Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Success and Defeat
Well, the AHA membership drive went pretty well, I think. Lots of folks showed up, and plenty of people sampled the brews we brought. I got lots of good feedback, and not suprisingly a grimace from Iron Hill's Mark Edelson for my under-attenuated, over-oaked scottish wee heavy. I am still wondering why I brought it since I knew it wasn't that great a beer - even though my family can't get enough of it. Nothing but glowing comments regarding the Amarillo Pale Ale and the Oatmeal Stout though.
As a very generous gesture, the $1/beer proceeds from the commercial beers that Dogfish, Iron Hill, Fordham, and Stewards served are being split amongst the homebrew clubs that participated - Not sure what we're going to do with the money, but it was pretty nice of them to do.
Some of our members won raffle prizes - Your webmaster and chief blogger was regrettably not among them - And I think we probably picked up several new members in the process, including a 20 gallon all-grain brewer from the Glasgow area.
I can't say enough good things about all the brewers that were there. They are all very kind, generous, down-to-earth people that were a pleasure to talk to. I wish I were feeling more social so I talked to them more, but last night I was most certainly not feeling friendly. I tried to buck up and force myself to be so, but I think it probably came across strained to most. Not sure why I was feeling so antisocial... I am just a stressball at the moment, I think, and being at an event where everyone was drinking but me kinda compounded that.
Doing a Burton Ale starter tonight for my Phoenix ESB, which is a starter batch for my 10 gallon Nut Brown batch next week. I've also got 10 gallons of Belgian Wit on the horizon once I can find another ounce of Bitter Orange Peel. I won't complain about HDYB and their ordering hiatus since I completely understand why... but it sure is damn inconvenient, esp. since the next LHBS is like 60 minutes away. C'est la vie... I will just have to make do with the 300 lbs of grain, 6 lbs of hops, and 8 yeast strains I have on hand... ;-)
As a very generous gesture, the $1/beer proceeds from the commercial beers that Dogfish, Iron Hill, Fordham, and Stewards served are being split amongst the homebrew clubs that participated - Not sure what we're going to do with the money, but it was pretty nice of them to do.
Some of our members won raffle prizes - Your webmaster and chief blogger was regrettably not among them - And I think we probably picked up several new members in the process, including a 20 gallon all-grain brewer from the Glasgow area.
I can't say enough good things about all the brewers that were there. They are all very kind, generous, down-to-earth people that were a pleasure to talk to. I wish I were feeling more social so I talked to them more, but last night I was most certainly not feeling friendly. I tried to buck up and force myself to be so, but I think it probably came across strained to most. Not sure why I was feeling so antisocial... I am just a stressball at the moment, I think, and being at an event where everyone was drinking but me kinda compounded that.
Doing a Burton Ale starter tonight for my Phoenix ESB, which is a starter batch for my 10 gallon Nut Brown batch next week. I've also got 10 gallons of Belgian Wit on the horizon once I can find another ounce of Bitter Orange Peel. I won't complain about HDYB and their ordering hiatus since I completely understand why... but it sure is damn inconvenient, esp. since the next LHBS is like 60 minutes away. C'est la vie... I will just have to make do with the 300 lbs of grain, 6 lbs of hops, and 8 yeast strains I have on hand... ;-)
