The WIZARDS Newsletter
April - June, 2002

Upcoming Events | Club Business | Recent Events | Hints & Ideas | Feature Sites

WIZARD's Upcoming Events

Upcoming Club Meetings

Club meetings this quarter will be May 21 and June 18 all at Deja Brew in Shrewsbury. Check our web page, call Strangebrew or call Deja Brew for directions.

Upcoming Trips & Outings

ActivitiesClub Meetings
  • May 4 - Wizard's Homebrew Competition Awards Ceremony and Brew Day at the Horseshoe Pub in Hudson
  • June Meeting - Bitter & English pale ale
  • August Meeting - IPA
  • October Meeting - Strong Belgian Ale
  • December Meeting - Barley Wine

Upcoming club activities are always posted on the club's website at http://www.brewbeer.org/wizupcoming.htm. Additional details will be published in the newsletter as they become available and provided via email to the club's egroups email list.

WIZARD's Club Business

Dues

Dues for 2001/2002 are now due again. Dues are still a bargain at $12/year and cover most, if not all, of our club activities. Dues pay our nominal expenses like buying the pretzels and cups for meetings. The biggest way your dues are spent is at club functions where the club finds some way to treat everyone in attendance like buying the Christmas Ales at our holiday party this past December or buying the appetizers on the annual pub crawl.

Newsletter

As always, articles and suggestions for the newsletter are both welcomed and encouraged and should be sent directly to Bill.

WIZARD's Recent Events

February Club Meeting - Porter Night

Keeping up with our montlhy themes, February was porter month. We had eight samples of porter to evaluate last night. Three homebrewed and five commercial examples. Top honors of the night went to Dave Devries for his as of yet un-named Porter. Other contributing brewers were Jeremy and Greg. The commercial entries were Anchor Porter, Fullers London Porter, Berkshire Porter, Entire butt from Salopian brewery and Lucknow Porter.

April Club Meeting - Brown Ale Night

Three home-brewers brought their suds for brown ale night. To make the tasting a little more lively two Deja-Brew ales were also thrown into the mix. After a blind tasting, it was the second Deja-Brew entry that came out on top. We all knew we weren't picking a brown ale but since the judging guidelines were kind of loose, we ended picking what the club thought was the better beer. As it turns out, Deja-Brew entry number two was a Winter Ale. Second place, or top honors in the brown ales category, went to Damase.

4th Annual Earth Day Pub Crawl

Everyone who went on this year's pub crawl had a great time only it would have been nice if a few more members had made the trip. But those of us who went perservered on without our missing brethren. For those who missed out, Greg was kind enough to put together some sampling notes.
First stop: John Harvard's (Cambridge)
Cask Porter - Nice malt sweetness in the aroma, smooth full bodied and flavorful. A very nice beer. -G
Strong, smooth, well balanced beer with a roasty aroma that doesn't come through in the taste -B
The bartender told us this beer was just put on cask. A very nice beer to start the day.
Espresso stout - This beer came across a little thin and bland to me, not much coffee character and not roasted barley flavor. Age?? -G
Big Bad Bock - According to the brewer when I asked him "It's neither big nor bad" Nice color and hop profile but it was lacking alcoholic presence and needed more malt flavor. Overall a nice beer but not a nice bock. -G
Koelsch - Ugh, too wheaty. Clear as could be - B
Grainy and a little harsh. -G
Second stop: Rock Bottom Brewing (Cambridge)
Crimson Honey Ale (1.049) - A good lawn mowing beer -B
Amber color no aroma very clean and smooth, some malt flavor with very restrained hop flavor and bitterness, refreshing but not bland. -G
North Star Amber (1.050) - Nice amber color, hop balanced beer all cascade flavor, Nice beer but it could use a little more malt flavor to balance it out. -G
Double Barrel IPA cask (1.065) - Hops overpower all else, certainly not worth a second pint. Greg is well into his 2nd pint (of other things) I am struggling at ½ a pint. -B
Stinson's Irish Stout (1.050) - Nice roasty full bodied stout well balanced and smooth I could drink a few of these.-G
Munich Gold (1.050) - Warm golden color beautiful clarity, very clean with a little graininess nice hop and malt flavor balance. The best of the beers I've tasted here. -G
Third Stop: Cambridge Brewing Co,
Tall Tail Pale Ale - Some hop aroma, copper colored with good clarity .Some diacetyl, a little light on malt flavor nice nutty finish. Ok but I wouldn't order another. -G
Cambridge Amber - A little (oxidized) papery some malt flavor not much hop character. -G
Charles River Porter - Aromaless, perhaps a little lingering bitterness, very drinkable -B
Blunderbuss Barley wine (1.106) - Complex nose, esters, floral hop aroma, diacetyl like sweetness and alcohol. Bitter with a nice malt sweetness to counterbalance some diacetyl in the flavor. Warming.The best beer in the place IMO. - G
Last stop Dinner @ Redbones
I had an Erdinger Maibock and Rogue's Old Crustation. Both were fabulous. Bill had Bigfoot 02; it was pretty good too!

Club Samplings

Homebrew tastings over the last few months have included Greg's Stout, Dunkelweizen, and Helles Bock, Dan's Old Barn Ale, Bill's Porter and Ordinary Bitter, Dave's Kolsch and Bavarian Wheat and Jeremy's Honey Wheat and Amber Ale. Commercial tastings included Gritty McDuffs Best Brwon (2.5/5) and McNeill's Summer Bitter. Note, numbers in parenthesis, where available, show our rating on the five point scale with one being "it stinks" and five being "give me more."

The Other Stuff - Hints & Ideas

WIZARDS Home-Brew Competition

Highlights from the Wizards 2002 Homebrew Competition and Awards Ceremony and National Homebrew Day
Club Ordinary on tap!

Congratulations to all of this year's winners in the The WIZARDS Home-Brew Competition. Look for Dave Devries Best of Show Brown Porter to arrive at the Horseshoe Pub in Hudson in early May. The complete list of winners is posted on the club's web site at http://www.brewbeer.org/results_02.htm"

Judging 2002Judging the Best of Show Round 2002
National Homebrew Day at Strangebrew B-B-Q for Everyone courtesy of Strangebrew
The BrewersThe Other Brewers
The 2002 Competition Winners2002 Best of Show Winner Dave Devries

Feature Sites

Here are this issue's feature web sites! Everyone is encouraged to recommend a site for future issues.

Comments, questions or information on the WIZARD's to Bill