Mead Day went very well. Several of us gathered at Joe Berryman's house and sampled a wide variety of mead. A cherry mead was made and is currently in the clearing stages. Thanks to Joe and Cyndi for being such wonderful hosts.
Several MASH members met with Miami Herald reporter Linda Bladholm and her husband on Saturday, October 4th. We sampled several meads and provided her with information on the history of mead and how it is brewed. A story may appear in the Herald some time in November. Many thanks to Darryl, Raquel, and Sean Hickey for being such understanding and accomodating hosts.
It's Oktoberfest time! The Palm Beach Draughtsman will hold their fest on 10/11. The German-American Club on Miller Drive will hold a fest on 10/18 and 10/25. The fest in Lantana is scheduled for the weekends of 10/10 and 10/17. Enjoy good beer, good food, good music, and good company. Prost!
The Winter Solstice party is scheduled for Saturday, December 13th, at the home of Scott and Janice Ross. Many thanks to them in advance for agreeing to host this event yet again. Mark will hopefully agree to serve as coordinator (we'll ask him when he gets back). More information will be forthcoming at the next two meetings.
The first annual Hogtown brewoff will be held the weekend of October 11th in Gainesville. Look forward to a full report at the October meeting.
It's time to start thinking about next year's Brewer of the Year competition. Do we still want to have one? Do we want to make any changes? What categories do we want? It's also time to really be thinking about the Coconut Cup. We haven't heard back from the west coast clubs about already established competition dates. There had been talk about moving the Coconut Cup to later in the year in order to balance out the number of winter and spring competitions (that's what the Hogtown group decided to do). Please give serious thought to both of these issues and come to the October meeting prepared to discuss them.
The beer for the BotY competition this month is an Oktoberfest. If you brewed one, please bring it for judging. We will try to have some commercial examples available for tasting.
- Denise