Underground Brewers of Connecticut

The Underground Brewers are probably the one homebrew club with two priests as members, both named Paul. This unique state of affairs has been true for some time. But only this past month have we trespassed onto hallowed ground for a meeting.

Okay. Maybe not “hallowed” in the proper sense of the word. But Paul Bryant-Smith certainly blessed us with an overabundance of homebrew to share and delicious food to eat. There was absolutely no shortage of either.

In addition to judging homebrew and making gluttons of ourselves (Paul graciously abstained from reminding us all that gluttony is a sin), we also attended to some club business. January brings club elections, when we choose our Executive Committee for the coming year. It is also when we begin collecting the year’s dues.

Our existing Executive Committee had been doing exemplary work, and we probably wouldn’t have made any changes if we didn’t have to. But club by-laws insist that we choose a new Treasurer at least every 3 years. Andy Cox had reached the term limit and had to step down.

After a short discussion, the dues-paying members voted in the new Committee. Santi remains in charge of Events, Andy T in charge of Education, Pierre in charge of Outreach, and Matt in charge of Communications. Paul H takes over as Treasurer. His first official act was to collect dues from a dozen or so members.

The entire club wishes to thank Andy C for his work as Treasurer. It was under his guidance that we obtained both AHA liability insurance and MHP club membership. He also ran several successful merchandise sales which helped us cover exceptional expenses related to our 50th birthday celebration. Our club did important things with its funds during his tenure yet remains in excellent financial shape. The new Treasurer has big shoes to fill.

There were, of course, homebrews to judge. Tasting notes:

• American Lager, Santi. Light corn aroma with a little banana, bubblegum, and wintergreen. Beautiful grainy flavor, cleaner than the aroma. Dry. Could use a little more carbonation. Pat thinks it is a “perfect football beer”. Saphir hops. 6/3/17/4/8=38
• Hazy IPA, Mara. Amazing hop aroma – grapefruit, melon, strawberry, guava. Not quite as iridescent as desired. A bit of salty bite in the flavor; too much added minerals? Some bitterness and astringency. Might score better as a West Coast. 11/2/12/3/7=35
• Tripel, Pierre. Lots of herbal hop aroma, menthol, some spicy phenols and alcohol warmth. Just a little banana. Needs better head retention. Flavor is phenolic and dry, just a little warming, very drinkable. A “SMASH tripel” made with Eraclea pilsner malt and Mistral hops. Double decoction. 5lbs of homemade invert (beet) sugar. 10/3/15/3/7=38
• English Stock Ale, Andy T. Complex, with plenty of Brett. Alcohol, leather, raisins, dried cherries, herbal notes. Gorgeous deep ruby color with amazing head retention. Low malt flavor with a dry finish. A Brett showcase. 11/3/16/5/9=44
• American Porter, Santi. Cocoa powder and black coffee. A hint of sweetness. Clean. No hops. Beautiful ruby color. Lots of chocolate flavor. Dusty dry finish. Extremely drinkable. 10/3/18/5/9=45
• Unknown, Pat. Old, unlabeled bottle found while cleaning his brewhouse. Phenolic and hoppy. Obviously infected. Lots of cherry aroma. Dark color. Light body. Fizzy. Dry, with a little Brett and leather. Actually quite drinkable. But impossible to give it numbers.
• Java Plum Mead, Paul B. Woody, with some wax, licorice, black tea, and a few floral notes. Wood overpowers the honey in both aroma and flavor. Boozy. Dry, tannic, alcoholic finish is a little rough. Light body. Would be better with some backsweetening. Over-oaked with a vodka-based oak tincture. 8/6/15/6=35

Well… we can pretend this post was actually posted back in October, when it should have been. The fall has been a whirlwind, but as always, it’s important to capture these club memories. Our October meeting, just week and change before SNERHC (that post is coming too, I promise), served as an important time to gather, connect, and recalibrate our judging palates for the 35th Annual SNERHC.

Our meeting was hosted by Pierre (and Kim!) in Trumbull. The meeting was quite well attended, and we had plenty of beers to sample as we enjoyed some food and lively conversation. Tasting notes from the beers are below… stick around until the end for a sampling of our new “emoji based scoring system” we tried out on Pierre’s cider!

Tasting Notes:

• Irish Stout (15B): Pat S. – coffee, cocoa powder, light creaminess. A lot more nose than Guinness. A touch ashy. Looks beautiful. Rich roasted malts. Very dry on the finish – just perfect. Didn’t try to be Guinness. A bit minerally, fairly sharp. Roastiness is quite high. A touch over carbonated, missing some of that smoothness. Some astringency, but that’s to be expected. A damn good beer.
  10/3/16/3/8 – 40
• International Pale Lager (2A): Santi – corn, slight grainy sweetness, but not a ton of . A touch of wine-like character than blew off. Med herbal hops. A little hoppy for the style? Inoffensive. Quite clean. White grape-y. Maybe a little much for the style for the hops and the corn. Wonderful appearance. Quickly dissipating head. Crisp dry finish. Lightly white grape upfront, but a grainy, neutral bready finish. Hint of bubblegum. Perhaps not quite as clean as you’d want. Very drinkable. Could use bubbles… 
  8/3/15/3/7 – 36 – it definitely needs bubbles. No corn, all pilsner malt. Liberty hops. Paul suggests maybe entering it as a Pre-Prohibition lager.
• International Pale Lager (2A): Pierre and Joe – very light aroma, touch of melon, plum… smells a bit like sake. Lightly sweet. Has a lager smell. Lightly golden. Could be clearer. Needs time. Thin wispy head. Finish is a bit harsh right now, could age out. A little grassy… hop bite is a bit aggressive. Nice malt character, rice coming through. Needs more bubbles and is a little full. 
  10/3/13/4/7 – 37 – 10# of jasmine rice 14# of malt
• Schwarzbier (8B): Santi – smells lovely. Lightly minerally. Getting that touch of caramel. Subtle chocolate. Roast is slightly too high there. Ruby, mahogany. Clear. Great head. Toasted bread, smoother and lower roast character than the aroma. Very dry finish but gives a light impression of sweetness on the finish. Really spot on. Maybe a touch of astringency. Could use a bubble. Lightly creamy.
  9/3/17/4/7
• Honeydew Mead (Traditional Mead – M1B): Andy T. – lots of alcohol on the nose. Honey presentation is great. Gorgeously clear. Great legs. “There’s like 1 bubble in there.” – Santi. So, technically not still. Not boozy at all, only a little on the finish as a warmth, which is surprising given the aroma. Umami. Walnut. This is really nice.
  7/6/21/8 – 42
• New World Cider (C1A): Steve V. – dry, sparkling – very pleasant apple-y nose. Light celery. Green apple. Very crisp smelling. Impression of spiciness. Crystal clear. A bit watery. Very light. More tannic than anticipated given the aroma. Would expect a little more acidity. Quite dry on the finish. “You could drink this in gallons.” – Andy T. Disappears from the glass. Want a little more flavor given the 
  10/6/20/7 – 43 – 3/4 Baldwin, 1/4 Northern Spy – from an orchard in Western Mass.

Post-Chili Cider

• New World Cider (C1A): Pierre – semi-sweet, petilant – great apple aroma. Crisp, a little bit of funk, a light red apple. Friendly wild yeast. Complex – moreso than you’d usually expect. Maybe a bit more like an English cider? A touch hazy/cloudy. Tastes cleaner than it smells. Lots of good robust apple flavor. Sweet up front, with a beautiful finish. It’s pretty sweet in the flavor… but the finish isn’t sweet.
  Numerical Scoring: 8/4/21/8 – 41 (2024 Beardsley with a touch of fresh cider from this year)
  Emoji-based Scoring: 🐴/💨/🪵🐿️🍎/😌

[Your regular correspondent was unable to attend this month’s meeting due to parental responsibilities. This is a guest post by the B Team.]

Our November meeting brought us once again to Tribus Brewing in Milford, one of our favorite places. Their beer is great, the back room is secluded and comfortable, and the staff is always good to us. Huge thanks to Tribus for hosting us!

The meeting began with an educational presentation by Andy T. Fully retired now, Andy has far too much time on his hands. Luckily, he also has a fertile imagination and excellent fabrication skills. He keeps coming up with great ideas for new brewery gadgets and building prototypes, several of which he brought to the meeting.

I took a bunch of photos but I will not publish them here. At least, not yet. I don’t want to steal Andy’s thunder. He has (yet another) article coming out in next month’s Zymurgy which explains each gadget much better than I can. You’ll have to wait and see them there. All I’m going to say is that each of them is something you didn’t know you needed until you saw it and can be made for a small fraction of the cost of the nearest equivalent available at retail. Kudos to Andy!

The educational portion done, we turned to judging homebrews. Not very many this month, but most were of excellent quality. It’s getting harder to give constructive feedback on beers these days; there just isn’t much room to improve. Tasting notes:

Weissbier (10A), Andy T: A lot of bubblegum on the nose, “more Belgian than German” according to Pierre, and could use a little more malt there. Flavor nails the style. Dry finish makes it very drinkable. Needs more bubbles. 7/3/17/3/7 = 37

76% wheat, no rice hulls. Andy designed and printed a special manifold holder to allow for a very long braided hose false bottom. 6ft for a mash tun sized for 5gal batches. Thinks he can go to 100% wheat without a stuck sparge.

Marzen (6A), Pierre: Nose is quite fruity, mostly dried fruits. Flavor is right to style except a bit too intense – actually improved with a little water. Needs more bubbles. 7/2/13/4/7 = 33

“Same score it got at SNERHC!” – Pierre

Black IPA (21B), Andy M: Piney, a little citrus. Nose could use a little more complexity but flavor is spot on. Just a hint of coffee. Lingering finish has a hint of bite. Otherwise perfect. 11/3/16/5/8=43

Was afraid it had gotten oxidized due to equipment problems during packaging. Apparently not.

Pre-Prohibition Porter (27), Santi: Chocolate, grainy malt, and licorice with some earthy hops. Squeaky clean, lagery. Gorgeous color and clarity, “blood of the vampire” according to Pierre. Very flavorful. Just about a perfect clone of Yeungling. Dry finish. 11/3/17/5/8=44

This was the base beer to which Santi added coffee beans to create the beer that is going to the second round in the Twelve Percent competition. Pale malt and triticale from Blue Ox plus some pale chocolate malt, fermented with 34/70.

Guilford might be a little bit further of a hike than our club often goes, but Paul H. hosting and the promise of some Polish mead was more than enough to entice the crew to head out east and enjoy the generous hospitality and incredible libations offered. The meeting was well attended, and we all enjoyed some excellent beers, hop water (courtesy of Andy C.!), and food before kicking off the meeting in earnest.

Paul was gracious enough to share 4 different Polish meads with the club that he had shipped back from Poland on his recent trip overseas. His presentation is available on our Discord channel – it’s well worth checking out! Meads are certainly not in my wheelhouse, and I learned a ton during his presentation. Polish meads are a distinct style, where honey is always the most prominent flavor – any fruit or spices will have a light touch. The residual sugar content is balanced by alcohol, rather than acid or tannins, and oxidation is common (and welcome!) in sweeter styles. We tried one of each of the different strengths – with my personal favorite being the Dwójniak.

Following a few pours of mead and the excellent presentation, we continued on to our traditional tasting portion of the evening. Notes are below. Again, a huge thanks to Paul and Kathi for hosting and sharing their home and meads!

Tasting Notes:

• Czech Premium Pale Lager (3B): Santi – extremely subtle, biscuity, a touch of honey, crackers. Not very much hops… maybe a little herbal? Geranium as it warms – sweet floral. Freshly picked corn. Could have more head… could be a little clearer. There’s a bit of a sharp hop bite, harsh bitterness. Peppery. Malt character is there, very crackery. Bitterness is pretty aggressive. We thought it needed more bubbles, but we were wrong. A nice beer, but a bit out of the style, and the bitterness comes across harsh.
  7/2/12/5/5 = 31 – Totally agree with all the comments. Used all Saaz that is low AA (5oz 5gal) and it was a lot of hop matter to boil. “That’s what you get when you boil the shit out of hops”
• German Pils (5D): Mara – this is lovely – so floral. Not much malt. Light honey-cracker malt. Light cucumber. Could use a touch more pils malt character. Could be a little clearer, could use more head. Firm, clean bitterness without being harsh. Invites another sip quickly. Very dry. Maybe a touch of cardboard. Could use at least one more bubble… a little astringency. Really nice beer. I would pay for a pint of that – Paul.
  10/2/16/3/8 = 39 – All Thrall Pils
• Vienna Lager (7A): Santi – full marks on appearance. Just a stunning beer. Okay, back to aroma. Like sticking your nose in a bag of Vienna malt. Toasty. Bready. Super clean. I want to jump into the glass. What would you want different? Wow. Amazing flavor – great balance between the malt and hops. A small touch of astringency in the finish. Not a soft finish. Could be a water profile thing – could maybe be a high sulfate level? Maybe a grain husk-y quality.
  12/3/15/4/8 = 42
• Marzen (6A): Santi – again, gorgeous. Drinking with our eyes first. A good amount sulphur that’s dissipated. Some barnyard/hay. Toasty, crusty bread. Honeydew melon? A hint of honey. Could be that the fermentation could be a little more clean. Flavor is a lot of crusty bread, a hint of maybe burnt bread… molasses? New Haven style bread. It has some real character. Maybe a touch of smoke? It’s certainly not boring or un-interesting. Missing some of that clean fermentation character. A little tiny bit astringent.
  8/3/13/4/7 = 35
• New World Cider (C1A): Pat – looks gorgeous, could be a tad clearer. I smell apples. Full of apples, a little floral. There’s a little alcohol there. A little peppery, but pretty clean. Very drinkable. The alcohol is a little present. A little more sweetness could balance it out a bit more? Good acid. Dryness lingers, makes us want to drink more. Has a wine-like character. Just a really nice cider.
  6/9/20/8 = 43 – Beardsley 2024 w/ yeast added
• Cyser (M2A): Pat – needs some clarity – it’s almost a hazy white. Aroma is very subtle – but there’s a light apple, a touch of grapefruit pith. A little lemon. Some wet papery notes. No honey at all in the aroma. Could be good with some herbal additions. Flavor is quite watery, with some astringency. There’s a salty quality to it, too. Some apple-like character, but nothing is strong here. A bit bland. 3/6/12/5 = 26 – Only 2# of honey added – lots of comments about it being just a cider, wouldn’t enter as a cyser
• Mead w/ Red Currant: Andy T. – lots of legs, fucking gorgeous. Very earthy. Alcohol is readily apparent – not harsh. Deep berry, tart, not juicy. Very layered. Tart – it’s got a great bite. There’s a vegetal, almost green and stemy… broccoli rabe? Currents are super present… almost overtaking the honey, but it’s still there. Vermouthy… there’s a bitterness to it. Would like some more honey flavor. It’s very drinkable, especially given the alcohol.
  6/9/18/8 = 41 – 6 years old!
• Mead w/ Buckwheat Honey and Black Currents: Lyn – BLACK… purple and mahogany hues around the edges. Clear. Not noticing much in terms of legs. Aroma is pretty good. Molasses. Coffee. Barnyard. Feels like the buckwheat is coming through well. The fruitiness of the currents are present. Alcohol is noticeable but not dominant or offensive. Warming. T.A.R.T. Currants are making themselves known. Very dry, out of balance there – aroma gave an expectation of some sweetness. This would go really well with food – savory. Pomegranate molasses. A controversial one – especially given the difference between the aroma and flavor!
  6/10/15/7 = 38

August brought us to Berlinetta Brewing Company in Bridgeport where they spin GenX-oriented vinyl and serve truly excellent beers, two of our favorite things.

Summer meetings can be small. People are busy with vacations and other activities. But turnout was solid, with about 10 people braving the heavy rainstorms to make the trip. Several of us came early to sample Berlinetta’s beer and pizza and we were not disappointed.

No lecture topics this month. So, once we were suitably filled up, we started judging homebrews.

That’s when we came face to face with our limitations as judges.

Andy C presented us with an American Light Lager. You’ll see in our tasting notes below that we liked it a lot. In fact, we thought it was a great example of the style and scored it very highly. The joke was on us. The grist was 30% rye – half flaked and half malted! It truly did not have the viscosity or the spicy notes one expects in a rye beer. And, in our defense, competition judges agreed with us. Still, we were left wondering how we could have missed such a large rye addition.

As usual, the homebrews were generally quite good. Tasting notes below.

With just a few to judge, we had time afterward for more Berlinetta tipples and some conversation. We also detoured into cookie judging, trying the rye cookie recipe that Justin is tuning for potential retail sale. We rated it “Yummy. 12/10. Would recommend.”

No one remembered to take pictures.

Major thanks to Berlinetta Brewing for hosting us!

Tasting notes:

American Light Lager. Matt. Lovely floral hop nose with pilsner malt and maybe a little elderflower. Crystal clear and pale. Bone dry and perfectly clean. Lightly grainy and just a little too bitter for style. Very drinkable. Only real ding is that it might be too flavorful and aromatic for the target style. 9/3/18/4/9 = 43

American Light Lager. Andy C. Subtle melon and green apple but a very “macro” nose. Crystal clear and pale yellow. Grainy and a little sweet up front with a dry finish. Almost no hops. Nails the style. Very drinkable. 10/3/17/4/9 = 43. Ha-ha, contains 30% rye!

German Pils. Cameron. Butterscotch nose which hides the hops, with honey rather than crackery pils malt. Hazy and pale gold. Subtle notes of wintergreen in the flavor along with honey malt. Solid bitter finish which lingers. A bit too full in the mouth, probably due to the diacetyl. Still, very drinkable and not too far out of style. 5/1/12/3/6 = 27

Hazy IPA. John. Hardcore fruit salad nose: grapefruit, orange, melon, passionfruit, kiwi. Everyone in raptures. Cloudy, rather than opalescent, and without a head. Very sweet up front with a little too much bitterness in the finish. A little too much tannin. Tons of hop flavor. Can feel suspended hop material. 12/2/15/4/7 = 40. Grain to glass in 6 days with kveik yeast; still very young. Will be amazing when the hop material drops out.

This post comes to us from Santi, who offered to draft a blog covering our April meeting, which I was not able to attend.

Our July meeting – coming right on the heels of our club’s trip to Vermont, was graciously hosted by Andy T. at his home in Trumbull. Given recent conversations within the club around different fermentables, Andy put together and conducted a presentation on different sugars, with a focus on brewing of course. He went through slides that analyzed the chemistry of these sugars, their diferences in perceived sweetness, fermentability and other related topics. This was met with much interaction and discussion about mashing techniques and wort composition, which is to be another educational moment down the line.

At the end of the slides, Andy had prepared solutions of equal concentration for a variety of different sugars for us to taste and compare their sweetness and flavors. (Author’s Note: I am deeply disappointed to have missed this presentation – and I certainly can’t wait to pick Andy’s brain, and the brains of those who attended the meeting!)

It was the perfect finish to a fantastic educational segment outside on a gorgeous summer night. Everyone was so wrapped up in the presentation that the only thing we’re truly missing is pictures from the event to capture all the new learning!

As part of the continued 50th Anniversary Celebrations, a handful of the Underground Brewers took the trek up to the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont, for a visit to Hill Farmstead Brewery and a day on Seymour Lake, courtesy of Andy and Jacqueline Cox!

On Friday, Hill Farmstead was gracious enough to offer a space for us to gather and enjoy their fantastic beers. There were plenty of lagers poured, including their fantastic 15th Anniversary Festbier, and more than a few bottles opened as well. A particular highlight and topic of conversation was the fantastic hop water, No Bad Parts, brewed by Hill Farmstead. Lightly fermented, and featuring lime juice and Strata hops, this was a huge hit with the club, and has led to more than a few attempts at creating a copycat hop water!

Saturday was spent relaxing on the lake, where we shared excellent food, beers, and naps (see pictures below). Some of us even took advantage of the lake for some kayaking, canoeing, and fishing! A day by the lake was exactly the recovery we all needed after the hours spent at Hill Farmstead. While there are a few pictures to document the days we spent up in Vermont, for the most part we were simply enjoying each other’s company, which seems like a perfect way to continue our anniversary celebration. It certainly will not be the last time the Underground Brewers make their way up to northern Vermont!