D.E.A.

I have several years of Zymurgy and Brew Your Own back issues that I need to dispose of. If anyone wants a wealth of brewing information in an instant.....all at the glorious price of FREE...let me know. I can give all to one or one to all. If no response, I will bring them to the September 7 meeting at the Armadillo Grill.

Ken Hilton

252-321-9201

Let us take time to take our hats off for Hams. That our beloved local brewpub has bitten the dust has even more bitterness for me as I no longer live in Greenville. As it turns out, Oklahoma doesn't even have the capability of sustaining such a place. It could have a brewpub. And I suppose it does have one with the Choc Beer people down in Krebs. But, the alcohol limit for beer brewed and consumed on premises in OK(unless you are a homebrewer, of course)is 4%ABV. With that kind of restriction, you might have a few people come out and look out of curiosity. But, it is a far cry from the things that T.L. used to put out. Think of this. Even the porter at Hams was 4.9%.

Oh well. I guess we still have the memories, sweet as they are.

Had a great time at the US Open. Judged Pilsners and Belgian Dark Strongs and tasted some very interesting brews. Took 2 blue ribbons....one for a Baltic Porter and another for a Flanders Red....both scored 44. Received my belated 2008 Carolinas MeadMaker of the Year award to top off a nice beer day. The best part, as always, is meeting old friends in the brewing community and sharing a sense of common purpose and comraderie.

OMB....Old Mecklenburg Brewery....hosted the event. We judged in the brewery itself. The tasting room was packed all afternoon with locals. With the help of US Open folks, we managed to suck one tap dry...the Mecklenburger...an amber lager. The Kolschner (kolsh-pilsner) and the Copper (alt) were pretty darn good as well. After one year, looks like OMB might be here to stay. No bottled beer...only kegged brews to restaurants/pubs. Met the owner/brewer.....really nice guy with a staff that is definitely customer oriented. Thanks!

But, the best discovery of the weekend was Mac's Speedshop....a converted motorcycle shop on South Blvd....that is the hottest cult BBQ place in Charlotte. We got the large sampler platter....smoked pulled-pork BBQ, barbecued chicken, St. Louis style ribs, and brisket. Four out of four folks we asked about where to go eat after the US Open all said Mac's. Everything was good....but the brisket was AWESOME!!

The latest creation, a black Saison, is in the fermenter bubbling away happily. This tongue in cheek brew is a quadrupel entendre beverage (of normal strength) created to honor the French-speaking southern region of Belgium with a black-hearted beverage. Belgium is famous for their unique Saison brews...not France. Belgium is famous for their lace.....not France. Belgium is famous for their "frenched" fries.....not France. Saison is light and refreshing.....not black. France is famous for their wines, so a bit of home-made French Merlot will be added in the secondary to simulate aging in a wine barrel. The yeast used is a Wyeast Private Collection French Saison...not Belgian.

On brew day, I played new age music on the back deck while brewing, hoping to infuse a bit of culture into the beer instead of confusion. As I settled in for a peaceful night's sleep, fermentation had not yet started. When I awoke, I discovered an exploded airlock and numerous new decorations on the ceiling, with the thick, goopy krausen coating the floor.

But, mon ami, it do taste good!!!

The Imperial Tripel cask aged ale will be released Thursday, April 29, starting at 4:00. I tasted some at the Wine & Stein Festival....it was wonderful. Do not miss this one.

Friday, as part of the BBQ festival in Kinston, there is a Burgers & Beer event. Ought to be fun as well. Let me know if anyone is interested.

Please note the changes for our meeting in April. On Tuesday, April 6 at 7:00, we will meet at Winslow's Tavern on 5th St. to take advantage of North Carolina beer night. Pete will try to arrange the meeting room for us.

The second meeting will be our regular meeting on Wednesday, April 7 at 7:00 at Ham's. Since we had a marvelous turnout at the Wine and Stein festival, we want to take advantage of attracting potential members to our meeting at Ham's.

See ya' there!!

Ken

Dues for the DEA....$20/year....are due now. Many of the members have already paid up at the last meeting. I have those...Ken, David, Leon, Dale, and Russ....and will get them to Brian for deposit to our account. Other members need to either pay Ken or Brian or bring the dues to the next Big Brew....next Sunday at Ken's...or bring to the next meeting at Winslow's Tavern on the first Monday of April. Thanks!! Ken

Yesterday we had a quick tour of the place.  For as big a biz as I thought they had the fermentation vessels seemed much smaller compared to DRCB, I was expecting larger.  Lots on tap to try, they said that all the beers were available.  They'd given a try at vegetable growing but are going to hire out that this year.  We heard the owner got a pickling license and is going to start that.  We were most excited to find out that they are now a meat market, brought home $70 worth of products they made on site: 3 kinds of brats, hot dogs, corned beef, salami, kielbasa and others.  They offer more but did not have it to sell.  The outdoor smell of fresh wort fermenting was nicely coupled with the indoor smell of the meat smoker.  In season they have a kitchen that serves meals. 

It strikes me as a nice place for lunch on the way to the outer banks or a nice place to pick up some good meat on the way home from the beach.  Location changed, but this changed our scenery for half the ride.

Our host was a pleasant homebrewer (former bartender) that had been there for a month.

Beers good, all I could buy (4) was in the 6%ABV range.  They still credit for the growlers.