The WIZARDS Newsletter
March, 2006

WIZARD's Club News

Upcoming Club Meetings

Club meetings this quarter will be April 18, May 16 and June 20, all at Deja Brew in Shrewsbury. Check our web page, call Strange Brew or call Deja Brew for directions.

Club Meeting Minutes and Upcoming Events

The following are the minutes for the March 2006 club meeting:

The Annual Pub Crawl was set for April 8th, 2006. All club members and their guests are invited to attend. We'll meet at the Alewife 'T' station, outside the turnstiles @ 12 noon. We will try to keep to the itinerary shown below so people can join up mid way through the day. Spouses and guests are more than welcome.

Directions to Alewife - From 128 (or anywhere else), take Route 2 into Boston/Cambridge. Not too far after the road narrows down to two lanes, you'll see an exit for Alewife Station on your right. Take and enter the parking garage. After parking, follow signs to "TRAINS." After going downstairs, open your eyes! We'll meet right in front of the turnstiles.

National Homebrew Day - The club is planning a club brew day to coincide with National Homebrew Day on May 6th in the Strange Brew parking lot starting at 10:00 AM. We hope all club members can attend this event. Brewing is set to get underway at 10:00AM and expected to wrap-up in the mid-to-late afternoon.

Pale Ale was voted the beer style for the May meeting. All club members are encouraged to brew and bring a Pale Ale whether it be an American Pale Ale, an English Pale Ale or, if its all you have, an Imperial Pale Ale will probably do. As always, homebrews are preferred but commercial examples will do nicely.

Wheat Beer was voted the beer style for the August meeting. Come to the May meeting to find out about this exciting style!

NERAX is May 3rd-6th. Details at http://www.nerax.org/home.htm. Send an email to the group if you're interested.

The Beer Summit is April 14-15. Details at http://www.nerax.org/home.htm. Send an email to the group if you're interested.

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.

Topics for the Club's Next Business Meeting
  1. Finalize schedule for Pub Crawl
  2. Finalize details for National Homebrew Day
  3. Arrange for Wheat Beer speakers the May meeting
  4. Discuss the proposed dues amnesty program.
Dues

Dues for 2006/2007 are now due. 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 pizza 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

Irish Ale Night

In honor of St Patrick's day, the theme for this month's club meeting was the Beers of Ireland or Irish style ales. Each member was asked to bring three bottles of the same beer - be it a beer from Ireland or one made to look like its from Ireland.

The following “Irish” beers were evaluated during the club meeting held March 21st 2006.

#1 Wexford Irish Cream Ale, 1 pint draught can, 5.0 ABV
Appearance: Light straw in color tight long lasting creamy white foam.
Aroma: Some malt like sweetness, Bread like aromas.
Flavor: An earthy almost tinny flavor at first, no appreciable malt flavor some hop in the finish, overall a pretty bland product.
Mouth feel: Smooth and creamy due to the widget but a very thin watery beer underneath.
Overall: We felt this beer was all about the widget once you get past the rippling effect while pouring this beer is underwhelming.

#2 Smithwicks Irish Ale, 12 oz bottle, 4.5 ABV
Appearance: Dark straw/copper color, thin white head.
Aroma: No hop aroma, no malt aroma slightly earthy/musty aroma.
Flavor: Some hop flavor present, not malty, sharp carbonation bite and some harshness in the aftertaste.
Mouth feel: Thin, not much there.
Overall: Gassy and fairly flavorless.

#3 Killians Irish Red Lager, 12 oz bottle, no ABV on label
Appearance: Yellow in color. ?? Not red by any stretch of the imagination??
Aroma: Baked beans/ molasses aroma. No hop no malt aromas present.
Flavor: corn like flavor to start, wet cardboard in the finish.
Mouth feel: thin body prickly from high level of carbonation.
Overall: We were wondering how old this beer was. Not a pleasant drop.

#4 O’hara’s Irish Red, 11.2 oz bottle, 4.3 ABV
Appearance: Amber color chunky long lasting head.
Aroma: Malty sweet with a slight earthiness.
Flavor: Malt flavors dominate with an almost licorice like flavor in the finish. Slightly tart with a lingering bitterness that coats your tongue.
Mouth feel: Medium bodied not overly carbonated.
Overall: We like this beer, it’s nicely balance and well crafted.

#5 Moylan’s “Paddy’s Irish style red ale”, 22 oz bottle, 6.5 ABV
Appearance : Dark straw in color with a lacey clinging head.
Aroma: Sweet cereal like aroma.
Flavor: Cooked cauliflower/ vegetal flavor.
Mouth feel; thin and slippery on the tongue.
Overall: Very disappointing.

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