The Southern California Homebrewers Fest is just around the corner! May 4th – May 6th, 2012

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Pacific Gravity will once again join hundreds of fellow homebrewers at the Lake Casitas Recreation Area in Ojai, California, for the 22nd Annual Southern California Homebrewers Festival.  There’s a lot of info here, so please take the time to read it through.

Over forty homebrewing clubs from SoCal and points further will be pouring keg-upon-keg of home-brewed ales, lagers, meads, and other fermented potables on Saturday, the 5th of May, from 11am to 10pm, but as those of you who’ve attended in the past know, we make a weekend of it.  In fact, Friday night is Read more →

March Club Meeting Thursday 3/15/12 – Happy St. Pat’s!

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Our monthly club meeting and annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration is next Thursday!

Commercial Styles of the Month:  Stouts and Sour Ales in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

Homebrew Kegs of the Month: Stouts and Sour Ales.  Favorite keg of the meeting each month wins a $25 gift certificate to CCHBS.  Check out the upcoming style of the month on the website and start brewing!  If you’re interested in bringing a keg of your own to an upcoming meeting, sign up with our VP Dave Mauceli, either at the club meetings or via email at: VicePresident@pacificgravity.com

Annual Dues: If you have received a dues reminder from our Treasurer Craig, please remember to pay your dues and help keep our club running.  Dues are $30, cash or checks made out to “Pacific Gravity.”

SCHBF: Sign-ups for our upcoming camping trip in Ojai for the Southern California Homebrewers Festival May 4-6th will begin at the March club meeting.  For those of you who have never been, ask your fellow members about it and please consider joining us for an amazing weekend filled with great people and beer!  $40/person with food or $20/person if you’d rather be responsible for your own food preparation, cash or checks made out to “Pacific Gravity”.  Sign-up sheets for festival kegs and the Friday night potluck will be available at the meeting.  Please email Victor with any questions at: SCHBF@pacificgravity.com

Club Merchandise: We have more Anchor Club of The Year long-sleeve shirts ($30) available for purchase at the meeting, as well as both long & short sleeve PG shirts ($15) and some Pacific Brewers Cup shirts ($20) for those of you who are interested.

Raffle: Our ever-enthusiastic Fundraiser, Terry Molloy, will be selling raffle tickets for $1 each.

For those of you who have never been to a meeting, this is a great way to meet current members, share and sample other homebrew or commercial beers & meads, and have some fun at the end of a long week!

Hope to see you all there.

-Audrey

 

March 2012 Board Meeting Minutes

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PG Board Meeting March 1st, 2012

In attendance: Audrey, Craig, Carl, Victor, Terry, Dave S., Dan H.

Not in Attendance: Dave M., Kurt


Reports of Board Members & Committees

A.  By-Laws Committee: Dan Hakes

1.    Progress of draft coming along well, meeting every 2 weeks, should be on track for draft by April board meeting, then can go out to general membership for review.

2.    Split into 2 documents, general by-laws to gain legal status, next step will be completing club charter.

 B.  President: Audrey

1.    Calendar (Addendum A)

a)        4/5: April FF @ The Richmond (5pm, backroom reserved)

b)        4/21: Yeastside Brewers Pasadena Pub Crawl (4pm via metro rail, places TBA)

c)        5/4-5/6: SCHBF in Ojai

d)        5/11: May Second Friday @ Tomm Carroll’s Trux Stop

e)        5/12: Visit Eagle Rock brewery with Yeastside Brewers

f)         5/26: Spring Big Brew @ Carl’s

1.      Jockey Box Day- plan to survey membership & pre-pay for materials

g)        6/1: June FF @ Dan Hakes’ Carriage House

h)        6/9: OC Road Trip

i)          Craft Art & Folk Museum Homebrew Event- details TBA

j)          Other possibilities: City Tavern (Sat /Sun), Whole Foods El Segundo (Sun), The Overland, Daily Pint

k)        Summer Party: likely “Christmas in July” @ Neil’s

Read more →

Firestone Brewery Visit

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One of our club members, David Lasdon, recently met Brooks and Kate Firestone and they’ve invited the club to come up to Paso Robles to visit Firestone Walker Brewing Company. Firestone was GABF 2011 Mid-size brewery of the year and they’ve promised to treat us to some of their rarer beers.

Dave is planning a trip Saturday March 24th and will most likely be staying overnight at the Melody Ranch Motel, which is only about 2 miles from the brewery.  The club is not organizing this event or renting a bus, but all members are welcome to make the trip, carpooling encouraged and you can even make a weekend of it in beautiful Paso Robles.

If you’re interested in joining Dave and checking out Firestone, please email him directly at DBLasdon@ca.rr.com

Firestone Walker Brewing Company
1400 Ramada Drive
Paso Robles
(805) 238-2556

www.firestonebeer.com

AHA National Homebrew Competition online registration open NOW.

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Greetings, all.  Heads up – the online registration is now open for the AHA’s National Homebrew Competition.  We’ll be accepting entries at the shop during the March meeting on the 15th for transport to the San Diego judging site, but the number of entries accepted for each site is limited, so register soon.

You can save $5 on your entry fee if you become an AHA member.  Here’s a link:

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/competitions/national-homebrew-competition

Go for it!

— Victor

Extra Batches Available at Tustin Monster Brew

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There is still room in the mash tun at the Tustin Monster Brew this Saturday.  If you want more than 2 batches, let me know.  And everyone who wants 2 batches will get both.

Drop me a line at Competitions@PacificGravity.com.  We need to have a final count of batches by Wednesday, February 29th.

By the way, because of the early start time, there is no First Friday scheduled on the 2nd.

Cost is $30 per batch.  If you haven’t already paid, bring cash or check with you to the brewery Saturday morning.
Brewing starts at 6:00 AM and will finish up around 1:00 PM.
You must bring a pre-sanitized plastic bucket for each batch you buy.  NO GLASS CARBOYS!
There will be breakfast snacks in the morning.
The kitchen opens at 11:00 AM for lunch.  We recommend that everybody buy lunch.
You will need to get yeast for your beer and whatever additional ingredients you may wish to add.  Read here for how to modify your wort.
Read more here for details of the event.
Here is a map of how to get there.

Carl Townsend & Jon Porter

Sign Up Now for Tustin Monster Brew on March 3rd

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Just a quick reminder to sign up for the 4th Annual Tustin Monster Brew on Saturday, March 3, 2012.  Sign up now by dropping me a line at Competitions@PacificGravity.com.  We need to have a final count of batches by Wednesday, February 29th.

Cost is $30 per batch.  You can sign up for 1 or 2 batches.  Cash or check (no PayPal).
Brewing starts at 6:00 AM and will finish up around 1:00 PM.
You must bring a pre-sanitized plastic bucket for each batch you buy.  NO GLASS CARBOYS!
There will be breakfast snacks in the morning.
The kitchen opens at 11:00 AM for lunch.  We recommend that everybody buy lunch.
You will need to get yeast for your beer and whatever additional ingredients you may wish to add.  Read here for how to modify your wort.
Read more here for details of the event.
Here is a map of how to get there.

Carl Townsend & Jon Porter

One Final Anchor Trip Update

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Just a quick one here in case anyone missed it.  The Carlton is a union hotel and as such we will be charged $6 for every bag they remove from the bus and take to the rooms.  This is not optional, so please be prepared to pay this as you get ON the bus.

Also, as we are going to be short of riders, we will be passing the hat around to pay for the bus driver’s tip.  James is a great guy and a good bus driver so please bring some cash for this as well.

Abbot’s Pizza is our February Fare!

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I just got off the phone with the kind folks at Abbot’s Pizza, which is located a very short walk away from the shop, and they’ve generously offered us a 20% discount on slices and pies this Thursday for our Belgian & French Ales meeting.  Abbot’s will be open until 11pm on Thursday night.

As many of you know, this meeting in particular requires a “solid foundation” for best results, and I think Abbot’s fits the bill perfectly.

To receive the discount, show your PG membership card, or if you don’t have it with you, simply mention that you’re a member of the Pacific Gravity Homebrewers Club.

Let’s make a great showing with our support for neighboring businesses – come hungry and ready to eat some fine gourmet pizza!  See you all Thursday.

Anchor Bus Times

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The plan is to have people on the bus at 8:30am and being on the road by 9am.  The Bay Bridge will be closing at 8pm on Friday, so in order to avoid traffic, we are going to try and drive straight through.  So plan on bringing something to eat.  We will have some sort of stop to get off the bus and stretch out the legs, though.  With any luck, we will be in San Francisco by 3:30 or 4pm.

Several people requested that we leave later on Sunday, so unless it really puts someone in a bind, I will be moving the departure time back to 12pm.  The plan will be to grab lunch in the Bay Area and then come straight back to Culver City.

On the day of the event, the bus will leave from the hotel to Anchor at 12:30pm.  First seats will go to those who rode the bus up; additional seats will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis for $15.

If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me at roadtrips@pacificgravity.com