President........................Rick Gray grayrph@juno.com

Vice President......Jim McMillan brewyourself@earthlink.net

Event Coordinator............Richard Scott backbrew@aol.com

Treasurer................Franz Albright albrighter@juno.com

Secretary/Editor.......Mike Bardallis dbgrowler@provide.net

-    Kudos!

-    DBG Election Results

-    The Oracle Speaks

-    American Beer Rules

-    Beerbecue 2000

-   Toy Surprise Inside!

-    More Drivel From the Editor
 

Kudos

Congratulations to Rob Neubauer for bagging a bronze medal in the National Homebrew competition with his Kölsch. In addition, Rob was awarded a bronze in the "new brewer" category, in which NHC 1st time entrants are entered in a "best of show" style judging in the regional and final rounds. An NHC medal is something to be proud of and no fluke; the entry must place in the top three in two separate judgings by two separate teams of judges, and the final round rarely contains a beer that is not at least very good. Indeed, the leftover second-round entries not used for the best of show judging are happily consumed by the national conference attendees, who know from experience that it is some of the best beer available anywhere. 29 categories X 21 entries - 1 1st place X 2 extra bottles = 1160 delicious beers, meads, and ciders for conference goers to enjoy. (it must also be noted that very little of the leftovers were left to be taken home.)

The July meeting featured an array of excellent beers, as usual, as well as the DBG Sortaannual Election. Dues-paying members cast ballots for five suckers brewers to serve as club officers until the next election. The five lucky ones, in no particular order:
 

•  Jim McMillan
•  John Kroll
•  Jon Northrup
•  Franz Albright
•  Mike Bardallis

From the Oracle

Editor's note: When I received a collection of submissions from the Oracle (some of which appear herein, and some of which are banked against future need,) the introductory note by Deb warmed my heart, and so it is included.

Here are Alex' articles the Growler. My typist wages went up so I'm cooperating again! After the BIG BREW DAY I felt compelled to submit my own observations on homebrewers, Alex may write biochemist articles but my degree was in psychology and sociology, so here goes...

After much psychological study and sociological observation, I have come to the conclusion that homebrewers are without question a class set apart from any other. They are undoubtedly some of the most fun, caring, thoughtful, intelligent and adventurous people on the planet. What more can I say except I am grateful to be a homebrewer's spouse."

Beers of the Millennium

The Oracle submits his highly personal list. All beers on the list have been available in the U.S. (& are in no particular order)

Saranac 1888, an all malt lager brewed by FX Matt, Saranac, N.Y. but available in only limited distribution apparently. Tremendous hop nose and character.

Frankenmuth Weiss, pre-tornado, bottle conditioned weiss brewed by Fred Schumacher; a true vice.

Roffey's Pale Ale brewed by Jim Roffey, Holland, Mich.

Ballantines IPA, probably the best beer from a major brewer.

Shepherd Neame Ales: several available, none have ever disappointed. Arrive here in the best condition of any imported beer I've tasted. True English character.

Draught Guinness in the can with the new widget technology. It's as close as you can get to a Dublin or London pint of Guiness.

The Continuing Story of Pyruvate...

Just kidding, the Oracle can be a kidder. But on a related topic have you ever wondered just how our bodies metabolize/detox ethanol? After all, in a 12 oz. beer there is approximately half an ounce of pure ethanol (used as fuel for rockets, dragsters, etc.) so, if you have 4 or 5 beers you might end up with 2-3 oz. ethanol in your system. The liver comes to the rescue as the body's major chemical dump, detox and processing station, although other minor excretion mechanisms e.g. lungs, skin, etc. may also be operating. Ethanol is absorbed relatively easily by the blood system from the gastrointestinal tract. There are however a number of factors which affect the adsorption and metabolism of ethanol.  Some of these factors we can control e.g. drink rate, food consumption with the alcohol, activity and some which we can't control e.g. body mass (well maybe) hormonal factors, sex (meaning gender not amount) etc. There are three ethanol metabolizing pathways:

1. The most important pathway is located in the cell cytosol where ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) with concomitant reduction of NAD+. The acetaldehyde is then further metabolized to acetate by acetaldehyde dehydrogene (ALDH) again with NAD+ as cofactor. Both these steps generate energy.  Acetate is then fed into the normal energy producing pathways of the cell after activation with co-enzyme A. Interestingly it may be acetaldehyde which is responsible for the related side effects of ethanol intoxication, principally flushing and the characteristic breath odor. Where ALDH is absent, reduced or liver function is impared acetaldehyde induces release of catecholamines (the adrenalines dopamine) leading to a vasiodilatory response i.e. flushing, redness. ADH is also capable of metabolizing a variety of aliphatic and cyclic alcohols. (It may be these "higher alcohols" or their products which are responsible for that "woozy" feeling.)

2. The second pathway is located in the microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system (MEOS) of the cell's endoplasmic reticulum and uses the enzymes of the cytochrome P-450 system to metabolize ethanol again to acetaldehyde and then to acetate.

3. The third and much less important (although it is of personal and professional interest to the author) uses ethanol to detoxify peroxide (which may be generated under conditions of oxidative stress) again to yield acetaldehyde and acetate. This reaction is facilitated by the enzyme catalase.

The average person can eliminate 6-9 gm. of ethanol per hour (1 beer approx. equals 14 gm. ethanol). so be careful, have your liver properly serviced and maintained according to manufacturers directions. You should get excellent service and mileage from it, after all it does have to last a lifetime or so.

Alex Kennedy opened the three enjoyable days of lecturers by observing that while homebrewers in England might be looking for a cheap pint, homebrewers in America were looking for an excellence they couldn't find in the store.
Fred Scheer, a German-trained brewer and maltster, held American malts in high opinion.
Meanwhile, Jeff Renner of the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild, with 20 years of homebrewing experience, held up the Classic American Pilsner as a beer style to be reckoned with.
And what about America's love affair with adjunct grains? According to Peter Blum, former brewer and current Stroh archivist, the use of adjuncts gives beer a cleaner taste and better stability
Larry Bell of Kalamazoo Brewing Company vowed to go to the cradle of liberty and speak on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum (cue the 'Rocky' theme) to proclaim July as American Beer Month.
But what is happening in the old country? In his talk 'IPA's Past, Present and Future,' Ray Daniels noted that British brewers' IPAs were 'wimpy' and hardly compared to their American counterparts in gravity or bitterness.
Charlie Papazian reports it's difficult to find a good pint in London--young people in Britain are forsaking real ale as an old man's drink in favor of... Budweiser?!

As I sit here on the Fourth of July, homebrew in hand, I think of brewing as an expression of our freedom. I wonder about the future. Will American Brewers preserve the classic styles, perhaps reinventing them to some degree? Then, I remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, "In the free marketplace of ideas, the best will win."

More information on American Beer Month can be had at www.beertown.org/abm_home.html -Ed.

Saturday, August 26 was selected as the date for the annual DBG Beerbecue, and Grieve was suckered into volunteered to host it at his home in Southgate. Exact time to be announced, food details to be discussed at the August meeting. The GROWLER wishes to acknowledge the generous offer to host of Steve Nehez at the June meeting; however an overriding concern of a majority of brewers was the relatively long drive to Steve's house from Downriver. Due to vacation considerations, Grieve has had to retract his offer to host. The Beerbecue will be held at Jimbo's instead; all other details remain the same.

The    Parting    Glass
Whew!

I am relating here only the smallest bit of a most impressive celebration of the creativity and skills of American homebrewers; why, I haven't even mentioned buckwheat or triticale, have I?

Of course, there were presentations on various fermentation-related topics, including our own Brewing Oracle, Alex, opening the proceedings with his tale of the road to relaxation. A copy of the complete conference program will be placed in the DBG library, and a sort of online transcript is being assembled by Homebrew Digest janitor Pat Babcock. Details on the online project will be forthcoming.

A footnote: As far as we know, the only advance mainstream publicity for the conference came in the form of a few paragraphs in Neal Rubin's June 21 Detroit News column. Check it out here if you haven't seen it. 

Thanks go to Deb and Alex Kennedy and Richard for their contributions to this issue.
And thanks to the Homebrew Digest for providing us with a roomier new home for our web pages.