New Club Website

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August marks the official rollout of our new club website.  We’ve moved to blog style website which will allow us to have a more up-to-date and active website.  We’ll be posting all of our newsletter and email announcement content to the website on a periodic basis.   The new website will allow member interaction via comments and much more.

The new club website also marks the demise of our monthly newsletter and periodic email announcements.  In the interest of reducing overhead and duplication of effort, the website will become the club’s primary method of communications and will essentially replace the newsletter and emails.  The monthly newsletter will evolve into a monthly flyer promoting that months events with the rest of its monthly content  moving to the website.  The email announcements will be replaced with notifications from the website when articles are posted.

Since we’ll no longer be sending newsletters or email announcements, you’ll need to subscribe to the new website to stay in the loop with news and up-coming events.  The club website provides two ways to subscribe to it: via email or via RSS feeds.  To subscribe via email, enter your preferred email address in the text box in the upper left corner of the club web page and click the subscribe button below.  Once you’ve subscribed via email, you’ll receive an email whenever a new article is posted on the website.  To subscribe via an RSS feed, click the subscribe link in the upper right corner and follow the instructions to add it to your favorite news reader.  Once subscribed via an RSS feed, you’ll get a summary in your news reader of all articles posted on the club website.   If you don’t subscribe, you’ll have to manually check the website for the latest info.  So subscribe now and stay in the loop…

August Club Events

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  • Thursday, August 20th @ 7:30 pm – August Club Meeting @ Culver City Home Brewing Supply
    • – Specialty Beers / Beverages are style of month – keg volunteers welcome
    • – Special guest – New Belgium Brewing will be sampling their new Hoptober seasonal beer
  • Saturday, August 22nd – Road Trip to Stone Brewing’s 13th Anniversary Celebration and Beer Festival
    • – tickets (1st session) at: http://www.stonebrew.com/13th/
    • – charter bus – $30 per rider
    • – limited space, reserve your seat now online at club website.
    • – DEADLINE to sign up is Friday, Aug 7th!
  • Saturday, August 29th – First Friday @ Daily Pint in Santa Monica
    • special Saturday afternoon/evening edition
    • featuring BBQ out back

Online and subscribe-able club calendar available at: http://ical.me.com/cgcorley/PacificGravityEvents

For more info on upcoming events, check for related articles herein or contact President@PacificGravity.com

Pacific Gravity’s Summer ‘Party Gras’: Who Needs a Bayou When You Got Beer?

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IMG_1445Ooh-wee, baby, ooh-wee. The good times rolled and the great beer flowed at Pacific Gravity’s 13th annual Summer Party on July 18, which brought a bit of New Orleans revelry to the Pacific Palisades plantation estate of club member Dean Sussman (right), the site of the celebration for seven years running.

Bedecked in strands of Mardi Gras beads, over 275 club members, guests, families and friends got their Creole on for this homebrew fais do-do, grooving to iPod mixes of N’awlins funk, Cajun zydeco, swamp rock and Dixieland jazz, noshing on Louisiana-styled eats, and swilling down a wide variety beer –– both homemade and commercial –– and sodas. And the perennial “Home Brew Club Summer Party Band” reformed once again to contribute a couple sets of booty-shakin’ blues rock. Think Fat Tuesday during Mardi Gras –– except nobody had to give anything up the next day!

Special guests at the party, all of whom were among the many who donated gifts for the party raffle, included Larry James of Wine Warehouse distributors (who brought along a four-year-old keg of Echte Kriek!), former club member Michael Bowe of Angel City (who tapped kegs of his Vitzen and IPL – India Pale Lager), Paige Reilly of Shmaltz Brewing, Brian Lenzo of Blue Palms Brew House, Ryan Sweeney and Brandon Bradford of Verdugo Bar and BoHo, and Billie Anderson of Lucky Devils. Also, beer-blogger Sean Inman was in the house, and covered the party for the Food GPS blog.

Club master chef Ian Fraser came out of semi-retirement to oversee and help prepare the massive New Orleans-influenced feast, Read more →

Mead Day

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Did you know that Saturday August 1 is the American Homebrewer’s Association National Mead Day?  It is, and Pacific Gravity will be having a Mead Day Celebration at the home of Dan Hakes (that’s me!).  We will be brewing, tasting and talking about mead.  Last year Mead Day was held at my house and we put some black walnut and fresh apricot in two separate batches of two-year-old mead.  We will be sampling these on Saturday.  We can also sample the mead we made last year and see how it’s coming along.  I have a few others sitting around and you never know what I might find in the cellar.  If you have some mead to share, bring it along.

Michael Steinberg will be bringing snacks, and the Carriage House Taproom will be open.  Drop by, socialize, and watch how easy it is to make mead!

Also on mead day, we will be selecting the Club’s next entry for the AHA Club-only competition.   The next competition is for Amber Hybrid beers, BJCP category 7.  We will judge them at Dan Hakes’ place.   Please bring 3 bottles for each entry, and please fill out the entry forms which you can download from the AHA website at:http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/pdf/entry_recipe.pdf.  The club picks up the entry fees and shipping for this one, so it is free to you.

Saturday August 1st
12:00 noon

2379 W 21st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90018
323-730-1003

Road Trip to Stone 13th Anniversary Fest

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Stone 13th AnniversaryThis year’s event will take place Saturday, August 22, on the campus of Cal State University San Marcos in North County San Diego. And for the fourth time, Pacific Gravity will be chartering a beer bus to shuttle thirsty club members from Culver City to the first session (only) of the fest, which lasts from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

How do you get on board? It’s easy.

BUY YOUR FESTIVAL TICKET

First, buy your own ticket to the Stone Fest’s morning Session A (only; the PG bus will NOT be traveling to the afternoon Session B). Tickets are $35 per person and are available now.

Order your tickets ASAP. Not only does the first session always sell out, but on August 15, the ticket price rises to $40. The price buys you entrance to the event, a 13th anniversary tasting glass and 10 taster pours from over three dozen breweries. And don’t forget to bring your ID. Yes, they check.

ONCE YOU HAVE YOUR STONE TICKET, BUY YOUR BUS TICKET

Then, reserve a space on the PG bus, by paying $30 per person ($31 if using PayPal). You can use the “PAY NOW” button below or drop your payment off at Culver City Homebrew Supply, or sign up for the road trip and pay at the Summer Party on July 18. Don’t delay in reserving a space on the bus either; it has sold out in previous years. Rest assured, beer drinking IS allowed on the bus –– and there will be a working bathroom on board as well!

The bus will leave from Culver City Homebrew Supply at 8:00 a.m. sharp on Saturday, August 22. Do not be late or you will be outta luck. A lunch stop (probably at one of the Pizza Port brewpubs) will be made en route home, and we should arrive back at the homebrew shop by 6:00 p.m.

By the way, Stone’s 13th Anniversary Ale, due to hit store June 29,
is an Imperial Red hop monster at 9.5% abv.

Don’t miss out on the club’s most popular road trip of the year!


LA County Fair Homebrew Competition

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As we get ready for the Summer Party, don’t forget the entry deadline for LA County Fair Homebrew Competition is this Friday.  Please note a couple of special rules for this competition:

  1. The entry forms and fees for the LA County Fair should be mailed in to Pomona, not attached to your entries.  Entry fee is $7.00 per entry.  Here is the mailing address:
    Los Angeles County Fair
    Attn: Home-Brew Competition
    1101 W. McKinley Ave.
    Pomona, CA   91768
  2. Your bottles can be left at the Culver City Homebrew Supply Co.  Given that the store closes early on Saturday for the summer party, I’d suggest getting them to the Culver City Homebrew Supply Co. no later than Friday July 17th.
  3. This competition uses the Maltose Falcons style guide, which can be found here.
  4. You can find entry forms and info on the LA County Fair website here.

Good Luck!
Carl Townsend
Competition Coordinator

Summer Party July 18th!

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Saturday, July 18th @ 2:00 PM
1310 Amalfi Drive, Pacific Palisades CA

This year our theme is a Cajun! Do you like gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, meats, sausages,seafood, bread pudding, apple/pecan/sweet potato pies and, oh yes, BEER? Well, this is the Pacific Gravity party which will have it all, thanks to YOU, the Regiment of Loyal Graviteers.

We Need Volunteers

Are you willing to step up and do a bit of cooking for this event?

Ian Fraser has come up with the main menu, and we need to divide some of the cooking, due to the large quantities we will be serving. Anyone willing to help should contact Ian or Michael Steinberg.

Side dishes are needed to supplement the main courses. Salads, snacks, side dishes, and desserts are welcome. If they compliment the Cajun/Creole theme, that would be ideal.

We will be having 3 competitions this year

  • Best Party Beer
  • Best Tustin Monster Brew Beer
  • Best non alcoholic beverage

Read more →

Pacific Gravity Gazette Archives Now Online!

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Events

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LA County Fair Home Brew Competition – entries due at CCHBS
Saturday, July 18th
Click here for more info…

Mead Day @ Dan Hakes house
Saturday, August 1st, 12:00 noon mead making demos & tasting

First Friday @ Richmond Bar and Grill in El Segundo
Friday, August 7th @ 7 pm

Road Trip to Stone Brewing’s 13th Anniversary Celebration and Beer Festival
Saturday, August 22nd