Oh, What A Night!

Tonight, we celebrated our first year anniversary at as a homebrew club by hosting Bill Kroft of Marzoni's Brick Oven & Brewing and his good friend and homebrewer Mark Dellinger. We met at 7pm at the Coney for our monthly meeting, with 11 regular club members in attendance.

We started with introductions and a brief history of Marzoni's (and Bill's brewing history). Next, we sampled some homebrews from three of our members: Ray S. brought a Honey Porter, an extract recipe that had a pound of honey in five gallons; Pat S. brought a 'normal' IPA, then followed with an apricot extract infused IPA - both all-grain recipes; and Eli brought a year-old, very dry cider. All four contributions were delicious.

After those, we cracked open two of Mark's homebrews, which included a heavily hopped smoked porter (awesome Rauchbier) and the one that Nate has been waiting for ... a saison with tons of Brett! Both were very tasty, but the 2005 "bretted" saison was absolutely outstanding!

Last, but not least, we cracked open the four different beers that Bill brought along: the Belgian Witbier and Oktorberfest (seasonals) and the two year-round offerings, Stone Mason Stout and Avalanche IPA.

Finally, as a rare and special treat, Bill brought along a bomber full of his very special and not-available-to-the-public Eis-Barleywine. In short, he took 10 gallons of the five-year anniversary barleywine (around 11% abv), froze it, and extracted 4 gallons of liquid from that. The result was an intense and very HOT alcoholic barleywine concentrate that was phenomenal tonight ... and what will turn into what I can only imagine as Heavenly in a few years. Kudos, Bill!

In all, quite a successful meeting!

May's Meeting: In a Word ... Tasty!

Well, if you could not make the May Homebrewers club meeting last night, you missed out on some delicious offerings! We gathered in the Dubliner starting at 7pm, and many of us grabbed some dinner and a pint while waiting for the crowd to grow.

In all, we had 17 people last night including spouses. In no particular order: Bill D., Jon S., Jon D. & Autumn, Dave J. and Brandy, Justin & Jess, Dave F. and Laura, Pat, Jim R., Nate, Eli, Tom W., Tom van D., and Craig. And of course, our extremely efficient and friendly bartender, Caroline. A big thanks to her for the assist last night, and for the artwork and possible new logo for the club.

We started tasting at 7:45 and were finished up by 9:30 or so. Here is the list from last night:

• Bill D.: all-grain Hefeweizen
• Jim R.: all-grain amber lager
• Jon S.: extract pumpkin ale
• Muckney Brewing: extract ginger-sesame ale
• Tom W.: extract pale ale
• Craig: extract amber lager
• Dave F.: partial mash porter
• Jon D.: extract coffee stout
• Nate: all-grain Belgian quadrupel
• Eli: extract American strong ale
• Pat: all-grain IPA
• Erick (absent): extract IPA

In all, a very successful evening! Some of us are gathering at 2:30 this Saturday at the Coney to go to the Pints for Pets brewfest in Altoona. Tickets and places on the van are still available! Contact us if interested.

The April Gathering

Yes, we're still active, despite few posts and comments on this blog!

This has been a busy month for most of us. Between the semester coming to a close at IUP and the onset of good weather (that means yard work and just getting outdoors!) it's been difficult to get people together for a weekday evening.

This month, just a few of us (Nate, Jon, Lacey, Karl, Eli, and newcomer Jason) met on Tuesday, April 17 for a small tasting. Jon and Lacey provided a 2005 and 2006 Stone Old Guardian, and Nate provided the 2007 for a nice little vertical tasting. Old Guardian is a very nice barley wine and it gets better with age. The 2005 was smooth and warming. Definitely one to buy and put to sleep for a few years in the cellar.

Jason brought a few Bells Oberon Ale and Nate provided a few Troegs Dream Weaver Wheat, so we sampled a few nice wheat beers. Nate also had a bomber of Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA, which was alright but not a total crowd pleaser.

Eli treated us to his first batch of homebrew, and ESB which he coined an ESC (extra special corn). Admittedly, the beer had a few flaws (Eli criticized his own work most harshly, as most of us homebrewers do), but it looked great, had a thick, rich lacing head, and was well carbonated and free from infection. It turned out better than Nate's first homebrew years back, for sure. But that's the joy and frustration of learning a new hobby. We look forward to more from Eli!

May's meeting will be on the 1st or 2nd - not sure of the location or theme yet, but we'll send information soon.

Confusion at The Coney

Well, I don't know who dropped the ball here, but I have to say that the Coney beer sampling was not as advertised by someone.

I showed up at 9pm, only to be told the beer tasting wasn't going to be until 10 or 10:30 ... NOT the 9-11pm stated by the Vecenie email. Apparently, tonight was poker night in the VIP room, and they don't finish until 10 or so. Vecenie reps hadn't even shown up yet.

My apologies to all those who showed up around 9pm (like me), but that's the information we were given. Apparently The Coney beer tastings are aimed at the college crowd, since I can't see many of our members showing up at 10:30 on a Thursday night (and having to pay a cover, to boot) to try 3 or 4 beers.

Let's hope for better next time.