Remember 1984? Now that was a great year for wine; and '86, it was good too. Professional winemakers don't decide in what years there will be good wine and which there won't. The weather is the determining factor. Great grapes make great wine; and mediocre grapes will only make Mogan David.
If brewmasters in Chicago had to count on good weather to make good beer, we'd all be drinking Jack Daniels and trying to make a still. This is one more nice thing about homebrewing. Our ingredients are always good, and the only thing standing between you and a good pint of homebrew is your desire and ability to brew it. So for myself, I am going to try to make 1998 a breakthrough year for brewing. I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions, and I know this sounds suspiciously like one, but rather I am coming to the realization that my beer will be as good as I make it and I have no excuse not to make good beer. Join me in a toast to this great year for beer - 1998!
Congratulations, [YOUR NAME HERE]. The fact that you received this newsletter means that you have [RENEWED / INITIATED (choose one)] your membership in the Urban Knaves of Grain, DuPage County's oldest and largest homebrewers club. You are now entitled to all the rights and privileges accorded to members of this well-respected organization (whatever those are) for 1998.
The board of directors and I realize that there are probably as many reasons for joining this club as there are club members. As always, we try our best to provide the types of activities and programs to satisfy those reasons. Undoubtedly, we've probably overlooked some opportunities or needs along the way.
Therefore, as we get a fresh start on a new year, I am soliciting the membership to bring to my attention any suggestions you may have regarding activities and events that we should try to undertake this year. The board met in January and discussed some ideas for the next few months. Please keep an eye on the newsletter and web site for details as they become available.
For those with a thirst for knowledge, we will be facilitating a "brew-off" for the purpose of analyzing the effect of different yeast strains on the same basic recipe (see related article in this newsletter). In addition, we will also try to schedule a guest speaker, or two, for future meetings to discuss various brewing related topics. There is also the possibility of a Fall field trip to Sycamore to participate in a cider pressing.
For those with just a thirst, we will again try to schedule a club barbecue (in the summer) and a Kane County Cougars outing. We don't currently have any plans for pub crawls EXCEPT the annual "Crain Trawl" at the end of February (see calendar and article on page 5).
As always, we will make every effort to give you advanced notice of all regional competitions and the judging dates for the club's AHA club-only submission. We will continue the practice of judging our club's entry at the appropriate monthly meeting based on entry deadlines. Hopefully this will allow more members to participate in this activity either as a submitter (is that a word?) or part of the judging/ evaluation team.
Please note that club elections will be held at the May meeting. If you have aspirations or a sneaking suspicion you may want to become a club officer, please contact me sometime over the next few months so that we can present a candidate list in the April newsletter.
Finally, we will make an attempt this year to keep you informed via e-mail of any items of interest that may not be known in time to be mentioned in the newsletter. If you have not given me your e-mail address, please send me a message at dproksa@fcmservices.com . Also, if you have web access, check the club web site on a weekly basis for any new info. at: ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/stmckenna/ukg.html. Thanks again for your interest in the club.
All the signs are there. The Institute for Brewing Science projects sales growth of craft beers of less than 10% for 1997. While that kind of growth may satisfy some businessman, it is down from 26% in 1996 and 51% in 1995. Another sign: consolidation. Recently, Frederick Brewing Co., maker of Blue Ridge and Hempen beers, announced the acquisition of Wild Goose Brewery Inc. of Cambridge MD and Brimstone Brewing Co. of Baltimore for more than $3.1 million. Frederick Brewing, which expanded its annual brewing capacity more than sixfold in the past year to 80,000 barrels, said it would shut down Wild Goose's plant and interview the 22 idled workers for new jobs it expects to create. Brimstone owner, Marc Tewey, a much smaller microbrewer, will sell his equipment. Nationally, the industry's slower growth reflects aggressive marketing tactics by mainstream brewers and changing consumer tastes, industry experts said. And most everybody agrees there are too many amber ales chasing too few buyers.
"You have 1,300 companies competing in only 3% of the beer market," said Michael Goldsberry, marketing coordinator for Pyramid Ales Inc. "There are just too many messages out there." The Seattle-based brewer sold 6% less beer in the first nine months of 1997 than during the same period a year earlier. Goldsberry said Pyramid, now available in 30 states, will concentrate on West Coast sales in the future.
The industry is still growing, but more slowly. New microbreweries opened at a rate of one per week in 1997 compared with two per week in 1996. Brewpub openings slowed to three per week from four. Meanwhile, 43 microbreweries closed in the first nine months of 1997, outnumbering the 36 that shut down in all of 1996. Retailers are also seen cutting back on their inventories. Beer wholesalers are distributing fewer microbrews as well, reflecting incentives offered by mainstream brewers such as Anheuser-Busch for carrying only that company's products. St. Louis based A-B faces a federal antitrust lawsuit in California over such tactics. It maintains such incentive programs are legal. And finally, beer drinkers may also be losing their appetite for experimentation says Tony Forder, editor of Ale Street News in Maywood, NJ. "Craft beer enthusiasts have perhaps decided what they want by now, and they aren't going to rush out and buy every new label that comes out," he said.
Another year of American Homebrewers Association Club-Only Competitions has already begun. Six times a year, we are allowed to select just one brew to represent our club in a competition with a theme, such as stouts, pale ales, wheat beers, or pilsners. Each competition is hosted by a different homebrew club; in 1997, the UKG was the host for the Weiss is Nice club-only competition. The winner's recipe is published in Zymurgy, and the winning club earns points toward the Homebrew Club of the Year Award.
The UKG selects our entry in our own informal mini-competition, with the help of volunteer members, who practice their judging skills while evaluating the entries. Just as in a real competition, they return judging forms full of constructive comments to the entrants.
Whenever possible, our judgings are held at monthly UKG meetings. To enter a beer, just bring one bottle to the meeting. Remove any labels and black out all markings on the cap. Bring three more unmarked bottles in reserve--if your beer wins the judging, these three bottles will be the ones we send to the club-only competition. You should fill out a standard AHA recipe/entry form in advance, or bring enough notes on your recipe that you can fill one out at the meeting if your beer is the one we select. (Remember, this recipe will be published if you win.) The club will pay your entry fee, and Brewers Coop donates the shipping costs.
Occasionally, timing considerations might make it impossible to do our selection at the monthly meeting. In that case, it is held instead at the Brewers Coop (30W114 Butterfield Rd., Warrenville; 393-BEER, info@thebrewerscoop.com). The entry deadline is the close of business on Saturday about a week before the shipping deadline. Judging is normally held at the store, at noon on Sunday. If your beer wins, you'll be contacted immediately to supply 3 more bottles and the entry/recipe form.
If you have questions about entering a club-only competition, or if you would like to help in our informal judging, please contact Steve McKenna (305-0554, stmckenna@amoco.com).
Here is the club-only competition schedule for 1998:
Hail to Ale: judged Jan. 18 at Brewers Coop. AHA styles 5a classic English pale ale, 5b India pale ale, 6a American pale ale, 6c American wheat, and 6b American amber ale (equivalent BJCP styles: 6a, 7, 6b, and 3b; there is no American amber style in the BJCP guidelines). Mike Uchima's IPA was the winner in this judging.
Stout Bout: judging at the Feb. 26 monthly meeting. AHA styles 11a classic Irish-style dry stout, 11b foreign-style stout, 11c sweet stout, 11d oatmeal stout, and 11e imperial stout. (BJCP styles 15a, 15d, 15b, 15c, 11c.) For best results, start brewing for this competition by the end of January. Joe Formanek's imperial stout was the winner in this judging.
Classic Pilsener: judging at the April 30 monthly meeting. AHA styles 15a German-style pilsener, 15b Bohemian-style pilsener, and 15c American-style pilsener. (BJCP styles 2b, 2a, 15c.) Start brewing before mid-February.
Weiss is Nice: judging at the July 30 monthly meeting. AHA styles 19a Berliner weisse, 19b weizen/ weissbier, 19c dunkelweizen, and 19d weizenbock. (BJCP styles 16c, 16a, 16b, 16d.) Start brewing by the end of June.
Best of Fest: judging at the Sept. 24 monthly meeting. AHA styles 17a Vienna and 17b Märzen/ Oktoberfest. (BJCP styles 9b, 9a.) Start brewing by mid-July.
If It's Not Scottish: judging at the Nov. 19 monthly meeting. AHA styles 8a Scottish light ale, 8b Scottish heavy ale, 8c Scottish export ale, 10b strong Scotch ale. (BJCP styles 5a, 5b, 5c, 11b.) Start brewing by mid-September.
Editor's note: club-only competition info now appears on our permanent club-only competition web page.
But more accurately, you say drums. That is the proper translation of the Swahili word ngoma. But in Florida and three other states, Ngoma is the name of a beer imported from Africa and distributed by Bulunda-Import-Export Co., Inc. of Jacksonville. The company distributes 5-10 container loads of beer a month. The containers arrive in Miami, Baltimore and Long Beach, CA. Each one holds about 1,200 cases of beer. "We will probably go nationwide with the beer in the next two years," says Bill Fadely, president of Bulunda. Under the Ngoma label, which Fadely created, there are three beers- Ngoma Togo Pils; Ngomo Awooyo Special, an amber Octoberfest-style beer; and Ngoma Lome Lager. But finding market share is not the only problem facing Mr. Fadely. Although at $9.50 per six-pack that is hard enough. "You would not believe how bad it is being white and promoting an African imported beer," he said. "Some white people tell me that I am going against my race by promoting a beer like this." On the other hand, he said some African-Americans have criticized him for profiting from an African product. But perhaps Mr. Fadely has brighter days ahead as sometime this summer his beer will be featured in the movie "Mighty Joe Young".
A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo, and when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole keeps improving by the regular culling of the weakest members.
In much the same way, the human brain can operate only as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, we all know, kills off brain cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker cells, constantly making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
The results of this in-depth neurological study verifies and validates the causal link between all-weekend parties and engineering performance. It also explains why, after a few short years of leaving university and getting married, most engineers cannot keep up with the performance of the new graduates. Only those few that stick to the strict regimen of voracious alcoholic consumption can maintain the intellectual levels that they achieved during their university years.
So, this is a call to arms. As our country is losing its technological edge we should not shudder in our homes. Get back into the bars! Quaff that beer! Your company and country need you to be at your peak, and you shouldn't deny yourself the career that you could have.
Be all that you can be.
I know a lot of us are working with computers, or stockbrokers, or beautiful women and are very satisfied with our jobs. But stop reading right here if you think there isn't something better out there for you. How about a job pouring Guinness stout? Not as a bartender, anybody can do that. I am talking about a job with the Guinness Import Co. travelling from account to account, pouring pints of beautiful, smooth Guinness stout. Right now, Guinness has about two dozen people doing just this, in order to make sure each bar is serving the "perfect pint". And the good news is, they expect to double the number of these employees within the year. Sales of the dark Irish brew have shot up more than 20 percent for two years in a row, at a time when sales of all beer in the U.S. rose only about 1 percent. You would probably have to re-locate to get one of the positions though. Although Guinness is quite popular in Chicago and New York, the #1 market right now is Atlanta GA! Right behind that is Austin TX. The up and coming markets are Charlotte NC and Florida. A Guinness "draught specialist" checks the mix of nitrogen and carbon dioxide that pushes the beer through the lines. He also makes sure that both glasses and beer-lines are cleaned properly, and the temperature is between 39 and 45 degrees F, so every glass of Guinness is the same, whether poured in Dublin or in Dubuque- perfect. I wish I had a name you could contact to get this job, but if you want it bad enough, I'm sure you will find one yourself.
What is the yeast common denominator? Well, interested UKG brewers will find this out at our April meeting. But I'm getting ahead of myself. It will all start at the February meeting and this is the basic idea. Even though we all have brewed a few batches of beer, do we really know what our yeast adds to our recipe? If you would like to participate in this experiment, you will brew a batch of beer with a specific recipe(given below). The only ingredient that will change will be the yeast. Check with club prez Darrell Proksa and sign up by February 26 for a certain yeast strain that you would like to use. The recipe will be simple - an all grain and extract version will be provided, to come up with a 1.045 O.G. brew using 1 oz. of Northern Brewer approx. 9.2% AA. Maybe the best news is that Brewer's Coop has volunteered to donate (that's right, they are going to give them away) one ounce each of Northern Brewer pellets to all participating brewers. Also, the club will supply the yeast you choose. And there's more. The Coop will also discount a 6 lb. box of Northwestern pale extract to $10.99 if you need the syrup. How can you pass this up? The best part will be at our April club meeting when everyone brings samples of their beer in and we see for ourselves exactly how different a beer fermented with Wyeast 1056 tastes from the same beer done with Wyeast 2112 or Danstar Nottingham, etc. Now one thing this great experiment will NOT be, is a macho, my racking cane is longer than yours, type of competition. This is for enjoyment purposes only - sorry, no wagering. So if this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, don't forget to sign up by the February meeting and get in on the fun. If you can't make it to the meeting but would still like to participate, call or e-mail Darrell and let him know. NOTE, it's first come, first serve on the choice of yeast strain - liquid or dry.
8 lb. pale ale malt or 6# pale extract
.5 lb. crystal male (20L)
1 oz. Northern Brewer hop pellets approx. 9.2%AA
Use the entire ounce of hops for bittering - no flavor or aroma hops please. Boil for 60 min. BTW, you all grain brewers, hold off on that triple decoction you've been dying to try, a simple infusion mash will be fine.
What do you do on a Saturday when the snow mounds are at their highest and the temperature is at it's lowest? If you're a normal person you stay home and clip newspaper coupons. If you're a Knave you go on a train crawl.
Announcing the 3rd Urban Knaves of Grain Trail Crawl. On Saturday, February 28th we'll ride the rails, drink beer at designated stops and thumb our cold-yet-defiant noses at Old Man Winter. Last year's turnout was large. Those of you who attended remember the winter warmers on tap and the surly train conductors. For those of you who missed last year's frigid event this is your chance to see what all the hoopla was about. Simply put its an E-ticket ride for only five bucks.
So here's the deal. We meet in Aurora at America's Brewery. We board the eastbound train and stop at Taylor's in Naperville, Founder's Hill in Downers Grove, Palmer Place in LaGrange and Irish Times in Brookfield. Then we get on the westbound train to come home.
The planned schedule of stops is as follows:
Depart Aurora 2:20pm
Arrive Naperville 2:33pm
Depart Naperville 4:33pm
Arrive Downers Grove 4:44pm
Depart Downers Grove 6:44pm
Arrive LaGrange Rd 7:02
Depart LaGrange Rd 9:02
Arrive Brookfield 9:05
Depart Brookfield (for home) 10:54 or 12:59
The Beginning: The Train Crawl pulls out of Aurora at 2:20pm. That means you'll need to arrive a bit early to be able to sample the beverages at America's Brewery. Arrival times into Aurora are 11:42am or 1:42pm.
The End: The last two homeward-bound trains out of Brookfield are 10:54pm and 12:59am. That puts you into Aurora at 11:41pm and 1:46am respectively. Be responsible. Make plans for a designated driver to give you a ride home from the train station.
The schedule is flexible and at the same time idiot proof. If you miss the designated train, wait for the next train and catch up or ride to the next stop and wait for the Train Crawl to show up. You don't have to start in Aurora. Board or disembark at any point along the way.
No reservations are required. Just show up. Bring a friend. A weekend train pass (unlimited rides) is $5. Pay for food and beverages as you go.
So grab a Burlington Northern train schedule and that really cool matching knit hat and mitten combo your Mom gave you for Christmas and we'll see you on the train!
If you have any hopes of opening your own micro-brewery/pub, maybe you should forget about the glutted American market and try setting yours up in Moscow. According to British broker Robert Fleming, potential for beer market growth in Russia is "enormous". This is partly because most Russians are too plastered on vodka to open a pop top can of beer, but Mr. Fleming believes that Russian beer consumption will grow by at least 7% a year for the next 7-10 years. There is no mention of what the present consumption rate of beer in Russia is, but should you decide to venture there here are a few suggestions for names for your beers: Glasnost Gueze, Moscow Maibock, The Peoples Party Pale Ale. I can see the billboard now: Have A Detente Doppelbock - Put Down Your Sickle and Get Hammered!
Switzerland's highest court has ruled that Swiss who grow hallucinogenic plants to make beer or other legal products cannot be prosecuted under drug laws. According to the court, an investigating magistrate in the canton of Valais had acted precipitously when he seized 8.5 tons of Indian hemp from a commune that grew it. The commune stated that it used it to fill industrial orders, including one for 1,100 pounds of dried hemp blossoms for a brewery specializing in hemp beer. The blossoms can now be released to the brewery on confirmation that it had indeed placed the order, and provides assurances that the crop will be used only to brew.
On December 2, 1997, Governor Engler signed House Bill 4850, formally recognizing the home production of beer along with wine and cider. Before the signing, Michigan was one of 20 states that did not have specific legislation to allow for the home manufacture of beer for personal use. The existing statute, written in 1933, provided for making wine and cider but not beer. Home brewing of beer was recognized federally in 1978 (thanks again Jimmy Carter!) subject to age restrictions and amount, provided such production is not a violation of state law. Since that time 30 states have written provisions to allow homebrewing.
Miller Brewing Co. is readying sales forces to roll out Chia Pigs for their St. Patrick's Day Point-of-Purchase promotion. Miller Brewing wholesalers are reportedly blanching at the idea. According to an article by Gerry Khermouch in the December 1, 1997 Brandweek, wholesalers are nervous about the unusual idea. "..This Chia pet thing is scary. March and St. Patrick's Day is the first quarter. We're very concerned.", commented one wholesaler. Some wholesalers are squirreling away conventional materials featuring shamrocks only and the Miller Time logo.
For those of you interested, here is a financial summary of the club's activities for the calendar year 1997.
INCOME STATEMENT 1/97 - 12/97
| Beginning Balance | $1277.86 |
| Dues | 417.00 |
| UKG-Wear | 650.00 |
| 1067.00 | |
| UKG-Wear | 620.48 |
| Pub Crawls | 384.87 |
| Weiss is Nice/Barbecue | 190.98 |
| Correspondence & postage | 156.33 |
| Tax on '96 bulk grain purchase | 90.00 |
| Legal | 43.00 |
| Supplies, misc. | 28.64 |
| Weiss style seminar | 8.70 |
| '97 bulk grain subsidy | 1.47 |
| 1524.47 | |
| ENDING BALANCE | $820.39 |
Balance Sheet as of 12/31/97
Assets
Liablilities
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Last modified 3/3/98.