Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The Weekend Update: Pub Crawls, Spiked Beer, & Brew Masters


It was a busy weekend for CBE members.

Friday, several of us hit the streets downtown to celebrate one member's birthday. We started at CBE favorite Sycamore with pork belly sliders and various selections from their extensive beer list. It's worth noting that all Sycamore bar menu items and specified beers on tap are half off during happy hour.

We then sauntered over to Broadway Brewery just down the street. Several of us enjoyed Broadway's Winter Warmer while other's raided Broadway's nice bottle and guest tap list. We weren't there for long as we had other stops to make.

A detour was taken down Ninth to Top-Ten Wines. Out came the Goose Island Nightstalker, He'Brew "13", and ping-pong table as this haven for the wine-obsessed was invaded by a bunch of beer nerds.

The night was completed at Uprise where we all sipped on our beers outside, on the patio.

It's great to know that we have so many good options to fill our craft beer needs. We didn't even make it to Flat Branch and we still filled the evening with great beers.

This wasn't an official CBE event, but there's no reason more of us can't organize such get-togethers on the website or Facebook group page. Feel free to use these forums to schedule the kinds of beer events you want. There certainly is an audience on either site.

Saturday rolled around and several members met at my house for the Spiked Beer Tasting. Normally, would never subject ourselves to drinking bad beer, but in the name of science, we carried on. Jarrett walked us through each spike, helping us identify what we were tasting and what caused each off flavor. And because we all homebrew, there was talk of a collaborative beer to only be known as "Nanna".

Afterwards, we washed the bad taste from our mouths with some good beer.

Sunday was a big night for the craft beer community in general as Discovery Channel's Brew Masters debuted. The show created quite a bit of buzz on Twitter and in the blogosphere as well as among CBE members. Some discussion can be found on Facebook, the CBE site, and even on at least one member's own beer blog.

What did you think of Brew Masters? Will you watch it again? Is it just an infomercial for Sam Calagione's Dogfish Head Brewery? Should the CBE organize an event around future episodes?

What do you think about more spiked beer or other homebrew events? What are you thoughts on more CBE (official or unofficial) pub crawls?

Monday, November 15, 2010

Colorado Beer Tasting

Despite a few homebrews produced here in Columbia, a beer from Idaho, and one arguably from Maryland, the Colorado tasting went off without a hitch. We tasted a nice variety of beers. The '07 La Folie and Avery Beast vertical seemed to garner the most attention. Here's the lineup...

  • Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti
  • John Baker's Porter
  • Matt's Altruistic ESB
  • Avery's Seventeenth Anniversary Black Lager
  • Grand Teton Lost Continent DIPA
  • Ska Decadent DIPA
  • Odell Bourbon Barrel Stout
  • Avery Ellie's Brown Ale
  • Avery IPA
  • Matt's Dubbel My Dosage
  • Left Hand Milk Stout
  • Great Divide Hercules DIPA
  • Great Divide Titan IPA
  • Ryan's Mango-Habanero 
  • '07 New Belgium La Folie
  • Twisted Pine Hoppy Knight
  • Ska ESB
  • Flying Dog Horny Dog Barley Wine
  • '06, '08, '09 Avery The Beast vertical
What was your favorite beer of the night?

Survey Says...

If you remember, we here at the CBE asked you all to complete a survey covering some demographics, social media usage, and ideas for future events. The results of the survey can be found here for the most part. I've taken the liberty to compile the write-in answers below since the results link won't do that for me.

Read through the results. Tell us what you think they mean. Is there something we missed with this survey?

In the meantime, be sure to come out for the Colorado beer tasting tonight at Sycamore at 9PM. A list of beers had will be posted here. Also, keep your calendars open for the December 11th Yankee Swap.

Monday, November 8, 2010

CBE Survey

We have a survey up for any craft beer enthusiasts and/or homebrewers living in the Mid-MO area. Feel free to respond whether you're a member or not. Then pass along the link to anyone who might also fit these categories. The more responses we get the better.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

CBE Notes - 11/04/2010

The CBE officers met last night for our monthly meeting. There was plenty to cover as we have a couple of busy months ahead of us. First of all, we did not receive a treasurer's report, but Jason assures us that there is money in the bank...


Anyway, the first order of business was the charity beer dinner at Sycamore in January. Tickets go on sale November 9th. The dinner will start at 6PM and will cost $60 per person. There is a limit of 60 people. So, be sure to order your tickets right away. We'll be unveiling more details regarding the charity and incentives for the dinner as they come. Check the Sycamore website for more details.

Speaking of the charity beer dinner, we are in need of some volunteers. At a minimum, we will need 5-6 CBE members to volunteer. Sycamore is providing some volunteers of their own and career center's culinary arts program is also chipping in. Just contact the CBE officers if you're interested in helping.

Our next tasting will take place on November 15 at 9PM at Sycamore. The focus will be on beers brewed in Colorado. So, dig out your favorite beers from Oscar Blues, Avery, Great Divide, Ska, etc. for this state-themed tasting. Here's a list from RateBeer of Colorado breweries.

On November 20th, some CBE members will be getting together for a tasting of spiked beers. What this means is that we're getting our hands on some spikes that can be added to beers in order to demonstrate what an irregularity might taste like. Although this event would be particularly interesting to homebrewers, even the casual beer enthusiast might get something out of it.

In December, we are starting a new tradition with the first ever CBE Yankee Swap. Members and guests will be expected to bring a beer-related gift (or just beer) worth no more than $15 for an exchange. Names will be drawn from a hat and the first person chosen will have his or her choice of the loot. However, the second person may choose to steal the first person's choice or pick something new. This carries on until all the gifts are exchanged. People should bring beer as well for this event.

For the Yankee Swap, we are still looking for a location. If you would like to provide space for this get-together, let a CBE officer know. The person who volunteers space will determine whether we have the swap on December 11th or 18th.

There will be more to announce and share in the coming months. In order to keep track of beer events in and around Columbia, you can check out the calendar below. If you have a Google Calendar yourself, you may also subscribe to the CBE calendar or simply return to the blog.

Monday, November 1, 2010

The Science of Brewing with John Cannon

Last Saturday's University of Missouri Saturday Morning Science program featured our own John Cannon. His presentation on the Science of Brewing Beer was well-attended and will possibly give the university fodder for starting their own brewing program[1]
.

Also on hand was sponsor Cool Stuff, who, by the way, is offering free membership to their homebrew club to any CBE member. I know some of us have complained about Cool Stuff's inventory in the past, but what they have to offer has grown incredibly in the last year. Be sure to check it out!

Below, you'll find John's presentation broken into five parts[2]. Eventually, I'll post the link to the video of his talk.












Notes:
1Not really. A boy can dream, can't he?
2OK. So, it's more than five parts, but something in the extract brewing section was so large I couldn't properly upload the presentation.