Homebrewers Ball 2008

In partnership with Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers, the HAMS put on a great display of 15 disctinct, delicious beers this year, while RFOV filled table after table with incredible appetizers and desserts. Brewers designed beer labels for each of their creations, which we hung on the wall behind the taps, and on the taps themselves. One taste of any beer told you these homebrewers aren't fooling around. Serious beer you can't buy anywhere, times fifteen!
David Hamilton and the RFOV team of volunteers manned the entry positions, the food tables and some displays of the fine work they've been doing for 14 years, repairing, maintaining, and building many miles of trails we all love to hike or ride on. They served platters of shrimp, meat balls, desserts, and even Eileen Wysocki's famous "Nut Balls"!
For all of you who attended, our hearty thanks for your continued enthusiasm and support. We hope to see you all at our 2009 event, to be announced.

Brewing this weekend

Hi y'all,

I'll be brewing this Saturday starting at noon or so. 10 gallons all-grain SNPA clone more than likely. Swing by if you like to say "hi" and help drink some of the leftovers from last weekend!
939 Wheel Circle in Carbond-ALE. Call me if you need directions - 379-9864.

Jeff

Showtime - Homebrewers Ball, Saturday Nov. 8

BREWERS!
Here’s the Drill for next Saturday (on the blog also):
4:00 pm – the Gym is ours until midnight. RFOV is supplying our tables. We move in with our taps station, two jockey boxes and Tom’s “Chaz-mobile” 4-tap station. That makes 15 taps.
Wes is coordinating CO2 tanks, manifolds. He still needs stuff, if anyone has parts to lend;
We need 3 – 4 more feed buckets or plastic trash cans for kegs on ice, and two “shallow basins” for bottled homebrew on ice.
Wes and I estimated we would need 20 twenty-pound bags of ice. RFOV will supply ice.
We need three 5-gallon Gatorade coolers for water, one per table. MT will supply two of them, anyone have a third?
We need 3 – 5-gallon buckets, one “spittoon” per table.
Ken Jones will supply six water pitchers for rinsing glasses, two per table, and bring sampling glasses (5 boxes) from the Brew Pub (these go to the guest sign-in tables).
Everyone’s keg(s) should arrive at 4:00 pm, chilled and charged. Wes and Jeremy are in charge of hooking up the kegs, they’ll coordinate help from fellow brewers.
MT will print poster-size beer labels to tape on the wall above the taps, as well as labels for shirts and for tap handles. Will need 3 helpers and a ladder (check with Eric @ Rec Center) to put up all the labels.

7:30 pm SHARP – doors open, taps ready, homebrewers help keep order around the taps, clean up spills, keep water pitchers filled, help people sign in and display “Guest Beer Labels”, manage voting by guests for “best label” and “best homebrew”, and help keep party rolling smoothly ;
9:30 pm – Announce voting closes at 10:00, introduce RFOV (if they want to announce anything);
10:00 pm – tally votes;
10:15 pm – Thanks you’s, Announce label contest winner, best homebrew winner, thank everyone for coming, announce buses;
10:30 pm – Close doors, begin cleanup (sorry we can’t come back the next day!)
12:00 – finished.
Questions? Suggestions?
MT

My trip back east!

My family and I just got back on Tuesday from a week long vacation back east. For those who don't know, my wife and I lived in Delaware for a while, before returning to Colorado. There was a reunion of sorts last week for my wife at the Aquatic Resources Education Center where she used to work. It was also a retirement party for Captain Bob, who was her boss and is the guy who performed our wedding ceremony. I actually asked my wife to marry me in the middle of the boardwalk at the center, overlooking the salt marsh and the Delaware Bay in the distance. It was great to go back and see all the people and places that we knew. A lot has changed in the area over the 8 years since we left, but the friends were still as great as ever. We also took the time to spend a couple of days in DC, since I managed to not have gone and seen any of it in the time we lived there somehow. It was really cool to see many of the monuments and buildings that we see in literature and on the news, and is certainly a very different experience in person. Many of the sights are very powerful, if you've never had a chance to visit, such as the eternal flame and the Vietnam wall. Sitting on Einstein's lap is also really cool and is a must-do for all you scientific types like us.

The real part of this that makes it HAMs Blogworthy is the visits to the breweries though. While out there I got to visit several breweries, and sample some truly great beers.

The first visit was to Capitol City Brewing while in DC. The one we visited is located in the Postal Museum, which is right across the street from Union Station. Here I am pictured in front of the copper serving vessels, which are located prominently in the middle of the restaurant with the bar wrapped around them, also pictured is the immense sunday we had after our meal. I got to sample the Amber Waves Ale, a really good American amber ale with lots of American hop character, and the Oktoberfest. Both of which were excellent beers. Unfortunately I got there too late to meet any of the brewers in person, but could see the brewery on premise since it's not even walled off from the restaurant. I would definitely recommend that anyone stop there if traveling to DC. The beers were great, the food was really good and decently priced, and the atmosphere was excellent and very family friendly. Hopefully I'll get another chance soon to try more of their beers. I know I saw another one of their locations at the inner harbor of Baltimore.

The next brewery visited was the hallmark of the trip, and my main requirement while in Delaware, the Dogfish Head Brewpub in Rehoboth Beach. I'm sure you're all familiar with Dogfish Head, but if you've never had a chance to try their beers, I can't recommend them highly enough. The 90 Minute IPA has been voted the best beer in the US 2 years straight in BYO magazine, and is at or near the top of my all-time favorite beers as well. I know that their beers have been hard to find here lately, while they were adding capacity to their main brewing system in Milton, Delaware, but it should be getting better about now. I bypassed the beers that I know I can get out here, and went for the specialty ones I hadn't seen or tried yet. The first thing I got to sample, was the Sah'tea, a truly unique beer! I loved this, and could have drank lots of it (especially thanks to going down in elevation so much) but had others to sample as well. Here's the Dogfish website description for this beer: A modern update on a 9th century Finnish proto-beer. Brewed with rye, we caramelize the wort with white hot river rocks, then ferment it with a German Weizen yeast. In addition to juniper berries foraged directly from the Finnish country-side we added a sort of tea made with corriander, caramamom, lemon grass, Indian Black Tea, and ramps leaves. The spicing is subtle and balanced and Sahtea is a highly-quaffable, truly-unique brew with a full-mouth feel. 6% abv

After getting my Sah'tea and getting a break from people coming in, Matt Patton took me on a tour. Above the bar hang dogfish cutouts of many of the beers served here. The place is small, but in a cozy-full of Delaware beach ambiance-kind of way. All their grilled food is cooked over wood, and the small original brewery and pot still are on-site and still in-use today. The brewery at the pub is definitely not what I'd call high-tech. They use a very simple setup, much like a scaled up version of my own home-brewing equipment. Obviously they know their stuff though, by the type and quality of beers they're turning out and the rapidity with thich their brewery has expanded. They have 2 fermenters behind the brewhouse. One is used for beers being served in the pub, like the Sah'tea, the other is used for spirits. This fermenter is connected to the still directly above the brewhouse on the second floor, where they make their small-batch spirits. Their bottling line for their spirits consists of a tank and a bottling wand. It's great to see and taste such amazing products come out of such a small operation. Of course, all of the beer we get here in Colorado is made at the main brewery in Milton (about half an hour away from the pub). They still have a great selection of really interesting beers bottled from there too. Take the Palo Santo Marron that I got to sample at the pub on draught, served in 750mL size in a snifter. This is definitely a beer to savor slowly as it warms, and I managed to pack back 2 bottles of the 4 pack I bought to squirrel away in my stash for later. Pictured is the Palo Santo along with my excellent Oktoberfest style grilled bratwurst with saurkraut and beer fries. I had an excellent time along with my wife and daughter. Thanks again Matt for taking the time to show me around and answer my questions. Don't forget that you or any of the Dogfish crew coming to the Colorado High Country have a place to stay and go skiing. Hopefully I'll see Sam again at the Big Beers, Belgians, and Barleywines festival again this year. I hope to be there helping to judge the homebrew competition again this year.

Homebrew Posters & Labels

Homebrewers! If you are brewing a batch of beer for the 2008 Homebrewers Ball, it's time to start creating your label graphics, which will be printed on a 24" x 36" poster for the wall, and on a "tap-tag", to help people find your beer, and to vote on "Best Homebrew".

Here are the labels created by last year's brewers, to give you an idea of the fun you can have with your label.

If you have questions about designing your label, I'll be at the Oct.13 Club meeting, to lend a hand.

Thanks!
MT

Homebrewers Ball - Party Plan

Here's the Floor Plan for The 2008 Homebrewers Ball, at the Carbondale Recreation Center.

People will enter the Gym through the lobby. Just inside the Gym, RFOV Staff will verify guests against their Guest List, verify IDs, take donations and give out glasses.

Once inside, you can see how the party will run. Click on the plan to see it displayed larger. We will load our beer-gear through a double-door on the upper-right of the plan, which is not shown on the plan they sent me, but it exists in my photo. It will access from the parking area to the right, to the area behind the stage.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

MThompson@sopris.net

Brew Day, Sunday Sept. 22nd

I'm going to be brewing a 10G batch of my Leviathan IPA for the RFOV on Sunday. Anyone who is free is welcome to come and hang out. My plan is to do two mashes and one big boil.

FYI, I live in Basalt. Post up if you'd like to come by and I'll give you my info.

GABFTix For Sale

I have a pair of tickets for Thursday night but I probably won't use them. Face value is $50, I'll sell them for that...maybe less.

Great American Beer Festival...Who's going? And when?

I'm going to Saturday night and also have tickets for Thursday, but I probably won't go on Thurs.

If you're headed to the GABF post up and let us know when you'll be there!

2nd Annual HOMEBREWERS BALL

Homebrewers Ball 2008 - Brewing Schedule

This year's Homebrewers Ball will be in support of Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers (RFOV), and will be held on Saturday, November 8, at the Carbondale Rec Center, adjacent to Town Hall. We are expecting to raise 300 donating guests for the event. In addition, there will be 24 - 30 HAMS staff (brewers and spouses) and 20 RFOV volunteer cooks, who will be listed as "comp" (donated in advance). Suggested donations for all other guests will be $30.
Beer glasses will be printed with HAMS logo on one side and RFOV logo on the other. For beer ingredients, please scan and email to MThompson@sopris.net your receipts for ingredients, and we will reimburse you from the proceeds after the Ball. For everyone who is brewing all-grain, let us combine our lists of grains needed, and perhaps buy them all at once through the Glenwood Canyon BrewPub. Anyone volunteer to coordinate this?
Our beers need to be ready to drink by early November, so everyone should have their beer under primary fermentation by early October. Here are the styles and brewers we have so far:

Oktoberfest Lager . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Wes
Scottish Ale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Wes
Rye Ale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeremy
Stout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeremy
Root Beer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeremy
IPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul T
Saison Ale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . MT
Belgian Dubbel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Tom S
California Common . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Les & Nancy
California Hoppy Red . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike W
Bitter E.S.B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Cody
Fruit Beer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul S
Wheat Beer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul H
Alt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . . Landon
Munich Dunkel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff D
American Weizen . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gallons . . . . . . . . . . . Justin B


One final note, we will need to sign up one brewer to make a batch of beer to be bottled and dressed in the winning label from the guest label contest, after the party. See THIS POST, which will explain it all . . . . . . . . . . MT

Guest Label Contest 2007

Okay, here are the entries (not all of them - unfortunately, a few artists took their labels home before we got photos) from the Guest Label Contest at the 2007 Homebrewers Ball. As you can see in the post before this one, our contest is for real, and the winner receives a case (24 - 12-oz. bottles) of a homebrewed beer, dressed in their winning label.
Enjoy, and let this be inspiration for the 2008 contest!

Guest Label Contest Winners - Homebrewers Ball 2007

Brent and Jen Moss were the 2007 Homebrewers Ball "Guest Label Contest" winners for their "Yumpi Ale" label.
MT brewed and bottled a batch of "E.S.B.", dressed the bottles in their beautiful artwork, and delivered to the Moss family a case. Here they are (Brent taking the photo) celebrating their winnings, along with some of their pals. That's Jeff Dahl, fellow brewer, in the background.
For the 2008 Homebrewers Ball, we'll need a Brewer to step forward as volunteer to brew for this year's winners, whoever they may be!
Thanks, Brent and Jen, and everyone who created labels for last year's contest, all of whom will no doubt try again.
Cheers!
MT

Have a look at our SLIDE-SHOW from the 2007 Homebrewers Ball!

Congrats HAMS!

Letter to the editor from Aspen Times about the Beer and Chili Fest!

Dear Editor:

Snowmass Chili Pepper & Brew Fest, June 6-8, was a true success and couldn’t have been such a fun, entertaining and incredible weekend for all without everyone’s dedication, hard work and support. As a signature summer kickoff event, it was so great to see friends, families, locals and out-of-towners enjoy the frothy brews, delicious chili and amazing music on Fanny Hill!

We have so many individuals and groups we would like to give a huge thanks to: Aspen Skiing Co., for all their hard work on the site setup; the talented Alchemy sound crew; the extremely organized ticketing ladies, Anna B. & crew; Luis Mendoza’s entire bar and cleanup crew; Jacqie Stewart; the town of Snowmass Village (TOSV) police and fire department; TOSV planning and public works department; all our local ticket outlets; our extremely talented and devoted marketing company, Promotional Concepts; the entire Mountain Groove Productions, Inc., staff, who worked in all conditions with smiling faces to produce a remarkable event; and the many volunteers who donated their time and efforts. Of course, those volunteers that went above and beyond their duties, we can’t thank you enough!

We have such an enthusiastic and talented town of Snowmass Village marketing and special events team; we would like to thank everyone involved for making this festival such an amazing weekend.

To all the local cooks and homebrewers who participated on Sunday, June 8, it was true dedication when the snow started falling and everyone continued cooking, with smiles on their faces while serving delicious chili and homebrews! A special thanks to the Roaring Fork HAMS Homebrewers Club for gathering your homebrew enthusiasts and your excellent display of homebrews … very impressive.

The Fifth Annual Snowmass Chili Pepper & Brew Festival was a success because of each and every one of you! Thanks again for your efforts and contribution of time. Our biggest heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended the weekend; we loved seeing you embrace the music, chili and brews in our gorgeous Rocky Mountain town!
Cheers until next year!

Mountain Groove Productions, Inc.
Snowmass Village marketing and special events

Big Beer Weekend!

All, The snowmass Chili Pepper and Brew Fest is upon us. I'll be there both Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as Sunday afternoon of course. I heop to see lots of you there. If the weather holds out it'll be a nice time. There's gonna be some great beer and music, oh yeah, there will be chili too. :)

Monday night is the regularly scheduled meeting at Glenwood Canyon Brewing, 7PM. If you can't make Snowmass, or even if you can make Snowmass, get over to the meeting on Monday. There's always lots of great beer and even better people to talk to. I'll be there as well, and I'll try to save myself for trying even more beer.

Weekend of Brewing

Hi Everyone,

I will be brewing Saturday and Sunday this weekend to get ready for the Snowmass Beer and Chili Fest. I'll be starting about noon each day. Swing by 939 Wheel Circle in Bonedale and say "Hi" and help clean carboys. (Just kidding)

I have 3 beers on tap at the moment - some leftover DIPA, a nice easy-drinking Amber, and the monster "Darth Cheney's Imperial Stout" which clocks in at about 14.5% and pushed with nitrogen.

Jeffe

UPDATE: Brewing went well - kinda. Did 5 gallons of Quick and Easy Lemon Wheat on Saturday. Had some issues with volumes again, but think it'll turn out OK. I was hurting a bit on Sunday but was able to get 10 gallons of APA out. Used Summit and Amarillo - yummy!
I'm regestering for the Beer and Chili fest today.

May Meeting at the Aspen Brewing Company

The May meeting is fast approaching, and now I'm excited to announce a new venue for this month. We'll be meeting at the new Aspen Brewing Company. For those of you who don't know, the Aspen Brewing Company has been open since St. Patty's Day, and has been serving some great beers. They've invited us all up to sample some beer, and share some of our own while checking out theri new place. Because of the extra travel involved for many of us, we're going to make this meeting start at 5:30PM, and go until they kick us out. If you can't make it by 5:30, just show up when you can, I'm sure there will be more than enough beer to go around.

The brewery is located at 557 N. Mill Street in Aspen. To get there take the highway into Aspen, and turn North at the light next to the Hotel Jerome. The brewery is on the left before you get to the bridge, right accross the street from Clark's Market. Of course there is the wonderful RAFTA transit system close by that can safely transport you to and from Aspen. Hope to see you all there.

We are still short on the needed money to get the tap station finished, and desperately need your help in order to get it complete for the Snowmass festival and all the other events we have coming up. If you haven't donated yet please help us out. You can bring money to a meeting, You can send money through PayPal to me at jwjeep@lycos.com. You can also send money through snail mail to me at my home. My address is 1937 Acacia Avenue, Rifle CO 81650. Make sure to send it before the postage rates go up another penny!

We are coming down to making some decisions on out Homebrewers Ball charity benefit for this year, and have some exciting news to share. We have narrowed the selection down to a short list of 3. We also have a line on a couple of venues, one of which sounds almost too good to be true. We are going to be voting on the charity and venue at the meeting, so that's one more reason to attend. If you can't make the meeting and want some input, e-mail me your vote for the charity of your choice at jwjeep@lycos.com. Please e-mail me no later than Wednesday the 14th so that we can make a decision and get things rolling. The short list of charities we are speaking to are:

Slow Food Roaring Fork:
http://www.slowfoodroaringfork.org/

Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers:
http://www.rfov.org/

Wilderness Workshop:
http://www.aspenwildernessworkshop.org/

There are also a couple of new names and e-mail addresses in the list. They are Jim Neu and Scott Hemmen, who have been attending the last couple of meetings, and just hadn't been added yet. Duncan Clauss is also being added to the list. Duncan is one of the owners of the Aspen Brewing Company, and we're happy to have him involved.

Don't forget that the Snowmass Chili Pepper and Brew Fest is coming up soon. Get signed up now for the homebrew competition and get a weekend pass for free!

Jeremy

Brewing Belgian Style This Saturday!!

My first blog ever. How exciting. Can you feel it people? Woo-hoo. Damn you Jeremy for making me bow to this new communication technology!! What's next, are you going to make everyone create a "My Space" page?

Ok, enough of my bitching. On to what I am BLOGGING about. I will be brewing this Saturday, April 12th at my house. It will be my second solo all-grain outing and it will be a Belgian Blond no less, so I am expecting some chaos. The first go around involved 7 hours of effort that produced only 3.5 gallons of wort!! It can only get better from there, right? We will see. Just incase, I plan on starting early, like 8 am early.

So, if anyone is looking to brew or just wants to be entertained, drop me an email and I will send you directions to my place. Blog away my friends!

Its Beer and Chili Time!!!

Hi Guys - Lets get a big group together this year and show 'em how its done.

Basically provide beer on sunday and get a free party pass for the weekend.


Homebrewers Welcome!

So you enjoy beer, hops, and like to have fun? Is your secret homebrew up for a challenge? Attendees at the Fifth Annual Snowmass Chili Pepper & Brew Fest Local’s Competition are ready to find out! You and other homebrewers will battle it out for the honored title of “Best Homebrew Winner.” The first place winner will be awarded a $100 cash prize and an original Snowmass trophy. Chili Pepper prizes will also be awarded to 2nd and 3rd place winners.

Wondering about Requirements?
• Judging for the homebrew competition is comprised of some of the local chili cooks and home-brew enthusiasts around the valley.
• All brewers must bring enough beer for 30 people to taste 4 oz. Samplers. The more flavors and types are encouraged!
• The People’s Choice Homebrew Tasting and Voting begins at 1:30 pm; please do not allow the cooks to taste your brew samples until that official time.
• In order to sign-up as a local homebrewer, please e-mail Jacqie at rainlord@aol.com your name, phone number, address, and credit card number. A credit card number is required as ransom for Pepper & Brew Fest weekend Party Pass you’ll receive to use in advance of Sunday. Any no-shows on Sunday will be charged $60 for the $50 weekend Party Pass.
• Please bring a sign with the name of your brews and your name for voters to identify your entry. Or, contact Jacqie at 970-925-1663, rainlord@aol.com and a sign will be made for you.

What are the Spicy Benefits of Being a Homebrewer?
• You’ll receive one FREE PARTY PASS for the entire weekend’s festivities. This pass provides access to the Pepper Hill festival grounds where you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy microbrew sampling & grand tasting, ICS chili competition chili tasting, and concerts such as Stephen Marley, Dr. John, The Neville Brothers and more.
• Recognition in the Valley as one of the greatest homebrewers stars!

People’s Choice Local’s Homebrew Competition - Sunday, June 8, 2008
• Brewer Check-in is at Snowmass Ticket Pavilion at 1:30pm.
• Table and serving cups will be provided; please bring anything to make your table festive!
• People’s Choice Homebrew Tasting and voting are at 2:30 pm; winners are announced at 4:00 pm.


Questions? Contact Vanessa at 970-925-1663,

See you in Snowmass for a hot time in a cool place!