July 2017 BIER Meeting
July 12, 2017
19 distinguished attendees;
Jim Burt Bob Ciesla Chris Rhodes Chuck Rhoades Matt Farrell
Gordon Dusinberre Dave Scheel Steven Morrow Tom DeSantis Kristen Lyons
Donna & Bernie Kordula Dave King (2) James Dunn Joan King Jason Gardner
Kris Kinne Rich Andel Jim Jakupco
July's Beer Talk
Bob brought popcorn, Binghamton
Brewing got a sheet of pizza, and Joan and James Dunn Stewarded for us. Thanks!
Joan and I stopped and spoke with
Chris Rhoades, Operations Manager and Brewer for Beer Tree Brewing in Port Crane, a
couple weeks ago. They’re
making great progress on their farm brewery. The tap room and brewery are nearly
finished. The fermenters and bright
tanks are in place, with the 10 bbl brew house to be delivered very soon. With the Fed. License in hand, it
won’t be long before they have the state license and the brews will
flow. Chris attended our meeting
and told us about their progress at the meeting, and brought us 2 of their
beers to try, both very good, see below.
A fall opening is projected.
The building is amazing, with huge
trusses. Check out the photos on
their web site and on Facebook. They’re on the road to State Park,
just get off Rt. 88 at Port Crane, and head North, about ¼ mile on the
left.
Chuck Rhoades, Chris’ father,
told us about Willet Hop & Grain. His farm is in Willet, near Lyle,
NY. He’s got a good sized hop
growing and processing operation, including a Wolf Harvester, with a good many
varieties of hops. Northern Eagle pelletizes them for
him. Chuck told us about some
intricacies of raising hops, to get good yield. It’s a big job, expensive, and
labor intensive, with spraying for mold, etc. We need to go visit. And he’s raising lots of grains,
too, including rye.
Independent
Craft Brewer Seal was unveiled
by the Brewers Association. This
should make it much easier for us to identify true Craft Beer, and support our
local independent breweries.
The 2017 National Homebrew Convention
was in Minneapolis, Minn., a good many of us attended, a few from TCBM, and a
few others from UNYHA & ABC. We
visited some local Breweries and Brew Pubs on the Wed. Thurs. was the 2nd round
judging, start of the seminars, and Thurs. evening there was a brew fest, with
many local breweries serving their best.
Friday there were more seminars, and Club Night, the undisputed best
part of it all. Saturday there were
more Seminars, and another big party, no banquet. Many of your favorite PodCast folks were there, and most of the significant HB
equipment and ingredient
suppliers were there.
I manned the BeerSmith booth for a while, and helped with the big raffle on Sat. Brad will be releasing Ver. 2.4 of the BeerSmith SW soon.
Zoo Brew was held at the Ross Park Zoo, June 17th. Binghamton Brewing was there!
Also on June 17th, The Southern Tier Empire Wine Festival & Brewfest was at the Broome County Fairgrounds, in Whitney Point.
By the time of this writing, the Deposit Lumberjack Festival was history. Bernie, Bob, Donna and I poured for Farmhouse, and had a very good time. We poured samples, 8 oz. cups for $3, and 12 oz. cups for $5, along with Binghamton Brewing, Roscoe, Band Wagon, Diversion, Galaxy and Clemson Brothers. There was also a Cidery.
Syracuse’s Empire Brewfest is July 22nd, at the Syracuse State Fair Grounds, on Chevy Court at the New York State Fairgrounds.
The Longshot HB Contest entry deadline is July 25th.
Belgium Comes to Cooperstown is Aug 4 & 5. It sells out early.
August 12th will be Binghamton Brewing’s Anniversary party, 2 to whenever. Stay tuned for details.
Rochester’s Flour City Brewers Fest is at the Public Market, Aug 18. Madison Co. Hop Fest is Sept. 16. Sudsy Brews and Fiery Foods is Sept. 23. Then there’s the GABF (Oct. 5 - 7).
Knickerbocker Battle of the Brews judging will be held Oct. 21st, it’s a good contest at the Albany Pump Station.
New York Craft Brewers Festival is Dec. 2nd. Over 50 Breweries, and lots of food included for $45, on-line, $20 Designated Driver, in Syracuse at the Landmark Theatre. 5 to 8 pm. This is put on by the NY State Brewers Association, should be a lot of brewers there. Apparently, there was one June 10th, too.
My hops are doing well, Fuggles have some hops, not mature just yet, and there are blossoms and small hops on the others. How are yours doing?
It’s time to pay your BIER dues, so we can send in a roster and the annual payment for our AHA Liability Insurance, and that means $3.50 per member for your dues. See the link for details. Please PayPal to Dave King (2), or send a check. The roster needs to be sent in by Aug. 1.
Frank Haining passed away recently, he was a great Homebrewer, BJCP Beer Judge, mentor and good friend. His contributions to Homebrewing and judging were strong in Broome County, but extended to much of NY State and PA. He will be greatly missed. We raised a glass to toast him.
We got to the beers:
Chris Rhoades – Pale Ale, nice malt and hop flavors, well made, 60 IBU
may be a little high for a Pale Ale, but very tasty, not an entry beer for
novices, but we hop heads appreciate it.
Chris Rhoades – Cherry
Sour, kettle soured with yogurt,
similar flavor to a Belgian
Kriek, nice level of sour, and a good strong cherry flavor. Great addition to a full range of offerings.
He also expects to have an IPA,
light ale, Imperial Stout, and a Raspberry Wheat.
Kris & Tom – Chili Limeade, amazing, good flavor compliments, not too
hot, with chili powder added to fermented limeade. 10+% ABV.
Kris & Tom – Orange Cervesa with Pepper Corns, another amazing flavor combination from this brewing duo. This was a cheap kit, tweaked up.
Matt – Cream Ale, same as May’s offering, still a good
solid, easy drinker. Clean, well
made, good for summer.
Jim Burt – Basic IPA, no mods, not NE,
etc. Just a fine basic IPA, with
harvested Conan yeast, for a 5.8% ABV hop blast, especially in aroma.
Bob - Bourbon Barrel Porter, Northern Brewer Kit, BIAB, and he added
some lactose with the Bourbon, good balance, nicely done, Bob.
Tom & Kris – Maple Stout, made with their tree sap and pecans, 20 yr.
old recipe, nice blend,
Rich – IPA, good nose from 4 oz. dry hop. Very nice IPA, Rich is one of our IPA
experts.
Dave King (2) – IPA, with a bit of harshness in the finish, apparently due to a recent dry
hop with Simcoe Cryo Hops, a sample from the AHA National
Conference. It’s getting
better, and was much worse right after dry hopping.
Gordon – Snow Plow Porter, a kit brewed last winter, when the snow
plows were too late, so good time to brew.
Gordon used “medium priced” Bourbon & oak chips.
Jason
– Far
East Lemongrass
Wit, nice refreshing lemony Wit bier, dry finish, with Lemon Grass “dry
hop.” Good summer change up
for IPA lovers.
Donna – Stony Joe, a Golden
Mocha Stout, from Stony Creek, nice light, easy drinking chocolate & coffee
flavors, with a big coffee nose.
Dave Scheel – Susquehanna
Sasquatch Russian Imperial Stout, a big RIS, similar to Yeti, hence,
the name. Rye, flaked wheat and
lots of hops. 9.2% ABV, with great
dark and roast malt flavors. We had
this last Jan., at 6 mo, of age, and it was great then, too.
Got dues from lots of folks, up to 37 members for 2017 – 2018, you’ve got until Aug. 1 to get in on the insurance.
Good meeting, thanks to our great brewers, including Binghamton Brewing. See you all at our August meeting, August 9th. Kevin Winter, from Doc’s will be introducing us to some new malts he’s carrying. Stay cool.
Dave