September 2012 Newsletter

By Newsletter Recipients

In this edition:

  • Blowoff from the Prez
  • Secretary’s Report
  • Birthdays
  • 2012 Dues
  • SAAZ Library
  • 1st Vice President Trainee
  • Next Meeting – COMMANDER SAAZ!!! September August 29th
  • Upcoming Competitions
  • REWARD!
  • Beers Available in the Area
  • Competition Winners
  • Beer Education
  • BJCP Mead Certification
  • SAAZ on Facebook
  • Raffle
  • Feedback

SAAZ Platinum Sponsor

Blow off from the Prez

Welcome to September’s Blow off from the Prez and welcome to the start of the 30-day entry window for the 18th Annual Commander SAAZ Interplanetary Homebrew Blastoff. That’s right, entries have started to arrive but don’t worry, you still have plenty of time to get that perfect bottle (ok, 3 perfect bottles) of your best homebrew ready for competition. We received well over 100 entries in the first week. This year’s competition is going to be fantastic!

For those of you that don’t know, our prejudging will be taking place at Brock’s Homebrew in Melbourne. I would like to ask each of you to find time to help out, either by judging and / or stewarding or by volunteering your time to help with building tables, cooking, or providing other logistical needs. There is a lot more to a world-class homebrew competition than just drinking beer.

This month’s general meeting will take place at 2:00 PM at The Broken Barrel Tavern in Palm Bay. The educational topic will be stewarding. Stewarding is a great way to learn what the judges do at homebrew competitions and you might even get to sample some of the entries in the process! Please attend the meeting on the 19th for a crash course on stewarding if you are interested in helping out.

We will also be selling tickets for the Friday Night’s Commander’s Call and the Saturday Night Awards Dinner at this Sunday’s meeting. Please remember that tickets for these events will not be available at the door and although they can be purchased on line, the club makes more money if we don’t use Pay Pal. Also, don’t forget to bring your entries to the meeting. If you can’t bring them Sunday you can always drop them off at The Sunseed Co-op or Brock’s Homebrew until September 5th.

So much to do, so little time left to do it. Let’s all roll up our sleeves and make the 18th Annual Commander SAAZ Interplanetary Homebrew Blastoff the galactic success it was meant to be.

Cheers

Kip

Secretary’s Report

Hope all of your Brews are almost ready for Commander SAAZ.

If you need a membership card please see me at the meeting at Broken Barrel August 19th 2-6. Cheers!!

Shelley

September Birthdays – Happy Birthday!

Jill Vita
Harry Elkins
Josh Landin
Carl Taylor
Steve Mitchell
Mike Bauman

Don’t see your name (and your birthday is in September)? It could be that Shelley doesn’t have a completed membership form from you. Ask her for one at the next meeting so we can include you!

2012 Dues

The end of the year is quickly coming and all current members have surely paid their dues already! But on the off chance you haven’t been able to or have friends interested in joining you can do so for the low, low prices listed below!

Individual Membership = $15
Couple’s Membership = $25
Lifetime Membership = $150

Dues can be paid to the Treasurer (Anne Gregg) at any club meeting or online at our website via PayPal Click here to pay.

You don’t want to miss out on the benefits of membership!

SAAZ Library

Have you ever wanted to read up on how to make different styles of beer?

Or perhaps you would like to see different techniques for brewing.

If so, the SAAZ Library may have what you are looking for!!

You can view the entire list of publications Here.

If you see something that interests you, simply send an email to SAAZLibrarian@gmail.com with your name and the publication title, and the Librarian will bring it to the next monthly member meeting.

1st Vice President Trainee

**Attention Members**

We are currently looking for a member to fulfill the role of 1st Vice President Trainee.

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes to make the Commander SAAZ Interplanetary Homebrew Blast-Off a success year after year?

Now is your chance to get in on the action! If interested, email cmdr.saaz@saaz.org for more information.

Next Meeting – September 29th (Saturday)

This month’s meeting will be at The Broken Barrel Tavern in Palm Bay.

When:
Sunday, August 19th at 2pm.

Where:
The Broken Barrel Tavern
4700 S Babcock Street
Palm Bay, FL. 32905

As always, bringing homebrew to share is strongly encouraged, but please respect our gracious host and leave commercial beers at home.

Next-Next Meeting: SAAZtoberfest October that Rotary Park in Viera. Click Here for all the details.

Upcoming Competitions

18th Annual Commander SAAZ Interplanetary Homebrew Blast-Off!!!

ATTENTION ALL SAAZ MEMBERS!

Any member that submits three entries for this year’s competition will receive a fourth entry FREE! That’s right, the club will pay for your fourth entry! Please note that this special offer only applies to members who pay their entry fee with CASH or CHECK.

Important Dates

  • Entry Window – August 5th thru September 5th, 2012
  • Entry sorting – September 8-9, 2012
  • Early Round Judging – September 15-16, and 22-23, 2012
  • Final Judging – September 28th thru September 29th, 2012
  • Commander’s Call at the Hospitality Suite – September 28th
    (SAAZ Members, please wait until September 1st to order your tickets to allow our out of town judges/guests an opportunity to attend)
  • Awards Ceremony, Dinner, and Splashdown Party – September 29th, 2012

Schedule
The entry window opens on August 5th, but slams shut on September 5th. Depending on the number of entries we will be doing at least one weekend of early round judging, and we will need your help! Entry sorting will be held on September 8-9 and early round judging will be held the weekends of September 15-16, and 22-23 at Brock’s Homebrew in West Melbourne, Florida. There is a strict limit of 10,000 earthly entries for this competition!

Final judging, will be held the weekend of September 28th and 29th at The International Palms Resort in Cocoa Beach.

Location
Once again this year’s Commander SAAZ Interplanetary Homebrew Blast-Off will be held at The International Palms Resort in Cocoa Beach.

For more details visit the Blast-Off page Here.

Check out the homebrewers association website for a list of the 2012 club-only competitions on the schedule.

REWARD!

Attention all SAAZ members!

Our friends over at Sunseed Food Coop are looking to reward the SAAZ brewer of the year, (highest point total in the Florida circuit).

The member with the highest point total will win a $100 gift card to Sunseed Food Co-op at the end of the year. So start brewing and remember to submit your creations!

Current list of competition winners:

Name BFBC Coconut Cup Hurricane Hogtown 1st Coast Totals
Sean Gregg 4 3 1 5 5 18
Rudi Wehmschulte


3
3
Dave Webb


3 6 9
Josh Landin



3 3

Beers Available in the Area

Coasters Pub (Indian Harbor Beach) – facebook

  • Hop Wallop
  • Terrapin Hopsecutioner
  • Gulden Draak
  • Hepworth Iron Horse
  • Curious Traveler Shandy
  • Hofbrau Oktoberfest

Sunseed Food Co-op

  • Longhammer IPA cans
  • Crazy Mountain Brewing
    – all cans-
    — Amber
    — Pale Ale
    — Wit
  • Stone R.I.S
  • Rogue
    – MoM Hefe
  • Southern Tier
    – Hop Sun
  • Oskar Blues
    – Deviant Dales 16oz can

World of Beer – Viera

New bottles

  • Cigar City Batch #69: Double Cream Ale, 9% (Florida)
  • Dogfish Head Theobrama, 8.9 (Delaware)
  • Dupont Monk Stout, 5.2% (Belgium)
  • Highland Razor Wit, 4.5% (North Carolina)
  • Lava Smoked Imperial Stout, 9.4% (Iceland)
  • Shiner Ruby Redbird, 4.2% (Texas)

SAAZ Platinum Sponsor

Competition Winners

Congratulations to our members that have recently received awards or recognition!

SAAZ Spring Fling With Smoked Wings

Best of Show – Beer

Brewer Name Co-Brewers Brew Name Style Medal Club
Glen Weimar Sean Gregg SAAZzilla Clone 14C 1st Space Coast Assoc. for the Advancement of Zymurgy (Rockledge, FL)
Josh Landin Indian River Grapefruit Ale 20 2nd Space Coast Assoc. for the Advancement of Zymurgy (Rockledge, FL)
Sean Gregg I am Zythos, Take me to your liter 10A 3rd Space Coast Assoc. for the Advancement of Zymurgy (Rockledge, FL)

A complete listing of the results can be found Here.

14th Annual Domras Cup Mead Competition
  • Dave Webb – Silver Medal
  • Sean Gregg – Honorable Mention
First Coast Cup
BEST OF SHOW MEAD
Gold Medal Dave Webb Pyment
Bronze Medal Josh Landin Twelve Pound Elephant Braggot
OTHER MEAD
Gold Medal Josh Landin Twelve Pound Elephant Braggot
Silver Medal Dave Webb Sassy Rose Hipocras Metheglin
MELOMEL
Gold Medal Dave Webb Pyment
Bronze Medal Dave Webb Other Fruit Mead
PORTER
Gold Medal Sean Gregg Turkey Day Porter Take Two Robust Porter
LIGHT HYBRID BEER
Silver Medal Sean Gregg What a Neat Wheat American Wheat or Rye

Beer Education

Do you have a topic you would like to know more about?

Do you have any burning questions about the brewing process?

If so, send an email to editor@saaz.org and we will try to feature your topic in an upcoming newsletter.

BJCP Mead Certification

As you may know, the Beer Judge Certification Program has instituted a Mead Judge rank, as well as a Mead Judge Endorsement for existing BJCP beer judges.  Learning all of the intricacies of mead will make you a better mead judge, and also allow you to provide higher quality feedback to entrants in competitions.

After Caroline and I passed the Mead Judge test last year, we wanted to get more qualified people involved, so I worked with Steve Piatz to coordinate a Mead Test in Florida.

As with the BJCP Beer Judge exam, this is a tough exam.  The study guide is 144 pages, and you need to know it well to get a good score.  There is an 8-question written section for which you get two hours.  After that, you judge three meads in 45 minutes as if you were judging them in a competition.  Again as with the Beer exam, completeness and accuracy are essential.

To get you properly prepared for the Mead Exam, Caroline and I will be holding a series of classes and study sessions.  These sessions will cover mead history, mead making, honey varieties, fruit varieties, flavorings, faults, judging techniques, and many other things.  We will do classroom lectures, demonstrations, and practice judging at every session.

If you are interested in taking this test, you need to be committed to also putting your new ranking and skills to work by volunteering in judging competitions for the homebrewing mead and beer community.  There are only 12 spots available – and Florida is in dire need of ACTIVE mead judges.  Since we need every one of the 12 (who WILL pass the test!) to participate in future competitions, those who have been active in the homebrew competition community will get priority.

The cost of the test is $50, plus there will be small fees for each class/judging session to cover the cost of the meads that we will taste.

Here is our current schedule:

6:00pm-9:00pm for all classes

EXAM time TBD

Thursday 10/4/12 – class 1

no class (GABF week)

Wednesday 10/17/12 – class 2

Thursday 10/25/12 – class 3

Thursday 11/1/12 – class 4

Tuesday 11/6/12 – class 5

Friday 11/16/12 – class 6

Saturday 11/17/12 – EXAM

If you are committed to studying for, and taking, the Mead Exam, please email me.  Again, there are only 12 spots, so we very likely will have a waiting list for the test.

(NOTE – I am also copying this email to several people who have expressed interest in the past – I need to hear back from you if you are still interested).

Club representatives – please pass this information on to committed active members of your clubs.

Nelson Crowle
Mead Exam Coordinator

Caroline Van Sant-Crowle
Mead Judge and Mead Mentor

SAAZ on Facebook

Do you want to stay up to date on SAAZ events?

Then be sure to like the SAAZ page on Facebook!

Check it out here.

Raffle

Do you have some homebrew supplies that you don’t use anymore? Maybe you upgraded or maybe you prefer another product? Consider bringing your dusty supplies to the next meeting for the raffle. We have brewers of all experience levels, so I am sure we can put any brewing supplies to use!

Feedback

We need your help! We are very interesting in improving the club and we’d like to hear what you think. If you have comments or suggestions about the Newsletter, Website, Activities, or the Club in general, please send an email to editor@saaz.org.

All feedback is welcomed! For example you can:

  • Share a topic for Beer Education
  • Share your Review of a Beer
  • Correct something in the newsletter or website
  • Express a criticism about anything related to the club
  • Offer a suggestion to improve the club

We want to hear from you! Email editor@saaz.org.