Underground Brewers of Connecticut

Our September meeting was hosted by Aspetuck Brew Lab and its extraordinary brewer/owner, Peter Cowles.

Like many pros, Peter started out as a homebrewer. He was never a club member, but he came to our attention when he swept the board at SNERHC one year, winning medal after medal. He has continued winning awards at ABL, one of CT’s best breweries.

One award-winning recipe is his grisette, which was on tap Wednesday night. Your correspondent partook and can confirm that it deserves all the praise it has gotten. An outstanding brew.

Peter filled us in on the current state of the business which, unfortunately, includes near-daily price hikes for most inputs (cardboard packaging, cans, bottles, malt, etc.) and severe shortages of CO2. Small breweries use a lot of CO2 and he has seen his “bi-weekly” deliveries become much less frequent. It’s a tough time in the industry, for sure.

Attendance was strong, including some first-timers and some people we haven’t seen in a long time. Much homebrew was judged, most of it extremely good. Tasting notes:

• Cream Ale (Mara): Corn, lemon, and passionfruit. Extremely dry finish. Delicate and refreshing. Could use some bubbles but very drinkable. Mara said it was a mistake and was intended to be a bitter. 10/3/17/4/8 = 42
• Cream Ale (Dave and Andy): Floral hops and fruity esters. Tropical. Yummy. Out of style, though. Would score MUCH higher as a pale ale. Sat on 2lbs of limes near end of fermentation. 7/2/12/4/8 = 31
• American Amber (New Andy): Grapes and plums and lots of resin. Sweet up front with a super-dry finish. Needs more bubbles but super drinkable. Andy says it was supposed to be a pale ale. 9/2/16/3/7 = 37
• Weissbier (New Andy): Tons of banana, plenty of clove, a hint of alcohol and solvent and bubblegum. A bit thin and astringent, but dry and drinkable. Andy wonders if it was infected. 12/3/13/3/6 = 37
• Belgian Pale (Pierre): Brett and lots of it. Plum. Not hoppy enough. Bready, with an astringent, bitter finish. A little harsh. “Used to be a tripel as some point.” – Pierre. 5/1/12/3/4 = 25
• NEIPA (Dave and Andy): Bartlett pear, apple, mango, lemon. Clear. Damaged in packaging – looks and tastes vastly different out of the key. Not judged.
• Wheatwine (Andy T): Pine sap, maple syrup, warming alcohol, fruit and spice. “Tastes like a nice warm blanket.” – Pierre. Finishes dry. “Will mess you up.” – Pierre. Chewy and full-bodied. A yummy sipper. Should be served on nitro. Andy claims it is only 3 – 4 months old. 16%abv. 10/3/18/5/8 = 44
• RIS (Andy T): Dried dark fruit and treacle. Lots of contented sighs in the room. Roasty with caramel and tobacco. Very complex. Has legs in the glass. “That’s a quality product.” – Pierre. Flavor lingers forever. Andy claims 14%, continuously fed on the big stir plate. 10/3/20/5/10 = 48
• Oaked Orange Blossom Mead (Paul B-S): Lots of orange blossom, brown sugar, a little hot alcohol and vanilla. Flavor is more delicate than aroma, like a dry chenin blanc. No harshness at all. Finishes dry but flavor lingers forever. 7/6/17/8 = 38

Most of our meetings are about judging homebrew and suggesting ways to improve. We’re serious about this, which is why so many members are also BJCP judges. Helping each other make better beer is what we do.

But we do like to kick back once in a while too. Our annual summer picnic is one such occasion.

Pierre and Kim were our hosts again this year. The day was lovely, if a bit warm. Spouses and children came and made it a family affair. There was an abundance of delicious food and entirely too much beer to share.

One mark of a good party is that no one wants to leave. That was certainly the case this year. We sat and enjoyed each others’ company until the messages from home started arriving. Then we reluctantly packed up and headed home.

Pictures were taken, but I don’t have any at the moment. I’ll update this post with a selection when I can get copies.

Huge thanks to Pierre and Kim!

Our July meeting at Steve Victor’s house was a throwback in so many ways.

It was an old-fashioned “judging” meeting, where we tasted and gave feedback on each other’s beers, meads, and ciders.

It was in a member’s home (albeit on the back porch for covid safety). As tends to happen in member-hosted meetings, we got a tour of the brewing space and raided the host’s cellar.

It featured entirely too much food provided by the host, including a delicious chicken dish and a huge cheese board.

In short, Steve gave us a throwback to the old days. It felt good.

Thank you, Steve!

We tasted many homebrews over the course of the evening. Quality was, for the most part, exceptional. We’ve sometimes been accused of “grade inflation”, scoring things higher in meetings than we would at a competition. But, when pressed to identify a flaw or some other reason to lower a score, we never could. The offerings really were that good.

• NEIPA by Mara: Ripe tropical fruit, just a hint of solvent, very cloudy, tons of hop flavor, extremely drinkable. An experiment with dry-hopping (100% Citra) while bubbling CO2 through the fermenter. 9/3/16/2/8 = 39
• Saison by Paul H: Very fruity, somewhat peppery, not dry enough for style. Experiment with Cellar Science dry Saison yeast. 7/3/12/4/8 = 34
• Saison by Andy C: Citrus and spice, “ineffable saisoniness”, slight haze, tannic, drinkable. Mangrove Jack yeast and motueka hops, repitched on some wild bugs. 10/2/14/4/8 = 38
• Belgian Strong Golden by Andy T: Aroma quite subtle, very dry finish makes it crazy drinkable, undercarbed but delicious. “Mistake” beer – was supposed to be a single but ended up at 8.5% abv. 10/2/18/4/9 = 43
• Irish Stout by Andy T: Chocolate, coffee, hint of cinnamon, clean and dry and very drinkable. Much “bigger” than Guinness, but that’s okay. 9/3/18/5/9 = 44
• Lemon-Ginger Hydromel by Steve: Assertive lemon and ginger, florals not lost, clean with high acidity and just a little tannin, refreshing and beautiful. Made with the honey he won at SNERHC. 9/22/6/9 = 46
• New World Cider by Andy C. Presented for feedback but not for scoring. Made from apples grown by Thrall family. Acidic and flavorful, just off-dry, very drinkable. Would be perfect with a little tannin and some bubbles.
• New World Cider by Andy T. Lots of apple, sweet, perfumy, super dry finish, drinks like a dry white wine, only flaw is some acetone in the aroma. Very drinkable. 5/19/6/8 = 38
• New World Cider by Steve. Malolactic character, phenolic, absolutely delicious but doesn’t quite fit any of the BJCP styles. 8/20/6/8 = 42
• Cider with Cherries and Brett by Steve. Very complex, with lots of different flavors in balance: cherries, apples, Brett, graham crackers. Dry finish makes it super drinkable despite complexity. Yum. 8/20/6/9 = 43

No one remembered to take pictures, alas.

Our June 2022 meeting was at Brewport Brewing Company in Bridgeport, CT. Attendance was sparse; summer activities and sick kids were a distraction for too many members. This was a real shame because our host was Jeff Browning, the premier historian of brewing in Connecticut over the last 200 years.

Jeff has two books coming out, both written in collaboration with Dr. Terry Foster. You may have heard of Dr. Foster through his “Porter” book or through his writings in Brew Your Own, Zymurgy, and other national magazines. You may not know that he has published over a dozen other books, including a homebrewers’ guide which pre-dated Papazian’s.

Jeff and Terry have complementary skills. Jeff collects voraciously: artifacts, stories, people, everything. Terry methodically collates and codifies, meticulously cross-referencing everything and following up on loose ends. Starting with a rich trove of hand-written brewing logs spanning decades of commercial brewing history, they have fleshed out the story of brewing in and around Bridgeport from the late 1800s through and beyond Prohibition.

In the process, Jeff and Terry have debunked a number of myths about old beer styles, brewing processes, ingredients, and people. They have recreated a number of historical recipes and can defend their accuracy. Jeff allowed us to sample two of them – a cream ale and a lager – and spoke about how they are two very different beers made from essentially the same grain bill.

Jeff’s talk was, simply, the most informative brewing-related talk I’ve ever listened to. None of us wanted it to end. We immediately resolved to gather a much larger group, perhaps in combination with other brew clubs, to hear a talk by Terry Foster too.

In the meantime, we look forward to the new books. If they are half as interesting as Jeff’s talk, we will all want copies.

Thank you Jeff!

May 7, 2022 was Big Brew Day, an annual event sponsored by the AHA.

SpaceCat Brewing of Norwalk had graciously offered us their side yard space in which to gather and celebrate BBD by brewing numerous batches of homebrew. They also offered us water, electricity, and access to the tap room before official opening.

The day dawned cold and raw, with forecasts of driving rain and strong wind gusts. Not great weather for brewing outside. Could that deter us? No way!

An intrepid crew of brewers braved the elements to brew 4 batches of beer using a wide variety of equipment and procedures. We set up pop-up tents to keep the worst of the rain off and weighted them down against the wind gusts. Jeff and the rest of the SpaceCat crew jumped in to help whenever we realized we’d forgotten some critical ingredient or piece of equipment.

There was hot coffee, cold beer from SpaceCat, homebrew samples from members new and old, and lots of baked goods. It was a good time.

We had handouts. But no non-brewers showed much interest in the idiots standing in the rain.

The pop-ups kept us somewhat dry.

Somewhat. A river still ran through it.

Rosie the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog was our official mascot.

Just as we were about to pack up the cars, a band of very heavy rain came through. We retreated to the tap room until it passed.

Huge thanks to SpaceCat! And to Andy Cox for organizing the entire event.

After a somewhat weak showing at SNERHC, there were rumors that the Underground Brewers had lost their mojo. Were we no longer the brewers we thought we were?

Nope. We’re good.

Better than good, as a matter of fact. We’re DAMN good.

Greg Radawich host the first annual New England Brewing Company Homebrew Competition on April 23. An all-star panel of judges, both BJCP and and professional (many were both) evaluated 120 beers from as far away as Texas.

“All-star” is not hyperbole. The outpouring of support for Greg was exceptional. Judges from the BJCP’s highest ranks were there, as were brewers from some of the country’s best craft breweries.

And the UBC romped! An excellent showing.

Yeah. We can still bring it.

https://reggiebeer.com/ReggieWeb.php?Web=1000700

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.

For our March meeting, we were able to return to our roots, in more ways than one.

We did meet in February. In person. A wonderful evening at Spacecat Brewing. There was Spacecat beer and there was homebrew and there was face-to-face talk. An excellent time. Many thanks to the Spacecat folks for being such generous hosts.

Where are the meeting notes? Well, we were so rusty after 2 years of Zooming that we totally fell down on the blind judging and note-taking. Not completely unexpected that we’d screw up a little. We’ve been out of practice a long time.

For March, our gracious host was Phil Markowski, in the Area Two building at Two Roads. And this is one way we went back to our roots. Phil joined the Underground Brewers in 1985, when our founder, Pat Baker, was still in charge and Phil was just a homebrewer. He is a direct link to our earlier self.

Phil gave us an extensive tour of Area Two, including the barrel rooms, the pilot brewhouse, the distillery, the classroom area that Sacred Heart University uses, and the coolship. He patiently answered a zillion questions and sampled our homebrew. Thank you, Phil!

After the tour came the judging. Real judging. Blind judging. With notes and scores. Just like the old days. Back to our roots for real. (And Phil had stories about how judging was done back in 1985, before the whole BJCP thing had gotten worked out.)

Somewhere in the pictures below, you see one of an ancient guy who really needs to rethink his facial hair pouring homebrew into teeny glasses. It’s what we do. It’s what we’ve always done. It felt good.

Judging notes:

• Munich Helles (Paul H): Green apple aroma, too sweet, somewhat astringent, stale? 4/3/10/3/4 = 24
• IPL (Andy C): Needs more malt in aroma and a little more bitterness in the finsh. But very drinkable. 8/3/12/4/7 = 34
• Best Bitter (Pierre and Steve): Dank, light-struck?, too dry – impacts drinkability. 7/2/10/3/4 = 26
• Weissbier (Caysey): Excellent example of the style. Extremely drinkable. 10/3/15/5/8 = 41
• Rye Farmhouse (Justin): Complex and fruity. Chewy and viscous. Delicious. 10/3/14/4/7 = 38
• New World Cider (Steve): Nice fruit presentation, fantastic tannic finish, incredibly drinkable. 4/6/18/8 = 36
• American Porter (Paul H): Complex malty aroma, but too sweet. Needs more hop bitterness. Creamy. Drinkable. 11/3/13/4/7 = 38
• American Wild with Tropical Fruit (Andy T): Voluptuous aroma, some Cheerios in the flavor. Fun and flavorful. 10/3/12/5/7 = 37
• Blueberry Cyser (Paul B): Aroma a bit hot and phenolic, flavor is perfectly balanced across all axes, delicious and drinkable. 7/6/18/7 = 38