Final Day Of The Conference 2013

The last day of the conference began with seminars. The first seminar I attended was presented by Dick Cantwell of Elysian and was about opening you own brewery. The title was “Come One, Come All – Wait a Minute: Assessing the Elastic Limits of Opportunity.” I think this might have been a good wake up call to all the aspiring brewery owners in the crowd. The market is becoming crowded and craft beer is taking more and more market share, but at some point we will reach critical mass in terms of taps, shelf space and ingredient availability. I hope everyone in the audience was paying attention.

Next was from Mitch Steele at Stone who presented, “Current Techniques and Recent Developments Used For Brewing Great IPAs.” It was a great talk, I think he may be really sensitive to garlic and onion characteristics in hops, but still a wonderful speaker and topic. What really kinda bothered me was a dude on my row who when I made a comment about Amarillo having an aroma of cat urine who said he had never perceived that, nor heard it before. Dude, use Google and it has a plethora of references to the truth I speak. Geez Louise!

Next up was a real treat. It was “Hops vs Matl: A Smackdown with Cheese” and was presented by the author of Cheese & Beer, Janet Fletcher. The cheeses were magnificent and we decided which the cheese paired better with IPA or RIS. Of course it varied by cheese and varied by person, but what was interesting is our table almost always picked the same cheese and beer pairing as best even when others found the opposite to work. Here’s a photo of the cheese mat.

Next up was a seminar presented by John Mallet of Bell’s. His talks are always interesting and his title was “Blame the Maltster: An Overview of Malting Operations and How They Influence Your Beer.” It was a great talk and I always learn something from his presentations.

The BJCP members meeting was in the afternoon and it primarily revolved around discussions of the exam and exam changes and other items such as the Cider Exam which will be coming next year and upcoming revisions of the guidelines. There was good questions from the judges in attendance, but I am constantly amazed people don’t know how to navigate the BJCP website and are unaware the BJCP has forums and a Facebook page.

The Banquet came next and is always sponsored by Rogue. Sean Paxton created the menu which began with Malt Vinegar Pickled Vegetables. To me these were not pickled enough, they barely had any character from the vinegar to shine through. Next was a Soft Pretzel Panzanella Salad which had great flavor, but the pretzels just didn’t fit in. They were too tough and needed more a soak to have less tooth. The dressing was a hit, overall this was just good. It is the dish in the photo below. The main course was Roasted Pork Stromboli and it could not have been more disappointing. If I had made this at home I would have thrown it out. The dough was overworked and the rye pizza crust was tough and dry. Had I not been hungry I might have gotten up and walked back to Strangelove’s. The dessert was truly phenomenal. It was a Belgian Stout Cheesecake and was heavenly. Had I known how good this was, I would have just eaten it and skipped the rest and went to Strangelove’s (do you sense a theme). Cheers to Sean for the meal, but the only standout was that cheesecake which can be seen below.

Now all that is left is the trek home and perhaps more adventures along the way!

Seminars and Club Night

Friday began with a seminar. The first one I attended was Biochemistry And The Mash presented by Larry Horwitz of Iron Hill Brewery. It was an excellent presentation which broke down what happens during the mash to a level even I could understand. Larry was an excellent presenter and I would gladly sit through another presentation by him in the future. The second seminar I chose was Beers Of Our Founding Fathers presented by Frank Clark from Colonial Williamsburg. His presentation was engaging, entertaining and educational. He finished right on time, but the Q/A session was so enjoyable hardly anyone left and so we went another 15 minutes. Another excellent presenter I have on my list to seek out when he is presenting at a conference.

After lunch was another round of seminars and I chose Alternative Wood Aging Techniques presented by John Gasparine. John consults to the brewing industry on use of wood in beer and his topic was very well done and contained quite a bit of information. According to John we are in the infancy stages of use of wood in brewing and there is much more work which can be done to explore the use of other species to enhance beer.

After a short break came the Keynote Speaker and this year it was Tom Peters who owns Monk’s Cafe. It was a very enjoyable keynote and made me want to run back to Belgium and have some beer direct from the source. You can tell he is passionate for Belgian beer and the Belgian culture and I believe it shows in his bar.

We decided for dinner to head off to a place called Strangelove’s. This my friends was an excellent decision. The draft list is top-notch and the food was delightful. On the suggestion of Foursquare I chose the Vegan Chorizo Tostadas and they were to die for. Don’t take my word for it, here’s a picture.

Club Night turned out to be a very nice event. Luckily the aisles had enough space. There could have been additional separation, but it worked out well. It also seemed clubs were trying to put their best food forward with the beers they presented. There were some misses, but most everything hit the mark. A really enjoyable event spent strolling from booth to booth in search of the next hidden gem. My favorite was a Bourbon Trace RIS brewed by a club out of New Jersey. They had collaborated and filled a Buffallo Trace barrel with RIS and it truly was magnificent.

Today should be more seminars and the final banquet sponsored by Rogue.

I’ll Be The Judge Of That

Yesterday I judged a flight of beers in the morning and ciders in the afternoon. It is always nice to judge at this level because you learn something just being around judges with higher rankings. Instead of being the leader or teacher you can become the student. I’m always a little disappointed in the entries and always feel they could be better. I know they won in their region, but it makes me think the region must have had quite a few entries that sucked. I awarded one entry a 14 and feel I was actually being a bit generous with that score. I saw someone post there were 197 judges for the competition and the room was full of them. Below is a photo posted on Facebook by the AHA.

Before the festivities of the night we decided to head out to a pub called Varga Bar which had a good draft selection and an awesome menu. It was a tad pricey for the amount of food we were given, but was a great place to take shelter from the storm.

The opening toast was a bust IMO. You could hear nothing and the doors opened later than scheduled. Pro Brewer’s Night was slammed with people. Inside the room the layout was horrible and just led to bumping into people. It was if they had tried to cram everyone into a third of the usable space and they really needed to spread things out. You could get some brews, but many of the lines were far too long for my taste. There were some highlights like having Mitch Steele pour your glass of Stone Enjoy By 07.04.13 or having Michael Fairbrother of Moonlight Meadery server you some wink wink nudge nudge hush hush concoction which was dynamite. Sam Calagione was pouring at his DFH booth and the line was so long I never even bothered to give it a try. I also liked seeing John Maier of Rogue just waiting in line with everyone else. I don’t think he would ever cut in line even though everyone would certainly let him pass. The highlight of the evening was when a hose blew on one of the kegs at the Lagunitas booth and beer flowed like a geyser about 20′ up in the air until they could get the tap off the keg. It was a beautiful sight!

Today will be filled with seminars during the day and tonight will be club night. I sure hope they work on the room layout for the evening.

Pre-Conference Activities

So the conference actually starts today. Yesterday was a full day with the BJCP Reception and three areas of focus, Judging, Pilsners, and Mead. I’d go into detail, but you can read the following quote of the activities and get the gist.

Then we decided to hit  Brauhaus Schmitz and see what their German food and beer had to offer. The food came out and I really was a little scared it might not be enough, but my eyes were bigger than my stomach and in the end two sausages with two sides was more than I could handle. They had several brews on draft you cannot find anywhere else in the United States and so I suggest if you are in Philly you give this place a whirl!

After the German restaurant we walked back toward the hotel and caught the SEPTA to the area of the BNA8 Party. I gotta admit the subway was a little sketchy at first, but it was very fast and I would recommend it for travel in Philly if it can get you close to where you want to go. The party was in a hall which was several stories high and the top level was reserved initially for the VIP ticket holders during their beer dinner and as you can tell I did not spring for that ticket. A mezzanine level was also reserved for the VIPs and it never became available. That left the lower level for the riff raff and it was crowded initially, but cleared out later. Upstairs Moonlight Meadery was pouring and Michael is phenomenal with his meads. There were also bands on each level and to tell the truth they were all pretty darn good.

As the evening winded down I took the bus back to the hotel and decided to call it a night since I am judging beer and cider today. The night activities for today are Pro Brewers Night and I suppose we will find somewhere ultra interesting for dinner. Stay tuned, it can only get better from here!

Things don’t always go as planned

We departed yesterday around 8am to make the 6 hour trek to Philly. Of course we stopped along the way for the obligatory pee break and gas and then had one stop to make which was not beer related. That turned into a bit of an ordeal, but we altered the plans and all was swell. Off to Mad Fox in Falls Church, VA for some brews and a late lunch. The beers were good to awesome and the food was magnificent. The highlight of the stop was when the server asked what beers I wanted and I told him to bring all of them. He had never had anyone order every beer before. Here’s a shot of the tasting racks.

Afterwards we were screwed. It turned out to be rush hour so instead of being able to swing around and head to Philly we hit a traffic jam. We decided to take the scenic route and ended up driving by the monuments in DC. Then roads we wanted to take were closed so we ended up driving to Baltimore. Then an accident was blocking the interstate so we had to detour. Finally we were on our way and since we were going by we had to stop at State Line Liquors. After a short while there we made it to Philly and checked into the hotel. By the time we settled in our nice 6 hour door to door had become a 13 hour adventure.

Undeterred we headed off to Monk’s Cafe and met some friends for dinner and drinks. While there I saw a plethora of old friends and we caught up for a few minutes. I wasn’t much of a shutterbug last night, but I did manage to snap a photo as we approached Monk’s. The mussels were outstanding and all the food looked phenomenal. I can see many hours spent here at some point in my future.

Next we decided to hit Nodding Head. I gotta say I was not impressed. The beers were mostly substandard and the ones which were good were not good enough for me to return. If this is your favorite hangout I am sorry your tastebuds are burned out.

So we left a table of partially consumed brews and headed off to Tria Cafe. Now this place is a wine, beer and cheese bar. The beer list is well-chosen with draft and bottled selections and the kitchen was closing as we arrived, but the smell of the cheese was heavenly. I definitely can see a return visit happening.

We left our comrades behind and decided to make a run for Khyber Pass Pub in the rain. It was every bit of a 20 minute walk at full stride and as we approached we noticed Eulogy was right in front of us. We opted to start at Eulogy and fresh Rodenbach Grand Cru on draft did not disappoint. Afterwards I needed one more so a Chouffe Houblon was my call to action. Finally we hurried over to Khyber Pass Pub for a couple of nightcaps and one beer was not stellar at all and so I opted for a cider to finish up. It wasn’t their fault the beer wasn’t good, it was just not a good beer. We caught a cab back to the hotel and drifted off into dreamland.

Today should be an easy one. The BJCP Reception is this afternoon and the BNA8 Party is tonight. Tomorrow I judge beer in the morning and afternoon and then tomorrow night should be Pro Brewer’s Night. I’ll pen some notes about today’s hi-jinks in the morning if time permits.

Keep On Truckin

This morning begins the trek to Philadelphia and our pre-conference adventures. If you have not been following along the 35th Annual National Homebrewers Conference begins Thursday in Philly. There is nothing on the agenda today, but travel to Philly and perhaps a stop in Falls Church, VA at Mad Fox if all works out ok. The plan is to be all checked in by late afternoon and to begin to sample what Philly has to offer in terms of beer. I’m not sure where we’ll end up, but you can rest assured they will serve beer and we will be on the receiving end.

Tomorrow morning I was scheduled to take the BJCP Exam, but due to some personal issues decided it was best to skip the retake. That was a wise decision since my head was definitely not in the game for a while. So tomorrow morning is free, but tomorrow afternoon the plan is to head to the BJCP Reception from 2 to 5pm. There are three parts planned for the program, Judging Philosophy, Pilsners and Mead. Then tomorrow night we head about two miles away to the Brewing Network’s BNA8 Party. It should be a rocking day.

Thursday will be a morning and afternoon of judging entries in the National Homebrew Competition and Thursday night is generally Pro Brewer’s Night. Friday will be seminars and that night is Club Night. Saturday is more seminars and Saturday night is the Banquet. On Sunday we depart for home. I’ll keep the updates flowing this week and hopefully that will spark you to join in next year in Michigan. The conference this year has 3,400 attendees.

80% Lower = 125% work?

I keep seeing lower receivers offered which are called 80%. Basically these are unfinished and require a jig or somewhat advanced machining skills to create the lower receiver. One recent lower was $35 and then you would need the jig which is an additional cost. So let’s stay with that $35 lower and try to decipher the code as to why anyone would want it. First cost is inexpensive, but unless you have the jig, a milling machine and the drill press you’re probably going to have to borrow time at a shop.  I scoured the web and found one person who said it took them several hours and another who said the shop charged them $100 for the tools and time. So now that $35 lower becomes a $135 plus several hours time. I find the term several hours interesting. If two hours or less, people generally state the time exactly, if more than two hours they will then say several. So let’s assume the time was three hours and you can calculate the time at say $10 per hour, if you value your time that low. So now we’re at $165 and you still have to assemble. So money savings can certainly not be the motivation since a new forged lower can often be had under normal conditions for around $100. Now a billet lower does tend to be more expensive. Another quick web scouring came up with a cost of $165 to $200 for a serialized billet lower, so you could end up with even to a few bucks savings if your time is worth nothing. Let’s call the money a wash.

If you are one of those cats who wears the tinfoil hat to keep the government or aliens from reading your thoughts then perhaps the allure is having a lower without a serial number in case firearms are ever confiscated. I just don’t see that happening although several in our government would love to see it be the law. I believe cooler heads will prevail and many realize the vast majority of gun owners have no intent to do harm to anyone. I’d dare say all legal gun owners have no intent to do harm. It’s the nutjobs who should not legally have a firearm who are a problem and the gang bangers who have illegal weapons who are the real problem. There I go digressing again, oh well, it’s my blog and I can do that kind of stuff.

One aspect may be having an unfinished lower to finish in any manner you desire. At one time there was a NC manufacturer who had unfinished lowers for sale, but I cannot seem to locate them at the moment. What was interesting was they were not less expensive than one which has been anodized.

I guess a final thought is someone wants the satisfaction of knowing they milled out the unfinished lower. While I can see some pride in that, wouldn’t it really be something to grab a block of aluminum and mill it all from scratch? They you could pull up your big boy pants, push out your chest and say look at me when you shoot the rifle at the range. Of course if that is what you are after you should start from scratch on all the other parts as well. In the end it just doesn’t compute why someone would want an 80% lower. Perhaps a reader will clue me in.

Fair Warning

Since I will be at the AHA Convention in Philadelphia next week I think beginning on Tuesday or Wednesday I will try to blog each day about the activities of the previous day and the plans for that day. Hopefully you will find my adventures worth a few minutes to read. Hopefully everything will work out and I will have enough internet access to continue to blog on a daily basis, if not, I hope you will understand if I miss a day or two while out and about. Anyway, let’s give this a try and see what happens, hopefully something magical! 😉

Cash Cow

North Carolina has an antiquated system for purchasing a handgun which requires a Pistol Purchase Permit issued by the Sheriff to be presented for each handgun purchased. Recently a bill made it thorough the House, then was changed in the Senate to add a provision to remove this outdated PPP from our statutes, but has stalled back in the House for concurrence. The reason is an organization called the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association. This group has lobbied to essentially kill the bill because of the removal of the PPP. Several individuals have contacted various sheriffs across the state and from what I see many say the NCSA does not speak for them and they have no problem letting the PPP go by the wayside. Even those who want to keep the PPP system seem to say the NCSA does not speak for them.

So let’s explore the PPP system. Basically you go to the Sheriffs office and fill out an application. The Sheriff then does a background check or supposedly does a background check. What that check entails varies by the Sheriff. Some require character references and I personally think those are hogwash. Just because someone has known you for a long time does not mean they know the skeletons in your closet. I assume the Sheriff will also check some sort of database, perhaps even a NICS check. Hours to weeks later the Sheriff will give you from one to five permits to purchase handguns. Some counties limit the number per year, some per month and some per application. These permits are good for 5 years and NO OTHER BACKGROUND CHECK IS REQUIRED. So I could get my permits, have a bout of road rage and get put away and then come out and have valid permits. It’s not a good program in the first place and the fact someone could be passed by the Sheriff, but later become a criminal and still have a valid permit is bad. What other states do is use the FBI NICS database for the background check of every purchase. It is currently what happens for long gun purchases and apparently the NCSA is fine with that since I have not seen anyone ask for legislation to make us get a Long Gun Purchase Permit.

The only thing I can come up with is the $5 each permit costs is a cash cow. They are using staff they already have to do whatever background check is performed and so the other costs are paper for the permit. Let’s assume they have it down to a science and the cost for a single permit to process is $3. If a person gets five permits their office raked in $22 of profit. Even if it costs $5 per person to process, the additional four permits are profit. It’s a money-making machine for some counties and they hate to see that revenue go and that is truthfully why the NCSA is up in arms.

On their site the NCSA details their concerns with elimination of the PPP system and also details why they feel a NICS check is inadequate. I’ve read both documents and doubt the validity of the argument. It really doesn’t make sense for an organization to say the NICS check is valid for long guns and then to say the NICS check is invalid for hand guns. People who are buying legally are not looking to skirt the law, otherwise they would make illegal purchases. I’m still of the belief they have a cash cow and they want to milk it forever.

McRitchie McLocal

Some may recall my earlier post about McRitchie Ciderworks in Thurmond and their Dry Cider. Well the other day at a Raleigh wine store I happened across their cider in bottles. I believe they only make a single cider so this is the same cider I found on draft in Swannanoa. My only comment is the same one I made earlier, just a tad more sweetness and this would be perfection. If sweetness is on a 1-10 scale with 1 being completely dry and 10 being cloying the McRitchie is probably a 2 and needs to bump up to a 3 to be crazy beautiful. As it stands this is a great cider and the aroma is perfection. If you happen upon it, getcha some!