KNIGHTS OF THE BROWN BOTTLE
HOMEBREW CLUB
MAY 2004
ARLINGTON, TEXAS
YOUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
VOLUME 8, ISSUE 5
NEXT MEETING AT SIX FLAGS Humperdinks Restaurant and Brewery,
MAY 12, 2004, 7pm
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KNIGHTS OF THE BROWN BOTTLE 4/94 – 4/04, 10 YEARS OLD!
Club officers for the Knights are:
President: Jim Grady
Vice-President: Larro Land
Competition Chairman: Mike Porter
Treasurer: JustDave Girard
Secretary: Richard Turner
Newsletter Editor: Larro Land
Webmaster: Joel Henderson
Librarian: Phillip Deal
Sergeant at Arms: Richard Graham
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Greetings fellow Knights of the Brown Bottle,
We had a good turnout for the April monthly
club meeting at Dr. Jeckyll’s. The highlight of
the evening was a marvelous selection of eight
beers collected from the Brittany region of
France by our intrepid beer travelers Chris
Owen, and Kurt and Amanda Bethke. We were
attempting to ferret out any definitive
impressions or vestiges of the ancient Celtic
SIR JAMES GRADY, PRESIDENT
brewing traditions in this region of France. I
think we were all a bit surprised by the perceived flavors. I for one could not
make a direct link to the alleged Celtic ancestry for this region at least not as
manifested by the beers presented. The brews leaned a bit more toward the
Belgian styles in the flavor and yeast treatments, i.e., a bit phenolic and estery
with that “dirty” Belgian yeasty character. Several of the beers used a
significant amount of wheat in the formulation. The most consistent and
surprising element seemed to be the smoky flavor and aroma detected in many
of these beers. It was noted that a few of these beers could be entered in the
“Other Smoke Beers” category of the AHA guidelines due to the overriding
smoke flavor. We concluded that after all they are still “French”, and thus are
not really noted for their unique brewing traditions. Seems to be an amalgam of
the Low Countries brewing traditions rather than the Celtic origins we’d hoped
to discover. The beer tasting was greatly appreciated by all in attendance and
this was followed by a rather good raffle that generated a bit more revenue
than our take at the Bluebonnet!
At the last meeting we also nominated a slate of candidates for the club’s
elected officer positions for 2004 - 2005. The candidates are to be voted on at
the next meeting which will be held on Wednesday evening May 12. Remember,
we will be meeting at Arlington’s very own Humperdinks Restaurant and Brewery
at Six Flags Drive. The agenda will be simplified this month to allow for the
ratification voting on the slate of club officer nominees and intermixed with a
fair dose of plain old socializing (euphemism for sampling pub brews). Since this
is a commercial drinking establishment we have the opportunity for an extended
evening (7:00 PM till ????) provided of course you have the bucks and don’t have
to get up too early. We hope to see all of our club members in attendance at
this important meeting. Let me extend an invitation to all of our recently
inactive members to come on out and renew acquaintances.
We have continued to attract new membership this year by participating in
great events like the brew-in held recently at the Big Buck Brewery and
Restaurant in Grapevine. There were many interested new brewers in
attendance and we were able to impart some simple brewing knowledge and
demonstrate some effective techniques for these inquisitive folks. A few of
them seemed genuinely interested in joining one of the local clubs. At total of
40 gallons of new brew was created at the event with KOBB brewers accounting
for half of that volume. Brad Berven made an extract version of the New
Belgian Fat Tire clone, and followed that with an experimental blackberry
Melomel. I knocked out a simple all-grain cooler mash roughly in the style of an
English Bitter, and then attempted my very first Traditional Mead. Only time
will tell if we have what it takes for good Mead making!
Cheers
Jim Grady
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
NEAT BEER OF THE MONTH!
Anheuser-Busch Buys Into Chinese Brewer
Four Peaks
8th Street Ale
ABV 4.5% • Vol 355 ml • bottle • USA • Mid-price • •
Bottle Conditioned
This 'English-Style Pale Ale' was part of a gift from Tom
and Peg Forgey, for which we are, obviously, very
grateful. It pours with a lively and large, loose and lasting
head. Its aroma is slightly reminiscent of an American
IPA, despite the hops being Fuggles and Goldings in the
traditional 'English' pale ale idiom. Is there gooseberry in
the nose? Socks? It is certainly a little metallic, and we
think it is bottle conditioned judging by the yeast we
managed to pour in (though there is no indication of this
on the label). It is initially quite bitter and assertive in the
mouth, with earthy hop character mingling with a
balancing maltiness. A little light fruit is also present apples, perhaps - with some darker fruit in the finish.
Aftertaste is much less assertive than the attack, with
gentle but lingering bitter hop notes. All in all a very
pleasant pale ale, approximating the English style, from
this Arizona brewpub.
Sunday May 2, 9:54 AM EDT
HONG KONG (Reuters) - U.S. brewing giant Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. said on Sunday it has
bought a 29 percent stake in China's fourth-largest beer producer, Harbin Brewery Group
Ltd.
Anheuser-Busch already has a stake in the country's top brewer, Tsingtao Brewery, but in a
bid to boost its presence in the world's biggest beer market said it has now bought a 29
percent stake in Harbin Brewery, for HK$1.08 billion (US$138.5 million) or HK$3.70 per
share.
The U.S. firm's next biggest rival SABMiller Plc already has a 29.4 percent stake in Harbin
but no one was immediately available to comment on how the two might cooperate as coshareholders in the Chinese brewer.
"This investment complements our successful Budweiser operations in China and our strategic
partnership with Tsingtao," Stephen J. Burrows, chief executive officer and president of
Anheuser-Busch International Inc said in a statement.
"Tsingtao is supportive of Anheuser-Busch's investment in Harbin and agrees it will be
beneficial for all parties," Burrows added.
Anheuser-Busch, a St Louis-based U.S. beer maker whose core label includes Budweiser,
currently owns 9.9 percent of Tsingtao Brewery, the leader in China's beer market with a 13
percent market share.
Anheuser has an agreement to raise its stake in Tsingtao to 27 percent over the next few
years.
In March, Harbin, which has the Hapi brand, said the Harbin city government would sell its 29
percent stake in the firm for HK$947.38 million, equivalent to HK$3.25 for each of the 291.5
million shares.
Harbin, already 29.4 percent-owned by the world's second-largest beer maker SABMiller Plc,
had not identified the buyer, but only said the buyer was owned by a group of investors and
was not connected to the Harbin government.
Harbin, which dominates the northeast region in China's highly fragmented beer market, had
repeatedly declined to disclose the identity of the buyer to Reuters.
China's beer market, the world's largest by volume, is consolidating as it attracts investment
from global giants such as Anheuser-Busch, Heineken and Carlsberg Breweries.
Foreign brewers are all rushing to take advantage of rising disposable income and consumption
in China where the country's annual 250-million-hectoliter market grows at an annual rate of
five to eight percent.
Earlier this year Dutch giant Heineken N.V. forked out US$71 million for a 21 percent stake
in China's 12th largest brewer Guangdong Brewery Holdings.
Lanzhou Huanghe Enterprise Co Ltd had struck a US$60 million beer-making joint venture
with Carlsberg, the world's sixth-largest brewer. Britain's Scottish & Newcastle last year
secured a fifth of China's third biggest brewer Chongqing Brewery Co. Ltd.
©2004 Reuters Limited.
(THANKS JOEL!!! For this and the next submission)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A nice poem about beer by John Bickerdyke.
A 13th Century account of malting and brewing.
Ale shall now engage my pen.
To set at rest the hearts of men.
First, my friend, your candle light,
Next of spiced cake take a bite;
Then steep your barley in a vat,
Large and broad, take care of that;
When you shall have steeped your grain
and the water let out drain,
Take it to an upper floor,
if you've swept it clean before,
There couch, and let your barley dwell,
Till it germinates full well.
Malt now you shall call the grain.
Corn it ne'er shall be again.
Stir the malt then with your hand,
In heaps or rows now let it stand;
On a tray then you shall take it,
To a kiln to dry and bake it.
The tray and eke a basket light,
Will serve to spread the malt alright,
when your malt is ground in a mill,
And of hot water has drank it's fill,
And skill has changed the wort to ale,
The to see you shall not fail,
Miracles and marvels: Lo!
Two candles out of one do grow;
Ale makes a layman a good clerk,
To one unknown it gives a mark,
Ale make the strong go on all fours,
And fill the streets with shouts and roars.
The good ale from the malt at length.
So draws the barley's pride and strength,
That a royster's figure head
Needs no dye to make it red.
Here, then, let the matter rest,
To talk of other things were best.
Well, I have been looking for this gem for several months: I had
misplaced it and knew it was hiding somewhere.
The significance of this jewel is that it was called out verbatim by a
great brewer at a moments notice. The story goes: Back several years
ago, when Mike Porter was running his Homebrew shop on Copeland, I
had the hankerin one day for a first class Porter. Now, one may ask
themselves, “where may one go to find a great Porter recipe?” How
about making a run to see Mister Porter himself?? Well, that is what I
did, and, it happened too late one day, and it was closing time. So,
when I asked him, he started grabbing and grinding without even
thinking or looking up any reference. Here is what he quoted:
SIR MIKE PORTER’S LAST PORTER
PARTIAL MASH
GRAINS:
½ LB. Brown Malt
¼ LB. Black Patent Malt
¼ LB. Chocklet Malt
½ LB. Crystal 40 L. Malt
½ Gallon Amber Syrup
3 T. Gypsum
1 T. Carbonate of Calcium
1 T. Calcium Chloride
2 T. Irish Moss
2 Oz. Ralph Olson’s Hop Union East Kent Goldings LEAF boiled 60 minutes
(I did not write down the yeast requirement, but would wholeheartedly suggest Wlp023
BURTON Ale yeast)
From the Editor
WASSAIL!
GREETINGS FELLOW KNIGHTS
As I sit and write today, it is indeed a beautiful spring morning in Texas! The perfect time to
be brewing for the hot months that lay ahead. If you are “thermally challenged”, such as
myself, you have a hard time maintaining a fermenting temperature below 70 degrees after it
gets real toasty going toward July. So now is the time for primary fermentation. I hope one
and all are wise enough to practice the ancient advice “brew faster than you drink”.
This is May, so that means an election is in order for your club officers. Please give this
situation your attention, and PLEASE attend the May Monthly meeting at HUMPERDINKS
SIX FLAGS, May 12, 7 PM. Get there early, and sample some of Brewmiester Alan
Sparkman’s finest efforts; This man knows some great recipes, and has a great brewery.
Also, if you ask, I’m sure he would be more than happy to give us one of his “6-bit” tours! And,
don’t forget to have a good question ready for him… This man is real honest and
straightforward and helpful. He has the experience and knows his styles. This is a real treat
that you will not soon forget! (did you know that Alan was one of the honorary final judges in
the Celtic Brew-off?)
Speaking of Celtic, Have you gotten your entries ready? There are going to most likely be
over 100 entries this year, and this is your chance to shine in a real quality show. I encourage
each Knight to submit at least 4 entries. I, myself, will try to scrape together at least 6… I
would have more, but my cider batch needs much more time than planned to clear, and the
Wee Heavy needs a wee bit longer as well. Oh well, those will be dynamite for the shows next
year –“patience- the most valuable ingredient you have to add!”
So, that’s it for now. REMEMBER__
BREW HARD AND FAST
HEAD TO HUMPERDINKS FOR THE MEETING AND ANNUAL OFFICER ELECTIONS AND
ALAN’S GREAT BEERS
GET THOSE ENTRIES READY FOR THE CELTIC – ENTER PLENTY TO WIN PLENTY!
DID I MENTION - - CHECK OUT THE FANTASTIC WEB SITE DESIGNED BY THE
WORLD’S GREATEST WEBMASTER- OUR VERY OWN KNIGHT, SIR JOEL
HENDERSON:
http://hbd.org/kobb/celtic/celtic8.htm
We now have a discussion group going. Please go to kobbsubscribe@yahoogroups.com and follow the instructions. This is a free deal that
takes anything you send it and broadcasts it back to all of its subscribers. It’s a
great way to stay up to date. Between this discussion group and Joel’s Hard work
as our EXCELLENT WEBMASTER, you will always be up to date on ALL the
latest events!
(we are now over 1,000 messages served)
JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON!!
Please don’t be shy! I sure could use YOUR help in getting this newsletter out each month!
And, If you have an idea-ANY idea, Please submit it. So, If you have some winners, Please
forward them on. One of the reasons we are here is to promote and cultivate better brews!
Please send me feedback!
Hell…send Beer!!!
----- LARRO
Mission Statement
The
mission of the Knights of the Brown Bottle and this newsletter is to serve as a forum
to promote public awareness and appreciation of the quality and variety of homebrewed beer
through the collection and dissemination of information regarding the art and science of
homebrewing, and to promote the responsible use of beer as an alcohol - containing beverage.
The
club newsletter is published monthly and highlights the events and meetings of the
club, local beer events and technical information that will help everyone brew better beer.
Items for publication are welcomed and encouraged.
The deadline is the last Friday of the month, for the following months newsletter.
Items should be directed to
Larro Land
E-Mail : Larry.Land@merrillcorp.com
KNIGHTS OF THE BROWN BOTTLE
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FOR 2004
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Please forward information to Richard Turner, Secretary,
KOBB. (don’t forget to let us know if it changes)