Head Kahuna Korner
------------------

Mike Hall

The May club picnic finished the day with ten gallons of homebrewed IPA in
the carboy (can you say "HOPS!" ?) and several pounds of Ray's ribs in our
bellies with, of course, several gallons of homebrew keeping them company. 
It was a great day for a picnic, with not a bit of snow or hail, as has been
customary on some past picnics.

And just to show we don't know how to tell too much of a good thing, we're
having another picnic for the June meeting. That's right, back to back picnics.
This one will be at Hyde Park in Santa Fe on June 8th. Look for details
elsewhere in this issue.

In related malt news, Kokoman's had a scotch and bourbon tasting last week.
Ray and Rosemary Tell and I went down to sample the libations at Kokoman
Circus in Santa Fe. The scotches included were Chivas Regal (Blended), a new
one from Chivas called "The Century", which was a vatted malt blended from
100 different malts (but no grain neutral spirits), and two single malts,
Glenlivet 12 and 18. If you're a single malt fan you know that these aren't
that exciting. They also poured some small batch bourbons: Basil Hayden's,
Knob Creek, Baker's and Booker's. Even though I'm a big single malt fan, I
had to admit that there was much more variety and flavor in the bourbons.
Too bad they didn't serve Talisker or Lagavulin -- that would have given
those bourbon swillers something to consider. All in all, it was a very
pleasant experience. It's hard to argue with eight half-shots of free whisky.

I went up to Denver last weekend for the first round judging in the National
Homebrew Competition. I judged Melomels, Belgian abbey beers, Kolsches,
and Specialty Beers. There were some really good ones in there, especially
the Kolsches and Melomels. I also visited a new brewpub in Boulder called
"Red Fish". The beer was decent, but the rare blackened filet mignon was
excellent. Those guys from Colorado are really spoiled with brewpubs; seems
they're almost as thick as McDonald's up there.

Don't forget about the campout coming up in August. That's sure to be
a blast...