Please join us on Wednesday, April 23 at 7:30 PM for a preliminary judging round for the Mayfaire Homebrew Competition. The Falcons have over 500 beers to judge and will need all the help they can get. If you have ever wanted to learn about judging beer this is an ideal opportunity in a less formal setting. I’m looking for about six judges and two stewards.
We will be gathering at
Culver City Home Brewing Supply Read more →
Everyone-
As discussed at last month’s club meeting at Culver City Home Brew Supply, the board has been working towards creating a draft of our club bylaws for all associates approval. This is the first step in a potentially lengthy process towards converting the club to a 501c3 Non-Profit with the state of California and ultimately filing for tax exempt status with the IRS.
Please review the attached document and come to next week’s meeting at Smog City Brewery in Torrance prepared to vote to approve or reject the attached bylaws. So to review, we WILL be voting next Thursday April 17th at the club meeting, please review this document prior to the club meeting.
Cheers and I look forward to seeing you all next week-
Brian
April is already here and that means it’s time to get your homebrew competition entries going. Registration is now open for Mayfaire hosted by the Maltose Falcons. Entries are due April 10th at the Culver City Shop. On-line registration is up and running at http://www.maltosefalcons.com/comps/2014Mayfaire. Please sign up to judge and steward too; they will need our help. Judging will take place on Saturday April 26, 2013 9:00 AM at St Martins in the Fields Church 7136 Winnetka Ave Winnetka CA, 91306 (click for map).
Also due in late April is the California State Fair. Entry information and registration is available at http://www.northerncalbrewers.com/homebrew-competition. We are looking for a road trip volunteer to deliver these entries, with closer sites in Riverside (Morebeer) and San Diego (Ballast Point) , so if you are interested, please contact me at Competitions@PacificGravity.com.
Looking ahead, now it the time to brew for the 2014 Pacific Brewers Cup. The entry deadline is August 22nd, with judging on September 6th at Smog City Brewing. We are looking for everyone to put their best foot forward and get those fermenters going before the weather gets too hot.
If you are hard-core competition junkie, there are a bazillion other contests to enter. The AHA has their master list at http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/competitions/aha-bjcp-sanctioned-competition/.
2014 Pacific Gravity Brewer of the Year Competition Schedule
April 10th Mayfaire entries due at the Culver City shop
April Date TBD California State Fair (on-line entry closes May 2)
July Los Angeles County Fair
August 22 Entry Deadline for Pacific Brewers Cup
September 6 Judging Pacific Brewers Cup
October California State Homebrew Competition
Hi Everybody:
As you may be aware, legislation has been drafted which will modify an existing bill that essentially prohibits events like the SoCal Homebrewers Festival. The vote on the new legislation takes place on April 9.
That’s 4 days from now, but it is NOT TOO LATE to act. You can make your voice heard by sending letters to (1) the GO committee chair, Isadore Hall and (2) your state representative if he/she is on the GO committee. The list of the GO committee members is attached. Here is a link you can use if you are unsure who your representatives are: Assembly Member (Thank you Scott Burnell for the link).
And to make it even easier …
– A sample letter is attached that you can modify by adding your name and the name of the legislator. Please delete any of the helpful notes embedded in the document.
-You don’t even have to go to the post office. Email your completed letter document(s) to: Nanette.Farag@asm.ca.gov She will make sure they get directed to the appropriate person.
Thank you.
Hello PG Members!
MAN AM I THIRSTY! FIRST FRIDAY is here and I have some updates!!
PARKING
You have 3 options for parking:
– WESTSIDE PAVILION (FREE)
The WP is 3 doors down from GULP! at the corner of Westwood & Pico. Parking is free for the first 3 hours and has a nominal charge per hour after. Lot stays open till wee hours of the morning. Save your money for beer and get a short walk in!
– STREET PARKING (Pocket Change)
If you are lucky to find a space and have some pocket change (or ATM/CC card) you can park on PICO Blvd. BEWARE of residential street parking – almost all of it is permit parking after 6pm.
– VALET (Cash)
GULP! does have a valet that will run you around 5 bucks. If you are lazy and have some extra cash this is your best option!
RESERVED TABLE
Jessie, the GM @ GULP! Has reserved a table for 10-12 people under PACIFIC GRAVITY. I plan on being there right at 6, but if you get there before me just ask about the PACIFIC GRAVITY table.
HAPPY HOUR!
Happy hour is from 5pm to 7:30pm. They have draft and food specials that will be sure to please!
Here’sa the original link for location and venue info…
http://pacificgravity.org/2014/03/first-friday-april-4-2014-gulp-westwood
Hope to see you there!
Kingsley
VP | Pacific Gravity
Hey folks!
Just a quick reminder about this weeks FIRST FRIDAY @ GULP! Click the link below:
http://pacificgravity.org/2014/03/first-friday-april-4-2014-gulp-westwood/
See you tommorrow!
Cheers!
Kingsley
Check out the Brewers Association interview with fellow club member Kip Barnes! Keep those LA ALEWORKS beers coming and thanks for the Pacififc Gravity shout out!
http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/community/a-toast-to/show?title=kip-barnes
Cheers,
Kingsley
Ian setup for his commercial tasting
For those of you who were unable to attend this past week’s club meeting at Culver City Homebrew Supply, here are the recap notes from the meeting along with a few pictures I grabbed. First though, a huge thank you to the guys at CCHBS for hosting the meeting in the shop – it was great to get everyone in there for the night and good to be back for the month. Also another special thank you to Ian Fraser for doing an awesome job with the commercial style of the month with his epic Stout offerings. I think the bar has just been set for how to gather up beer for the monthly beer style! Here are the important notes from this weeks meeting:
Thanks again to everyone who came out for the club meeting this week, and another special thank you to everyone who brought beer. Bringing homebrew to club meetings is an essential component of who we are as a group. If you have some great homebrew – bring it! If you have some homebrew that just doesn’t taste right and you aren’t sure why – bring it! We have plenty of experienced judges and brewers in our club who can offer their insight into your problematic brews to help you refine your process.
I am hoping to get to taste some awesome IPA’s at next month’s meeting at Smog City – and not just Smog’s beers – please bring out some of your brews!
See you all soon.
Brian
Everyone-
Two quick announcements. First, Los Angeles Ale Works (LAAW) is going to have a cask of their latest beer on tap tonight at City Tavern in Culver City. Tonight’s beer will be a cask of their latest beer Dampfmaschine (California Common with Rye) where Magnum hops have been added to the Cask. One of the latest trends in the commercial beer industry is for craft breweries to offer 5 gallon casks of their beers spiked with additional ingredients. The great thing about these beers is that they offer a unique presentation of beers produced by your favorite breweries. This past January Smog City hosted their first Battle of the Cask where they were serving a Porter in 5 different casks as a competition between employees at the brewery. LAAW has poured a variety of casks at different bars around Los Angeles to coincide with releases of different beers from their lineup.
Second, LAAW has offered to start a semi-regular project with Pacific Gravity. Pacific Gravity recently purchased our own Pin cask to be used by club associates as well as for collaborating with LAAW. With LAAW, we will occasionally host a competition within the club where homebrewers will submit their idea’s for ingredients to add to a cask of LAAW beer. The winning flavor combination will be selected by Kip and John and will be served at a bar here in Los Angeles. This will be an awesome chance for club members to have a beer on tap at a bar that they had a part in creating – something that is a dream for a lot of us. This event will only be open to club members who are paid in full for the 2014 year – so make sure you get your dues in tomorrow night (or ASAP) so you can have a chance at winning the first competition.
At April’s club meeting we will be distributing ingredient forms to all associates who are in attendance and have paid for their 2014 club membership. The next beer that LAAW is going to brew is their Lievre Saison with kumquats and some additional subtle spicing. It should make for a perfect beer to start this fun project. I could see some cool cask hopping ideas for that beer, or even additional spicing.
For now, here is a quick blurb the guys at LAAW put together for us to describe their beer that will be serving on cask TONIGHT at City Tavern as well as info about their cask projects:
From LAAW:
Dampfmaschine is a California Common style beer with rye and finished with magnum. It has a persistant bitterness and a sikly mouthfeel. The cask that will be at City Tavern tonight 3/19 is dry hopped with magnum, which will help bring to light even more, this amazing german hop.
We’re really excited to be collaborating with Pacific Gravity on this cask project. This will be a great opportunity for us to get the word out about the club and serve beer in bars the club helped to make. We’re always open to having people visit us during our brew day as well so if anyone is interested in coming down to Ohana when we make our monthly beer, let us know. We’ve been collaborating with local restaurants and our Kickstarter backers as well to help us select the special ingredients. Whether it’s an extra hop addition only or the addition of tea and spices, we’re really up for trying anything. Obviously balance is key and bringing the club out to taste the beer is also a huge plus. A Pin hold 5.5 gallons of naturally carbonated beer. We would love to have Pacific Gravity help choose the special ingredients that go into the cask. We’ll put the PG logo on the cask head along with whomever chooses the winning ingredients.
Here’s an example of what goes into one of our casks.
We typically make casks 10-14 days after the beer goes into the fermenter. The only draw back will be that you’ll have to be creative if it’s a new beer style we’re doing as we won’t have the base beer for you to try.
Once it’s tapped, it must be consumed quickly – 12-24 hours is best. If we can get the club out to the event, the bars are more likely to continue doing cask events with us – quickly emptied casks mean they get their money and no beer goes to waste. We’re open to pouring at most bars as long as they are okay handling a cask. City Tavern has agreed to carry our casks on a semi regular basis so this is an easy location and probably the location of the first PG tapping.
Here is a link to the website for the Campaign For Real Ale – http://www.camra.org.uk/ – where you can read more about cask ales. Thanks everyone, see you tomorrow night at CCHBS @ 7:30pm!
Brian
President | Pacific Gravity Homebrew Club
Here’s a friendly reminder about coming to our March Club Meeting @ CCBS! It’s club dues time. So please bring cash our check to Ramesh to receive your new membership cards and the benefits that come with them! For our commercial STOUT tasting Ian has been digging up and awesome selection…so bring your best homebrewed STOUT to compare!
CLUB MEETING | Thursday March 20th, 2014 | 7pm | Culver CIty Brew Supply
link: http://pacificgravity.org/event/pacific-gravity-club-meeting-march-20th-2014-culver-city-brew-supply
Cheers!
Kingsley | VP
