Hey LCB members and friends,

 We had an exciting club meeting once again with Fruit Themed homebrew and cheese as the food theme for April. We had a vote on club equipment as you may already know. We decided as a club to purchase hardware for the club Jockey box. This will be a good addition for when the club is on the road sharing our homebrew. The second piece of equipment will be a large capacity(at least 10 gal) oak barrel for aging club beer. This will passed from a ‘team’ who brews when the beer is bottle to another small group of club members to fill with new beer and create a complex essence. It should be fun to taste the complexity the wood adds and we may get spirals to keep the oak infusion after multiple uses.

 The fruit enhanced beers were shared and there were many other non-fruit options for tasting as well.  I especially enjoyed the 12 yr old mead Lee carpenter shared which had starfruit in among other things! There were great IPA’s like Steve Grisafi’s Chinugget and Alex Brubaker’s Harvest IPA along with Frank Melvin’s Grapefruit zest beer -scurvy and Steve Apat’s Scottish ale among many others. I brought Lychee Pale Ale, Pom Mead and Jeremiah Eastep had Peach Braggot to compare to mine in a side by side tasting.  We got to try  both Oaked and Cherry Zoigl Imperial Brown ales from approximately 1. 5 yrs ago.

There was an array of cheeses including brie, aged gouda, stilton w/ blueberries and blue. Michelle Elscheid -Newsletter editor brought raspberry cheesecake and Frank Melvin contributed a fruit/cheese pizza. There were mentions of volunteering for Mt Hope festival as stewards – point of Contact: Mike Knaub. The Club trash pick up on Dry Tavern Rd will Take place May 2 as well as Mr. Steve’s Grand Opening at the new location.  The May picnic scheduled for Memorial day weekend so there is plenty going on. As always we welcome new members and had some visitors this month-hope to see you again!

Matt -vp

The thread for the club barrel project is up at Lancaster county brewers Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=43922861713&topic=7874

Here is a link to the visual documentation of the blending: http://www.facebook.com/n/?photo.php&pid=30159218&op=1&view=all&subj=1498987125&id=1005255539&mid=61c24bG5958ba75G53c379G5

Matt -VP

2nd Annual Big Beer Homebrew Competition
Great Divide Brewing Company of Denver, Colorado is hosting its Second
Annual Big Beer Homebrew Competition.  Great Divide employees will be
judging the entries based on appearance, body, aroma, taste, and overall
drinkability.  Official awards ceremony will take place on Friday, June 5^th,
2009 at 6:00 pm in the Great Divide Tap Room.
Prizes will be awarded for first, second, and third place.  The brewers of
all three winning beers will receive an official certificate of merit as
well as their choice of any one case of Great Divide beer.  First and second
place brewers will be awarded a fifty-dollar gift certificate
redeemable in the Great Divide taproom for merchandise or beer.  The brewer
of the first place entry will also be given the opportunity to assist in the
brewing of one 50-barrel batch of Great Divide beer.

Official Rules and Regulations:
-        Entries must be delivered in person to Great Divide Brewing Company.
-        Entries must be at least 8% alcohol by volume.
-        Entries must be in 12- or 22-oz. bottles with hand-written
         labels attached by rubber band or tape.
-        Information on labels must include brewer’s name, beer style, and percent
         alcohol by volume.
-        Four full 12-oz. or two 22-oz. bottles are required for judging.
-        There are no style limitations.
-        Original recipes only.
-        Recipes may be extract, partial mash, or all grain.
-        Beer cannot be brewed using any commercial brewing equipment, or in any
         facility in which beer is commercially brewed.
-        Brewers must be at least 21 years of age.
-        Entries are limited to one per person.
-        Each entry may have only one official brewer.
-        Entries must be received between 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm Monday through
         Saturday, from Monday, May 4^th, 2009 to Saturday, May 30^th, 2009.

Come to Lancaster Brewing Company @ 7 pm on April 29  and share you home brewed fruit beers. I look forward to trying your home brewed beers and discovering the wide array of methods of adding fruit flavors to your beer.  

Did you use fresh fruit, puree, or extract? When did you add the fruit? How did you sanitize the fresh fruit? I hope these are some of the questions that I hear being asked at the meeting.  I know I have had some good fruit beers from club members before and look forward to trying some new ones.

Please bring your favorite cheese or cheese creations. I know we have a lot of cheese lovers and accomplished cooks in the club, and i look forward to trying your creations.

Pres.  ADB

Hey everyone, your VP here. Just a couple of comments about March’s meeting. We had the Pale Ale theme and many great beers were tasted. We also brought back the food theme and tasted some Chorizo chile made by Mike Knaub and Pale ale cheese dip made with my homebrewed pale and roasted garlic were tasted. Some new faces John Van Harskamp and his brother Phil Billoni for example as well as old friends like Paul Pendyck. The Lancaster Brewing company challenge deadline of March 31st was mentioned and Philly train trip on Apr 4th. The T shirts and glassware are still in the works, stay tuned for April. A representative of Swashbuckler was on hand to announce the Mt Hope Brewfest and request help for their homebrew competition there in May.

 Alex mentioned the Presidential brewday at his house once a month for group brews. The barrel project is still being worked on and submissions for the newsletter have been requested. The email list is being cleaned up so if you want to stay on the contact list send your email to lancasterbrewers@gmail.com w/ club contacts in the subject. Look forward to April when we will taste some Fruit beer. Check out the pictures of March’s meeting here http://www.facebook.com/n/?photo.php&pid=30129609&op=1&view=all&subj=1498987125&id=1005255539&mid=35f6daG5958ba75G3ff069G5

Here are the beer themes for the upcoming year. Hopefully members will be able to brew these beers for the meetings. I look forward to the coming year.

March- Pale Ales Food- Onions and Garlic
April- Fruit Beers
May- German Wheat Beers
June- German Ales(Kolsch, Altbier/Doppelsticke)
July- Pils/Helles/Cream Ale/Golden Ales
August- Saison, Witbiers
Sept- Spiced/Vegetable Beers
Oct.- Brown Ales
Nov.- Hoppy Beers(Focus on beers made with homegrown hops)
Dec.- Belgian Strong Ales, Dubbel, Tripel
Jan.- Stouts/Schwarzbier
Feb.- Amber Ales

Food themes will follow.

Pres.

Bring homebrewed or commercial Pale Ales. I look forward to trying many hoppy, yeasty, malty and unique pale ales.

Also we are bringing back the monthly food theme. This provides another opportunity to showcase your talents. I look forward to some bad breath.

Pres.