Congratulations goes out to dWiGht mUlcaHy for winning Best of Show in the More Beer Forum Competition for his weizenbock. He won a 14 gallon Conical Fermenter for his efforts. Not all results have been distributed yet, but I did receive my scores for my Baltic Porter entry. I beat my previous best score with a high of 38/50. I’ll be shooting for the forties for my next competition. I also entered a German Pils, but I wasn’t that pleased with it, so I’m not expecting a high score. The winner hasn’t been formally announced from what I can tell, but Randy has announced it here.

Tags: More Beer Forum Competition, Results

 

Tour De Fat is a celebration around bikes and beer, or a “ballyhoo of bikes & beer.” The festival is sponsored every year by the New Belgium Brewing Company. This year’s San Francisco stop will be held at the Lindley Meadow @ Golden Gate Park on Saturday, Sept 25, from 11am-5pm. If you like bikes, beer, and have had dreams of joining the circus, then you should check it out.

Bike Parade
What is a bike party without a bike ride? The day will be kicked-off with you in your San Francisco best at 10am (Parade registration begins at 9am) for a fun and frolicking ride through Golden Gate Park and beyond! The optional $5 ride donation goes to support the bicycle advocacy work of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council. It’ll be a hoot and a holler, we promise.

Afternoon Ballyhoo
Two parts bike rodeo and one part circus, starting at 11am, there will be fire-jumping bike acts, cycling games, live music, tasty eats and great beer, of course – and all proceeds go to benefit two great nonprofits: the SF Bicycle Coalition & the Bay Area Ridge Trails Council!

But wait, there’s more!
While at the park, look for opportunities to wrench on your bike, get your face painted, eat some good food, have a beer and join our cycling circus of sensory splendor.
This is one of the best events in the park in the summer to celebrate BIKES! Don’t miss it.

Free! Free! Free!
Now we know what you are thinking…how much is this grand fete going to cost me? The answer is nothing! We are all about FREE! So….how is this a fund raiser? All proceeds from beer sales ($5 for 16 oz.) will benefit the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and The Bay Area Ridge Trail Council. We’ll bring the beer and you just bring your bike! (FREE Valet bike parking provided–of course!)

…And it’s Eco-tastic!
Tour de Fat is proud to be a model of total self-sustainability in the form of an all solar/b100 biodiesel fueled event; we collect about 300 pounds of compost, 70 pounds of recycling, and last year, had only 12 pounds of trash generated by 6,500 attendees! Now THAT is a green event! Thanks to the Clean City Coalition for their help in organizing our recycling and compostables.

Tags: Circus, New Belgium, Tour De Fat

 

I was searching for a restaurant menu yesterday when I stumbled upon the website beermenus.com. I’ve seen a few sites that attempt to collate a list of what’s on tap at the local bars/pubs/restaurants, but none have been as user friendly as beermenus.com. Sadly, there are only a few cities so far. Luckily for me, San Francisco is one of them. I’ll be watching how the site gets fleshed out, and will probably be making my future city outing judgments based on its results.

Tags: beermenus.com

 

I received some info on another New Mexico festival in my inbox this morning, so I thought I would pass it along. It looks like a pretty sweet lineup, and for a good cause to boot.

I wanted to get you some info on the 3rd Annual Albuquerque Hopfest, Oct 16th in the back lot of O’Niell’s Pub. We will have 35+ breweries, souvenir tasting glass, 3 hours of tasting, 5 local bands and the event runs from 2p-8p. The event benefits Make-A-Wish and a portion of ticklet sales and beer sales will go to help kids with life-threatening illnesses. We expect 2,000+ people to attend. VIP tickets are 78% sold out! www.albuquerquehopfest.com

We will be selling tickets for $25 at Marble’s Septemberfest on Sept. 11th.

Here are the posted breweries scheduled to attend:

Abbey Beverage Co
Left Hand Brewing Co
Avery Brewing
Lost Coast
Big Sky
Blue Corn Cafe Brewery
Marble Brewery
Boulder Beer
New Belgium Brewing
Breckenridge Brewery
Nimbus Brewing Company
Brew Dog
Odell Brewing Co
Chama River Brewing Co
Oskar Blues Brewery
Coopers
Samuel Adams
Eel River
Santa Fe Brewing
Eske’s Brew Pub
Second St. Brewery
Full Sail
Sierra Blanca
Sierra Nevada
Hallenbrick Brewery
Stone Brewing Co.
Il Vicino
3 Rivers
Kellys
Tractor Brewing Co
La Cumbre
Turtle Mountain

Tags: 3rd Annual Albuquerque Hopfest, New Mexico

 

I woke up the other day and decided to build what I’ve been calling a fermentation chamber. I grew tired of hiding my fermenting carboys in the corners of dark closets or tucked under sheets in the corner of some room. Plus, the airlock bubble (although a heavenly sound to me) is not the most pleasing noise to all.  So after a quick run to the hardware store, I returned with a couple of 1x4x10 planks, two hinges, and some foam insulation.  Below are some photos of the construction process.  In the last photo, you’ll notice that I have my digital temperature controller inside as well as my fermawrap.  This fermentation chamber will only be used for ale fermentations, as I have no cooling mechanism.  I use my freezer for lagering.  I would be curious though what a couple of bags of ice would do to the inside ambient temperature. I also left room for my stir plate.

Tags: Fermentation Chamber, Projects