winners will be very happy. I can’t imagine how much time he must have spent wrangling this stuff out of the hop farms, brewers, equipment makers, and wholesalers he has persuaded to donate. Thank you, Dan!

The homebrews we judged were also over the top. Almost everything scored in the high 30s and some reached the low 40s. Absolutely outstanding brews. You shoulda been there.

Unfortunately, I’m an utter numbnutz when it comes to WordPress. I have no idea how to insert a table and fill it with the tasting notes. So I’m going to just give you the highlights here. Maybe someone who knows WordPress can fix this for me later.

  • American Wheat with Mosaic hops, brewed by Pastry Dan, scored 37. Melon and juicy fruit aromas. Well-attenuated. Mouth-filling. Much more interesting than your standard American wheat. A very yummy, drinkable beer.
  • Witbier, brewed by Pastry Dan, scored 30. Phenolic, grainy aroma. Lots of coriander in flavor. Dry finish. Bottle was a gusher which stirred up the yeast. Dan says other bottles have been better.
  • Biere de table, brewed by Pastry Dan, scored 40. Second runnings of the wit. Clean, bright, fresh nose full of noble hops. Lemony flavor. Clean, quick finish. 3% abv. Very drinkable.
  • Flanders Red with mulberries, brewed by Handy Andy, scored 42. Outstanding Flanders red base with a strong sour nose and balanced dry finish. Perfect acetic/lactic balance. Mulberries evident in aroma and flavor. Mmmmmmm.
  • Belgian Dubbel, brewed by Ted (I think, notes unclear), scored 32. Clovey, phenolic nose. Malty sweetness. Hints of licorice. Lacks carbonation.
  • American Stout, brewed by Colin, scored 35. Rich, dark, roasty, malty nose. Excellent malty sweetness up front. Could use a bit more hop bitterness in finish. Extremely flavorful.
  • Imperial Stout with coffee and cacao, brewed by Handy Andy, scored 34. Strong aged alcohol nose with some coffee and cacao. Port wine character in flavor. More of an old ale than an RIS. Flavorful but not to style. Perhaps has passed its prime.
  • Strawberry mead, brewed by Colin, scored 28. Aroma lacks honey florals, contains a bit of funk. Not much strawberry evident in aroma or flavor. Totally drinkable. Good first try at mead.

That’s all! I’m hoping Handy Andy has some photos we can post later.

 

SNERHC Entries Nearing 300 Mark

UPDATE: As of Sept 17, we have 332 paid entries. Not much room left!!

With 5 days left in the registration period, we are currently just shy of 300 entries for SNERHC.

This is an outstanding turnout. Thank you all!

Of course, it reinforces the need for MORE JUDGES. If you can help out with judging, please register now!

 

Homebrew Casting Call

I just received this in the mail. I have not vetted it. Just passing it along to you all.

Hello Underground Brewers of Connecticut,

I am a television producer with VPEtalent casting a new television concept alongside Original Media (producers of LA Ink, Comic Book Men, and Tatum Channing’s new series on A&E). You can find out more about us here at vpetalent.com and originalmedia.com.

Currently in development, the series will feature experts in the brewing and distilling world who create the best backyard alcohol. If you make the best hard cider out of your own home, then we are looking for you.

We are looking for the best of the best homebrewers and distillers to show off their skills as masters of homemade concoctions as well as follow their daily lives. We were wondering if you know of anyone in your club who fits this description or would be interested in this project.

The focus of our show will be presenting how our experts create alcohol as their passion and as well as their livelihood. If this has piqued your interest please feel free to respond to this email and I would be happy to discuss the project further. Or if you know someone who might be a great fit for this please forward this message along and we would be happy to speak with them as well.

I look forward to connecting with you at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Matt Drezdzon

SNERHC Entries Pass 150 Mark

*** UPDATE 9/10/14 ***

With 10 days left in the registration period, we currently have 225 paid entries in the system. That leave 150 open slots. There is still room for yours!!!

 

We registered more than 150 SNERHC entries in the first 24 hours, more than 1/3 of the slots available. Woot!