DC Homebrewers

Dear Brewers,

The results are in! The winners of the 2012 DC Homebrewers | Sam Adams | DC101 | myLHSB Homebrew Competition are…

First Place: Dan Bremer with his “Thrash Bagwell’s Irish Need Not Apply Red Ale” (trip for two to Oktoberfest in Munich)

Second Place: Danny Holloway with the “Double Decocted Dunkel” (Kegerator with custom tap handle)

Third Place: Joe Bump with the “Bompasse Porter” (two tickets to SAVOR)

Miss Congeniality: Elizabeth Hartman with her “Belgian-style Triple” ($150)

Saturday at RFD was the culmination of countless hours of brewing, planning, judging and drinking homebrew. With 79 total entries, the competition was fierce. In the end, the judges had their work cut out for them.

Many, many thanks to everyone who entered, the judges, Sam Adams for the prizes, DC101 for all the publicity, and Derek at myLHBS for giving away tons of homebrew kits and gift certificates. The competition would not have been possible without them.

If you entered and would like to see your judges sheets, they’ll be available for pickup again at the May meeting (email to follow).

Best,
Joshua Hubner

Our next monthly meeting will be hosted by the Black Squirrel in Adams Morgan on Wednesday April 25th starting at 7pm.

Here’s a map: http://g.co/maps/ax2e8 and website: http://www.blacksquirreldc.com/

The good folks at the Black Squirrel will set up multiple bins with ice to keep our homebrews cold the whole night. The meeting is open forum – just bring whatever homebrew you want to share. Please try to label your beers before the meeting! Also, we’ll have name tags for everyone to ID themselves and the beers they bring.

For those new to our meetings: attendees bring a few bottles of homebrew to share, and we socialized and discuss all things beer and brewing. If you don’t have any homebrew to bring, or are new to brewing, please come and see what we are about and help us drink beer!

The Black Squirrel will also have happy hour specials and some special beers available just for us for purchase, so don’t be shy about showing up early. Unlike regular monthly meetings, please do not bring craft brew or food to the Black Squirrel - they have that part covered (just remember to tip your servers)! We’ll also have a special announcement about some upcoming events.

Well be in the basement bar, and there will be AC running! I hope to see you there.

COMPETITION: Finalists for the 2012 Sam Adams – DC101 – myLHBS Homebrew competition will be announced tonight via email! The main event will be held this Saturday, April 28th at RFD (http://www.lovethebeer.com/index.html) from 2-4pm. Finalists will get details about serving their beer to the public via email. The event is open to the public, so everyone is invited to come sample the finalists’ beers as they compete for the grand prize trip to Munich for Oktoberfest. Good luck.

Cheers!

Joshua Hubner

Competition Entry Form

Want to win an all expenses paid trip to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany this fall? All you have to do is get brewing! Seriously.

We are coming up quickly upon the 2nd Annual Homebrew Competition sponsored by Sam Adams | DC 101 | DC Homebrewers Club and Derek at myLHBS!

The competition will be held at RFD on Saturday April 28^th—that’s just five weeks away, but sooner than you think!

How to Enter:

-Fill out the entry form above and email it to joshua.hubner@gmail.com no later than Thursday, April 12^th, 2012 at 11:59pm. 

-This is a “best in show” competition with 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place overall winners, in addition to a crowd favorite. The judging guidelines are for appearance, aroma, flavor, mouthfeel and overall impressions.

-You may enter up to two (2) different beers into the competition, as long as each entry complies with the rules of this competition.

-Drop off three (3) unmarked and unlabeled 12oz bottles of each of your competition beer(s) to MyLHBS located at 6201 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA (www.myLHBS.com, 703-241-3874). All entries must be received by 5pm on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at myLHBS. You must attach a copy of your entry form to your three bottles (rubber bands are preferable).

-For every entry in the competition, you must agree to set aside one full case (24-12oz bottles, 12-22oz bottles or a 2.5gal keg) of that beer. The 15 entries that make it to the final round judging will participate in the RFD event on April 28^th and will serve their case of beer to the public.

-A 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winner will be announced at the competition on April 28^th, along with a winner for the crowd favorite.

Other Rules:

-All beers entered must be brewed by you at home, i.e., no beers brewed on professional equipment and/or “brew on premise” breweries.

-You must commit to serving a full case at the final round competition – think about it as a great way to get feedback on your beers from the public.

-If you make it to the final round, you will have the option to provide an additional 6-pack of your competition beer, which Sam Adams will enter for you in their summer Longshot competition (at their expense).

-Finalists will be contacted the week of April 23^rd via email.

-Entry into this competition obligates disclosure of the recipe used to enter (including procedure) with the understanding that the winning recipes can be posted on the club’s web forum for others to review. Please keep track of specific information, such as types and quantities of malt, hops, etc., and the type of yeast, batch size, original gravity, final gravity and brewing process.

The Prizes:
First: An all expense paid trip for you and a friend to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, Fall 2012.

Second: A home kegerator setup.

Third: Two tickets to the June 2012 SAVOR event here in DC.

Crowd Favorite: To be determined.

Sam Adams and DC 101 will hold a happy hour Home-Brew-BQ Kickoff event on April 12^th from 6-8pm (location TBD), with happy hour specials and prizes. This will also be a drop off location for your entries. More detail coming soon at www.DC101.com and www.DCHomebrewers.com.

Cheers, and good brewing,

Joshua Hubner

President, DC Homebrewers Club

DCHomebrewers_2012_CherryBlossomCompetitionEntryForm

Dear DC Homebrewers,

The 3^nd Annual 2012 DC Homebrewers Cherry Blossom Competition is will be held at next months meeting!

The Cherry Blossom Festival is a signature Washington, D.C. event drawing millions of visitors to the area, celebrating the arrival of spring and the blossoming of the 3,000 cherry trees near the Tidal Basin.  Aligning the competition with the purpose of this celebration of blossoms, each participating homebrewed beer will be required to include as at least one of its ingredients either a derivative of a flower or a fruit (e.g dried mango, orange peel, etc.). Bonus points will be awarded if the beer actually includes cherry blossoms (legally obtained, of course).  Even though hops are technically flowers, due to such widespread use in beer, they will not be counted as a flower derivative for this competition.  Hops aside, derivatives of a flower could include a number of spices or an actual whole flower or part of one.  A few examples, by no means intended as a comprehensive list, might be: dried flowers, fresh flowers, honey varieties, flower parts or buds such as heather tips, cloves, saffron, etc., or extracts such as rose water.  To clarify: this rule does not specifically prohibit the use of any ingredient (yes, hops are allowed), just that at least one must be a derivative of a flower.

For example, say you would want to make a porter beer with cherries, that’s cool. You could also include something like honey, orange blossoms, pumpkins seeds – be creative! Below is a list of a few of the rules of the competition.

* Each participant must acknowledge their entry into the competition by submitting the information in the entry form no later than March 5th.

* The entry form in Word Document form for now can be located on our website at www.DCHomebrewers.com. Forms may be accepted via email (Joshua.hubner@gmail.com) or in person at the February meeting (2-15-12).

* The judging guidelines are  from the standard rating of appearance, aroma, taste, mouthfeel, and drinkability, other criteria might be originality and distinctive use of the flower derivative.

* There are no limitations on the number of entries, but if more than one beer is to be considered, then a separate form must be completed for each entry.

* Each participating homebrewed beer will be required to include as at least one of its ingredients a derivative of a flower.

* Bonus points will be awarded if the beer actually includes cherry blossoms (legally obtained, of course).

* There are no limitations on beer style.

* Entry into this competition obligates disclosure of the recipe used to enter (including procedure) with the understanding that the winning recipes can be posted on the club’s web forum for others to review.  Please keep track of specific information, such as types and quantities of malt, hops, etc., and the type of yeast, batch size, original gravity, final gravity, and brewing process.  If any of this information is already planned, it can be described in the “Additional Comments” section of the entry form.

* Enough samples must be brought (with at least the name of the brewer and name of the entry) to the March meeting allow at least one sample for all judges. The specific details of the judging are still being decided, but for now plan on providing six 11-12 ounce label- free bottles.  Please contact those involved beforehand if you would like to submit an entry but cannot attend or deliver a beer on time.

* The competition will coincide with the March monthly meeting of DC Homebrewers, and most likely will be held the week before the beginning of the official Cherry Blossom Festival.

* If this is the first you have heard of the competition or the competition deadline doesn’t match your brewing schedule, consider adding your flower derivative to a portion of a batch, especially if you might not want a full 5 gallons of flower beer, or at bottling.

* If there are any questions or need of further clarification, please feel free to contact the Competition Committee ( Martin D. martindoczkat @ gmail dot com or Matt H. matt @ matthumbard dot com) or discuss on the official DC Homebrewers Discussion Board.

Thanks and Good Luck!

Joshua H.

Dear Brewers,

“February is for High Gravity Beers” – St. Valentine of Terni

Well…it’s a loose quote.

The point is that this month’s meeting is coming a little early: It will be on WEDNESDAY February 15th at 7pm, and yes, this is the high gravity meeting. So dig up those bottles of Barleywine you’ve been aging, and find that last bottle of belgian quad you brewed over the summer and bring them over! The bigger the better, but think at least 1.070 and/or 7% ABV.

Our host this month is LeeAnn, who lives in the Logan Circle neighborhood. For details and directions, make sure you’re a subscriber to our email list (see right side of this page to sign up in the “Join the Club!” box). A reminder email will come out in the next few days.

BEER: Please bring a couple bottles of your highest gravity homebrew, or some craft brew to get us started before we introduce all your delicious beers.

FOOD: To balance out the alcohol, this is a great meeting to bring food. So far we have promises of pulled pork and homemade buns, so if you’d like to bring some food instead of beer, please get in touch with Raine from the Food Committee to coordinate (raine1967@comcast.net).

ALSO: We’ll have entry forms for the March meeting Cherry Blossom Competition available at the meeting. The Cherry Blossom Comp. rules will also be posted on facebook and the website next week, but the basics are that the beer must be brewed with some type of flower or flower derivative (no, hops don’t count!). Participants will bring their bottles to the March meeting for judging, with awards and prizes to be handed out the same night. It’s a lot of fun.
Looking forward to seeing everyone there! Remember, the high gravity meeting is a marathon, not a sprint (and please figure out how you are getting home safely before that extra tasting glass of bourbon aged Russian Imperial Stout…).

Cheers,
Joshua H.

Find us @DCHomebrewers (on twitter) and on Facebook.

Dear Brewers,

 Over the next few weeks, we are going to be overhauling this website. Please bear with us during the construction. We hope that the finished product will be more user friendly and will have added and more useful features.

 Don’t forget that we are also accessable via facebook and twitter (@DCHomebrewers)!

Cheers and good brewing,

 Joshua Hubner

Our next meeting will be the combined November/December Holiday
Meeting TONIGH Tuesday, December 6th, 2011, at Meridian Pint!  We’ll
get started as usual – around 7pm – but those arriving early will be
able to take advantage of MP’s happy hour food/drink specials until
then.  ALSO, DC Homebrewers will receive 25% off bottled beer all
night!

Meridian Pint is located at 3400 11th St. NW Washington, D.C. and is
easily accessible from the Columbia Heights Metro and a short walk
down New Hampshire Ave. from the Georgia Ave. Metro as well on the
Green/Yellow lines.

What to bring: Any type of Homebrew you want, but don’t forget to
support Meridian Pint by purchasing some of its beer and/or food.

We’ll have the downstairs pretty much to ourselves, so bring a friend!

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

P.S. Upcoming Events Early in 2012:
-High Gravity Meeting in February (Time to start brewing if you haven’t
already!)

-Cherry Blossom Homebrew Competition in March

Dear Brewers,

Mark your calendars, this month’s meeting is just around the corner!

It will be hosted by Josh H. on Thursday, October 20th from 7pm to midnight. There isn’t a designated theme to this month’s meeting, just great home brewed beers.

If you are new to the club, here is the skinny: Bring what you can to share, either home brew, some craft brew,  or even food. We’ll hang for a bit drinking craft brew until everyone shows up, then we’ll introduce everyone’s homebrew, make some announcements, then get down to sampling the best D.C. has to offer!

If you’ve been to meetings before: looking forward to seeing you again!

Josh lives in the Logan Circle neighborhood at 1301 15th St. NW Washington, D.C. 20005, when you arrive, use the call box and he’ll buzz you in. The elevators are straight ahead and the apartment is on the 4th floor. Turn left around the corner when you exit the elevator, it’s all the way down the hall on the left.

ALSO, official logo DC Homebrewer’s Club glass tasting glasses will be available for purchase at the meeting for $5! They are the perfect size for a sample pour of homebrew, and the money goes to the club for some fun things we have in the works…

ALSO, ALSO, there will be a free raffle for a pair of official Pilsner Urquell stemmed glasses, details to follow!

Cheers and hope to see you there!

Because it’s always DC Beer Week for us…

The next DC Homebrewers meeting is tomorrow, Thursday, August 25 at
7:00 PM, where we will enjoy the end of summer!  Along with any
homebrew you want to share, feel free to bring a snack or some food
that reminds you of the summer time, and if the weather’s nice, we can
have the meeting on the rooftop deck.  This meeting will be hosted by
Brian B.  Thanks Brian!.

Directions: 13th and Kenyon, NW (sign up for list serve for more details)

Brian’s house is just around the block from the Columbia Heights metro
stop.  Exit out the 14th St.  Northbound exit, continue north on 14th,
pass by D’Vines (or stop in to grab a craft brew), turn right on
Kenyon, and his house is about 3/4 of the way down the block, just
before the alleyway.

Things you can bring:
Homebrew
or…
Craft beer
Artisan/homemade or other types of summer-time food

See you tomorrow!

Martin D.