May 2004

Editors Note: [Please submit any beer related information or articles to the newsletter editor at m@ttjarvis.com or call me at 342-2203. The ‘deadline’ is the 3^rd Sunday of the month.]

Special Notice: No, you didn’t miss a newsletter for April. We are just making a choice to look at the future, rather than the past, so this is the May newsletter for upcoming events… mj

Last Meeting:

Tech Meeting – Yeast Harvesting (By Denny Conn)

The Cascade Brewers Society met April 22 at Matt's house. The meeting started with a judging of extract beers for the Club Only Competition. BJCP judges Liz Laughlin, Kevin McGraw, and Rob Hudson judged 7 extract brews of various styles. Club members milled about outside, sampling heavily from the many beers on tap while awaiting the results. The big winner was Ben Van Dusen for his massive English style barleywine. After the competition, Matt did an excellent demo and explanation of yeast washing while the drinking continued. Hopefully, we can get a write up of the technique on our website. After the demo, there was more beer appreciation… A fun and informative evening.

Big Brew 2004 (By M Jarvis)

For the 6th year in a row, Denny has been kind enough to play host for the AHA’s annual Big Brew event. This year set a new record for brewers, with 7 of us (Denny, Robin, Ben, Brandt, Julius, Mark and myself) all firing up the kettles at the same time. Supposedly everybody is supposed to brew the recipe(s) that are supplied by the AHA but I don’t think any of us did that this year. (The BJCP is adding 3 new styles this year {Baltic Porter, Irish Red and Imperial IPA} and recipe’s were available for each).

World wide, there is a simultaneous toast to homebrewers everywhere, and our time was 10am (don’t forget the club motto: “Beer Before Noon!”). With kettles fired up and the beer flowing, a wonderful food spread was set up and enjoyed by many. A big treat this year was John Maier of Rogue showed up with Chris and shared some rare treats.

As things started to wind down for the brew sessions, the whole thing degenerated into a great party with folks lounging around in the shade and sampling a huge array of homebrews. A Great time was had by all! If you haven’t been to a Big Brew yet – be sure to make it next year!

Next Meeting:

(FYI) Saturday May 15th - 24th Annual Oregon Homebrew Festival in Corvallis. For more info, (http://www.hotv.org/ohf.html)

Saturday, June 5th - Sasquatch Brewfest - Stay tuned for location/details

Sunday, June 13th - CBS Smoke beer brewing at Kent & Janie's 9AM

(FYI) Thursday - Saturday, June 17-19 - NHC in Las Vegas

Sunday, June 27th - CBS wheat beer brew - location TBA

And Now a Word from President Robin Chitwood:

April 27, 2004

There were high times in Portland as a full buss-load of CBS members tasted and toured its way through breweries and bars all over the city. The brewery tours were nicely customized to our level of comprehension as home brewers. Hair of the Dog provided a stark contrast to both Widmer and Bridgeport, resembling the small breweries I saw in Belgium. Thanks to Russ for bringing the trip together and to Kevin Hornbuckle for his masterful bus driving. Incidentally, Kevin would like to take the club on a four-day camping trip in the Wallowa Mountains this summer. Sounds good to me.

On Friday the 23rd of April the last batch of beer was brewed at the Wild Duck Brewery. A toast was made to Glen Falconer and friends threw ritual handfuls of hop pellets into the kettle. But the spirit lives on and the second annual Sasquatch Brew Fest will be held outdoors on the Broadway Plaza on June 5. Jamie and Scottie have breweries lined up already and donations are coming in but they need a lot of volunteers. Please contact Scott Ellison if you can pitch in and help. Check out the festival website at www.sasquatchbrewfest.org.

We have another brew-in coming up. This time it’s all about smoked beers at Kent and Janie’s place, 25835 Tanya Lane in Veneta. It’s on June 13th and mash-in is at 9am. Bring your gear and brew or just hang out and see if you can confuse the rest of us who are trying to brew. See you there.

The 22nd Annual Oregon Homebrew and Microbrew Festival is happening on May 15th at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis. I’m sure a lot of the folks who passed the BJCP exam during the past year will be there to get some judging points. It’s also a great opportunity for novice judges to get some tasting experience. This one is better than your average homebrew contest and some surprisingly good beers come to this event. Judging begins at 9:30 am on Saturday. After that there will be live music and a raffle. You can register to judge on line www.hotv.org/fest2004/index.html. Cheers, RC.

And Now a Word from Scott and Tina:

The Second Annual Sasquatch Brewfest is scheduled for June 5th, 2004. Brewers dinner to be held the night before at the Mallard. We will be needing volunteers for both events, so those of you not doing anything or would just like to help out please contact me so I can get your name and number to the appropriate people. Also, check out the developing website www.sasquatchbrewfest.org

News You Can Use Department:

PLEASE PAY YOUR DUES !!

Haven't paid your dues this year? Please send a check for $20 (individuals) or $25 (families) made out to "Cascade Brewers Society" to Debbie Davis, c/o CBS, 2655 Ridgemont Drive, Eugene, OR 97405. Note that you can subtract $5 if you opt for not receiving a paper copy of the newsletter.

Also, don’t forget that our club website is growing bigger every day! See what Denny has done with www.hbd.org/cascade

Club Information: For over 20 years, Cascade Brewers Society is a sometimes formal, but mostly informal club devoted to the appreciation and art of creating fine alcoholic beverages (you know; beer, mead, cider, and wine). For more information regarding the Cascade Brewers Society, please contact Kent Macdonald at 935-5711 or Robin Chitwood at 342-2397.