Palm Beach
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Palm Beach Draughtsmen Gazette
October 1997

....Oktoberfest

Yes, Oktoberfest is history. Only a few small glitches--running out of plates and, at one point, cups. But, we didn't run out of superb beer and great food. The brauts were done to perfection by Vince and Jan. Way to go guys!!! And, we must give accolades to Chuck, who put together his best ever raffle and assured that this event stayed in the black. At last night's count, the raffle "fanny pack" contained a total of $279. Chuck spends a great deal of his own time and money acquiring items of interest for the raffle at flea markets, antique shows and from businesses. Chuck is one of those "silent" members who make the Palm Beach Draughtsmen such a successful organization. Thanks Chuck! And thanks to those who donated items for the raffle: Castaways, The Beer Store, HBO. The left over brauts will be available to be consumed at the club Christmas party to be held on December 13 at the home of Gorman and Aline Selph in Royal Palm. Details will be made available when the planning is in place. The next item that needs to be "jump-started" is the Hurricane Blowoff scheduled for March. The planning meeting is to be held at Castaway's on Thursday, Oct. 2. Please feel free to attend and volunteer to help and/or share your ideas. Mel

Mel's Meanderings By the time you read this, Oktoberfest 97 will be history. And I can imagine that it will be a success as the past six Palm Beach Draughtsmens' celebration of the great German "Give Thanks for Beer" fests have been. Our success is in direct relation to the hard work put in by you and your fellow Draughtsmen. It is greatly appreciated! Beer and gluttony---what could be better? Well ,the comradierie of a diverse group of wonderful people with a common interest adds a special dimension also. Great friends. great beer, great food! Troy (who claims he is giving up his duties as activities chairman after Okto--No way Jose!) was responsible for the commercial beer selection and the wines, an added attraction this year so as not to overlook our imbibers of the "other" fermentable; George who worked hard to try to get a band and is responsible for the "cab" attitude and calling attention to the need to drink and drive responsibly; Joe Simon for coordinating the side dishes to assure that we didn't have 40 desserts and no salads; Drew for taking care of tables and whatever else he was asked and assuring that the 7-day wonder was a 7-day wonder; Vic for running the competition; Joe Hughes for getting the PA system and dAle, Andy and Jan (Iceman) for being there to plan and set up for these past several months; Vince for getting the food and assuming the role of "chef extraordinaire" and Chuck (Raffle-boy) for putting together another great raffle. And, thanks to all the Draughtsmen who donated kegs of superb homebrew to make this yet another great Draughtsmen event. Remember, as so eloquently stated by our former Vice President Dan Quayle, "What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful." Don't let your fellow Draughtsmen and your friends drink and drive. Call a cab! The following is some important beer/life knowledge that I wish to share with my fellow Draughtsmen as we all, from time to time, need direction in our lives other than that which is accessible in a good breakfast stout: If you stop to think--don't forget to start again. If you're a woman and you seek to be equal to men, you have no ambition. Don't go out without a cream stout and never face disorder without a Taddy Porter. A Hofbrau is better than a whole brow. If you didn't have a traumatic childhood, you weren't paying attention. If you occasionally stumble over the truth, just pick yourself up and pretend nothing happened. If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. Don't suffer from insanity, enjoy every moment. See you at the October meeting. Mel

The Competitor
Hey worryworts! The competition scene has been uneventful of late but here are a few updates. The Independence Brewery in Ft Lauderdale hosted their 2nd annual homebrew contest on September 20th. There were 33 entries (NONE from the PBD) with the top 3 spots taken by that club down south, F.L.A.B. Bob Gordash won 1st for the 2nd year in a row with a big, malty IPA and 2nd and 3rd went to Larry Davis and Storm DeVincent's Brown Ale and Vienna, respectively. Winner Bob Gordash will have his beer brewed on Scott Christoffels 10bbl system. (Scott said Bob gets to do all the grunt work!). You might remember that Mr. Gordash was one of the three winners of Sam Adams World Homebrew contest last year. His Special English Ale should be on sale any day now under the "Longshot" label. At our own very successful Oktoberfest Andy Rodusky won our informal Peoples Choice award for best homebrew from a field of 14 beers with his tasty Vienna. Joe Simon's and Troy Webster's Scotch Ale and Peach Mead took 2nd and 3rd. Many thanks to all of you who provided potent potables for this years event and kudos to Andy, Joe and Troy for their achievments. Lastly, I'm going to try to enter a PBD beer in the Weiss is Nice club only competition on Oct. 25th. I have to send this in by the 19th, so if your'e interested, call me at home or at the shop so I can set up a tasting to pick the best beer. So, here's to short lag times and full pint glasses. Hasta, El Hefe

Scotch Eggs
4 hard boiled eggs 3 oz. dry breadcrumbs and oil for frying 1 large egg, beaten 1 lb. sausage(will be some left over) salt and pepper 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce flour to bind (about 1 tablespoon) sprinkle of dried sage Mix together sausage, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings. Add flour. Divide into 4 pieces. Wrap one piece around each egg, coat with beaten egg, roll in breadcrumbs. Deep fry for 5 minutes. Drain on kitchen towel. Serve cold cut into halves.

Rule of thumb, P's & Q's and odd sayings
Submitted by Drew Griffin Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb or finger into the mix to find the right temperature for adding yeast. Too cold, and the yeast wouldn't grow. Too hot, and the yeast would die. This thumb in the beer is where we get the phrase "rule of thumb". In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase mind your P's and Q's". Beer was the reason the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. It's clear from the Mayflower's log that the crew didn't want to waste beer looking for a better site. The log goes on to state that the passengers "were hasted ashore and made to drink water that the seamen might have the more beer". After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or ale, the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle often without armor or even shirts. In fact, the term "berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles. In 1740, Admiral Vernon of the British fleet decided to water down the navy's rum. Needless to say, the sailors weren't too pleased and called Admiral Vernon, Old Grog, after the stiff wool grogram coats he wore. The term "grog" soon began to mean the watered down drink itself. When you were drunk on this grog, you were "groggy", a word still in use today. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. when they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle", is the phrase inspired by this practice.

Beer Jokes

Beer Jokes
First submitted by Andy The owners of Corona, Coors, Budweiser and Guiness were sitting at the bar following the Great Amer. Beer Festival. The owner of Corona asked the bartender for "the best beer south of the border....Corona", to which the barkeep said "sure". The owner of Coors said "I want a beer made w/pure Rocky Mtn. spring water....make it a Coors !" the barkeep said "no problema". The owner of Budweiser then said to the barkeep, "make mine a king of all beers, Budweiser". Again, "no problem" said the barkeep. The owner of Guiness then said, "I'll have a Coke". The other three looked at the Guiness owner w/a puzzled look, to which the owner of Guiness responded, "well, since no one else ordered a beer, I was just following suit...." Second submitted by Bob Banks An Irishman entered a bar in Chicago and ordered three Guinesses. He sipped a little out of each glass until all three were empty then left. The next week he did the same, then the next... As the weeks went by and he became a regular customer the bartender told him that if he ordered them one at a time they would be fresher. "You don't understand," he said, " I came to America and had to leave my two brothers back in Ireland. We agreed that every Friday we would go to our respective pubs and have pints for us all to remember the times we drank together." One Friday he came in and only ordered two pints, took them and went to a back table. All notice and fall silent. Finally the bartender went over to him. "I'm so sorry about your brother," says the bartender. "No, no, nothing happened to one of by brothers," explained the Irishman, "You see I gave up drinking, but I have to keep up the tradition."
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