President's Message

First of all my wife and I would like to thank you all for your thoughtfulness and prayers in regards to our daughter Wendy's passing. As I said at the winter solstice, I would be out of it for awhile due to her illness.

I have seen the club as a whole entering outside competitions with good reviews for all of us. I myself intend to pursue the coveted title of certified judge. I think the club as a whole should get interested in the study group Chris suggested. Even if you don't take the test, you will enhance your brewing knowledge.

I went out of town to Virginia to see my parents late last month. While there, I went to Colonial Williamsburg to the Greene Leaf Inn across from the college of William & Mary football stadium. I visited with Fred Gilbert (if you don't remember him, he picked up our mash flyer at the Titanic when he was in Miami on vacation; he e-mailed me and we started discussing beer) while at the Greene Leaf. We sampled all of the Virginia made beers since Tuesday is $1.00 pints of only the Virginia made beers. One called Hop Pocket was my favorite. Fred had to run off for an appointment, but before he left he directed me to Williamsburg Brewery, a small setup which cost $350,000 to set up with some extra capital set aside for a rainy day. I bought a growler of his Pale Ale which wasn't bad.

From there it was on to Helen, Georgia in the mountains. We had dinner at the Georgia Brewing Co. restaurant (there was no brewery set up yet due to the problem of permits and licensing.) From there it was down to Gainesville to pick up a keg I had bought from Mark Tumarkin. We had a few brews and talked over old times. Mark did say that he had had the Hop Pocket ale from Dominion Brewery also and that he really enjoyed it. Then it was home from vacation. I was tired of driving and had too little time to really enjoy myself.

I am looking forward to jumping back into the mix of things now, so I hope to see all of you at the July meeting. The beer for the booty award will be an IPA for that month. See Ya there.