March Club Meeting Recap

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Hey hey!

So who else had a REALLY good time at our club meeting last Thursday?!     In case you missed it, here’s a quick recap.

Michael Patterson brought out another round of off-flavor examples, one pitcher of “solventy” beer and another with “fruity” notes. The latter can be a good thing in certain styles but that solventy beer was something I hope to never taste again! Certainly not in my own home brew!     As an added albeit somewhat unexpected bonus, Michael also showcased an oxidized bottle of home brewed Imperial Stout from his cellar. Proof that even great brewers like Mr. Patterson make an off beer every now and then. 😀

Announcements were brief but informative; mostly centered around our 2nd Annual Los Angeles Belgian Brew Challenge, upcoming events and a few notes from yours-truly about some website updates that Webmaster Tad and I collaborated on recently. Speaking of which, how are you all liking the new First Friday Schedule under the Events tab on the homepage?  Useful or no?

Jeff Bystrom dragged in a heavy payload of Irish, Scottish and Stout beers for our commercial tasting and Parker earned the best beer of the meeting and a $25 gift certificate to CCHBS with his Red Carlin Irish Red Ale. Congrats Parker! With so many kegs lined up, it was easily our most fierce competition of the year so far.

Thanks very much to Michael Steinberg’s mentoring, I pulled off a gigantic batch of his club-famous corned beef and cabbage which Ian Fraser graciously pitched in and helped me to serve. Special thanks also goes out to Garrett and Bernadette Smith for picking up the loaves of rye bread and to Treasurer Tim for grabbing the deli mustard at the very last minute. Many thanks!

What else, what else…  Treasurer Tim manned the renewal booth and most everyone who attended renewed and received their 2016 sticker. I can’t stress enough how important those membership dues are to the club and on behalf of the board I thank you all for renewing with us year after year.

Terry Molloy, as usual, closed us out with a really fun raffle extravaganza and prizes were literally flying. We drank and ate very late into the evening and everyone made it home safely. Below are some photos courtesy of President Lloyd and the very funny featured image for this post is from Carl Townsend who captured Scott and Jeff’s almost-matching green shirts!  🙂

Great meeting and a very memorable St.Patty’s day. Thanks again for the memories!

_Michael

 

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St. Patty’s day came on the perfect day this year!

Posted by Pacific Gravity on Thursday, March 24, 2016

 

 

BJCP Exam Slot Available April 2nd

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A Reminder About tonights Meeting!

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Tonights meeting is at the Culver City Homebrewing Supply shop: 4234 Sepulveda Blvd Culver City, CA 90230
On Club Meeting nights at the shop remember you get a double club discount, so come with your homebrewing shopping list!

Also a couple other things for tonight:

-We need “Coolers” for storing LABBC beers during the judging sessions. So if you have a cooler to volunteer for a few weeks, please bring it to the shop tonight and remember to write your name and contact info on it as well.

-It is membership dues month too, So please bring money to pay your dues for the year: $36 for single member ship and $54 for couples.

-Also bring money for the Raffle, and we also have more PG Glasswear for sale. (Sorry Lanyards are still on back order…)

IMG_3118

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Bring your homebrew, all is welcome, but for the $25 gift Certificate to CCHS bring any Irish, Scottish, and Stouts to tonights meeting to enter to win via club member vote.

-We will have Educational demos again, and I believe some special Irish food fare to help celebrate St. Paddy’s Day, so bring your appetite!! Also bring your green hat and food coloring for Green Beer too if you want!

See you all tonight and Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

 

 

Is it April yet??!

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Hey everyone,

These past couple weeks have been such a wild ride and on behalf of the board I thank you all for coming along for the journey.  We had a sold-out Monsterbrew with Smog City Brewing Company, Rives, Barbara, Tania and I ran a home brewed soda booth at Phantom Carriage’s first anniversary party, and we collected a TON of entries for our 2nd annual Los Angeles Belgian Brew Challenge; over 30% more than last year!   Also a quick reminder: Our March meeting is this Thursday (St. Patrick’s Day) at Culver City Home Brew Supply and I hope to see you there.

In case you missed it, you can check out the photos that Lloyd and I took during the Monsterbrew with Smog City. They’re posted on our Facebook page and at the bottom of this post.  Porter and Dan were great hosts as usual, fielding our questions and giving us all an inside look at how their brewery operates and what is coming up for them in the future. This year they even broke out the bbq and a slew of burgers and dogs for us to cook – Thanks again for running the burners Ian and Lloyd.

Phantom Carriage’s first anniversary party was a day to remember too. Martin, Simon and crew pulled out all the stops and between the amazing beer selection on tap, the excellent food, and the fun crowd it was one of those “glad to be here” moments for about 6 hours straight. It was awesome to be a part of it all and I’m already looking forward to our invite for the 2nd anniversary party in ’17.   Well deserved special thanks goes out to Terry Molloy for loaning out his jockey box for the event and to Culver City Home Brew Supply for letting me borrow a CO2 regulator at the last minute. Oh and I also want to give a shout-out to my new friend Cosmo the Goat! 🙂

So as I said earlier, our monthly meeting is coming up this Thursday the 17th. I’m trying to put together some St. Patty’s day food for it so if you feel like cooking a dish or if you have a connection for a bunch of Corned Beef and Cabbage DROP ME A LINE!  Also, we need to borrow some coolers and tables for LABBC so if you have an extra please bring it to the meeting. Don’t forget to label them with your last name so we can get everything back to the rightful owner after the event. If you haven’t signed up to Steward or Judge and you’re interested, Thursday is a great time to volunteer. Just talk to Carl, he’ll get you set right up.

Our style of the month is Irish and Stout beers and Jeff B. will be hosting the commercial tasting. If you’ve got a home brewed beer that fits the style, bring it out for the best of the meeting competition. As always, a $25 gift certificate to CCHBS is up for grabs.

Also, don’t forget that we receive a special discount from the shop on club meeting nights so bring out your shopping lists!

Finally, as Treasurer Tim pointed our last week: March is renewal time so please bring cash or a card to pay your dues.

 

Looking forward to seeing you all Thursday night.

 

Thanks,

_Michael

 

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Posted by Pacific Gravity on Monday, March 14, 2016

Last chance!!!! to turn in LABBC Entries TODAY!!!!

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Its the 12th and today is the final deadline for all “Los Angeles Belgian Brew Challenge” beer entries. Get them Registered and Paid for and then turned into the shops before the end of the day today!!

http://belgianbrewchallenge.com

http://comp.belgianbrewchallenge.com

 

Drop off locations:

Culver City Homebrew Supply
South Bay Brewing Supply
The Home Wine, Beer and Cheesemaking Shop
Eagle Rock Homebrew Supply
Steinfillers

 

 

Also Check out all our Sponsors for the 2016 LABBC :

Monkish Brewing Co.
20311 S Western Ave, Torrance, CA 90501

Monkish Brewing Co. Logo

 Smog City Brewing Company
1901 Del Amo Blvd., Ste B, Torrance, CA 90501

Smog City Brewing Company Logo

 Three Weavers Brewing Company
1031 W. MANCHESTER BLVD., UNIT A-B INGLEWOOD, CA, 90301 UNITED STATES

Three Weavers Brewing Company Logo

 Absolution Brewing Company
2878 Columbia St, Torrance, CA 90503

Absolution Brewing Company Logo
Barley Forge
2957 Randolph Ave, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Barley Forge Logo

 The Daily Pint
2310 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405

The Daily Pint Logo

 Brouwerij West
110 E. 22nd St., Warehouse No. 9, San Pedro, CA 90731

Brouwerij West Logo

 El Segundo Brewing Company
140 Main St, El Segundo, CA 90245

El Segundo Brewing Company Logo
Ladyface Ale Companie
29281 Agoura Road, Agoura Hills, CA

Ladyface Ale Companie Logo

 Phantom Carriage
18525 South Main Street Carson, California 90248

Phantom Carriage Logo

 Steinfillers
4160 Norse Way, Long Beach, CA 90808

Steinfillers Logo

 The Bruery
717 Dunn Way, Placentia, CA 92870

The Bruery Logo
The Doughroom
3409 Overland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90034

The Doughroom Logo

 Culver City Homebrewing Supply
4234 Sepulveda Blvd Culver City*, CA 90230

Culver City Homebrewing Supply Logo

 Firestone Walker Brewing Company
1400 Ramada Dr. Paso Robles, CA 93446

Firestone Walker Brewing Company Logo

 Wyeast Laboratories, Inc
PO Box 146, Odell, OR 97044, USA

Wyeast Laboratories, Inc Logo

 

Time to Pay your Membership Dues

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March is here and that means Pacific Gravity membership dues are being collected this month. Annual renewals paid this month will secure your membership in good-standing until March 2017. For new members who have joined PG within the past 12 months a prorated amount will be due to sync your renewal date with all other club members.
Please note, the cost of annual dues has been increased to $36 ($54 for couples memberships). This increase is the first in several years and was approved by the membership last year. A club insurance policy purchased in 2015 is the primary reason for this increase. Obviously, annual dues are our main source of revenue and help cover Pacific Gravity’s operating costs for club meetings, the Summer & Holiday parties and more.
Club Treasurer Tim Bardet will be collecting dues at the March 17 club meeting at Culver City Homebrewing Supply. Other options to pay include: leaving payment (cash or check payable to Pacific Gravity) at the shop or by mail to PO Box 2451, Culver City, CA 90231.
If you have any questions regarding your dues or membership status, please contact Tim at treasurer@pacificgravity.com.

Shop Drop-off for AHA Entries Saturday 3/5

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We have finally confirmed entry pick-up for the AHA National Homebrew Competition at the Culver City shop on Saturday, March 5th at 5:00 PM. 

Please make sure your entries have a prominent tag saying “AHA NHC”.  The shop is also collecting entries for the Los Angeles Belgian Brew Competition and we don’t want beers ending up in the wrong city!

For those you you who have entered at other AHA NHC sites, please note that you are on your own to ship the beers.  Also, if you miss the drop-off at the shop, you can still ship your entries to San Diego, provided they arrive by march 9th

Thank you Amber for volunteering for the drive.  Have a safe trip!

Thank You
Carl TownsendCompetition Coordinator

 

Monster Brew Batches Still Available

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The Monster Brew event at Smog City Brewing is happening Saturday March 5. In recent days a few of the previously reserved batches of wort have become available. If you would like to participate, you still can. Please contact Tim Bardet at treasurer@pacificgravity.com if you would like to reserve a 5 gallon batch. The cost of a batch is $30. There are only about a dozen batches still available, so act fast!

Those of you who will be attending the event, please keep the following in mind:

1. Fermenters – Your fermenters must be plastic or metal only, NO GLASS. Skinny neck containers are not recommended.
2. Sanitizers –Don’t bring sanitizers/cleaning products to the brewery. Please arrive with your fermenters cleaned & sanitized in advance.
3. Footwear – Open-toed shoes and sandals are not permitted in the brewery. Please wear appropriate closed-toe shoes.
4. Park on the west side (back) of the brewery to keep the tap room lot open.
5. Check in with Tim when you arrive. You will receive a ticket for each paid batch of wort. You will need this when fermenters are being filled.
6. The brew starts at 7AM. Wort should be pouring around 1 or 2PM.

This is shaping up to another great event at Smog City. See you all there.

First Friday At Irish Times

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Hey PG!   Our monthly First Friday event is coming right up and this time we’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with Irish Times Pub & Restaurant. Meet there starting at 7:30PM on Friday and bring a friend or two!

irish times

As Google notes, Irish Times is an “unpretentious tavern serving Irish fare” and meeting there for First Friday every March is a PG tradition. I’m told that they’ll have some special beers on tap for us and I’m thinking of trying their Shepherd’s Pie and the Corned Beef sandwich because it wouldn’t be St. Patty’s day without a plate full of food and a pint full of beer!  😀    Also, they *should* have a live band playing too.

 

4mar7:00 pmFirst Friday - Irish Times Pub & Restaurant7:00 pm

So order up an Uber or draw straws for who plays designated driver. Tania and I are going the ride-share route because this one is so close to home.

Hope to see you all there!

_Michael

SoCal Homebrewers Festival: Last Day to Save & Other News

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Today is the last day you can register for Homebrew Fest registration for $40 – tomorrow it goes up to $45. Go to www.calhomebrewers.org and purchase a membership in the California Homebrewers Association for $10.   Then click on the MEMBERS ONLY tab on the CHA website, choose the “2016 SCBF REGISTRATION”, and buy the fest registration.

In other news:

Homebrew Fest Camping:

  • There are plenty of slots available at the PG campsite.  If you haven’t reserved a spot yet and want to, email me at schbf {at} pacificgravity {dot} com
  • Please pay the $30 camping fee at the next Pacific Gravity event (like this weekend’s Monster Brew), at the Culver City shop, or send a check to the club’s PO box.
  • If you want to get in on a group meal plan, sign up with Chef Ian at fraser_ian {at} smc {dot} edu

Homebrew Fest Activities:

  • Commercial breweries offering tastings on Friday night from 7p-9p include: Ritual; Surf; and Rock Bottom.  CHA is negotiating with two more.
  • For our musical entertainment, The Bricktop Blaggers, the popular Celtic-Rock group that played last year’s fest, will be playing Friday night during the commercial tasting.

Register today!

 

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