Meeting held at the My Father’s place restaurant in Oneonta with (20) HOPS Members in attendance.
Many orders of business were discussed including:
Many orders of business were discussed including:
- The following are upcoming club events scheduled over the next few months:
- January 30 - Saturday – A trip to Awestruck cidery’s open house is scheduled. Anyone interested should meet at the Price Chopper parking lot at 11:00 a.m. for carpooling.
- January 31 - Sunday – Big Brew Day 5 at Council Rock starting at 8:00 a.m. – Already have full complement of ten brewers signed up (Todd, Matt, Frank, Wes, Chris 1, Chris 2, Nate, Brian, Steve, and Jim) as will be making a Brown Ale. Bring brewing bucket/carboy, yeast, and $20 for grains.
- March 20 – Saturday - There will be a HOPS BBQ on Saturday, March 20 (instead of the usual third Friday March meeting) starting at 11:30.
- April 2 – Saturday - HOPS will have a Big Brew Day/Teach-a-friend to brew day at Sweet Meadows. More details to follow.
- April 24 – Sunday – HOPS will join the Binghamton Brew Works bus to go to TAP NY beer festival at Hunter Mountain. Tickets are limited, so buy yours soon at www.bingbrew.com
- May 22 – Sunday – The HOPS for Heroes competition/fund raiser for the Amputee Softball Team will take place at Council Rock.
- HOPS (32) ounce howlers are going to be ordered with club funds. Minimum order is (72) units. The howlers will be available for purchase by club members as well as at club events.
- The BJCP judge visit has been cancelled due to inaccuracy of the original offer from an alcohol induced exaggeration from one the Albany brew club members.
- Another successful Cut Throat Christmas was conducted with the beer mustards and Wiehenstephen glasses being most snatched.
- There were many interesting beers samples this meeting including:
- Had a return of the two hard root beers. Todd and Susan’s beer made with root beer extract, and Dale’s all natural Back in the Day version. Both were good experiments and quite different.
- Jim’s Can’t See the Light amber ale was a fine brown ale.
- Council Rock’s Scotch Ale, but with different yeasts. The WLP002 did not work well, but the WLP028 gave a good but different flavor compared to the on tap version that uses Nottingham yeast.
- Steve’s Holiday Ale from a Best Brew kit was spicy with some banana taste from a warm fermentation temperature.
- Bob’s Willow Creek Stout, and Willow Creek IPA, from his unique batch series were sampled. Note that Willow Creek brews are now available at the Rose and Kettle restaurant as well as select Taylor’s convenience stores.
- Matt’s immature Russian stout was very dark and malty. Would like to try this beer again after it has had time for aging.
- Matt’s Strong Golden Belgian ale from January 2014 was the most popular beer of the night.
- Dale made a Grapefruit Sculpin clone that was very grape-fruity.
- Council Rock’s Future Triple IPA – The beer is called Psychic Warfare, named after Clutch’s new album, as suggested by their drummer, who just so happens to be a friend of Council Rock consultant brewer Wes. It was an excellent IPA made with peppercorn infused candy sugar and tipped the scales at 100 IBUs. Do not miss this when it appears on tap sometime in the near future at Council Rock.
- Even had some wines this time from Stephanie as well as Steven. Wines were okay and may better with some aging.
- Also had an Apple Cider fermented with champagne yeast
- For a bonus beer, the club bought two bottles of fine Goose Island Bourbon County Stout for tasting amongst the group.
- The next meeting is to be held on the third Friday of the month on February 19, at 6:30 p.m. at a new location, Sixth Ward Athletic Club at 22 West Broadway in Oneonta. Tastings will include cereal beers made by some of the members.
