Our September meeting had a good attendance with ten members and one guest. By the end of the meeting our guest John was our newest member. So join me in welcoming John to our fine club.
We are sending a check to Glenn Exline in our continuing support of FLBrewer.org. If you have not checked out the site you should. It has all the latest Florida brewing new, upcoming competitions, calendar of events and several forms to exchange information and answer questions.
Remember that Ron Bach is proctoring the next BJCP exam on November 10 in Orlando. If you are interested in becoming a BJCP beer judge or upgrade your ranking contact him through FLBrewer.org or call him.
We discussed the Gluten Free beer project for December's meeting. We tasted one of the commercially available gluten free beers and I am convinced we can and will brew better beer then that. Russell spoke about some of the gluten free grains that are available and displayed many samples of those grains. We will be looking for a supply of sorghum extract in bulk; I will keep you updated on that. Thanks again Russell. Next month we will have more information on gluten free beer brewing.
On August 4 we held our Mead Day event. It started out with some breakfast postres and mead. I started with my lemon grass mead wail Russell started mashing the grain for his buckwheat stout braggot, the honey for that one was dark and has a lot of flavor. At this time some serious mead tasting started and some well-timed finger food where severed. We had some visitors that had never seen mead made or had tasted mead's other then store bought ones. Then it was Scott and Denise's turn to make their strawberry mead. All in all we made two batches of mead, one batch of braggot and had nineteen participants. All of which enjoyed many different type of meads and different flavored meads. I would like to thank Scott and Denise for their great hospitality. They provided us with the perfect venue and wonderful food. Thank you again.
The 2008 BOTY competition suggestion sheets need to be returned to me by the September meeting. Keep in mind that what you choose is what you will brew. Some other suggestions where put on the table; imperial any style (double malt double hops), beers wood aged any style, low alcohol, high alcohol, fortified with your favorite liquor and but not limited to freezer cleaning beers.
The BOTY style for the month was Belgian and French Ale BJCP category 16. We had three entries all of which where as different as night and day. In third place was a strong Belgian with rum raisins brewed by Scott and Denise Graham. In second place was a Saison with blackberry, raspberry and cherries brewed by Russell Everett. And in First place was a clone of Unibroue Maudite that was brewed by me. All of the beers where very good and the point difference between first and third was very close. I would like to congratulate all the brewers and thank them for submitting their entries.
This month's BOTY style is Bock BJCP category 5. So brew, brew and brew some more.
See you all at the next meeting and remember bring your beers for tasting, evaluation or just to drink. We have some of the best taste buds around and they are waiting to taste your beers.
You're President,
Darryl Hickey