Summer Party Information!!!

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The Pacific Gravity summer party is coming up fast!  It will happen on Saturday, July 26, 2014 at Dean Sussman’s party pad located at:

1310 Amalfi Dr.
Pacific Palisades CA 90272.

The party starts at 2 PM and continues on into the evening.  Entry is free for paid members, $10 for guests.

We still need volunteers to help make this party a huge success! How can you help? Here’s a list of ways:

SET UP AND CLEAN UP

We need your help setting up tables, beers, tiki torches, and decorations on Friday night at 6pm. Then, we need your help taking it all back down Sunday morning. As always, those generous enough to help set up and clean up will enjoy delicious beers and those who clean up on Sunday morning will enjoy more delicious leftovers than theycan shake a stick at and plenty of “hair of the dog” to help get them going! To sign up for clean up or set up please e-mail president@pacificgravity.com

KITCHEN HELP

Ian is our masterchef and he needs your help preparing food for everyone. To volunteer, please e-mail chef@pacificgravity.com  As always, this event is a potluck and we’d like to encourage you to bring dishes that fit with the theme including appetizers, desserts, and side dishes.  Last year many of you brought dishes that made the party a huge success!  We hope you can repeat that effort again this year!   So far we are very light on food sign up from the members.  To sign up to bring food, email chef@pacificgravity.com

POTLUCK

The food this year is going to be a delicious Acadian style BBQ (think Cajun, Creole and southern!)  We welcome any and all main, side-dish, dessert or appetizer that you can think of!  Your participation in the pot-luck is what makes our party so spectacular!  The club will be providing a series of dishes that fit the theme BUT WE REALLY NEED YOU HELP TO PUT US OVER THE TOP!

KEGS, CO2, JOCKEY BOXES AND LEMON DRINKS

After all, isn’t that what our club is all about!?  Our drink competition this year features lemon, any drink alcohol, non-alcoholic, beer, or soda that features lemon is eligible for our drink competition. Of course, all beers are welcome and we encourage you to drop off your keg at CCHBS by 5pm on Friday so they can be taken to the party. Please let Carl know that you’ll be providing a beverage so that he can create a label for your drink. Email Carl at competitions@pacificgravity.com

If you made a jockey box at our jockey box event or have a jockey box, please bring it so we can keep all these delicious beverages nice and cold!!  We need CO2 to dispense the beer!  If you have a CO2 tank that you can bring please email carl

Of course, be sure to have your name on any equipment that you bring to the party.

CD SYSTEM

Wanna spend some quality time with the new and improved CDS (club draft system)? Volunteer for a one hour shift pouring beers for your fellow revelers by e-mailing Ramesh at treasurer@pacificgravity.com

FRONT GATE

Sign up for a one hour shift working at the front gate checking in members, collecting entrance fees, and selling raffle tickets. Email Ramesh at treasurer@pacificgravity.com

TABLES, CHAIRS, CANOPIES and BBQ’s

We need tables and canopies. Please bring your tables and canopies on Fiday’s set-up day!  Ian also requests that if you have a Weber BBQ and can bring it to the Friday set-up, please do so!  The more cook tops he has, the quicker we can all eat!  The food will follow last year’s serving plan, which seemed to be very well received,  and be continuous throughout the day instead of a dinner at 6 pm SO PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY!  If you want to sit down at the party make sure you bring a fold up beach/camping chair with you.

We look forward to seeing you at party and thanks in advance for your generous volunteering!!

Party on, Pacific Gravity!

 

County Fair Entry Deadline is Thursday, July 17th

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2014_LACF_DATES_BWThe Los Angeles County Fair Homebrew Competition is upon us. Entries are due by July Thursday, July 17th.   Registration is available on-line and bottles can be dropped off at the Culver City Homebrew Supply shop.   Complete info is available at http://www.maltosefalcons.com/comps/2014LACF. And, in addition to entering, please sign up to volunteer for judging or stewarding. Judging will be August 2nd at St Martin in the Field Church, 7136 Winnetka Ave, Winnetka CA 9130.

2nd Saturday! LA METRO BEER ADVENTURE!! | 7/12/14

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Trains. Craft beer. Duck fat fries.

Who’s in?!?

Check out the link below for details

http://pacificgravity.org/event/2nd-saturday-la-metro-beer-adventure/

Pacific Gravity Cask @ City Tavern 7/16/14 @ 6:30pm

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Everyone- RCP_LAAW Cask-018

The date has been set!  On July 16th the first cask collaboration with LA Ale Works is going to take place at City Tavern in Culver City.  So please join us at City Tavern – Culver City for the tapping our cask collaboration with Los Angeles Ale Works! This one of a kind cask includes Lemongrass, Kefir Lime Leaves, Ginger, Coconut Sugar and Kumquats! CRAZY!

Tapping to commence at 6:30pm!

Facebook Event Page – LINK!

Cheers!

Competition Corner – June 2014

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So, you have witnessed the Kings win the Stanley Cup, Logo-rev0 World Cup soccer is now occupying your attention, and we have reached the summer solstice. What next? BREW NOW!!  The 2014 Pacific Brewers Cup is almost here! But what about the hot weather? Not to worry, there are plenty of styles that do well in to heat. Hefeweizens, Belgian specialties and even some American ales can do well in the warm weather. And there are plenty of tricks to keep your beer cool. For more details, check out the hot weather brewing article in the Picobrewery archives.

But, while you are contemplating your next brew, take a moment to check out the Pacific Brewers Cup website! Tad Johnston and Kip Barnes have done an outstanding job getting it up and running. We’ve got all the information, rules and sponsorship info posted and will be putting up more content as the deadlines arise. You can sign up for judging or stewarding now and soon will be able to register your beers too. What, you don’t know what you are entering? Well for heaven’s sake, BREW NOW!!  You have just enough time with some of those quicker beers. The entry deadline is August 22nd, with judging on September 6th at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church. We are looking for everyone to put their best foot forward and get those fermenters going.

Along the way, we have a few other competitions to mention.  Congrats go to Michael Patterson, Read more →

**REMINDER** PACIFIC GRAVITY CLUB MEETING | THURSDAY JUNE 19TH | NEIL SAUNDS HOUSE

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Hello PG Members!

Just a freindly reminder that June’s PG Club Meeting is this Thursday night @ Neil Saunds House! So get your homebrew ready to share and come on over! Original link below with meeting details!

http://pacificgravity.org/2014/06/pacific-gravity-club-meeting-thursday-june-19th-730pm-neil-saunds-house/

Cheers!

Kingsley
VP | Pacific Gravity Homebrew Club

Cask Competition – Winner Announced!

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Hey everyone-RCP_LAAW Cask-018

Not to get lost in the shuffle of what has been a busy week so far, we wanted to announce the winner of our first collaborative cask competition with LA Ale Works.  We received a lot of really awesome submissions, which I passed along to the LA Ale Works team of Kip & John.  I removed the names from each submission to keep the results anonymous.  John and Kip told me that there were a lot of really awesome ideas on the submission list but eventually they were able to come to a consensus on the winning entry, which is:

Toby Sandland

Toby’s winning submission had the following ingredients which will be added to LA Ale Works Saison:

  • Priming Sugar: Coconut Sugar (Thai)
  • Special Ingredient #1: Lemon Grass
  • Special Ingredient #2: Kaffir Lime Leaf
  • Special Ingredient #3: Ginger
  • Targeted Pouring Location: City Tavern in Culver City

Congratulations Toby!  That sounds like it will be an awesome addition of ingredients to a Saison.

Toby, Kip should be reaching out to you shortly to coordinate when you guys can get together to make the cask.  I hope everyone enjoyed getting to be a part of the submission process and thank you to everyone who submitted entries.  Many of you submitted more than one entry which I think is an awesome way to enter into this competition – the more entries the merrier.

Once the LA Ale Works guys can organize up an event to pour the cask at I will be sure to post it on here so that we can get as many members together to try Toby & LA Aleworks Cask.

Cheers!

Brian Holter

FIRST FRIDAY < > | FRIDAY JUNE 6TH | THE DOUGHROOM (MAR VISTA)

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Sorry for the last minute switch up PG members! We have to change the venue for this weeks FIRST FRIDAY!!! PLEASE HELP PASS THE WORD!!!!!

Tomm & Denise regrettably have to bow out of hosting this week due events beyond their control…the flu!!!

So…we will be meeting @ THE DOUGHROOM in Mar Vista!

Delectable Pizzas! Cool vibe! and OMG…check out their tap list!!!  (link here)  Aside from these the owner said he’s gonna throw something special on for Pacific Gravity members! You have got to check this place out.

They are reserving the communal table exclusively for PG members and will have open seating at the bar…

SO PLEASE HELP PASS THE WORD ABOUT THE LOCATION CHANGE!!! …and join us at this weeks new FIRST FRIDAY location…

THE DOUGHROOM
3409 Overland Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
www.thedoughroom.com

AGAIN>>>HELP PASS THE WORD!!!  We’ll raise a glass to a fast recovery Denise!

Cheers

Kingsley
VP|Pacific Gravity

PACIFIC GRAVITY CLUB MEETING | THURSDAY, JUNE 19th @ 7:30pm | NEIL SAUNDS HOUSE

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Hello PG Members! This months Pacific Gravity Club meeting will be held at longtime member, all around good guy and stout enthusiast Neil Suand’s house. You may remember (or not remember 😉 it as the home of the PG Holiday Party!

STYLE OF THE MONTH | HYBRID BEERS!
Bring out your Cal Commons, Alt Biers, Cream Ales, or your Wheat or Rye beers! Smack down at the head of summer, this refreshing style is the perfect partner to your chaise lounge. So bring your home brew of this style (or as always any style) to share and compare during the commercial tasting hosted by PG member Adam Ward.

Check out these BJCP guidelines for more info:
LIGHT HYBRIDS: www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category6.php
AMBER HYBRIDS:  www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category7.php

PG RAFFLE!
And the raffle is back! Terry promises to have some items in the mix that every home brewer and beer lover will enjoy! One buck and a little luck and you could be the envy of every raffle ticket holder…

As always, we’ll have some light snacks and water to hydrate.

So join us on Thursday, June 19th @ 7:30pm –

NEIL SAUNDS ABODE
12966 Rubens
Los Angeles, CA 90066

(At the corner of Rubens and Alla)

Cheers big ears!

Kingsley

 

 

Bite At the Beach – Recap!

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Pacific Gravity Signage

Pacific Gravity Signage

On May 17th Pacific Gravity took advantage of our first opportunity to pour beer under the 2013 law AB1425 that allows homebrewers to donate their precious homebrew @ a public event as long as that event is benefiting a non-profit organization.  Matt McIvor reached out to our club to ask if we were interested and after many of you showed interest in donating and serving your beer to the public Pacific Gravity was signed up to pour beer.

We were also joined by a few brewers from Strand Homebrewers Club who brought along some meads and ciders to share as well.

I wanted to post some pictures for those of you who were in attendance, along with those of you who were unable to make the trip / pay the entry fee.  Those of us who donated beer were allowed to enter the festival for free – which was really an awesome advantage.  The event was a food and beer pairing event where every tent was 1 brewery and 1 restaurant.  One of my personal favorite food pairings was the Brown Ale from King Harbor paired with a Smoked Clam Chowder – it was delicious!

The highlight of the entire event though was when our very own Terry Malloy and Rives Borland gave a homebrewing demonstration during the VIP hours.  Due to ABC law we couldnt actually brew any beer, but we had an entire all grain setup with us along with some barley and hops to share with the festival attendees.  Terry got up in front of the stage and gave a fantastic presentation while Rives walked around and shared the raw brewing ingredients with the crowd.  I for one had a blast listening to Terry break down the science of homebrewing on the fly – it was a really special event.

The second really awesome part of the event is that we had 4 different beers on tap that were Monster Brews from Smog City.  Adam Ward brought his Kolsch fermented with White Lab’s

Tad and Ramesh filling out the wave of beer.

Tad and Ramesh filling out the wave of beer.

Kolsch strain, Kingsley and I brought along our Kolsch fermented with East Coast Yeast’s Kolschbier, Terry Malloy brought along his batch which he had turned into an American Blonde Ale and Rives Borland / Jesse Tice brought their Brettanomyces Pilsner from the monster brew.  It was really awesome to get to share those beers with the festival attendees and get to explain to them that all four beers were from the same batch.

We handed out numerous membership forms, along with a lot of membership pamphlets for Strand Brewers Club as well.

To those of you who donated your time and beer I just wanted to say thank you for both coming out and for the beer.  I think PG was really well represented with the beers, meads and ciders we had on hand.  To those of you who were unable to attend I hope you can make it out for the next event – I will be reaching out to future festivals to gauge their interest in our clubs involvement.  I am hoping that with the next event we can organize our beers a bit more – maybe even choosing a list of beers that we would like to have on hand to pour before hand, rather than having it be a free for all in beer styles.

Cheers!

-Brian