Upstate New York Homebrewers Association

That’s right! The Sierra Nevada Baltic Porter tasting will be Sunday Jan 17th 6:30 PM at the Old Toad. The Baltic Porter is a 7.35% ABV beer with 2 different molasses varieties, star anise, several European malts and fermented with a lager yeast. I hope to see you all there!  Did I mention that it is really tasty?    Thomas Ocque

Hi everyone,

This month’s BJCP session will be held Wednesday, December 2nd, at 7:00 p.m. at The Old Toad (277 Alexander St.)

We will be covering Christmas/Holiday beers and Winter Warmers/Seasonals (sort of a blend of categories 16E (Belgian Specialty Ale), and 21 (Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer – Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer). This session will aim to be a bit more casual than a normal one, more of a Holiday beer tasting and discussion on the large variety of interpretations available.

We will be asking for a donation to help cover the cost of the session. This will be determined by attendance, but shouldn’t exceed more than $5/person. If anyone has a homebrewed example of a beer that falls into this “category”, we encourage you to bring it for judging.

We are hoping to get a somewhat accurate head count of the number of attendees, so if you have the slightest interest in attending, AND/OR if you are coming and are planning on bringing a commercial example to contribute to the lineup please send an e-mail to dcweet@gmail.com no later than Tuesday, December 1st, just so I know how much beer to bring.

Beer list (subject to some slight changes/additions; these will definitely be there):

> Samuel Smith Winter Welcome
> Anchor Our Special Ale
> Goose Island Christmas Ale
> Jenlain Biere De Noel (2008)
> Avery Old Jubilation
> Affligem Noel
> St. Bernardus Christmas Ale (2008)
> Delirium Noel
> Troegs The Mad Elf
> Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus

Have a great Thanksgiving, and we hope to see you on the 2nd.

Need a reason to fight the crowds on Black Friday? Sunset Hydroponics & Home Brewing will be offering 10% off everything in the store from 9am until 8pm.

UNYHA Members who present their card at the time of the sale receive an additional 10% club discount.

While supplies last, they are also offering a “Keg Special”, as well: if you buy a CO₂ tank and regulator, you’ll get a Cornelius Keg for free!

Greetings, beerlings -

Preparing for the long, cold season ahead, I just made my annual mid-November stock-up trip to Southtown Beverage.  Pablo (my new cube) did a nice job of fitting in quite a few cases of the good stuff but I’d have bought even more if I still had Sally the Summit wagon…

Our good friends at Southtown were, as always, eager to please, filling up boxes of assorted bombers and pointing out all those special “off code” deals.  I felt a bit like the proverbial little old lady at the end, having not one, not two, but three handsome, attentive guys loading up my Pablo till he couldn’t hold much more than another 5 or 6 cases…

OK, so here were just a few of my purchases today:

Goose Island “Harvest” for a ridiculously low price.  This perfectly balanced dry-hopped ale is, as dear Michael Jackson would say, “moreish” – not over-the-top, and you just want more, more, more.

Also from Goose Island a bomber of their Christmas Ale (Deron: I’ll bring this to your December BJCP session; no clue about the “style”).

On sale from Sierra Nevada:  2009 Harvest Ale (I bought S’Town out on this one, but I’m willing to share…) and Celebration Ale, always a favorite.  Dog, I love hops!!

Stone “Leviathan” – can you believe $5 for a 6-pack?

A case of Clipper City’s “Red Sky at Night” saison style, one of my favorites (from Baltimore).

From Boulder Brewing, “Hazed & Infused” (12-oz. bottles) and “Mojo Risin’” (bombers, at a fantastic price).

Dogfish Head – S’Town has LOTS of great stuff from DFH.  I took home a 4-pack of “Midas Touch” and a large bottle of the lovely unfiltered “Squall IPA.”

Don’t tell anybody … S’Town has some incredible deals ($5) on some Unibroue favorites: Ephemere, Seigneur, Fin du Monde, and Maudite (I bought their last few bottles of that one, it’s my fav from Unibroue).

Southtown also has some shockingly low prices on selections from Magic Hat and a bunch of others.

Well, I’m ready for winter.

Are you?

Tina