NHC summary – tons of fun, lots of interesting equipment, unique people, and great (and just a couple not so great) beers. All the presentations will be posted on the AHA website for any AHA member to view. There were several in depth and educational presentations that are worth checking out.

Mosaic Hop distribution – there’s still a few of you that need to get your hops, get in touch and let’s get brewing. You still have plenty of time with the competition on August 15 but don’t wait too long

Next club competition – we’re thinking for the last club competition of the year we’ll do coffee beers. No rules on this one. Brew whatever type of beer you want that uses coffee. We’ll target October or November for this one, details coming soon

Barrel project – the e-mail went out. 9 people have signed up so far. I think the barrel is 52 gallons so we have room for one more person to sign up assuming we cap it at 5 gallons per person.
Brew your best stout, target beer going into the barrel fully fermented in September

Summer bottle share – target early September, location TBD (volunteer hosts???), save a beer or two from a summer trip

Online tools – will publish to the HQ website under links

Style of the month – Belgian Strong Ales, got to try a triple and a quad

Karmeliet Tripel – a prototypical but delicious tripel. This has a complex flavor and aroma, ranging from citrus to grassy to grainy to honey. Very clean, bright in color, and heavily carbonated.
Deschutes Not the Stoic Quad – big beer at 12.1%. Flavors of raison, fig, cherry, and other dried fruit. Deep red/brown color, a little boozy, and not much carbonation. Description from Deschutes below
Malt: Pilsner, Special B, Crystal Rye
Hops: Czech Saaz
Other: Pomegranate Molasses
Barrel-Aging: 11 months in 15% Pinot Noir and 15% Rye Whiskey Barrels

NCHF prep – Andy will be taking the lead on coordinating since he’s done such a great job in the past. Tickets on sale July 18. Sounds like most if not all of the crew from last year is coming, along with some that haven’t been before. I highly recommend attending, even if you can’t make it Friday it’s worth the drive up Saturday morning.

Next meeting: Scheduled for July 18. I’m hoping to do it at Vasona/Oak Meadow park. We can keep the agenda minimal and focus on keeping it more of a social event. I’ll scout a location this weekend and let everyone know.

Homebrew share:

Roger’s BABO Belgians
4 different Belgian style beers from BABO entries without knowing much more about them. They ranged from not bad to not so good, but glad to see people trying new things.
Kevin’s Peach Chamomile Saison 7%,
1 oz chamomile, 10 lbs peaches for 5 gallons, lots of peach comes through. This was a very popular beer at NHC
Chris Amber IPA 5.5%
Inspired by Modern Times Blazing World, Columbus, Galaxy, Simcoe, Summit for bittering, very danky, great amber color
Matt’s Big Brew Day IPA 7.5%
Columbus, Chinook, Simcoe
Kevin’s Chocolate Milk Stout 5.3%
The beer from the brew in the bag demo at the April meeting, smooth and refreshing, we had a lot of discussion about the amount of lactose to use but this turned out great
Kyle’s stout 10.8%
Aged in a rye whiskey barrel, aged further on toasted coconut and vanilla beans
Kyle’s Barley Wine 11%
Aged in the same rye whiskey barrel as the stout, kegged right before NHC and could use a little more age

Commercial Brews (delivered from San Diego via the NHC attendees):

Council Brewing Gavel Drop, their description:
Our Gavel Drop IPA uses New Zealand Nelson Sauvin hops to add a fresh flavor profile to the India Pale Ale. Big Nelson hop aroma in the nose; white wine, earthy, and complex fruit bouquet and flavor with a supporting malt backbone.

Mike Hess Umbrix, I really enjoyed this one, 22.5° Plato, 75 IBU, 10.2 ABV, their description:
Umbrix is rich, deep, and intensely complex. The roasted malts give this ale flavors of coffee, chocolate and toffee, while the rye malt and generous hopping rate result in light spiciness . Always smooth, always creamy, always great. Seven different malts, three American kettle-hop additions