Monday, April 25, 2011

CBE Update: Spring & Summer

Right before the Stone festivities kicked off Saturday night, the CBE officers met up to plan the next few months of events. Below is what we have so far. Suggestions are always welcome.

  • The Kansas City/Parkville field trip roster is set, but you are more than welcome to join us this Saturday, April 29. We plan to leave Saturday morning at 8:30 from the Schnuck's parking lot. You'll have to come up with your own transportation at this point, but you can carpool with us to Boulevard where we have a tour scheduled. There's more information concerning the Parkville Microfest here.
  • National Homebrew Day is Saturday, May 7. Several folks are planning to host demos and/or brewing sessions on this day. An official event will be has been posted on Facebook, but if anyone is interested in participating or hosting a brew event on the 7th, leave a comment here or on the Facebook group.
  • After the brewing is done, Hellbender is planning to host its latest party. Stay tuned to their blog and/or Facebook page for details and start times. Typically, the boys at Hellbender limit their party to friends and CBE members, but if you're new, befriend them now and sneak in.
  • On a Monday in May, we will hold a Rye/Black IPA tasting at Sycamore. So, round up your favorite rye beers and/or Cascadian Dark Ales/Black IPA's for this official CBE tasting. All regular fees apply. $30 will get you a year's membership. $5 will get you in if you bring beer, $10 without beer.
  • In June, we're looking at cheese and beer pairing at a location to be determined. Unlike the last time, at this tasting we will be asking for folks to bring cheese. The CBE will purchase 4-5 styles of beer for the pairing. There will be no membership fees due at this event. More details to come.
  • The official CBE event for June will be a "Wild Night" hosted by the Elwess household. We will allow folks to decide just what "wild" means. Does it have to do with fermentation? Strange ingredients? High ABV? You decide.
  • July (which is a long way off) will feature two events. There will be the annual picnic which is an open event for anyone interested in meeting other beer nerds and homebrewers. We only ask that folks bring some beer to share and a covered dish. A date and location will be announced as soon as we have more information to share.
  • The other July event will be a West Coast tasting. So, any beer brewed in California, Oregon, Washington, or Alaska is welcomed. This will be an official CBE tasting where all applicable fees apply.
  • Last, but certainly not least, we are planning to bring back the Members Only Tasting. This was a popular event last year and we don't want to not have one again this year. The Members Only tasting will happen in August. Before we can plan any further, there will be a survey put out that will help us identify the beers you'd like to try. Again, this tasting will have the applicable fees attached.
So, that's one official CBE tasting a month for the next four that you should attend. Also, feel free to join us for any of the other events or invite non-members so that we may infect them with our "illness." Watch the Facebook page, the website, and this blog for details on all the events described above.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Blind Belgian Tasting



 The Columbia Beer Enthusiasts had a blind Belgian tasting today at Phil's house. The finally tally is:

The winner: Urthel Samaranth Quad (the only genuine Belgian in the bunch)
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1339/15274

2nd Place: Choc Dubbel (Oklahoma)
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4707/45566

3rd Place: Trippel (John Cannon's homebrew)

4th: Bruery Saison Rue (California)
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/42434

5th: Dubbel (David Bowen's homebrew)

6th: Old Ale (Phil Fuemmeler's homebrew)

7th: Bruery Orchard White Witbier (California) 
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/42433
8th: Trippel (brewed with British yeast) (John Cannon homebrew)

Thanks to Phil who hosted and created the scorecards to help us navigate our way through the Belgians. We scored each one on bouquet/aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel, and overall impression. Just for fun, we also guessed whether each was really made in Belgium or not. The only was that was from Belgium ranked number one, the quad.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

CBE mid-April Update

Sorry about the lag in posts, but there are some things to keep you up-to-date on...

Next week is Stone Week here in the Show-Me state. There are set to be events all over to welcome Stone to Missouri. The statewide details are here. Sycamore and Uprise Bar are set to host two events on Saturday, April 23rd. You can find the full list at Stone's site. Details for Columbia's events are below.

Sycamore 5pm-7pm
  • Stone Pale Ale
  • Arrogant Bastard Ale
  • OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale
  • Stone Ruination IPA
  • Stone Sublimley Self-Righteous Ale
  • 2010 Stone Imperial Russian Stout
Uprise Bar 7:30pm-9:30pm

  • Stone Smoked Porter
  • Stone Cali-Belgique IPA
  • 2010 Double Bastard Ale
The sign up for the April 30th field trip to Kansas City and the Parkville Microfest is still up. Transportation is still being figured out, depending on the final number of people who sign up. As of now, cost includes $25 for transportation, $20 to get in to the festival, and whatever you spend on lunch.

Finally, there is a Belgian vs. Non-Belgian tasting this Saturday. Folks are asked to bring a Belgian or Belgian-style beer wrapped in a paper bag. It is a blind tasting where participants will see if they can guess which is which. Details are on Facebook.