What the Army Needs: Someone to Brew Beer

There’s beer. And then there’s Army beer.

If you think you know the difference — and want to keep America’s ground forces in suds — there’s a job in it for you. The Army Installation Management Command in Oklahoma is looking for a brewmaster. No word from the job description if you should serve beer out of Honeywell’s old flying spy drone, christened the “flying beer keg” by soldiers in Iraq.

Responsibilities? Run the brewery there. Brew your own … .  But if you want to be a brewmaster for the command, don’t expect much in the way of compensation. The job pays barely over $22 grand a year. On top of that, the job is “not entitled to benefits.” That’s a recipe for skunked beer.

Full story at Wired.com

From the Martinez Patch online newspaper:

Craft Beer Festival A Hit Once Again

Second festival draws a large and enthusiastic crowd, more brewers.

By Joe Alfieri  April 11, 2011

… Inside the warehouse-size building, four rows of booths beckoned with offerings ranging from the larger and more well known pioneers of the craft such as San Francisco’s Anchor Steam or Chico’s Sierra Nevada, to the home-brewed styles on tap at the Diablo Order of Zymiracle Enthusiasts (DOZE) home brewing tent. …

At the DOZE tent, 10 homebrews were available for sampling. First on the list was the Double Chocolate, which seemed to me a fine starting point. The dark brown mix is a creation of DOZE member Patrick Baxley, who plans to take his blends from home-brewing to commercially available under the banner Pirate Brewing Co. “I’m putting together a business plan now,” he said, and explained the rich heady mixture that includes one-half pound of chocolate added to the 10-gallon brew. The taste was smooth and creamy, like a malt or a shake, and a satisfying first sample. …

The Bay Area Craft Beer Festival, to be held in Martinez on April 9, has asked DOZE to host a homebrew pouring at the event.  Tasty is organizing the booth, and a number of DOZErs have offered kegs of their brew for the event.

If you’re attending the festival be sure to stop by and say “hi”.

The American 2011 Beer Bloggers Conference will take place August 19-21 in Portland, Oregon. Beer bloggers, beer writers, industry bloggers, and other beer and social media professionals will gather from throughout North America and beyond to meet, learn, taste, and share.

Who Should Attend?

* Citizen Bloggers and Writers who write about beer or the beer industry.
* Industry Bloggers who have a blog related to their brewery or other beer industry business.
* New Media Innovators who work in the world of blogging and social media.
* Beer Industry members who would like to learn about new media or interact with bloggers in attendance.

Registration includes multiple beer tastings, two dinners, and conference content.

Details at:  http://beerbloggersconference.org/america/

As you all know the drop-off window is open for the first round of the AHA National Homebrew Competition. As in recent years, DOZE is taking on the cellaring responsibilities.

There will be three cellaring sessions and we are looking for volunteers. The first two sessions will be the unpacking and checking-in of the entries. The third session will be the sorting of the entries into their respective categories.

Here are the dates:

March 29, 6:30PM to 8:30PM

April 5, 6:30PM to 8:30PM

April 12, 6:30PM to 8:30PM.

Let Matt Sager know via the DOZE email list which session(s) you can attend. We’ll be working in the Ale Industries brewery,

Ale Industries
975 Detroit Ave
Unit E
Concord, CA 94518

Its okay to come late or leave early. Pizza and a couple of beers will be provided.

In February 1979 President Jimmy Carter signed a law repealing federal prohibitions on homebrewing.   Two decades later, homebrewing has come to the White House itself!

The beginning of the month, the Obama Foodorama blog reported that the Obamas had served their guests at the White House Superbowl party a honey ale brewed on premises using honey from the White House beehive.   However, contrary to reports that followed on other  sites, it was not President Obama himself who brewed the beer, but the White House kitchen staff.    However, it is the first time that there is any record of beer -or any alcoholic beverage- being brewed in America’s Executive Mansion.

How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel

Beer brewing is the delicate and dedicated blending of art and science.  Finding the perfect balance of grains, hops, malt, adding just the right flavoring agents, boiling for exactly enough time to release the tannins, starches, humic acids from you wort, activating enzymes to break down those starches, forging the perfect mash from the ether of sobriety to give birth to that most glorious pint, these are skills that take a lifetime to master. Perfect beer is meticulously planned and carefully crafted.

Screw that.

You’re six days into a 2 month expedition, and if you were lucky enough to not be on a dry ship, it’s de facto dry by now anyway. You’re eying the ethanol stores, the crew is eying each other, and all hell will break loose if y’all don’t get some sweet water soon. This is no time for artistry.

This is not, as a rule, a terribly good beer (though, with a good brewmaster on board, it can be). This is a beer to pass the time and ease the pain of life at sea. I can guarantee that if you are careful, it will be at least as good as the cheapest commercial alternative.

Materials

The tools you need are simple: an electric drip coffee maker with hot plate, a coffee filter, [...]

Yes, you read that correctly.

Full article:  http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=1419

Mike Riddle wanted to share the details for an upcoming brewer’s dinner at the Calistoga Inn in Calistoga (duh). See http://napabeer.com/blog/ for details.

This year’s planning meeting will be at EJ Phair on Tueday, January 18th.

This is a open invitation for members looking to get involved and/or willing to share ideas for the upcoming year.  Holler if you have questions.

-E

November Club Meeting