MINNESOTA TIMBERWORTS

The June 2001 Rochester Homebrew Club Newsletter

 

Next Meeting

 

June 15-17(Friday eve till Sunday) Club Campout at Wayne Theuer’s.

 

Directions:

 

Directions from MPLS/Fargo: I-35 South to Owatonna, take the next exit after the Bridge Street exit (about 2.5 miles south past the Bridge Street exit) and go east until the second exit, take a right onto Hwy 218 south and go about 18 miles south to Blooming Prairie, at Blooming Prairie take a left between Bob & Al's Food Pride and the Amoco/Standard gas station (east), go straight across the tracks on Dodge County 2 750th Street, a blacktop) and go east until you come to the second bridge, stop right before the second bridge and take a right into Wayne’s driveway (about 3.5 miles, 13763 750th Street).

 

From Dodge Center: Go south on Hwy 56 until you get to the Hayfield intersection, proceed south for about 2.5 miles more until you see Dodge County 2 (750th Street, a blacktop), take a right, go west until you come to the second bridge, go across it and take a left into Wayne’s driveway (about 7 to 8 miles, 13763 750th Street).

 

From Hwy 30: Go to Hayfield and take a left (south) on Hwy 56, go south for about 2.5 miles until you see Dodge County 2 (750th Street, a blacktop), take a right and go west until you come to the second bridge, go across it and take a left into Wayne’s driveway (13763 750th Street).

 

Wayne’s phone number is 507-583-7167. Mobile phone just in case: 507-456-4439.  We are hoping the weather has got its storms out of the way for us for this weekend. Should be a great weekend to sit back and enjoy all of the great beers.

 

No pets please. Bring firewood for a bonfire, if you have any (Wayne’s might be a little wet).  Start time is Friday when you get there. Bring your tents,  lawn chairs and your own glasses to drink from. If anybody needs directions from another direction please let Wayne know.

 

Topics to be discussed/voted on:

 

Statewide campout plans - we are hosts this year!!

Big Brew & AHA membership (pics on our  website soon)

 

From the President, Pam King:

 

First, the beer brewed for the big brew day is pretty good or in other words it doesn't suck.  In fact, Gerry, Mark and I found it pretty tasty.  Especially the all grain version. Although the all grain version is more of a really great porter than a brown ale.  It is pretty neat to see the difference between the two batches.  I think Mark was planning on kegging it this last weekend so I will be ready for campout.

 

Second, with respect to the interclub campout.  There are three matters to be addressed.

 

1.    We  need to brew the kit we got for the campout.  There is good variety of ingredients and we can also add one so we should have plenty of options.  We are trying to do it at Mark's but this may depend on Julie’s birthing schedule.  If people are interested they should contact me or Mark ASAP so we can get it planned soon. I have been procrastinating but it has to be brewed soon.

 

2.    We need to encourage people to get beer done for competition at the campout.  The styles are:  Pilsner (Boh, Germ and CAP), Pale ale and bitter (IPA? EPA, APA, ESB, SB, ord.bit), Barley wine (Am and Eng barley wine), and wheat beer with at least 20% wheat (Wit, Weisen, and any others).

 

3.    We will need to decide what we want to have for food on Saturday.  The host club needs to provide the main course.  Leo suggested a selection of smoked meats.  I thought this was a good idea.  Any other suggestions are welcome.

 

PK

 

Calendar Of Events

 

Date       Host                                                       Styles

06/16      Wayne Theuer                                   Annual Club Campout(Meads)                                               

07/14      Greg Renkly                                    Homebrew/Home-bottled Only

08/04                Statewide Interclub Campout hosted by Timberworts at Wasionja Campground

09/08      Ken Vossen                                  40th B-day beers

10/13      James White                                      Marzen & Octoberfest

11/10      Ron Elshaug                                 Strong Belgians

12/08      Steve & Amy Determan                     Barleywine and Christmas                            

 

10/05/02                Pam & Gerry                                      Wedding styles

 

Date       Event

09/08?   Brewery Tour at Mantorville Brewing

08/11      Great Taste of the Midwest

?              Club Only Competition host?

 

Statewide interclub campout

 

Wazionja Campgrounds

6450 120th St NW

Pine Island, MN 55963

507-356-8594

 

The campground is located on Wazionja Road  - it is the first road on the

left going north out of Oronoco on HWY 52, about a mile north of the Conoco

station.  The campground is on the left about a 1/2 mile down Wazionja road.  There are signs (MnDot)  for the campground on 52.

 

If you are planning to bring a large camper or RV, you will need to contact the campground and request a location near the ‘interclub campout’ site(if that is your desire).

 

Leo Vitt will be distributing ‘brewing kits’ to several clubs that are planning to attend the campout.  The idea is to have a tasting competition at the campout.  If your club is planning to attend and desires a kit, please contact Leo Vitt(lvitt4@yahoo.com).  Any questions?  Leo is also your answer man!!

 

$3.00 per head for the weekend of tent camping, in the lower field -- there is a nice wooded area back away from everyone else.

 

 If anyone needs RV spots - the nearest RV spot to this wooded area is about 120 yards - RV spots are $15.00 a night - includes electricity and water hookups, no sewer hookups but there is a dump station available.

 

 

 

The Great Taste of the Midwest

 

August 11th is not that far away!!  Tickets have gone on sale as of May 1st.  Several club members are planning to stay at the Best Western Inn on the Park, which is located next to the capitol building in downtown Madison(and a reasonable walking distance to the pubs).  Their phone is (800) 279-8811.  They have a two night minimum stay.  More information is available at:

 

http://hbd.org/mhtg/gt_faq.html

 

 

 

 

AHA/BJCP Style Guidelines

 

http://www.hbd.org/ford/stylguid.html

http://www.mv.com/ipusers/slack/bjcp/

 

 


Other submitted pieces and bits

 

From Mark Ingham:

 

I would like to thank everyone who helped out with the Big Brew 2001. We brewed two batches of American Style Brown Ale, one extract with

specialty grains and one All-Grain batch. The beers are fermenting nicely and will be transfered into the secondary this week.

 

During the AHA Membership Drive, we gained 4 new members and 2 renewing members. I think this is great, and may be the most AHA

Members we've had  in the club at one time.

 

Thanks again and we will be brewing soon for the Inter Club Campout beer.

 

From Leo Vitt:

 

2001 a Beer Odyssey

 

                     - or -

 

                      The No Liver Tour 2001

 

 

 

May 17th - 31st we had a group tour in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

There was a small band of 4 homebrewers on the loose, trying beers and in

Germany wines. 

 

According to my notebook, we tried 191 beers and most were good to superior.

(I wonder how many I forgot to write down.)  We toured 4 breweries (LaTrappe,

De Dolle, Cantillion, Huyghe), visited 2 cafes at the breweries for Westvlertin

and Kasteel, 8 or 10 beer cafes and 2 German Beer gardens, plus 2 weinstubes

and one vineyard.  Cities: Tilberg Netherlands, Diksmude, Ingelmunster, Melle,

Gent, Brussels Belguim, Koln, Koblenz, Cochem, Rudesheim, Assmannshausen,

Heidelberg, Stuttgart Germany.  Amsterdam for just 1 hour.

 

There were some new discoveries:  Postel tripel, Cantillion Apricot, Gluek

Kreik server warmed by a expresso steamer, Leffe Spelt, Vetter 33, 12 year old

Kasteel dark, KwelChouffe.  Some I heard of before and got to try for the first

time - St Louis Lambics, new Hansens. 

 

Best improved beers - De Dolle changed yeast after Rodenbach was taken over.

The new management decided - no more yeast is to be given to the mad brewers.

Now they are stepping up their own cultures and the beers are cleaner.

 

Disappointments: Rodenbach is way off, LaTrappe is no longer Trapist and they

are made lighter, K-8s - a new fruit beer that taste like cherry soda, Betty's

Blonde. 

 

German beers were sometimes disapointments, depending upon location.

Beer gardens tended to have better beer than restaurants.  This is based on 2

beer gardens and 5-6 restaurants.  Kolsch houses in Koln were a mixed bag of

good, acceptableand poor.  We learned there are 40 breweries making Kolsch

around Koln and we managed to try 9 of them.

 

We found a place we could do a side by side tasting of Pilsener Urquell and

Budweiser Budvar.  We liked the Budvar better.

 

Best quote:  In Brussels, the is a beer cafe called Lop Lop.  They have an

extensive beer list with a description of each beer.  For Andheiser-Busch

Budweiser the description says "A beer for rednecks who don't know what their

drinking and don't care".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Club Discounts with Membership card!

 

* Hawkeye's Custom Home Brew Shop                (507) 583-7167 Wayne Theuer, Blooming Prairie, Cost + 10%

* Brew & Grow                                                      Fridley   10% discount

* WindRiver Brewing Co.                                          Eden Prairie   10% discount

* Northern Brewer                                   St. Paul   10% discount

* Andy's Liquor                                                     Rochester   10% discount on all non-sale beer

* Tower Liquor                                                     Fairbault   10% discount

* Apollo Liquors (next to Best Buy)                 Rochester   10% discount

 

Club Information

 

The Minnesota TimberWorts Homebrew Club meets on the second Saturday of each month. Meetings are held at the homes of members or local pubs. Yearly dues are $10 per individual or $15 per couple, and are used to cover the expense of this newsletter and other costs. Anyone interested in information about the club can contact:

 

Pam King (President)                            (507) 288-0583                              mailto:kingwarp@rconnect.com

Peter Sanders (Vice-President)                (507) 367-2421                              mailto:plsander@us.ibm.com

James White (Treasurer)                           (507) 281-5992                              mailto:james_white@iname.com

Ken Vossen (Newsletter Editor)    (507) 635-5362                              mailto:vossen@means.net