Palm Beach Draughtsmen

MEL'S MEANDERINGS by Mel Thompson What a great holiday season. However, I must say that I am glad to put the gluttony away for awhile. One's body can only take so much before it explodes and I have tested the limit this year. Dee Dee and I spent Christmas in Oregon, braving the cold, dreariness and short days in exchange for the love of family and some really great BEER! On Christmas eve, I visited the Rogue Brewery in Newport, just 15 miles from my Mother's home. Due to several circumstances which I won't take the length of time necessary to convey, I was privileged to sample several of brewer, John Maier's test brews. This dude is a master! Phil Vasquez, the purveyor of the brewery's pub, "ratholes" several kegs of special brews and shares only with his friends and special people. On Christmas eve, there was only myself, several tourists and several members of the local (Newport, Oregon) homebrewers club in attendance and Phil was feeling the spirit of the holidays. Phil's ratholed beers consisted of: double dry-hopped mogul, double doppelbock (>10%), all crystal hops IPA (4 hop additions), kreik lambic and a dry-hopped dunkle. All were interesting if not delicious. Maier pushes the envelope and his test brews were a testimonial to his striving to make the most unique and best quality beers available. Of course I consumed mass quantities of Bridgeport IPA, the current GABF gold medal winner and logged several hours at the McMenamins pub next to the hotel at which we stayed in Portland. Just about all the McMenamin Bros. pubs have one or more cask-conditioned ales and several on nitro. Truly Beervana! While in Oregon, I visited Jack's resting place on several occasions to share a homebrew. God, I miss him. For those of you who might be interested, several Draughtsmen are planning a trip to the Oregon Brewers' Festival the last weekend of July. This will afford an opportunity to sample some of the world's greatest brews and spend some time in an area where real beer is king (as opposed to the "king of beers"). Tours of Rogue, Fullsail, Bridgeport etc. could enhance the "educational value" of the trip. Its still not too late to get that ale ready for the Hurricane Blowoff! Drew has put together a good format for judging, which he presented at the last two meetings, which will result in more consistency and, hopefully, better feedback to competitors. Lots of help is needed to put the competition together, so please volunteer. dALE is the competition organizer, Vic is head judge, Drew is head steward and Tiffany is registrar. Planning meetings have been scheduled and are listed on the calendar. February 21 is the SAAZ competition. Anyone interested in judging or stewarding, I'm sure SAAZ would appreciate. I plan to go to Melbourne for the day, so see me if you wish to go. Planning for the Cajunfest is underway. Joe Simon is in the process of reserving the electrician's union pavilion. Gorman and Aileen will get the crayfish and catfish. All we need is YOU. Get April 18 on your calendars! See you at the planning meeting February 5 and/or the general meeting February 12. Prost! Mel PS: don't forget to pay your dues for 1998

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Hey Brew Buddies, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, I am the new Editor in chief of the newsletter. My name is (James Robert) Jamie "Pipes" Latimer. Now that we have that clear (oh wait why Robert. That is my Dad's name). Oh you are wondering about the "Pipes". Well, I play the Bagpipes. If you have ever partied with me you have probably heard them. Because of my Scottish Ancestry and the lack of a refrigerator, I like to brew Ales. For the most part, the newsletter will remain the same. I am taking steps to make the newsletter easier to put together and proof. One big step we have taken is use of the internet, specifically E-mail. If it is at all possible for you to submit articles via E-mail it will make it very easy to put together. Articles and photos can either be E-mailed, Faxed, mailed or hand delivered prior to the 23rd of every month. This will give us enough time to layout the newsletter and get it mailed by the 1st of the month. To E-mail an article send it to [email protected]. If you are sending a picture via E-mail the .GIF, .TIF, .BMP and .PCX formats work best. If you give me a hard copy of a photo I will scan it in and return the picture to you. If you are mailing in articles; mail them to Jamie Latimer 5332 Courtney circle, Boynton Beach, FL 33437. If you are faxing; fax them to (561) 392-4090. If you have any questions or comments, keep them to yourself. Just kidding. You can E-mail me or call me at (561) 374-9608. I am also willing to include a Letters-to-the-Editor Section. You can submit comments or questions about previous articles. If what you send requires a response back from the author, I will due my best to print it as well. In closing Happy Brewing and don't forget to buy your Honey a nice Raspberry Wheat on February 14th. Editor--------Jamie Latimer 5332 Courtney Circle Boynton Beach, FL 33437 [email protected]

Thank You Bob and Mardi! The club owes a big debt of gratitude to the Banks for all their hard work on the newsletter. They stepped up when needed, and helped out a great deal. THANK YOU. So the next time you see them, let them know we appreciate all their contributions. Newsletter Contributions Have you noticed how thin the newsletter has been lately? That's because "We" the club members haven't been sending in articles. Well, now is the time for YOU to send in those articles. We need your help. You can submit your articles by e-mail at [email protected] by the 23rd of each month. You can also turn in hard copy articles to Jamie Latimer by 15th of each month. At this time I should mention that we have a new Editor and Publisher for our newsletter. That would be the earlier mentioned Jamie Latimer. Please give him your fullest support.

Here's some good beer humor... submitted by Dan Oliver Subject: BEER TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE -------------------------------------------------------------- SYMPTOM: Beer unusually pale and tasteless. FAULT: Glass empty. ACTION: Get someone to buy you another beer. SYMPTOM: Opposite wall covered with fluorescent lights. FAULT: You have fallen over backward. ACTION: Have yourself lashed to bar. SYMPTOM: Mouth contains cigarette butts. FAULT: You have fallen forward. ACTION: See above. SYMPTOM: Beer tasteless, front of your shirt is wet. FAULT: Mouth not open, or glass applied to wrong part of face. ACTION: Retire to restroom, practice in mirror. SYMPTOM: Feet cold and wet. FAULT: Glass being held at incorrect angle. ACTION: Rotate glass so that open end points toward ceiling. SYMPTOM: Feet warm and wet. FAULT: Improper bladder control. ACTION: Stand next to nearest dog, complain about her house training. SYMPTOM: Floor blurred. FAULT: You are looking through bottom of empty glass. ACTION: Get someone to buy you another beer. SYMPTOM: Floor moving. FAULT: You are being carried out. ACTION: Find out if you are being taken to another bar. SYMPTOM: Room seems unusually dark. FAULT: Bar has closed. ACTION: Confirm home address with bartender. SYMPTOM: Taxi suddenly takes on colorful aspect and textures. FAULT: Beer consumption has exceeded personal limitations. ACTION: Cover mouth. Mini-Pub Crawl by Jamie Latimer On January 24th we had a Mini-Pub Crawl. We carpooled, opposed to the renting of a bus. The group that crawled was small but crawled well. There were 8 of us, I think? We started out at the Blue Anchor on Atlantic Avenue for a Pub Lunch. The most popular lunch selection was the Shepherd's Pie made with Guinness. We stayed for about 3 Pints. They have an excellent selection of Ales, mainly from England and Scotland. The Blue Anchor is decorated as a traditional English Pub with large, inviting wood doors from the original Blue Anchor in England. I would have to say the Ale of choice was the Old Speckled Hen. We then moved on to the Irish Cottage in Delray Beach on Federal Highway. We stayed for a couple of pints. The majority of the beer here is from Ireland. I personally had an Irish Black and Tan (Murphy's Amber and Guinness). The pub had just opened for the day and the usual crowd had not shuffled in yet, making this a quick stop. Our final stop was the Red Lion Pub in Boynton Beach on the SE corner of Boynton Beach Blvd. And Military Trail. This is a very traditional pub, from the lighting to the service. The Bar Maid/Waitress was very friendly and made us feel welcome. Like the Blue Anchor the beer line favors the English and Scottish styles. The menu is simple but covers all the Scottish and English Favorites. I personally had an excellent Scotch Egg. Everyone was having fun but it was time we left the temptations of all the excellent brew and start our crawls home. Some of the group did end up at the Evil-Ones Love Shack to continue the party into the wee hours of the night.

Submitted by Dan Oliver --------------------------------------------------------------------- _--------_ / \
DO RE MI DRINK, by Homer J. Simpson. | __ __)
*ahem* La la la la.... *ahem* LAAAAAAA!! | / \ / \ DO...... the stuff... that buys me beer... /\/\ (o ) (o ) RAY..... the guy that sells me beer... /c \__/ -- ME...... the guy... who drinks the beer, \_ ______I FA..... a long, long way to get beer... | /_______\ SO...... I'll have another beer... | | '\______) LA...... I'll have another beer... \_______) TEA..... no thanks, I'm drinking beer... |_______| That will bring us back to... |___/\/\__I / \ D'OH!