Blow off from the Prez
Well, it is official! Entries for the 16th Commander SAAZ Interplanetary Homebrew Blastoff (CSIHB) are being accepted! While I can tell you it has been slightly chaotic preparing for such an event, Dani and the rest of our officers have put together a list of events that will knock your Solid Rocket Boosters off! Make sure to check out the entry information, rules, and schedule of events later in the newsletter.
Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be at Chet and Sonya Spark’s house in Titusville. We will be getting there early to sort the approximately 1200 or more bottles of beer, but we hope to be done at 2pm so we can start the regular meeting. Let me know if you are interested in coming early to help sort, we will need about 7 people to help.
There has been a lot going on at several of the local beer establishments. I will try to summarize a few of the ones I attended. The Rep from Sierra Nevada was at Florida Wine and Spirits this past month and sampled some great beers. They just released the third in their series of 30th anniversary beers as well as Tumbler, a slightly smokey brown ale. Sunseed had a Stone beer and cheese pairing that was great. Rumor is, he was able to get a few bottles of the 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. Most recently was Bluepoint night at WOB. Hoptical Illusion, Rastafa Rye, American Pale ale, and 10th Anniversary IPA were just a few of the special drafts they had.
Enjoy reading on and get ready for Commander SAAZ Interplanetary Homebrew Blastoff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers
Sean
Next Meeting
This month’s meeting will be held at Chet and Sonya Spark’s.
2945 Dairy Rd
Titusville, FL 32796
Notes on the meeting:
The educational topic will be on stewarding, for those interested in helping with CSIHB
Commander SAAZ Interplanetary Homebrew Blastoff
The Commander Wants You!
To enter your homebrew in the 16th annual
Commander SAAZ Interplanetary Homebrew Blastoff
The entry window opens on September 1st and slams shut on September 15th. As in years past we will be conducting two weekends of pre-judging at Chet Spark’s home in Titusville on September 25-26 and October 2-3 (if needed).
Final judging, the Splashdown Party and awards ceremony will be held the weekend of October 8-9 at the International Palms Resort and Conference Center in Cocoa Beach (formerly the Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach). Rooms are available Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights for $79.99 (a really great rate for a beach front hotel!) Just call the reservation line at 321-392-1647 and mention code HBC. In addition to the standard rooms the International Palms also has the following rooms available using the same code:
- Kid’s Suites – $89.99 + Tax
- Ocean View Standard – $109.99 + Tax
- Villas – $129.99 + Tax
- Oceanfront Suites and Lofts – $149.99 + Tax
This rate is only good until September 15th so don’t wait too long!
Winners receive not only intergalactic recognition but the coveted Commander SAAZ Medal and a fabulous prize from one of our generous sponsors. The best of show beer and mead/cider winners will also be awarded the Commander’s Cosmic Trophy and the acclaim of the known brewing universe. Whoever sends the Commander into orbit with their Rocket Fuel (10% abv and above) will also receive the coveted Rocket trophy that doubles as the coolest tap handle in the solar system!!!
CSIHB is the second to last completion in the Florida circuit. As a qualifier for the Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing first place winners in MCAB categories (see http://hbd.org/mcab for details) will be eligible for the MCAB XIII competition. Additionally this year Commander SAAZ is a qualifying event for the 2011 Mazer Cup International Home Mead Makers Competition (http://www.mazercup.com/index.htm). This means that the gold medal winning meads from Commander SAAZ will be inserted directly into the second round at the MCI! So now Commander SAAZ is a qualifying competition to both the most prestigious beer and mead events in the country!
So, all you mild mannered homebrewers out there get your kettles boiling and unearth those bottles you’ve got stashed in the back of the fridge! Engineers, rocket scientists, and other cosmic creatures are ready and waiting to judge your brew.
For entry details, rules, regulations, and other minutia check out the SAAZ webpage
Questions, comments and accolades only to:
Dani Exline
SAAZ 1st Vice & Commander SAAZ Chair
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Directions to Chet’s Home
I-95 Directions
Take I-95 toward Titusville (This should be North for most of our members). Get off at Exit 220 (SR 406 or Garden Street) and turn right. At the first stoplight (Singleton) take a left and follow it for about a mile and a half to the next stop light and then turn right onto Dairy Road. Chet’s house is a brown brick about half a mile down on the right hand side (2945 Dairy Rd.)
US-1 Directions
Assuming you are coming from south Brevard, take US-1 north to Titusville. Drive all the way through Titusville. You will pass Searstown mall, Miracle City Mall, and Garden street (SR 406). Keep going until you see Parrish Hospital on your right hand side. The next light past the hospital is Dairy road. Take a left onto Dairy and follow it to the first light (Old Dixie Hwy). From here stay on Dairy for another half mile and you will see Chet’s house on the left. It’s a brown brick house and the address is 2945 Dairy Rd.
Chet asks that we all park in the back until it’s full. Then the overflow can go out front. There is a small fenced area between the house and the pool. Please keep the gates closed so that none of the guests, or the dogs, escape. If anyone has trouble finding it call Chet at 750-1116.
Dues:
Individual Membership = $15
Couple’s Membership = $25
Lifetime Membership = $150
Dues can be paid to the Treasurer at any club meeting or online at www.saaz.org via PayPal (it’s on the right side of the homepage!)
You don’t want to miss out on the benefits of membership!
Raffle
Do you have some homebrew supplies that you don’t use anymore? Maybe you upgraded or maybe you prefer another product? Consider bringing your dusty supplies to the next meeting for the raffle. We have brewers of all experience levels, so I am sure we can put any brewing supplies to use!
September Birthdays
Harry Elkins
Josh Landin
Marian Schrandt
Ken Schrandt
Local events
Broken Barrel
Broken Barrel Oktoberfest will be Oct 8th & 9th this year, so hold on to your seats while they try to finish booking some of the bands from out of the area and see if they can’t get a Gravity Fed Wooden cask shipped in time again.
Florida Wine and Spirits
Friday, September 10th 4-7 PM Wine Tasting
Peter Brum Wine Tasting (Viera Store)
Jenny Kriete from Focus Wines will be here sampling an array of fantastic German Wines for you taste including:
-Peter Brum Gold Sparkler- A bubbly wine with actual gold in it!
-Peter Brum Bacchus- A delicate and wonderful Riesling blend!
-Peter Brum “Dry” Riesling- Yes a great dry German Riesling!
-Peter Brum Vino Noire- Slightly sweet and full of cherry flavors!
-Peter Brum Pinot Noir- A clean and crisp Pinot with a bright acidity!
This event is free of charge so swing by for an early evening tasting to kick off your weekend the right way!
Saturday, September 18th 2-4 PM Wine Tasting
Saturday Sip & Shop Wine Tasting (Viera Store)
We will have a few wines open for you to taste while you shop with one of our wine experts available to answer any questions you might have. This tasting is free of charge so stop by any time during those two hours and taste some great wines!
Wednesday, September 22nd 7-9 PM Wine Class
(Please note the date change)
Wine 101:Wine Making (Viera Store)
$20 Per Person & $15 for Wine Club Members
This is one class you do not want to miss! We will be covering everything you want to know about wine from grape to glass. This class will be an intensive broken up in to two separate parts with Chris covering the first half, the farming aspect of it all. We will have a special guest covering what happens once the grapes are harvested, the actual winemaking process. Our guest will be the former wine maker for King Estate in Oregon, Russ Keaten-Reed. He is a wealth of knowledge and will be able to answer any questions you will have.
As always we will have wine for you to taste along the way and some light appetizers as well. Make sure to RSVP quickly as this class will sell out rapidly. There are only 20 seats available and 10 are already taken so call us soon!
Don’t forget about the Wine Club!!
Come on in the store and sign up for only $29.99 a month and receive
– 2 Bottles of wine at a value always over $30
– Write ups of each wine of the month complete with food pairing suggestions
– Loyalty points towards in store rebates
– Discounted admission to all wine classes and certain Special Events!
– Exclusive invitations to special events and a monthly Pick Up Party Wine Tasting!
WOB
Sunday September 5th is time to thank all the customers. Stop by WOB, grab a beer and have some free barbecue. The fun starts at 2 pm till the food is gone. Also, Tom Moench of Orange Blossom Pilsner will be there for a meet and greet that afternoon. Don’t miss this opportunity to have a brew with a brew master.
Cocoa Beach Brewing Company
Well it is September and that means Oktoberfest time, Yea it is really in September. So look for the Oktoberfest at the Brewery the last weekend of the month. There will be German food and CBBC own Oktoberfest beer.
Sunseed Food Co-op
Not much going on at the Co-op this month except great new beers, but keep checking back or join our Facebook page for all the newest beer info for the the Store.
***Beer News Beer News Beer News***
New Beers in Florida
Check out the new or limited releases now available.
Well again it is now September so that means it is Pumpkin beer time. It makes no sense to me why they keep coming out earlier every year but they have arrived. So look for them: Shipyard Pumpkin head, DFH Punkin, Terrapin Pumpkin Fest, Southampton Pumpkin, and coming real soon Hoppin Frog Frogg Hollow.
So if you do not like Pumpkin much there is still great beers for you:
Sierra Nevada Tumbler a slightly smokey fall brown ale
Ommegang Zuur a Flemish Sour
Huliva Porter from Finland and
DFH Barton Baton is Back!!!
Education
Humulus Lupulus (hops) are the flowering cone of a perennial vining plant and a cousin of the cannabis variety (sorry no THC in this stuff) that typically thrives in climates similar to the ones that grapes do. Hop plants are dioecious, meaning the males and females flower on separate plants — and the female cones are used in the brewing process. Hops are the age old seasoning of the beer, the liquid gargoyles who ward-off spoilage from wild bacteria and bringers of balance to sweet malts. They also lend a hand in head retention, help to clear beer (acting as a natural filter) and please the palate by imparting their unique characters and flavours. Basically, hops put the “bitter” in beer.
- Varieties
Hop varieties are often associated with particular beer styles; in fact, some styles are virtually defined by their hop character. British ales are normally associated with native hop varieties (East Kent Goldings, Northern Brewer, and Fuggles, for example), and most are expected to embody the characteristic flavor and aroma attributes associated with these hop varieties.
Continental styles, particularly the more hop-oriented ones, are also often associated with more local Continental hop varieties. Bohemian Pilseners, for example, are partially defined by the characteristic spicy Saaz aroma and flavor. On the other hand, German Pilseners are more usually associated with German hop varieties, such as Tettnanger, Hallertauer Mittelfruh, and Spalt. Altbiers, although often subdued in hop aroma and flavor, are also normally associated with the bitterness attributes that arise from the use of low-alpha (“aroma”) hops. Even the less hop-accented styles, such as bock or Oktoberfest, benefit from the additional flavor complexity that the judicious use of Continental low-alpha hop varieties provides.
American styles, especially such hoppy examples as American pale ale and American brown ale, benefit greatly from the floral, citrusy character of the dominant American varieties such as Cascades, Centennial, Columbus or Chinook. In fact, it is often the hop character that sets these styles apart from their European prototypes.
It is important to note that the region of cultivation is as important as the hop variety in determining the character of the crop. Classic European hop varieties grown under a different climate in the United States exhibit different characteristics than the same varieties grown on European soil. Therefore, the place of origin is every bit as important as the genealogy when selecting the appropriate hop variety for a particular application.