Great Taste of the Midwest

Jason Rohloff

It’s that time of year again and if you’ve bought tickets through the Barons, the times listed below are for the pick-up locations.  The tickets will be handed out once we get to Madison so please don’t ask.  The beer lists are posted on the Great Taste website (https://greattaste.org/) and the apps are live.  Remember to drink plenty of water and make sure to eat.  This is truly one of the best in the country and we are all looking forward to another year!

The first pick up will be at the Red Zone Bar located 6247 S Howell Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53207
The bus will arrive at 9:45 and will depart at 10:00.

The second pick will be Water Town Plank Road Park and Ride Main Lot
The bus arrive at 10:15 and will depart at 10:30.

The third Stop will be I- 94 & Hwy G Park N Ride
The bus will arrive at 10:45– and depart at 11:00.

The last stop will be a quick pick and go at Hwy 26 the Pine Cone truck stop at 11:30

July 2017 – General Meeting: Hop Parallel with Farmhouse Brewing Supply

Max Liptack

This month we welcome John Rocco of Farmhouse Brewing Supply out of Janesville, Wisconsin to talk about all thing Hops!

John recently donated 6 varieties (24 ounces) of newer hops to the Barons. A few of our members volunteered to brew a batch of beer with these hops. We used a modified Zombie Dust clone and scaled the quantity of hops required to get all of the IBUs within +/- 2pts. The base recipe will be available in this month’s Baron’s Mind.

The hop parallel includes the following hop varieties:

Polaris: 18.5% Alpha. Huge alpha acid content. Has a fruity, fresh, glacier candy flavor (mint).
Eureka!: 10% Alpha. Black currant, dark fruits, strong herbal notes, pine tree, Mint, pungent, light grapefruit rind, citrus, Tangerine. Good oil content drives flavor.  Simcoe on Steroids!
EXP 9326: 6.3% Alpha. Cascade-like with grapefruit, tropical and strong berry aromas.
EXP 6297: 13.3% Alpha. Notes of candied grape, orange and vanilla cream.
Denali: 14.2% Alpha. Juicy Fruit, Pineapple, tropical, citrus. Very clean bitterness and full flavor driven by exceptional oil content.
Ariana: 10.2% Alpha. Depending upon the style of beer brewed and timing of the addition of the hops, brewers have noticed grapefruit, gooseberry, citrus and vanilla flavors. Ariana is said to be ideal for dry hopping, when it imparts its most intense fruity flavors.

June 2017 – General Meeting: Solemn Oath Brewery is back in Wisconsin!

Max Liptack
Chris Geick, @almostoffthemap

This months general meeting we welcome Solemn Oath Brewery’s president, John Barley and Production Manager, Paul Schneider to discuss their beer and their SOB Story. Solemn Oath Brewery (SOB) is located in Naperville, Illinois and after a several year hiatus, has just recently began distributing in Wisconsin again!

SOB first opened in May of 2012, quickly became one of Chicagoland’s greatest startup breweries and through a half-decade of operation they have seen tremendous demand and a significant amount of growth that goes with it. SOB focuses on West Coast, barrel aged, and Belgian beers. Please remember to bring your own tasting glass for the meeting.

As a reminder – if you plan to bring homebrew to the meeting you must notify the officers of the club to ensure we have ample space on the Jockey Boxes. Last month (May’s General meeting) we had such a great turnout of homebrew we had to turn some of your delicious beer away.

As usual the meeting will begin at 7:30pm, with our BJCP Judges Beer Evaluation panel available at 7pm so bring a bottle or two of your homebrew if you want to get some realtime feedback from the judges.

May 2017 – General Meeting: Eagle Park Brewing Co.

Max Liptack

This month we welcome Jackson Borgardt of Eagle Park Brewing Company. Eagle Park is one of the new breweries to open their doors to the public in Milwaukee. Those of you who went on the bus trip might remember their brewery as the unplanned stop to the brewery above Enlightened. Following the bus trip I heard many positive stories from the Barons about their experience, we decided to reach out and have EPBC join us.

Eagle Park Brewing was founded by two brothers who live to write music and drink beer. Like their band, the brewing started in the garage, and like their songs, the beer tells a story. It’s a story of dedication and commitment to the craft beer community that comes through in every pour, every toast, and every taste.
 
Jackson says he “would love to talk about [his] experiences of converting from a home brewer to going pro and all the challenges and rewards with starting a brewery.” He also wants to talk about his plans for growing his brewery from one of the smallest in Wisconsin and diving into contract brewing with Octopi.

As usual, the meeting will start at 7:30 at Clifford’s and please remember to bring a tasting class (or two).

Photo Credit Eagle Park Brewing Co.

April 2017 – General Meeting: BJCP Night Discussing & Evaluating Beer

Max Liptack

Have you ever asked someone what they thought about your homebrew and all they said was “its good”, “it’s hoppy” or “it’s malty”? While hearing your beer is ‘good’ is a great ego boost, more detail can help the brewer focus on making an even better beer. I am sure we are all guilty of providing feedback like that at some point in our lives. But how can you describe it differently?

April’s general meeting will be all about beer evaluation and beer-related vocabulary. We will sample homebrew and commercial beers along with a panel of BJCP judges and we will evaluate and discuss what we are tasting. The commercial beers will range from clean lagers to complex Belgian & barrel aged beers.

Last but not least, we will continue our pre-meeting tasting panel for anyone who has a beer and wants immediate feedback from a panel of Judges but do not have enough for all the Barons or are not comfortable having all members try their beer.

As usual, the meeting will start at 7:30 at Clifford’s and please remember to bring a tasting class (or two).

March 2017 – General Meeting: Yeast Parallel with Good City

Jonathan Greene

March’s general meeting will be a hybrid Homebrew/Commercial night featuring a yeast parallel collaboration with Good City Brewing Company.

About 1 month ago, several Barons collected about 60 gallons of Irish Red wort from Good City and brought it home to ferment it with different yeasts or different conditions. Using the same wort, we can eliminate all of the variables associated with the brewing process itself and focus on fermentation characteristics.

Join us while we get an opportunity to sample all 12 of the examples side by side and discuss the differences from the yeast and comparing it to the commercial example. The meeting will start at 7:30 at Clifford’s.

We will also be welcoming Andy Jones, Owner and Brewmaster of Good City, to discuss his beer and sample what he has to offer. Andy is a graduate of UC Davis, has worked at Goose Island and most recently spent about 8 years working for Lakefront.

Heads Up!

  • Will not have room for member beers on the Jockey Box this month. Please bring some bottles to share instead!
  • The March Swap Meet will be happening before the meeting. It starts at 6:30. If you want to bring stuff to trade, please get there by 6:00. See the Swap Meet post for details.
  • Starting at about 7p we will have about a half-dozen BJCP judges available to give you immediate feedback on your homebrew. This is a great way to get feedback on your brews, without waiting for the next competition. The judges will give you constructive criticism, suggest ways to make improvements, and if any flaws are detected, they will help diagnose the source.

Photo: Good City

March Swap Meet – Updated

Baron Secretary

Dust off that unused brewing equipment (or ingredients) and turn it into cash – or trade it with a fellow brewer!

The General Meeting on March 22nd (at Clifford’s Supper Club) will feature a pre-meeting swap meet. Please bring any equipment you’d like to trade to the back of the hall between 6:00 and 6:15pm. The swap will run from 6:30 to 7:15. It will be an excellent opportunity to upgrade your brewery, or create some needed space.

Update

  • The swap is not limited to just equipment
    • Bring any hops or grain that you would like trade
  • Please bring cash if you plan to purchase instead of trade
  • Remember to come early; it’s the early bird that gets the worm

 

February 2017 – General Meeting: 3rd Sign & Octopi

Jonathan Greene

On February 22nd, we will welcome Sara Brauer, the Sales Manager of 3rd Sign Brewery and Octopi Brewing companies, and Sam Green the header brewer for 3rd Sign. Please join us at Clifford’s at 7:30pm for a fun-filled and educational evening as Sara and Sam introduce us to 3rd Sign and lend insight into the new contract-brewing outfit in Madison: Octopi Brewing.

Both 3rd Sign and Octopi are relatively new. Octopi was created as a one-stop contract brewing resource to help smaller breweries with everything from brewing, packaging and distribution. 3rd Sign is the in-house brand of the Octopi team.

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting. If you would like to bring a beer for the Jockey Box, please email the officers and let us know.

Lastly, if you would like to get some helpful feedback on any of your beers – without putting them on the Jockey Box – we will have a few of our club’s BJCP judges available to provide one-on-one feedback during social hour. Feel free to bring and bottle and find the judges!

Milwaukee Bus Trip: New Breweries

Jonathan Greene

Update:

Tickets are now sold out

In 2016, Milwaukee had an explosion of newly opened breweries and tap rooms. We plan to make a day out of visiting a few of them. Reserve your spot with us as we travel our fair city on Saturday, February 25th checking out many of the newly opened breweries. The reservation is for the bus transport only – a safe and fun way to travel between destinations. Participants will be paying for their own beer samples and food as we travel from place to place.

This trip is for club members, with each member allowed to bring guests. We need to have 30 people signed up in order to make this trip feasible. If we do not get enough support, we will happily refund any reservations.

Here are some details:

We leaving the the Loomis Rd. Park & Ride at 11:30am and heading for Black Husky. After that we hope to hit:

We will return to the Park & Ride by 6:00pm.

All participants need to have a safe driver to take them home after the event.