January, 2017 General Meeting Recap

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by Terry Molloy, Vice President
Our January meeting marked the beginning of what is sure to be a fun and educational 2017.  It also marked the debut of the Pacific Gravity Communications Board at Culver City Homebrew Supply.  Be sure to check it when you are picking up ingredients for your next brew.
Our Homebrew Style of the Month was “anything goes”.  These kegs were in attendance:
Tim & Ian’s Jacked Up Cider;
Parker Waechter’s Sage Cider;
Michael Patterson’s Cider; and
Andrew Whittle’s Holiday Spiced Ale.
Bottles included:
Michael Musgrave’s Belgian Trippel;
Simon Ford’s tasty sours; and
Honest Abe Cider courtesy of Paul Bobadilla.
There were a few others floating around that I did not get to sample; thanks to all that brought beer to share.
Education Corner: Michael Patterson led a Hop Aroma and Taste Test, where participants graphed their impressions of the hop itself and a single hop beer.  It was interesting to see the different graphs reflecting different palates.  Who was “right”? Only Michael knows for sure.
Commercial Tasting:  Michael M. led a tasting of English Ales that included Well’s Bombardier (English Premium Bitter), Fuller’s ESB, Fuller’s London Pride, Boddington’s Pub Ale, and, for our Metal fans, the Iron maiden Trooper Ale from Robinson’s Family Brewers in the UK.   Reference these when you brew your next English style ale.
Raffle swag included hops from the Corley Cellar, hop rhizomes from Carl Townsend’s impressive hop garden, a rare t-shirt, and some classic PG Glass-&-A-Beer specials.
Welcome New Members:
Kevin Cooke
Keith Edie
Zachary Goode
Brian Pfeiffer
SCHBF news:  Save your registration fee by working a volunteer shift at Vail lake.  Sign up on the SCHBF registration page.
Our next meeting is Thursday, February 16, 7:30pm at Culver City Homebrew Supply.  See you there!

January Third Thursday Meeting

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Hey PG!

Just a quick reminder that our January Third Thursday club meeting at Culver City Home Brew Supply Shop is this coming Thursday night starting at 7:30pm!

We’ll firm up some details about our trip to Anchor coming up in February and discuss some other things coming up here in quarter one of 2017. We’ll share some home brewed beers and partake in the commercial tasting brought to you this month by yours truly. Also, Michael P. mentioned that he has a single hop IPA to taste and the cone hops to check out and evaluate with some spider graph action. 🙂

The commercial tasting style for the month is English Bitters & Commonwealth Ales

The Best Beer of the Meeting competition style is any just like last January. Bring whatever you’ve got on tap! 

So if you are interested in attending the Anchor party and you enjoy great beer… I’ll see you there!

Happy Friday!

Michael

 

19jan7:30 pmJanuary Club Meeting7:30 pm Culver City Home Brew Supply

 

Club of the Year, Club member or the Year, and Chili Cook-off Recap!

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Hello PG Members,

We all have been pretty busy the last week, so its taken me some time to officially get this post out here. So please Read on:

First, if you haven’t heard Pacific Gravity won the 2016 “Anchor California Homebrew Club of the Year” competition!!!! We turned in our submission and judging was on Nov. 5th during the Cal. State homebrew comp. Check out the link here: http://castatebrewcomp.org. I want to thank everyone for a great year and to all the board members for helping make it so. We strived to make a difference, to evolve this club to higher standards, and this is just one of the pay offs. I hope everyone, for years to come, will continue to make Pacific Gravity one of California’s best homebrew clubs around. By striving for more education, involvement, club charity, and as always brewing the best damn beer!

Second, if you “missed” the Chili Cook-off and did not get a chance to vote for Pacific Gravity’s “Club Member of the Year” nows your chance! Please email your vote here: [email protected] you will have tell Next Sunday to vote. That is voting will now close after Nov. 20th. Nominated Members are: Lloyd Johnson, Michael Musgrave, Tim Bardet, Carl Townsen, Terry Malloy, Michael Patterson, Mimi Bardet, Tania Musgrave, Dean Sussman, and as always feel free to vote for any other PG member not on that list. You will get two votes for two different people. So please send those emails with two names!

Third, we had a blast at the Chili Cooks off. It was a good day, hot at first and then the marine layer rolled in to cool us off a bit. Chili’s and cornbread where showing up and snack where laid out. Terry had the lights up for night and a fire pit ready to go. We had a slow start, but soon got some good number later. Just in time for Rives amazing rare and expensive cider and mead tasting that lasted for quite some time into the night. Thank you Rives for going so above and beyond! We did announcement and last calls for voting about mid evening. As there was no contested board members for 2017 we did a vocal call for agreement in next years board members. They are as followed: President Michael Musgrave, VP Terry Molloy, Treasure Tim Bardet, then Carl Townsend for Competitions Coordinator, Dean Sussman as Styles, Mimi Bardet as Charities and Special Events, Tania Musgrave as Secretary, Michael Patterson as Education Director, and Brett Wilson as Activities Director that I know for sure as of now.

All the chili’s where great. We absolutely stuffed ourselves, but only two chili’s could come out on top. Ian Fraser took the win for Best Chili and Parker took the most unique! Both where amazing, Ian’s was a delicious super spicy meat chili and then Parker’s was like an amazing Mole like vegetarian chili (sorry Parker blanking on the actual ingredients). Also we did not get a lot of the style of the month beers that night, but we did get a bunch of kegs so we opened the best beer of the night to everyone that brought beer. It looked like by the end of the night Ian, Tim, Luis, and Larry took the win with there Big Red IPA, and then Carl was in close second with a hoppy pale “Extra Galactic”.

I want to give The Molloy’s a big Thank You for hosting at their house again this year, great times! Check out some of the pics below.

http://pacificgravity.com/2016/11/club-year-club-member-year-chili-cook-off-recap/

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Happy Friday! :)

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First Friday is just a few hours away and I’m here with my hands full, racking a Belgian inspired dark ale into a Balcones whiskey barrel. 😀 There are worse ways to spend a Friday afternoon but this weekend is going to be a busy one…

Remember tonight is First Friday at Maple Block Meat Company ( 3973 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City, CA 90230 ) and tomorrow is our November meeting and annual chili cook off at the Molloy’s place ( 6738 W. 87th Place, Westchester, CA 90045 ).

Break out your crock pots and get to stewing up some chili for the competition. As I mentioned earlier this week we’ll be supplying rice but you’re free to bring whatever sides you feel like dishing out too.

Rives will be serving his commercial Meads & Ciders tasting, and we’ll be judging the best home brew of the month too.

If you want to enter your chili for competition make sure you’re there and setup between 12 and 1pm. Voting will continue until about 3pm, at which point we’ll tally up and announce the best chili and most unique chili.

A few items you’ll want to bring:

  • Hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen. The weather calls for sun.
  • A chair or two. Because drinking and eating is easier sitting down.
  • Something to drink out of (our lanyard & glass combo will be available for purchase if needed too!)
  • Delicious home brewed beer!

Lastly, remember that we’re deciding on the 2016 Club Member of The Year AND a new President, Vice President, and Treasurer starting at this meeting. If you’d like to nominate a member for any one of those positions, drop an email with their name and the position at board @ pacificgravity. com

One more quick reminder too from our competition corner: Entries for the Inland Empire Brewers 20th annual home brew competition are due tomorrow at CCHBS. More info on that comp here: http://comp.inlandempirebrewers.com/

By the way, my apologies to the Molloy family for my butchering the spelling of their last name in my previous post. Lloyd made me do it. 😟 🙂

Alright, so I’m going to finish up here then Tania and I will be walking over to Maple Block. Hope to see you there, if you want me to save you a seat message me on Facebook!

 

Thanks,

Michael

November!!!

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Hey PG!

Can you believe it’s November already? The holidays are right around the corner (message me directly if you need my wishlist 🙂 ) and it’s time for us to cook up some chili, vote on some new board members, and start making plans for our big end of year party!

First Friday is THIS FRIDAY at Maple Block Meat Company here in Culver city. The service, food, and beer selection has turned Tania and I into regulars lately and I can’t wait to share it with you. We’ll be arriving around 7:30pm and staying until at least 10pm. If you’re in the neighborhood, thirsty and/or hungry, stop on by!

November’s Club Meeting is THIS SATURDAY at the Molloy’s house in Westchester. A few important things to remember about the meeting:

The meeting is a few weeks early this month, so don’t miss out!  The Molloys were generous enough to host us (again) and this weekend was the best fit for their schedule. Remember, it’s a private residence so carry-in & carry-out and be on your best behavior!

  • The President, Vice President and Treasurer board positions are up for nomination and we’ll start collecting votes on Saturday. We’ll also begin voting on Club Member of the Year and we’re still accepting nominations for that award as well.
    • Want to nominate someone? Email board @ pacificgravity.com with their name and which position you’re nominating them for. We’ll get them on the ballot if you email before FRIDAY.
  • Food will come in the form of our annual Club Chili Cook Off and all members are invited to bring a crock pot of homemade chili to enter.  Last year’s cook off was so much fun, looking forward to see who brings what! 😀        If you don’t make chili, we’ll happily accept corn bread or sides too. 🙂
  • Our commercial tasting style is Meads and Ciders, hosted by Rives. He gave me the 411 on some of the bottles he’s bringing and it sounds like we’re going to have a great lineup.
  • Best Beer of the Meeting competition will revolve around Meads & Ciders AND Smoked, Spiced, and Wood Aged beers. As usual, we’ll award a $25 Culver City Home Brewing Supply gift certificate to the winner.

There are still a few details to work out regarding the meeting Saturday so expect one more post before the week is over.

Looking forward to this weekend like 😀 😀 😀 !   See you there.

Michael

4nov7:30 pmFirst Friday - Maple Block Meat Company7:30 pm Maple Block Meat Company

Last Night’s Club Meeting Reminders and Recap.

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Thanks everyone that came out last night, we had a great October Club Meeting that had some long announcements and Nominations for 2017.

Just a Reminder, Voting for the Club President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Club Member of the Year will be held November 5th at the chili cook off Saturday club meeting at Terry Maloy’s house. More info on that to come, but in the mean time Nominations for Pres., VP, Treasure, and Club Member of the Year will be open tell about Nov. 4th. Please email us at [email protected] for your Nominations. There is still plenty of room for Pres., VP, and Treasurer nomination!

Secondly, Tomorrow is the Golf Day Outing hosted by our new Activities Director, Brett Willson. if anyone is interested in golfing there still might be a chance to squeeze you in. Email Brett at [email protected].

Also we will have a Bottle share after party at the Trux Stop, hosted by Tomm Carroll, aka his place. Tomm said last night that if you don’t have any bottles to share don’t worry he has it covered!! also if anyone is interested in bringing any homebrew kegs as well we will have taps set up!! feel free to email me if you do: [email protected] and I will let Tomm know. As well Ian will be cooking up some brats, but with a beer bath technique I’m told so it should be awesome as always. All are welcome to Tomm’s stating at 3pm tomorrow!

Lastly check out the new First Friday schedule for the months of November and December that has been updated for the rest of the year.

Here’s a bit of Recap of Last nights October meeting:

We had a ton of Kegs line up at last nights meeting, all sorts of styles and a couple for the Style of the Month. Everything from Strong Ales, to Smoked Porters, Fresh Harvest IPA’s and NE IPA’s. Plus some great beers being passed around like Rueben’s Smash Hopped Dorado IPA and a American sour blend dry hopped with Mosaic form one of the New Members that signed up last night! There where a ton of new faces and it was great to see and meet you all. I hope you enjoyed the meeting and will be back for more of our events!

Tim J. hosted the Commercial Tasting and did a great job finding all sorts of English Strong Ales and some American Barleywines. We also had a great Raffle with a lot of classics like “A beer and a Glass”, but also gave away some Fresh Cascade Hops from Carls garden, a new and rare LA Ale Works hat and a beer, some PG glassware swag and a beer, a Brewery 750ml, and ended with a grand prize of a 6.5 gal. Glass Carboy donated form Porter at Smog City.

We did our last 2 off flavor tastings last night, hosted by Michael Patterson. Thank you Michael for hosting all the set ups this year. Last night ended on some fun ones Earthy and Spicy. The Earthy one tasted like you just took a shot of dirt mixed in with some grass clippings. Great Stuff!

Club Member Parker Waechter once again this year took home the Best Beer of the Night price of a $25 gift certificate at Culver City Homebrew Shop with his Wee Heavy. He has consistently brewed not only the style of the month, but has done it in away that has improved his skill immensely. I encourage all to be like Parker and brew those beers! The Style of the Month has been there to encourage people to step out of their boundaries. To brew and learn about different styles. Parker has done that, admitting last night how brewing the style of the month has been a great and fulfilling challenge for him this past year and it show in his awesome beers he brings every month. Great Job Parker!

Below are some pics form last night. Cant see the pics on the email?? go to this post link: http://pacificgravity.com/2016/10/last-nights-club-meeting-reminders/

 

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Some PG reminders!!! Sign-ups and Club Meetings.

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Hi everyone,

Just a few reminders if you wanted to sign up for a couple things now is your last chance. The Firestone Walker PG collaboration BB Weizenbock bottle survey and then the PG Gold Day Outing. Also a Reminder of this Thursdays Club Meeting being held at the Culver City Homebrew Supply store!

-Firestone Walker and Pacific Gravity Bourbon Barrel Aged Weizenbock Collaboration bottles for sale. Check out the last post I did about the survey by clicking Here, or just go to the survey now to let us know of any further interest in getting reserved bottles. As far as I know there is no discount and you will have to commit to buying any bottles you reserve.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJgfECKf6lKU0t6dR3bjyu9oVrcTay0_Vl51eLx9YQ3YKyMw/viewform

-Pacific Gravity Golf Day Outing, click Here to check out the last post about the full day and bottle share for everyone held afterwords at the Trux Stop, aka Tomm Carroll’s place!

RSVP to [email protected] now asap if you want to join in on the golf day at westchester. Please also RSVP for the bottle share if you plan to go, so we can get a head count for food.

-Lastly a reminder of this Thursday’s PG Club Meeting, regular time 7:30pm at the Culver City Homebrew shop. 4234 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City, CA 90230

Remember on Club Meeting you get a Double Store Discount at the shop for all members on your purchases!!! So bring your shopping lists, this will be the last meeting for the year at the store until 2017. Also the Style of the Month that night will be Commercial Tasting Style: British Strong Ales and then Best Beer of the Meeting competition styles: British Strong Ale, American & English Old Ales, Wee Heavy, American & English Barleywines, and Wheazwine. Where like always you can win a $25 gift certificate from the Shop.

There will also be our last 2 off flavors of the year being presented by Michael Patterson, the raffle, and also the Nominations for Club President, Vice President, and Treasurer, plus Homebrew of the Year!! So get thinking who you would like to nominate for 2017 or step up yourself and join the board. Last year we had two contested board member positions and it made it all the more exciting, so Im looking forward to seeing who we have in the running for 2017.

Note: We will be doing the Vote on November 5th at Terry Malloy’s house for the Chili cook off Saturday Meeting. Please set your calendar’s since it will be so early in the month this year around. It will count as our November club meeting and we are still deciding on what will be done about First Friday for November.

 

 

 

September’s club meeting @ Smog City Brewery!!!

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This Thursday, September 15th at 7:30pm our Club Meeting will be held at Smog City Brewery!!!

1901 Del Amo Blvd., Ste B,
Torrance, CA 90501

Parking instructions and beer:
click here for taproom parking and beers on tap!

We will have a special section in the brewery for Pacific Gravity member to hang out and do everything we normally do at our club meeting. So Yes, bring your homebrew!! This months Style of the month is IPA’s, bring your homebrewed IPA’s for a chance to win a Smog City Gift Certificate with the best homebrewed IPA beer of the night vote. We will also have a commercial tasting of IPA’s hosted by Reuben S., plus all the offerings at Smog City will be available in the tap room, which we can head over to purchase as well and grab growler fills too.

You never know, there could be something special from Porter as well at the meeting. Like in the Raffle, there will be some Smog City raffle prices like a Smog City Growler and growler fill. Plus we plan on having Smog City beers and other great prizes in the raffle.

Think you won’t have time for Dinner? No worries, we are planning on doing some Grilling and a few of the Board Members are planning on whipping up some special toppings. We will be using the grill at Smog City and we are thinking of doing a bunch of great Sausages with all the fixings, plus some optional sides and alternatives. We will put out the donation bucket for the food that night, give what you can, but the suggested donation price is $5 cause we are blowing our food budget! Also feel free to bring other food or sides if you feel so inclined?

So Remember, what to bring: Homebrew, IPA’s, Smog City Grolwer’s if you want to fill them at the brewery, Money for the Raffle and Dinner, your appetite and a thirst for some great beers!!
Plus Michael Patterson should be on hand with more Off Flavor Demonstration’s and we will have some limited PG merch for sale too.

Also Please use: Uber, Lift , or the cabs to get and/or leave the brewery in a safe way. Please be responsible and carpool if you can!

Cant wait to see you all there, this will be one amazingly fun club meeting thanks to Porter and everyone at Smog City!

 

 

Thursday: August Club Meeting @ CCHBS

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Hey PG!

Time flies when you’re having fun doesn’t it? It seems like the summer party was just yesterday and along comes the August club meeting already!  🙂

Culver City Home Brewing Supply has again agreed to host us for this month’s meeting this Thursday the 18th at 7:30pm. CCHBS has been super supportive of us over the years, so plan a project brew and give-back by buying supplies on the night of the meeting. I will be, for sure.

Style of the month is Sours and I’m really looking forward to Andrew W’s flight of commercial sours; he absolutely owned this category last year. I’m bringing a home made Berliner Weisse to enter into the Best of Meeting competition, as usual there is a $25 CCHBS gift certificate for the winner. Knowing this group, it should be a unique mix of beers and we’ll have some food and a live band (just kidding CCHBS).

Also, Michael P. will be hosting his infamous off-flavor booth at the start of the night. Learn a little bit about what makes beer taste bad and what bad beer tastes like. Whole lot of good beer talk goes on in Michael’s corner. 😀

Can’t wait. See you there!

_Michael

18aug7:30 pmAugust Club Meeting7:30 pm Culver City Home Brew Supply

 

 

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Club Meeting and other event dates!!

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Sorry for the late announcing of this months club meeting which will be held at the:
Culver City Homebrew Supply store this week June 16th at 7:30pm.
4234 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City, CA 90230. Style of the Month is All Lagers for homebrewers and International and Czech Lagers for the commercial tasting. There will be a raffle, food, and sign up sheets for next month’s Summer Party for volunteers, beer, and food.
Also if you still need to brew beer for the Summer Party, all club nights held at the Culver City Homebrew Supply shop is double discount nights, So bring you recipes and buy some homebrew supplies!!

We have some more events coming up in July, so set your calendars!

July 1st for First Friday will be south of us at King Harbor’s Waterfront Tasting Room, in the Redondo Pier area! really close to Naja’s Place. Go down via Uber or Lyft and check them out, have a few of their beers and if you need more then head next door. Waterfront Location: 132 International Boardwalk, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(Note: Do not mistake the location with King Harbor’s actual brewery located at 2907 182nd street Redondo Beach, California 90278)

July 10th for Sunday Funday in the Arts Disttrict, Downtown LA!! This should be a real fun bar crawl in a cool part of downtown with a lot of great beer bars, food, and Breweries. Plus the highlight event where we get a personal tour from club friend Devon Randall, aka Head Brewer at the Arts District Brewery.
The Plan: So the Expo Line just opened up all the way the Santa Monica, so this is a great excuse to use it. The train’s will take you all the way to the Arts District area. Plan on getting on the trains about 10am-10:30am to meet at our first location: Wurstkuche at 11am, where you can get the best sausages in town and some awesome German and Belgian beers. Then about 12:30pm-1pm we head across the street to the Arts District Brewery, where we will meet Devon, drink her beer’s, eat more food, and set off on a personal tour of the brewing facilities. After a good while of hanging at the brewery, the next stop we leave it up to the group, or the individuals. I might head to 82 the Arcade Bar, or Mumford Brewing a few block away. There is also Angel City Brewing and Eat Drink Americano real close too. A bit farther you can cab it to Iron Triangle Brewing, Little Bear, or Villains Tavern. Check out all the links I added to each location, I will announce at the June club meeting and post more about the schedule closer to the date of the event.

July 23rd for Pacific Gravity’s Summer Party!! Definitely set your calendars for this, the biggest event of the year! We will have sign up sheet at this thursday’s club meeting for volunteers, beers, and pot luck food. We will also be looking for some special volunteers to help out Ian with the food duties as well, the week before, during set up, and during the summer party day since he is not as mobile as usual. We will make the official announcements at the meeting this Thursday at the Culver City Homebrew Supply shop.

 

http://pacificgravity.com/2016/06/club-meeting-event-dates/