Author: OVHA

Fellow Homebrewers,

I hope everyone is staying warm this month in the wake of winter storm Octavia, it looks like that darn groundhog got us again! It can be hard for us outdoor brewers in these winter months. I am an outdoor brewer, and with my brewery blanketed under a layer of snow and temperatures in the single digits as I write this, I find my attention shifting from brewing outside to tinkering inside. My kegerator improvements have been completed, the hop infuser has gone through its first initial test rounds, my brew space have been tidied, and all the beer has been bottled and kegged. I think it might be time for another extract batch on the stove soon!

My journey to become a full-fledged BJCP judge has finally come to an end. I received my exam results back this month and I am now officially part of the BJCP! It took seven long and anxious months of waiting but I think it was worth it. The purpose of the Beer Judge Certification Program is to: Encourage knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the world’s diverse beer, mead, and cider styles; Promote, recognize, and advance beer, mead, and cider tasting, evaluation, and communication skills; and Develop standardized tools, methods, and processes for the structured evaluation, ranking and feedback of beer, mead, and cider. I’d like to encourage anyone who is interested in becoming a BJCP judge to take the plunge.

Remember, at the February meeting we will be taking our annual club photo. Make sure your membership dues are paid up, and don’t forget your orange shirt! We will have a fresh batch of orange shirts including ladies cut for sale at the meeting if you are in need of an OVHA shirt.

As a reminder, starting at this February meeting we are asking all members to bring one canned good in order to receive a ticket for the door prize. I know it may be a mild inconvenience to some of us to remember to have to bring one more thing to each meeting but I really feel that a club our size has a responsibility to the community and that this is going to make a positive difference in someone’s life. I want to thank everyone for being so generous in contributing to this cause; you all never cease to amaze me!

Save the date! March 28^th we are holding our annual OVHA “Big Barrel Brew” at Carson’s Brewery. The recipe we will be brewing has yet to be decided so if you have a recipe you think would age great in a bourbon barrel please reach out to one of your board members.

And finally, the results are in! This year the Big Turkey contest was held to a vote and your voices were heard! We will have two categories and.. drum roll please… the two categories will be: Category 12 Porter, and Category 14 India Pale Ale. These will include sub categories 12A Brown Porter, 12B Robust Porter, 12C Baltic Porter, 14A English IPA, 14B American IPA, and 14C Imperial IPA.So get those mashtuns heated up and dust off the bottle capper, it’s going to be a good competition this year!

Cheers!

Sky

Fellow Homebrewers,

Another amazing and exciting year of home brewing is upon us! Every New Year’s Eve I make a resolution to brew more beer the next year and to improve upon my brewing equipment and knowledge of brewing. I plan on improving my kegerator, making a beer infuser, and maybe dabbling in mead. I hope all of us can make our own “brew year resolutions” come true.

Your elected club officials and I are planning lots of awesome things for us to do this year. I don’t want to give away all the surprises but there are talks of another club outing! We are also planning another big barrel brew at Carson’s (a big thanks to John Mills for hosting last year), and our own club hosted brewing competition. This year we are also going to try something new that some other clubs have done and that is to have a quarterly “Club Social Night” where we can meet outside of official club events with our friends and families to partake in some good old fashion socializing.

At the January meeting Drew Mitchell of CYO Brewing will be speaking about the new dedicated brew shop he has opened in Evansville and the brewery he is planning. I know that I, for one, am thrilled to have a dedicated home brewing store open in Evansville and I can’t wait to hear what he has to say. Also, Phil Johnson, Brewmaster at the Pour House in Tell City, will be speaking about his experience with the UC Davis brewing science program. We will also be having a vote to decide what beer styles (that’s right, more than one!) the big turkey brewing contest will be this year so be sure to make it to the meeting in order to get your votes cast. At the meeting we will be drawing names for a three-way extract, brew-in-a-bag, and conventional mashtun brewing experiment to finally put an end to the debate on which process is the best. Or we will find out there is no difference. Either way we are sure to have some fun! So if you want to be one of the brewers you will want to get your name in the hat before we draw!

As our club continues to grow I strongly believe it becomes more important to give back to our community, and so this year we have decided to ask that starting in February, all club members bring one canned good to every meeting in order to get a ticket for the door prizes. We have sent our own club treasurer Jack Frey to CYO to pick up some new goodies for the door prizes so remember, don’t forget your canned good starting in February! Later in the year we will also be holding a drive for old eyeglasses. If you feel strongly about a particular charity and have an idea for our club to contribute please contact me or one of the board members.

Don’t forget, the start of the New Year means it’s time to renew your membership dues on the OVHA website. It’s those dues that allow us the ability to have special guests and rare beers and prizes. Next month is the annual club group photo, so be sure to get your dues paid so you can be in the picture.

Cheers!

Sky

Fellow Homebrewers,

It’s hard to believe that another year is almost behind us. Let’s take a quick look back at 2014.

We had several guests presenters in 2014. We started the year with a beer and chocolate pairing from a certified cicerone. I believe we set a record for the number of significant others in attendance. At the March meeting Caleb Staton, head brewer at Bloomington’s Upland Brewing, led the club in a sampling of Upland’s 2014 sour beer release. In October Aimee Blume brought her considerable culinary talents to the OVHA. We enjoyed some incredible fare prepared with beers from Carson’s Brewery.

With an eye on a future open homebrew competition, we placed an emphasis on beer judging in 2014 by conducting quarterly calibration tastings. Michael Julian was the first guinea pig having his Vienna Lager compared to a commercial version of the style. Kenny Purcell followed three months later with his hoppy American Wheat pitted against Carson’s Eville Wheat. Yours truly then put forth a rather pedestrian Scottish Ale, the style for this year’s Big Turkey Competition. Finally, Cesar Gonzalez, a past Indiana Brewers Cup blue ribbon winner, presented his Munich Dunkel. Thanks so much to those willing to subject their creations to public scrutiny.

Members gathered three times in 2014 to brew publicly. In early March, members met at Carson’s for the 2014 barrel brew day and produced 110 gallons of wort. Ultimately, half of the Foreign Extra Stout went into a Four Roses bourbon barrel donated by Liquor Locker. The first Saturday in May saw about a dozen brewers celebrating Big Brew in the parking lot of Tin Man. Six months later three hardy souls and several interested observers braved less than ideal conditions at the Morgan Avenue Liquor Locker for Learn to Homebrew Day.

As always, the OVHA was instrumental in the success of several beer festivals benefiting local not-for-profits. Zoo Brew kicked of the season in June as the OVHA, with around 25 beverages on tap, took its customary spot by the Mesker Zoo entrance.   Bosse Field next welcomed the club for the long-standing SWIRCA brew festival. This was followed by the Evansville Museum’s Brew Ha Ha and Wesselman Wood’s Wandering Owl. The festival season concluded last month with Holy Redeemer’s Tap and Cork. Thanks to those who selflessly contributed your time and beer to these worthy events.

Several OVHA members competed in the AHA’s National Homebrew Competition with Chris Norrick’s Flanders Red and the Gonzalez’ cider advancing to the final round. The finals were judged during the National Homebrewers Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan.   The club was well-represented at this year’s conference as I was joined by Amelia, Cesar, Chris, and last year’s OVHA president, Don Heisler. Aside from one rookie mistake, a great time was had by all attendees.

As it does every year, an army of orange shirts descended on he 2014 Indiana Brewers Cup with many OVHA members volunteering to steward and judge.   With his Belgian Golden Strong, Jeremy Dunn brought home the top prize in his category. Carson’s and Tin Man also took home a fair share of hardware. Clearly, the future of Evansville brewing, both on the amateur and professional levels, is in good hands.

As you can see, 2014 was a very busy year. We added 29 new members and we currently have more than 120 members in good standing making the OVHA one of the most prominent homebrewing clubs in Indiana. All of this could not have been possible without the tireless efforts and sacrifices of your OVHA officers and directors. When you get a chance, please give a pat on the back to Sky, Chris, Jack, Jill, Michael J., Kenny, Dutch, and Dwayne.

Thanks to all for making my tenure as OVHA president a memorable one. Now, bring on the year of the Sky!

Just Brew It!

Jeff

Fellow Homebrewers,

I woke up this morning to the first significant snowfall of the year. It wasn’t unexpected, but it certainly was unwelcome! As I was contemplating how much I hate winter, it struck me that Thanksgiving is next week. Growing up in central Indiana, we often had snow by Thanksgiving. Of course, that was in the Ice Age. If this winter turns out to be a harsh one, I’ll be thankful for my basement induction brewery. Feel free to corner Chris Norrick or myself if you’re interested in finding out more about this safe and efficient (not to mention, weather-neutral) brewing method. Anyway, since this month’s meeting kind of snuck up on me, I’ll keep this brief.

Learn to Homebrew Day was held on Saturday, November 1, in the Liquor Locker parking lot at Morgan and Stockwell. As 9:00 AM approached, I was fearful that I would be the only brewer. Compounding my concerns was that Skip Seaman, co-owner of Liquor Locker, had generously brought his mega-grill to feed the throng of brewers and bystanders. Finally, Dwayne’s familiar red S-10 pulled in the parking lot followed a bit later by Kenny Purcell. That’s it – just three hardy brewers willing to brave the elements. Although I was disappointed by the number of brewers present, I was pleased that several new brewers came to observe and stuck around for most of the day. Thanks also to those members that stopped by to offer encouragement.

The last beer festival of the year, Holy Redeemer’s Tap & Cork, was held the evening of November 8. Although the weather was a bit brisk, attendance seemed on par with past events. OVHA supporters included Don H, Dwayne, Michael J, Jeff, Cesar, and the Lancasters. I know I can speak for John Mills, the event organizer, in thanking those OVHA members that contributed their time and beer to help make this event a success. The OVHA barrel-aged stout was quite a hit as was Cesar’s funky cider.

I’d like to give a shout-out to Chef Aimee Blume for presenting at last month’s meeting. Aimee was very generous with her time and talents. The food was irresistibly good! If you get a chance, you should read Aimee’s column about cooking with beer that was published in last Wednesday’s (November 12) Courier Press.   You can also find the recipes on the OVHA website.

I’d also like to thank Sky for coordinating the three canned food drives. Sky didn’t have any precise numbers, but his car was full to the brim. Thanks to everyone for their generosity during the season of giving!

Don’t forget that your Big Turkey entries will be collected at this Wednesday’s (November 19) meeting. If you’re unable to attend, you may drop your entries off at Carson’s Brewery prior to the meeting. Judging will be held at a top secret location in early December with the winner announced at the December 17 meeting.

Also on the agenda for this Wednesday’s meeting will be the fourth and final calibration judging of the year. For this event Cesar Gonzalez, OVHA’s award winning lagermeister, has graciously volunteered to have his Munich Dunkel tasted alongside a commercial version. Thanks Cesar!

Bundle up and…

Just Brew It!

Jeff