WIZARD's Club NewsWIZARD's Club NewsClub meetings this quarter will be September 19, October 17, November 21 and December 19 all at Deja Brew in Shrewsbury. Check our web page, call Strange Brew or call Deja Brew for directions.
Club Meeting Minutes and Upcoming EventsThe following are the combined minutes for the June, July and August 2006 club meetings:
The club would like to thanks Greg for arranging the beers for the summer swill-off. See below for the results of this exciting annual event.
The club is considering some beer crawls. We are currently looking for interest and organizers. Some possible suggestions include:
The club agreed to and set up its first ever Cigar Night at the Havana House in Northboro for September 12th. A good time was had by all who attended. Sadly, we all forgot the camera.
Nominations and elections for club office were held. Greg has been re-elected club president and Bill as been re-elected as treasurer. Congratulations to both after a hard fought campaign.
The WIZARDS are proud to announce the 2005 Competition winner, Kerry's Kolsch, is now available at the Horseshoe Pub in Hudson and at the Shoppe at the Nashoba Valley Winery. For more information, click here.
Upcoming activities on the club calendar were discussed. September is cider month (we are still looking for a coordinator for this event). October will be the annual Octoberfest event. November will be porter month. All members are encouraged to brew a porter for the November meeting. In support of your porter brewing, an informal discussion on porter brewing will be held at the September meeting.
The WIZARDS dues amnesty program will continue through December. Any active member who pays their 2006/2007 dues by the December meeting will have any past debts forgiven. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get caught up on back dues and help fund the club at the same time. Heck its only twelve bucks...
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 MeetingDues 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.
NewsletterAs always, articles and suggestions for the newsletter are both welcomed and encouraged and should be sent directly to Bill.
WIZARD's Recent EventsJoin Damase, the club's newest professional brewer, as he travels through beer school in this humorous and informative article entitled Adventures in Beer School.
Summer Swill-Off 2006
Once again the summer swill-off consumed our July meeting. This years event, organized by club president Greg, featured all 40 ounce bottles. Tasting results and notes are provided in the table below:
| Place | Beer | Tasting Order | Cost/40oz bottle | Tasting Notes |
| 1 | Heffenreffer Private Stock Malt Liquor | 1 | $2.79 | Corny, grainy aroma, no hop aroma, carbonation bite, neutral taste with some sweetness. Steve said it "smelled like Hoargarten" but also says "he has a fever." |
| 2 (tie) | Miller Highlife | 5 | $1.85 | Slight peppery aroma, most aroma so far, Belgian lace in the glass, some sweetness, dry finish, grainy flavor. Somebody called it a "step in a direction." |
| 2 (tie) | Pabst Blue Ribbon | 3 | $1.85 | Slight grassy hop aroma, most flavorful so far but still not much, corn in aftertaste, slight sourness in the aftertaste, touch of cardboard in the profile. |
| 4 | Budweiser | 2 | $2.69 | Lightest color, virtually no aroma, maybe a very slight sulfur aroma, very thin, drier than #1, slight hop bitterness, little corn flavor, not much taste. |
| 5 | Steel Reserve | 6 | $2.25 | Straw color, darkest color of the day, no aroma, very fruity, very sweet, thick, most mouthfeel and highest alcohol of the day. Note, this beer was 8.1% alcohol according to the bottle. |
| 6 | Busch | 4 | $1.85 | Lightest color; no aroma, fruity banana taste, no hop taste, corn in the back of the throat, little sweetness. |
As a final note, Greg also recommends the miller Highlife for cooking, especially for beer battered onion rings.
Wheat Beer NightWheat beers were the talk of the night at our August meeting. In addition to sampling a bunch of homebrews, we had wheats from Sam Adams, Stoudt's, Spaten, Weihenstephaner, Ayinger, Owen O'Leary's, Nashoba Valley, Julius Echter. As usual, ratings for all the store bought beers can be found in our commercial beer index.
Comments, questions or information on the WIZARD's to Bill