Club Brew and Chili Cookoff Coming on September 26th

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gravity-cookoffHey Graviteers,  it’s Chili Cookoff time again!! Get that meat, beans, onions, garlic and lots of chilis mixed up in your own unique way and see if you can be crowned this year’s  King or Queen of Chili.

Can you out-chili the Chili Master?

For the last two years Ian Fraser has been the holder of the title, Chili Master, and fully expects to keep the crown. This is your chance to prove that the Master’s chili is not all powerful, by breaking out your favorite recipe and defeating him in a winner take all competition.

In the past we have had as many as 10 chili entries. Two prizes are awarded, one for Best Chili, and the other for “Most Unique”. Veggie, Sea Food,  and All Meat have been represented in past competitions.

The Club supplies all sides and additions for the chili, as well as snacks and dessert. Attendees are encouraged to bring homebrew or commercial beer to the event.

What is a Club Brew?

This year the event will take place at the home of Eric Moreau in El Segundo. Eric will be using his brew system to brew 10 gallons for the club.

For those who are new to PG, a Club Brew is a 1 batch brew, belonging to the club. The host uses his equipment and skill, and the club gets the beer. Of course, there is the opportunity to help the chief brewer, learn to use the equipment, drink beer, and eat.

EVENT TIME: 10am-6pm.
COMPETITION: Begins around 12:30.
WHERE: 1225 East Maple St. (West of Sepulveda), El Segundo

September 2009 Club Events

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  • Saturday, September 26, 2009 – Chili Cook Off and Club Brew – 10 am to 6 pm
    • Location: Eric Moreau’s house in El Segundo
    • Annual Chili Cookoff – bring a pot of chili and compete for best and most unique
    • Single Brewer club brew
    • Contact ActivitiesDirector@PacificGravity.com for more info

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 Brewer’s Cup Entries Due Now!!

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Entries Due Sept 4th

Entries Due Sept 4th

Entries for Pacific Brewers Cup will be due at the shop on September 4th.  This year the competition is hosted by the Strand Brewers’ Club.  Judging will be held on September 19, at the Courtyard Los Angeles LAX/El Segundo. The hotel is located at 2000 East Mariposa Avenue in El Segundo, about 1 mile south of LAX.  We’ll want to have a good turnout for this one, both from an entry standpoint and from a judging/stewarding standpoint.  More details of the competition can be found at: http://www.strandbrewers.org/pbc/index.htm.

The AHA has announced the rest of the Club-only competitions for 2009 and beyond, so you can plan these well in advance.  The next competition is for European Amber Lagers, BJCP category 3.  We will judge these at the September Club meeting on September 17th.   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.

Winners of the California State and Los Angeles County Fairs have now been announced!  Congratulations to Read more →

September First Friday @ Daily Pint in Santa Monica

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OK, its not September and its not Friday, but we are doing our September First Friday this Saturday, August 29th at 5 pm.  We will be converging on The Daily Pint in Santa Monica this month. The Daily Pint is a friendly neighborhood bar that has an interesting selection of beers on tap and in bottles. They’ve created a bit of a buzz with their cask ales and are rotating a lot of unique beers thru their beer engines.

The Daily Pint is located at:
2310 Pico Blvd (just east of 23rd Street)
Santa Monica, CA
(310) 450-7631

August 2009 Club Meeting – Thursday, August 20th

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After a month off for the summer party, we’re back to our regularly scheduled monthly club meetings.  The August club meeting will be this Thursday, August 20th from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Culver City Home Brewing Supply. Specialty Beverages (i.e. Meads, Ciders, Specialty Beers) will be our style of the month and as always we’ll have some homebrewed beers on tap to complement our monthly commercial style tasting (volunteer kegs welcome).  Nathalie Balandran will be guiding us on a tour of Specialty Beverages for our style tasting and is certain to provide some interesting examples.

Special guest, Dallas Byerley of New Belgium Brewing will be joining us to sample their new seasonal release, Hoptober.  Please remember to bring some of your homebrew to share with us.  While you’re at it, bring some of your friends and maybe some new members.  As always we’ll be giving away lots of club swag and beer/brewing related goodies in our monthly raffle.  Your donations to the raffle are always welcome and needed.

With several club events and competitions upcoming, including the Stone Anniversary Road Trip and the Pacific Brewers Cup, we’ll have a number of sign ups and details to finalize. Of course we’ll also have the latest info on all upcoming club events, plan on joining us…

Mead Day a Sweet Success!

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Saturday August 8, Pacific Gravity joined brewers around the world in celebrating American Homebrewer’s Association’s Mead Day.  (Ok, there was only one site out of the USA, some meadsters in Russia joined in on the fun.)

37 sites were registered and 19 sites have reported in for a total of 231 gallons of mead in 52 batches and 302 people participating. Our site had 20 people participate and 4 people made meads.  To watch for a final total of AHA Mead Day, go to http://www.beertown.org/events/meadday/celebrate.html
Since mead is so easy to brew, we had a leisurely start time of 12:00 noon.  In no time at all we had 5 batches completed, totaling 8 gallons.  I made an experimental batch of agave nectar mead using only agave (is that still a mead?).  We’ll have to wait until next year to try it.

There was plenty of mead to sample and sample we did.  Thanks to all who brought samples of their mead, we had quite a few examples.  We sampled the mead that was made last year on Mead Day, and we tasted the mead I added apricots from Ian Fraser’s backyard, as well as the batch I added black walnut to.  We also made a special drink of the afternoon, meadjitos!  I blended a mix of fresh squeezed lime juice with mint and honey and we served it mixed with mead, crushed ice and sparkling water.  Perfect for a sunny afternoon of meadmaking.

Michael Steinburg made us some quesadillas on the BBQ, and several people brought munchies to share.  Of course we weren’t limited to mead and the homebrew flowed freely.

After the mead was made we had a fun time in the Carriage House Tap Room, playing darts and enjoying mead and homebrew.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s Mead Day!

August First Friday – Richmond Bar and Grill in El Segundo

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Join us this Friday, August 7th for our monthly First Friday pub visit.  We will be heading south to the Richmond Bar and Grill in El Segundo this month. We’ve reserved their back room.  So if you walk into the bar and don’t see anyone, keep going back, all the way past the patio, and into the separate building as far back as you can go.  They’ll have a few special beers on tap for us along with their regular selection.  We will be starting at the ususal time of 7:00 p.m.

The Richmond Bar & Grill is located at :
145 Richmond Street
El Segundo, CA
(310) 322-7397

Note, this is a cash-only place, Credit/debit cards are not accepted, so plan accordingly.

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 →

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!