July 2019 Meeting

Quick Reminders:

Because our July meeting was a little unorthodox on the account of the competition, we only had some brief announcements.

August Meeting:

Our next meeting will be a little unusual as well due to our club picnic. We will be meeting on the third Wednesday of August at Menominee park shelter by the mini train tracks. Meet at the park at 6pm and bring the whole family to join in the fun. Kurt will be whipping up some incredible pulled pork, Jeff is bringing root beer for the kids, and we’re certain there will be plenty of beer to go around. We ask that all members bring a dish to pass. Please sign up HERE.

Lake Arrowhead:

On the weekend of August 23rd, the SOBs will be camping at Lake Arrowhead near Montello for their beer themed weekend. There will be a beer walk on Saturday afternoon for us to serve our home brew to other campers. We have two sites still available if you are interested in camping. If you don’t want to spend the night, we still invite you to stop out Saturday for an afternoon of great beer. Sign up HERE if you’re interested in stopping out.

Timber Rattlers Game:

On August 29th the Timber Rattlers are putting on a BratoberFest where they will play the game in lederhosen and offer craft beers. The club will be meeting at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton. The club is offering to purchase tickets up front for $10. Sign up HERE to watch some ball with your favorite SOBs!

Mead/Wine/Cider Competition:

In September the club is putting on a special mead/wine/cider competition at Rushford Meadery in Omro. This will operate like the beer competition; a panel of judges will judge your beverages based on BJCP guidelines and the club will do the same. There will be prizes for the top three beverages. Stay tuned for more information and a sign up soon.

Casks and Caskets:

We are once again hosting Casks and Caskets. This year the event will be held on Saturday October 19th at the Hilton Garden Inn in Oshkosh. The hotel is offering a discounted rate for all attendees and volunteers of the event; call the hotel and mention C&C to get a room discount. Start brewing beer now because we’re asking all members to bring in and serve 5 gallons of a fermented beverage. More details will be coming out in the next few weeks, until then sign up HERE.

Dues:

Yearly dues were collected in June. If you haven’t paid, please see treasurer Kurt Weina with $20 as soon as possible to remain a member in good standing.

Competition:

Our competition was a huge success this year with a total of 13 entries. Our panel of judges consisted of two BJCP judges, Julie Lawson and Brandon Kolbe, and three professional brewers, Kevin Bowen (Fox River), Zack Clark (Fifth Ward), and Ian Wegner (Fifth Ward.) Bill Schwalbach, Kurt Weina and Travis Sullivan graciously took on stewardship to keep the beer flowing. Thank you to all the judges and stewards for helping make the event a success. Another big thank you to Nicole, Rachel, and the whole Fox River team for accepting us into their brewery! Judge scoresheets were averaged to determine the winners of this year’s competition.

The top 3 beers were recognized – 1st place received our competition traveling trophy, a medal, a 50-pound bag of Marris Otter, a bomber from Fifth Ward and their recipe brewed at Fox River. 2nd place received a medal, a brewing book, several smaller packs of grain and a bomber from Fifth Ward. 3rd place received a medal, a brewing book, several smaller packs of grain and a bomber from Fifth Ward. All other competitors were also award small packs of grain. This year, with a score of 44.75, Jeff Eaton’s British Brown ale took first place. In second was Travis Sullivan who scored a 42 on a Wood-Aged Quad. In third place was again Jeff Eaton, with a score of 41 on an Experimental Pizza Beer.

Congratulations to all our brewers! It was great to see how well we all did on our brews. The final scores from judges and club votes can be found HERE.

June 2019 Meeting

New Faces:

We had two new visitors this month. Scott tagged along with Justin Hammer to see what the club is all about. He has prior brewing experience, but now sticks to stirring and drinking with Justin.  Craig was our second new face. He’s been brewing extract for the past two years. He has an itch to start brewing all grain and hopes to find some insight from you SOB’s.

Treasurer’s Report and Dues:

Kurt reported this month that we had a big win – the Hilton Garden Inn accepted to be our Casks and Caskets venue and cashed our check. Additionally, dues were collected in June. If you were unable to be at the meeting, please see Kurt with $20 at your earliest convenience.

Casks and Caskets Report:
Casks and Caskets is full steam ahead. The Hilton Garden will once again be hosting us on
October 19th. October will creep up before you know it, so start brewing now. We’re asking all
members to donate and serve 5 gallons of beer, mead, wine, or cider to the event. If you can’t donate beer, consider donating your time. We need all the help we can get. If you know of a local business who would be willing to donate merchandise to our silent raffle, please contact one of the committee members.

Sign Ups:
The June meeting might have set a record for the most sign up sheets at one meeting. You should be receiving an email to sign up for each of the following events. If not, please contact Jeff or Logan to sign up.

Barrel Brew
Club Competition
Picnic
Lake Arrowhead
Timber Rattlers
Casks and Caskets

Barrel Brew:
The Fellowship has gathered and declared their brew – we will be brewing a wine barrel aged saison and a highland favorite, Scottish wee heavy. Our next meeting will be held on July 10th. If you are interested in this event you must attend the July meeting as it will be the last chance to be added to the official brewing list. If you are unable to attend, please contact Logan Anderson. In July we will be discussing and choosing a recipe for each style; if you have a recipe bring it with
to the meeting.

Club Competition:

Our member only competition will once again be held in July. This year we will hold the
meeting at Fox River Brewing Co. in Oshkosh and Kevin will brew the winning beer at Fox
River. Only beers will be accepted for this event. Beers will be judged by BJCP judges based on official style guidelines. Plan to drop off 4 – 12 oz. bottles (or the equivalent) to Fox River between July 10th and July 16th. Label your bottles with the standard BJCP labels that can be found in upcoming news blasts.

September Competition:
In addition to our usual club competition in, we are also hosting a competition for mead, wine,
and cider in September. This will take place during the September meeting at Rushford Meadery.  Keep an eye out for more information in the coming months.

World of Beer Fest:
The SOB’s are heading down to Milwaukee on June 22nd to serve at the World of Beer Fest put on by the Beer Baron’s of Milwaukee. We will be set up at the Bavarian Bier Haus in Glendale, so stop down for a visit.

August Picnic:
Every year we hold a club picnic for the whole family. This year the picnic will be on August
21st starting at 6 pm. We once again reserved the shelter at Menominee park near the amusement park. The club will provide dinner, but we ask all attendees to sign up and bring a dish to pass.

Timber Rattler’s Game:
August 29Th is the Timber Rattler’s Brats and Brews/ Bratoberfest game. Players will be wearing lederhosen and you can get a 12 oz. beer and a brat for the low, low price of just 2 dollars! We are planning to meet at the Fox Valley Stadium to enjoy the game and beer together. The club will purchase tickets up front. There will not be a bus, but we will meet beforehand at the stadium. Contact Jeff for more information.

Empty Bottles:
Former SOB, Don Demick, is moving out of Berlin soon. He has some 500 – 12oz. bottles that he is willing to donate to the club. If you are interested in getting some free bottles, contact Mike Engel.

The Cellar Needs Help:
The Cellar is hiring a part time employee to help around the shop. If you’re interested in learning more about beer, contact The Cellar to apply.

Member Beers:

Chuck Tomsovic brought in a clone of Speckled Hen that he’s dubber “New Polka Dot Pullet.” It was a delicious beer very similar to the original. A slight hop bitterness was supported by a strong malt backbone to create smooth, sessionable beer.

Knuth Brewing Company:
This month’s Brewery of the Month was Knuth Brewing Co. out of Ripon. In 2015 the company started with a small half barrel system. Since, they have expanded to a 7-barrel system with a total of 7 fermenters. Although they’re known as a brewery, they have an incredible menu with amazing food! Maybe this is what helped them to grow. Last year they expanded by adding an attached Bier hall. Knuth can be found in 50 local waterholes in a variety of styles. We sampled three of these styles – Red ale, brown ale, and a Belgian triple. Each beer was better than the one before. Thanks to Dave for the great experience!

Grains Discussion:
Few brewing clubs are lucky enough to have someone as knowledgeable as Dave Koepke
available to teach the in-and-outs of grains. Dave stopped by the meeting to discuss exactly what went into one of the backbones of brewing. He discusses the four kinds of malts – base (2-row, pale, pilsner), highly kilned (Munich, Vienna), caramel (crystal in England), and roasted. These distinct kinds of malts are developed during the malting process depending on time and heat.
Each malt will impart a distinct color, flavor, and mouthfeel to the beer. Although some brewers insist on performing a decoction mash, all modern grains can be mashed using a single infusion with no adverse effects to sugar extraction.  Malts from each company will have a slightly different flavor, smell, color. Each of these will in turn be affected by the age of the malts. The only way to find what each malt will deliver to a beer is to taste each in a grain library. With the many complexities of malt the only way to become a master is to brew time and again with as many malts as possible

May 2019 Meeting

• May Meeting Minutes:

  Every meeting is special to us SOB’s, but there’s nothing quite like the experience of sharing the same beer brewed by 15-some people. At the May meeting the SOB’s gathered at Bare Bones

  Brewery to share the beer that was produced from the wort share back in early April. It was hard to imagine that so many flavors could come from a single base beer.

  New Faces:

  We had the privilege of welcoming two new faces to the club this month. Tom Kontos discovered beer while in Germany serving the U.S. military. Although he has attended Casks and

  Caskets in the past, he has not yet brewed his own beer. Jeff Duhacek first started brewing when he lived in Jersey, although the hobby didn’t follow him to Wisconsin. Instead, Jeff’s love of beer led him to help at Emprize Brew Mill in Menasha and co-purchasing the Cellar in Oshkosh.  We welcome both to the club and hope to see you again soon.

  Treasurer’s Report:

  As a reminder, dues are coming up next month. Club fees are $20.00 for a single membership of $30.00 for a couple. We assure you that $20 will get you ample beer, fun, and companionship.

  Please pay Kurt at the next meeting.

  Big Brew Day Review:

  How can we get so lucky? Sitting under the warm spring sun, brewing beer, and munching on BBQ from DD’s BBQ adds up to the perfect day for the SOB’s. About 10 brewers stopped out to

  the event and many more community and club members attended. We even filled a spot in the Oshkosh Herald. Way to go SOB’s on an awesome Big Brew Day!

  Annual Competition:

  July is staged as the SOB’s 3rd

  annual club competition. We’re switching it up a little this year, so pay close attention. There is no cost to enter the competition and any BJCP style is allowed.  Simply sign up and have your beer scored. This year the July meeting and competition will be held at Fox River Brewing Company in Oshkosh. Additionally, we are limiting entries to beer only, as wines, ciders, and meads will be judged at the September meeting at Rushford. On top of that, BJCP judges will score beer with the winning beer being brewed by the Fox River crew.

  Brewing Law Changes:

  In an attempt to raise more money at Casks and Caskets this year, we are trying to update brewing laws to allow for charity-based home brew events to charge admission. To do this we

  are formulating letters which anyone can sign and send to their local representatives. Moreover, we are creating a petition for all club and community members to sign. Help us change laws to benefit the community!

  June Meeting:
• We’ve been meeting at many venues this year, but the June meeting will once again be held at O’Marros. At this meeting expect a discussion on grains and a visit by beers from Knuth Brewing Company out of Ripon. With so many events happening this year, please keep on eye on the SOB website calendar.

  Fellowship of The Barrel:

  Many of our favorite beers are aged in whisky, bourbon, or wine barrels, which can be hard to come by for the average homebrewer. Luckily the Fellowship of The Barrel is forming anew to deliver some barrel aged goodness to the club. A meeting will be help on June 12th

  at Oblio’s to discuss the logistics of the brew. Look for an email soon for more information.

  Casks and Caskets Update:

  The Hilton Garden Inn locate in Oshkosh is more eager than ever to host the SOB event. However, this year we will be pushing the fest a few weeks earlier on October 19th. A committee

  is currently forming to plan for the event. See Mike Engel if you’re interested in planning.

  Proximity Maltster:

  Proximity is a malting company out of Milwaukee that is on the cutting edge of malt. They are interested in hosting a group of SOB’s in the future for a tour of their facility in Milwaukee. Perhaps this would be a good time to tour more breweries from the Brew City. Stay tuned for more information.

  Bare Bone’s Beer Sampling:

  We can’t thank Jody and the Bare Bone’s crew enough for allowing us to bring home wort and ferment it into so many wonderful beer renditions. The club sampled 13 beers made from the

  same wort, but not even one tasted alike. There were additions of pecans and coffee, pitches of Belgian and Norwegian yeasts, and of course Jody’s tried and true Nemesis Brown Ale. During the tasting ample notes were taken of comments for flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel. See the June

  newsletter for the results