Head Kahuna Korner
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Mike Hall

Our Annual Picnic last month was a great success, with brewing demos,
horseshoes, great food, and of course, lots of beer and mead! I'm sure our able
secretary, Gordon, will recount the events elsewhere in this newsletter, but I
just wanted to publicly thank all the Atom Mashers that helped. John Stewart
reserved the location and the volleyball equipment, and had enough energy left
to join Scott Bardenhagen in arranging the food. Bryan Bennett made up some
great flyers and distributed them everywhere. Don Pettit got us some
advertising on a local radio station, and I put an ad in the Monitor and on
PAC-8. (I never saw the ad on PAC-8, did anybody?) Ray Tell and I brought
horseshoes, and Ryan Tell organized a tournament. Dale Leschnitzer brewed a
batch of English Mild (if I remember correctly) and Jim Morel and I brewed a
Belgian Witbier, spiced with dried curacao orange peels and coriander. Thanks
to all of these people and also those that came and brought their concoctions
to sample.

Interesting in becoming a card-carrying Beer Judge, with certification from the
only (at this date) National Beer Judge Certification Program? There will be a
Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Exam sometime this fall, given by
rambling brewmeister Brad Kraus. The test has essay and tasting parts, and
lasts about three to four hours. It costs 50 bucks for first-timers. I've got
lots of details about the test and locations of some study materials on the
web. If you are interested at all, please contact me (or Brad) so that we can
figure out the best time to schedule.

Some calendar info: the NM State Fair homebrew competition entries are due on
August 17th, and the judging will be August 23-25. An entry is two bottles and
$3, and can be dropped off at the Alewife in Santa Fe. The Great American Beer
Festival in Denver will be held September 26-28. And I know we've sworn off
the AHA's Club-Only Competitions, but we might want to consider an entry into
their August 12th COC, entitled Mead Magic, since we have a particular fondness
for bee squeezins.

Speaking of the AHA, they contacted me recently about making sure that
homebrewing is explicitly legal in New Mexico. Our state apparently falls into
the category of "states where homebrewing is sorta legal". If you have contacts
in the legislature, are a repressed legal eagle, or just want to be a part of
homebrewing history, gimme a call.

There are several brewpubs in the works for Santa Fe. This month I'll give you
some info about one of them, the Blue Corn Cafe South. Construction has started
at the site opposite from Villa Linda Mall, on the corner of Rodeo and
Cerrillos Roads. The owner is Gordon Heiss, who you may already know as the
proprietor of La Casa Sena, the Blue Corn Cafe, and the Santa Fe Music Hall.
With that kind of restaurant experience, it looks like he'll be successful in
the new location. It's going to be a gigantic place, with 8500 square feet of
floorspace and room for 300 patrons. Opening day is planned for August, but
there may be some delays. Let's hope that their repertoire includes a good
variety of ales (and lagers?) that will please the beer aficionado as much
as the Bud crowd.

Tune in next month, same beer time, same beer channel...