Author: Paul

Most of our club meetings follow a standard playbook: After a bit of social time, we get serious about judging homebrews, blind, against BJCP guidelines. We may have a short educational presentation; we may have more social time later. But the bulk of most meetings is devoted to evaluating homebrews and to honing our skills as judges.

Occasionally, however, circumstances dictate a change of pace. Our June meeting was one where we deviated from the template.

To some extent, this was due to location. Our host this month was Berlinetta Brewing in Bridgeport. We love Berlinetta. It is central in the club’s geography. The beer is great. So is the pizza. And they are always happy to host us. The one small downside is that it can be quite loud, and that can make it difficult to judge and discuss the way we normally do. (A very small price to pay for being able to have our meetings in such a wonderful location.)

This meeting was also slightly non-standard because we needed to evaluate whether several beers were good enough to forward to the Big Brew Day Club Competition. Since all Big Brew Day beers were made to one of the same 3 recipes, this was not about whether the recipe conformed to a given BJCP style. It was about whether we thought the batch would stand up against others brewed to the same recipe. We also knew who brewed what, so attempts at anonymity would be pointless.

The two beers in question were an Imperial Stout brewed by Andy C and a Pre-Prohibition Porter brewed by your humble narrator. The Stout needed more carbonation and the Porter was too roasty for style. But both were deemed “good enough” and the club chose to move ahead with entering the competition.

Similarly, we tasted an “Alt-Alt” brewed by your humble narrator for a different competition. The recipe was determined by lottery among base malts, specialty malts, bittering hops, and aroma hops. I decided that the chosen ingredients might make something similar to an Altbier despite the grains having North American origin. Although somewhat lacking in Altbier character, it was also deemed “good enough” to move on in competition.

Next up was an Irish Red from Mike D made with all Red-X malt. While close to style, there was an undertone which reminded us of short-boil extract beers. Quite drinkable, though.

Pierre served a Saison with Brett which showed some green olive notes. A bit off. And Mara poured a Hazy IPA with a distinct “rubber tire” aroma which might be due to the Cellar Science “Hazy” yeast, something no one else had used yet.

Jim L then poured what might have been the best homebrew of the evening (although Andy’s Imperial Stout was extremely good), a perfectly balanced Munich Dunkel. Somewhat nutty, with a hint of sulfur and a very dry finish. Extremely drinkable.

The last non-Berlinetta beer of the night was a Paulaner Hefe-Weizen, also poured by Jim. Floral and doughy, with a bit of sweetness up front and a dry finish, it had very little of the estery/phenolic character associated with the style. Still, quite flavorful and very drinkable.

Meetings at Mara’s are always fantastic. May’s meeting was no exception.

Attendance was on the lighter side, mostly due to Mother Nature being uncooperative. But it was no less enthusiastic for that. Pierre kept us entertained with his skills on djembe, Mara and Andy T revealed a new business collaboration to bring homebrewing gadgets to market, and Mara’s legendary beer cellar provided us with some outstanding items to sample.

The meeting opened with an educational presentation by Andy T. He brought a sample of a sour-beer-in-progress that had become “sick”, or “ropy”. This happens when Pediococcus excretes long molecular chains of sugars, making the beer thick and viscous. This can be a disaster for a “clean” beer, but it neither unusual nor disastrous for a sour which also contains Brettanomyces. The Brett will eat up these chains over the course of weeks or months and the beer will return to its proper viscosity. It just looks a bit gross in the meantime.

Beers judged:

NZ Brut IPA, Andy T

Beautiful hop nose with some bread dough and a little pepper. Perhaps a touch of sweetness or diacetyl (opinions differed). Yellow, very hazy, with a long-lasting head that left lace. Tastes of citrus and honeydew with a very dry finish and a firm bitterness. Just a little alcohol warmth. Light body and high carbonation. Dangerously drinkable.

This had been Andy’s entry at the Charter Oak competition, where it received very low marks. No one could figure out why. Outstanding beer.

10/3/16/5/8 = 42

Heirloom Cider, Sully

Smells of leather, wood, charred apples; just a little funk and alcohol. Pale and crystal clear with just a few bubbles. Slightly sweet with a firm tartness behind. Lots of tannin. Light body. Sweetness and tannin linger. Maybe just a little too acidic.

Beardsley’s 2023 blend, wild ferment, left on lees in Sully’s garage ever since it was pressed. One can of concentrate added to backsweeten when kegged recently. Will be outstanding after a little time for flavors to meld. No evidence of autolysis.

8/6/16/7 = 37

Smoke Porter, Cameron

Toasted marshmallow and burnt sugar – like creme brulee. Light roast, light smoke. Not aggressive at all. Very inviting nose. Black with ruby highlights and a thick, dark head which lasts forever and leaves lace. Complex flavor. Plenty of residual sugar but the dark malt bitterness leaves it perfectly balanced. Just a little smoke. Everything well-integrated. Drying finish. Creamy and rich; very smooth; smoke and carbonation work well to make it scary drinkable. Pierre: “One of the best beers I’ve had in a long time.” Outrageously good.

Cameron based the recipe on a beer he had at a commercial brewery. Aiming for less-aggressive smoke character. Fairly fresh.

9/3/19/5/9 = 45

Festbier, Pierre

Lovely spicy hop nose with a little crackery malt and bread crust. Squeaky clean. Maybe just the barest hint of vanilla and sulfur. Clear and golden; could use more head. Prominent bready/toasty malt flavor with a little sweetness. Medium-low bitterness. A hint of melon (hops?). Soft mouthfeel – needs a bit more carbonation. Very nice.

Pierre unhappy with it. Thinks it needs more hops. Was originally brewed as a kolsch but he had no kolsch yeast so he used lager yeast.

9/3/15/4/8 = 39

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

[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.

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.

[Note: Matt, our Communications Director, is currently ill with covid. CommsDir Emeritus Paul fills in for him this month.]

July found us at Tribus Brewing in Milford for the first time. The lovely folks there let us take over their back room for our meeting. Thank you, Tribus!

Summer meetings are usually on the smaller side. Homebrewers take vacations just like normal people. With only about 8 members braving the intense thunderstorm, we decided to run the meeting a little differently. Homebrews were not judged blind; we opted for a bit less judging rigor and more in-depth discussion of each brew. This led to some interesting findings and more knowledge-sharing than usual.

First up was an American Lager from Santi. Crystal clear and lovely, it had a clean aroma of earthy and floral hops with just a touch of sweetness. Maybe a hint of DMS and green apple, but both just at the threshold for identification. Made with flaked corn, Crystal and Willamette hops, and Novalager yeast (at 60F!), it was a perfect lawnmower beer. We gave it a 41.

Next was an American Pale Ale from Cameron. Also crystal clear, it was very fruity, with a little green apple and a low hop aroma. Lacking the bitterness and hop flavor one expects in an APA, we gave it a 33 and decided it would do better if entered as a Belgian Pale Ale. The recipe included wheat and oats, pilsner malt, Nottingham yeast, and no bittering hops – all late hopping.

Mara was up next with a Traditional Mead (still, standard strength, semi-dry) made with coffee blossom honey. VERY floral aroma with some heat and spicy notes. Plenty of acid and tannin. A mere baby at 1 month since pitching, we decided it would become an excellent mead at 6 months, when the heat had settled down a bit. We look forward to trying it again then.

Pierre followed with a Saison made with lemon thyme (that’s one plant, meaning thyme with a lemony flavor) and a hint of mint. Over-carbed but yummy. Just amazing.

Next was a Special Bitter by Santi. So young that it wasn’t really carbonated yet, from which it suffered a little. But quite nice. Bone dry, very fruity, very drinkable.

Andy T presented a Mixed Ferm with peaches which was astoundingly complex yet extremely drinkable. Aromas of florals and perfume, leather, pipe tobacco, and stone fruit. Tart but not sour. Bone dry. Clear and light amber. We could not find a single thing wrong with it except that it had no head. Dinged it one point for that, so it scored a 49. Deserved it.

Pierre ended the night with a different Saison. This one was amber and hazy, with a white head, spicy phenols, fruit, and earthy hops. A little sweet up front with a dry finish. Totally solid – scored a 34. Made with Belle Saison yeast.

With that, we headed out into the post-storm evening.

One thing of note: At some point during the meeting, it became clear that there were several of us who had acquired pH meters and were unsure about their use and care. As our resident expert in quantitative test equipment, Andy T offered to run a class. This will be hands-on; everyone brings their own meters to calibrate and use. Keep your eye on the club calendar for this event.

One of our favorite prizes at SNERHC this year was the chance for a member of a CT-based homebrew club to brew their recipe at Reverie Brewing in Newtown.

Caysey Welton, of the Underground Brewers, won the prize with his Biere de Garde. He and Andy Cox joined Frank Lockwood at Reverie last month to brew a full batch on their system. Cans have been available in stores for a couple of weeks, but the official release was this past Sunday.

Well over a dozen club members, plus dogs, joined us to toast Caysey, thank Frank, and purchase 4-packs to take home. The beer was delicious (and, at 7.5%abv, potent) and most of us intend to stash a few to see how it ages.

Huge thanks again to Frank and Reverie from all of us at SNERHC and the UBC! And congrats to Caysey on his well-deserved win!

The Underground Brewers returned to Valor Wines for our January meeting. You may remember that we were there last January as well. This meeting was every bit as informative as the last one. Maybe more so. And, just like last year, there were a number of new members in attendance.

We simply cannot thank Ray enough for his hospitality and support. Just like last year, he opened the doors for us on a night when the winery is usually closed, gave us samples of many ciders, and educated us about cider and cider apples. (More on that below.) He also let us hang with Zelda the dog.

The meeting started in a most unusual way. Longtime members may recall that the club used to have a rule: “No club business may be conducted during club meetings.” Things have changed and we are a little more organized now. So we actually did some club business. We sold merch. We discussed plans for upcoming events. And we elected a new slate of officers.

The new Board consists of: Santi (Events), Caysey (Education), Pierre (Outreach), Matt (Communications), and Andy C (Treasurer).

Yes, I am no longer Communications Director for the club. As a result, this will be my last regular blog post. It has been an honor to server the club in this capacity for years. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity. But I’m excited to see where Matt takes things. And I look forward to serving the club in other capacities when called upon.

After electing the new Board, we got down to judging. So. Many. Great. Beers. It was really kind of amazing. Tasting notes below.

The last few homebrews we tasted were ciders, and ciders are part of Ray’s core business. This triggered the educational part of the meeting.

Ray would like to elevate single varietal ciders to the same plane as single varietal wines. He sees no reason why all ciders should be blends and disagrees with the BJCP guidelines. He poured several single varietals for us to taste, including Baldwin, Chisel Jersey, and Golden Russet. The differences were mind-blowing. If this is the future of cider, we’re all in.

So, huge thanks to Ray and Valor Wines for being wonderful hosts. And good luck to the new Board!

Tasting notes:

• American Lager, Santi. Grainy. A little sulfur. Low malt. Very dry. Light and refreshing. 10/3/16/4/8 = 41
• Saison, Matt. Floral, esp. lavender. Marshmallow. Bubblegum. Does not finish dry enough. A little tart and astringent. “Old world saison blend” yeast. Finished at 1.000 despite sweeter taste. 7/3/13/3/6 = 32
• Strong Bitter, Santi. Good English hop aroma with malt backbone. Nicely balanced. Caramel and toast. Finishes a little harsh – hop bite, a little astringency. A bit thin. Was supposed to be a West Coast IPA. 10/3/12/3/6 = 34
• American Amber, Santi. Malt-forward. Toffee and coffee. Citrusy hops. Earth and brown sugar. Dry finish. Smooth and drinkable but should probably finish a little sweeter. 10/3/15/3/7 = 38
• NEIPA, New Andrew. A big ol’ bag o’ hops. Sweet and mellow. No off-flavors but needs more body. A little more bitterness might bring out flavors. 9/3/14/4/7 = 37
• ???, Mike H. Prune juice. Oxidized. Grainy. Pale with a white head. Figs. Made with yeast and hops from his backyard. Had a pellicle. No scores.
• New World Cider, Pierre. Golden and crystal clear. Very fizzy. Apple, gooseberry, grape juice, grapefruit, tannin – very complex. But all front-loaded, no follow-through. Dry finish. 3 years old, Beardsley juice. 6/8/17/7= 38
• Cranberry/honey cider, Christine. Rose gold and crystal clear. Menthol and eucalyptus. Honey and Smuckers grape jelly. Quite tart. Very long, balanced finish. Cannot tell that it is 9%abv. 6/7/18/8 = 39

Your correspondent had to miss the festivities this year. What follows is a guest post by our leader, Andy Cox.

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The holiday season is here and the spirits were high at the joint Brew Haven and Underground Brewers party at Armada Brewing on December 15^th. 

Some of our party goers got started early at Bob Burger’s house in the filling of the club 55-gallon rye whiskey barrel.  Brewing of the Imperial Stout was split up in 5- and 12-gallon batches and brewed by club members.  After purging the barrel with C02, we had four lines all pushing the beer to fill up the barrel.  The process went off perfectly!  We can only hope getting it all out will go as well.  Sampling will be Bob’s job over the coming weeks and plans are to brew a Wee Heavy for round #2 – volunteers needed!

Ok, back to the party: we were upstairs at Armada in the same space that hosted SNERHC.  Way too much food, beers to sample, and Armada’s excellent line up of beers to try.  Great turnout by both clubs and the night ended with Brew Haven’s usual White Elephant gift exchange.  Always a good time getting the clubs together.

Lots of plans in the works for 2024:  January meeting will be at Valor Wines in North Haven and February at Spacecat in Norwalk.  January will also have club elections – posts will go up on the Facebook feed shortly.  We are hoping to bring in as many new folks who are willing to serve. 

February will also bring the release of Caysey Welton’s SNERHC winning Biere de Garde brewed at Reverie Brewing in Newtown.  We are planning a release party at the brewery on Sat February 4^th and will invite all the CT homebrew clubs to come on down and join in the fun.

Spring competition season will be here before you know it – Homebrew Alley in NYC, Ocean State in RI, and maybe Hudson Valley will make it back?  Lots of opportunities to enter and judge locally coming up. 

As always, the full event calendar is up at https://www.undergroundbrewers.org/events/