MEL’S MEANDERINGS

WOW! What an incredible event! The 3rd annual Hurricane Blowoff Homebrew Competition came to a close and was the best ever. The judging ran very smoothly and the party and presentation of awards was a great party. Drew and Tiffany worked their tails off for the past several months as registrar and head steward and generally the "go to" people to get things done. You have our sincere gratitude! dALE as competition organizer coordinated the total package and, by God, it all came together. I must say, as a prolific worrier, I had my doubts at times, but it turned out to be a lot of wasted energy. Even our substitute "Raffle-Boy" came through in the end and entertained the crowd with the 2nd most successful raffle in club history (only bested by Oktoberfest in which 150 people attended). Way to go Joe!! Thanks to Victor as head judge for coordinating the judges and actually finishing the judging before the food got cold and the keg of Sierra Nevada floated. Thanks to Dee Dee for spending yet another Saturday behind the computer as scorer (this is her 3rd year in this capacity). Thanks to Jan for doing all the posters and for putting all the forms and info on the web page. And thanks to Paul of Homebrewers Outlet for getting the support of the sponsors and a large touch of his own generosity which provided gifts for the winners which certainly made it worthwhile for those fortunate enough to have won a hard earned medal. Paul has been the main benefactor of the PBD and each of us owes him a debt of gratitude. The Palm Beach Draughtsmen really came through as judges, stewards and helpers to make this a successful event. Drew has recommended that we establish a standing committee for the Blowoff, so if you are interested, I’m sure Drew would appreciate your help. Thanks to Castaways for being such good hosts. Give them some business! Support all our sponsors!

Congratulations to all of you who won a medal and to all who entered! Everyone is a winner. As we all know, there is a certain amount of luck in winning a medal in a homebrew competition as it a somewhat subjective process. If you didn’t medal with your favorite homebrew this year, there is a good chance that you will next time. Pay attention to the comments provided by the judges on your score sheets and tweak that recipe.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! It is election time and we have three very dedicated Draughtsmen who have acquiesced to pressure to run for the VP position. All three, Andy, Gorman and George have agreed to dedicate and, if necessary, give their lives to the PBD. Show your appreciation and vote. Turn in your ballot at the HBO prior to the April meeting (April 9, Thursday at Castaways) or bring your ballot to the meeting. We will have extra ballots should you forget to bring yours out of the newsletter.

Don’t forget to get your tickets for the Cajunfest to be held April 18 at Gorman and Aileen Selph’s. A map is in the newsletter. Tix are $12.50pp and, of course, bring a side dish and some beer. YOU MUST SIGN UP NO LATER THAN SATURDAY APRIL 4 so that the crayfish and catfish can be ordered. Sign up at HBO and pay your $.

Now that the Blowoff is over, don’t stop brewing. The Sunshine Challenge is to be held May 15 with entries due by May 1. Also it would be just terrible to run out of good homebrew!

See you at the business meeting April 3 and/or the general meeting Thursday, April 9.

Prost! Mel

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Hey there, here’s another friendly note from me, The Editor. We have had a busy couple of months. And the current and past issues have reflected it. But we are going to be coming into a slow season, so please start writing those articles to keep the upcoming issues as interesting as the recent ones.

There are two big events planed in the next couple of months: The Cajunfest and the May-Day, Brew In The Park. Both will be a lot of fun and educational, as they have been in the past. The Cajunfest will be an education for your stomach and the Brew In The Park, an education in Brewing (I guess that will end in our stomachs as well). These dates can be found on the back of the newsletter, along with all the other important dates.

It is time to elect next years VP (President to be). A ballot for the three candidates can be found in this newsletter. Please fill the ballot out and return to the Home Brewer’s Outlet by April 9^th or bring it to the General Meeting on April 9^th. If you forget to bring it to the meeting, a ballot will be provided.

I also want to remind everyone, to start thinking about Oktoberfest Brewing; time has just about run out to Brew a Marzen in March. If anyone would like to contribute their secret (or not so secret) recipes for Oktoberfest Style Beers, I would like to include a Recipe Section in next months issue.

I guess I better go dig out my recipe for last year’s Oktoberfest to see how I can improve it for this year.

Hoppy Brewing.

USA, Palo Alto, CA (AP) -- "Yesterday scientists revealed that beer contains small traces of female hormones. To prove their theory, the scientists fed 100 men 12 pints of beer and observed that 100% of them gained weight, talked excessively without making sense, became emotional, and couldn't drive. No further testing is planned."

2nd ANNUAL PALM BEACH DRAUGHTSMEN CAJUNFEST APRIL 18

SIGN UP AT THE HOMEBREWERS OUTLET BY APRIL 4

Party Will be held at Gorman & Eileen Selph's

Take Okeechobee Blvd. (N. 20^th Street on this map) West to Partridge and turn LEFT. Go 1 block, at the Stop Sign turn RIGHT. Go to the 1^st street, Gold Finch, and turn LEFT. Go 1 block to Sandpiper and turn RIGHT. Go 2 streets to Mallard Court, and turn LEFT. Gorman and Aileen’s house is at the end of the court, at 104 Mallard Court.

BEER: PROOF THAT GOD LOVES US

Ballots for the election of Vice President (automatically becomes President the following year) must be turned in to the Homebrewers Outlet prior to the April 9,1998 meeting or bring your ballot to the meeting. If you forget, we will have ballots at the meeting. By the way, only ONE vote per member! Please sign or initial your ballot or put it in an envelope and initial the envelope. Only Mel, Drew and dALE will count ballots, so your confidentiality is assured. The following is the official ballot with the candidates listed alphabetically:

________________________________________________________________________

VOTE FOR ONE:

_____ GEORGE KING

_____ ANDY RODUSKY

_____ GORMAN SELPH

Turn in at meeting April 9 or drop off at the Homebrewers Outlet prior to April

dALE

And what a storm it was. With 153 entries in 15 groups this year’s "HURRICANE BLOWOFF" was the biggest ever. The event ran well thanks to the help from all of you !!! You know who you are. I’d name everyone individually, but I’m sure I’d leave someone out. Besides it would take up way to much space, we had so much help. (**EDITORS NOTE** Little did Drew know, I had received a complete rundown of the BLOWOFF 1 day earlier from dALE. Well almost everyone. Like they both already said, "You know who you are.") The one place we could have used more help was in the judging. We just didn’t have enough judges for all the entries. If we had had just 4 to 6 more judges, we probably would have finished the judging a lot earlier in the afternoon. This would have been better for everyone involved. Make no mistake about it, we are getting a lot better at this, and we’ll get better still. So I want everyone to Keep On Brewing, judge all your own beers, and just keep getting better. We will need your help next year. The best of show went to Steve Vallencourt and Bruce Ficcalora, for their Belgian Strong Ale. First runner up went to Michelle Wohleber for her Imperial Stout. Second runner up went to Larry Stenger for his German-Style Wheat beer. The judges also decided to award an honorable mention to Joe Simon for his peach melomel. Thanks again to all the brewers, judges, and volunteers.

Thanks so much, "drewbrew"

Up Coming Events

04/03 Business meeting at Jason Amy’s House (Officer nominations due)

04/09 General meeting at Castaways    OFFICER ELECTIONS

04/18 Cajunfest (Crayfish & Catfish feed)

05/01 Sunshine Challenge Entries due

05/08 Business meeting

(Location TBA)

05/14 General Meeting at Castaways

05/15 Sunshine Challenge

05/23 May-Day picnic Brew In The Park

Put these events on your calendars!!

LOGO ON BACK AND FRONT POCKET

ALL SIZES AVAILABLE

SEE MEL OR PLACE ORDER ON-LINE AT OUR GIFT SHOP

Back