September 19th, 2017

September 2017 HOPS Brew Club Meeting Notes

September HOPS Brew Club Meeting Minutes
Meeting was held at American Legion in Oneonta on 9/15/17 at 6:30pm.
8 members in attendance
Discussion topics:

1. As a reminder, next month’s beer style is going to be Octoberfest/Marzen. Also as a reminder, here is a list of the beer styles for the new few months:
   1. October: Octoberfest/Marzen.
   2. November: Doppelbock.
   3. December: Christmas/Seasonal/Winter.
   4. January: American Barleywine.
   5. February: Cereal Beer.
   6. March: Irish Stout.

We are still soliciting ideas for the subsequent months. Here are a few styles that were tossed around at the meeting: Gluten Free; Berliner Weisse; Porter; Cider/Mead. Any additional style ideas are welcome.

1. The visit to the Hartwick Center for Craft Food and Beverage will be on October 27th at 6:30pm. Details on location will be sent out as we get closer to the date. The cost for each member will be $10 with the club picking up the remainder of the bill. Now that there is a date set in stone, we need everyone that wants to attend to reply to this minutes email to confirming. There are a limited number of slots available for this event so we’d hate to see someone wait until the last minute.  
2. We again discussed the topics that members would like to know more about in regards to everything fermented. Chris H. mentioned that he would like to have people volunteer to do these topic presentations instead of asking someone to do it. Can we get a list of these topics together and put out another email to see if people want to do it? I left this in from last time even though we didn’t discuss it much. If we want to pursue this, I suggest we get something out there for the members to see and then discuss it again at the next meeting to “assign” some things to the members.
3. A few upcoming festivals were discussed:
   1. Sudsy Brews and Fiery Foods beer festival will be held again in Binghamton on September 23rd, from 2-5pm. More information and tickets can be found at   http://www.ctandi.org/events/2016/10/8/sudsy-brews-fiery-foods-fest.
   2. Cooperstown on Tap is returning to Cooperstown on October 7th, 5-8pm (4-8 for VIP tickets). There is a $10 off promo code (10OFF) that can be used on the www.CooperstownOnTap.com website for those interested in attending.
   3. Also on October 7th and going into the 8th, there will be a cider festival in Hunter, NY aptly named “Cider in the Mountains”. More information and tickets can be found at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cider-in-the-mountains-tickets-37256543324
   4. Pumpkin Something Throwdown will be held on October 29th from 1-2:30pm at the Farmhouse Brewery in Owego, NY. Mike Duheme, with the help of some fellow brewers, concocted a pumpkin beer for this event. Come on down and show the support! More information can be found at http://www.thefarmhousebrewery.com/events/m2rybswz24bsebkk7b49jkkm98237r
4. Beers (a-e were the Beer of the Month; Belgian Blonde). Feel free to add any other comments to make these sound better.
   1. Commercial example: Leffe Blonde. While nothing spectacular, this meets all of the BJCP guidelines for the style. The better of the two commercial examples by far.
   2. Commercial example: Troubodour Blonde. Had an old European malt flavor going on. Not as much yeast flavors coming through compared to the Leffe.
   3. Chris C’s Belgian Blonde. Malts dissipate quickly leaving a lingering alcohol aftertaste. Not unpleasant though. Most likely due to the addition of turbinado sugar. Nose was on point.
   4. Pete’s Belgian Blonde. Highly carbonated with very pronounced Belgian yeast characters. Same lingering alcohol aftertaste though as Chris C’s…once again likely due to the addition of raw sugar in the recipe.
   5. Matt’s Belgian Strong Ale. Second attempt at this recipe, but first attempt going all grain. Also highly carbonated. Has some aging to do, but Matt hinted at possibly doing a subsequent fermentation to try and knock out some of the residual sugars left in the mix.
   6. Mike brought an Octoberfest from Stump City Brewing out of Gloversville, NY. Somewhat lacking in the “crisp” character expected from an Octoberfest but for a brewery that is less than a year old we have high hopes.
   7. Wes’s Brown Ale. This brown has a lot going on in it. Cinnamon, baking cocoa, whole cloves just to name a few ingredients. It was thought that maybe the combination of all of these may have “muddied the waters” as far as the flavor profile goes.
   8. Jesse’s Dunkel. A darn good beer. Props to Jesse for roasting his own grains for this recipe.
   9. Chris and Frank’s take on Ommegeddon. While we won’t go into details here on how it was made, it will be interesting to see how the Brett yeast changes this beer over the next few months/years.
   10. Chris and Frank’s Cherry / Pomegranate Wine. Pomegranate tartness is prominent. Also has some Brett added to it which should settle out nicely over the next few months.
   11. Matt brought two beers back from his excursion out west a few weeks ago. Both beers were from Central Waters Brewing Company in Amherst, WI. First one was an IPA called Rift; Second one was a Porter called Mudpuppy. Decent beers overall.
5. Next month’s meeting will be held on Friday, October 20th at 6:30 p.m. at a to be announced location.