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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  beer&juice? (Nick zentena)
  Jack Daniels and Federal Taxes (b29!maven!dave)
  AHA National (Dave Suurballe)
  Rolling Rock after IPA (Ray Mrohs)
  A couple of questions for homebrewers (ARUTUNIANEB)
  Brewers caramel.... (Ralph L McCallister)
  AHA Judging (Norm Hardy)


Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com
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[Please do not send me requests for back issues]
Archives are available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu


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Date: Mon Oct 15 19:09:05 1990
From: contact!zen at uunet.UU.NET (Nick zentena)
Subject: beer&juice?

	Hi,

		I was wondering if anybody has made a fruit beer using juice? I want to use some cherry juice to make a cherry stout. But I don't know how much to use. 

	

	Thanks

		Nick





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Date: Tue, 16 Oct 90 8:54:36 CDT
From: ingr!b29!maven!dave at uunet.UU.NET
Subject: Jack Daniels and Federal Taxes

The Jack Daniels Distillery is a short drive from here in Huntsville, AL.
It is a favorite place to tke out of town guests as they give a nice,
FREE tour. It is true that being in Lynchburg, TN they are in a dry
county and you cannot buy any alcoholic beverages in that county. On the
tour they will tell you that employees are allowed to bring home one
pint bottle every month or so.

The federal tax is a very big deal and they will also tell you about that.
The barrel houses in the surrounding hills have two locks on the door -
one owned by the distillery and one belonging to the Feds. On my last trip up
there they said that the federal tax came to roughly $10 per gallon. So
a fifty gallon barrel is worth $500 to the Feds. One barrel house has over
a million dollars in federal taxes inside. There are probably seven or more
barrel houses in the area. So while this won't buy a B-2 bomber, there are
significant tax revenues involved in the sale of whiskey.

Enough of this. Let's talk beer. Has anyone got a recipe for a good
Scotch Ale?
- -- 
Dave Bradford		...uunet!ingr!b29!maven!dave (UUCP)
			b29!maven!dave at ingr.com      (Internet)


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Date: Tue, 16 Oct 90 10:41:49 PDT
From: hsfmsh.UUCP!suurb at cgl.ucsf.EDU (Dave Suurballe)
Subject: AHA National

In HD518 Chuck Cox delivers a lot of positive facts about judges at AHA
competitions, but these facts are not facts, if you know what I mean.

In saying, "In order to advance through the ranks, judges have to gain
experience by judging", Chuck implies a couple of things that I take issue
with.  First, I've dealt in the past with very experienced judges who
don't know or taste anything, so I don't agree with Chuck's implication
that experience makes a judge good.  Second, Chuck implies that the
AHA judges are advancing through the ranks, and this is certainly not
true.  I'm not an AHA judge, and I judged this year in Oakland, and there
were a lot of other non-AHA judges there, too.  We're not advancing through
the ranks; we're not even *in* the ranks.

Here's my favorite part of Chuck's article:  "Yes, some judges make
a career out of judging only ales, but you can be assured they are
not judging obscure lagers, especially at a National competition.
In fact, the AHA makes a token effort at using properly experienced
judges for some of the more specific styles in their National
competition, especially for things like British Bitter, Lambic, Kolsch, etc."

I judged British Bitter at Oakland.  Nobody asked me what my qualifications
were.  Nobody asked if I was in the Beer Judge program.  Nobody asked me
if I knew anything about British Bitter.  I was on that panel because I
walked up to that table and sat down.  After judging the beers with the
rest of the panel, I am convinced that nobody questioned their
qualifications, either.  Two of them had no idea what a British Bitter is,
and I don't think they had judged much before, either.  Another was an AHA
judge and also a professional brewer in San Francisco.  He didn't know
what a British Bitter is, either, but at least he's a good judge.  The fourth
was a northern English emmigrant who is a professional brewer in California
and not, to my knowledge, an AHA judge.  And I lived for a couple of years
in the south of England, I have a lot of experience judging, and I'm not
an AHA judge.  I don't think this panel matches Chuck's glowing description.
Only two of the five judges had ever tasted the style.

I know there were experienced judges at the National Competition.  I know
some panels were better than others.  My experience there, however, shows
that Chuck's stated view is not based on reality.  The AHA *is* using
inexperienced judges in the National Competition.  It makes *no* effort
to find judges experienced in some of the more specific styles.

Anybody who has an opinion is qualified to state it, I believe, and my
opinions are based on the same things everybody else's are, whatever
that is, but in addition, I have organized a number of big (state)
beer competitions, and medium (county) competitions, and that gives
me a perspective that most people don't have.  My view is that the AHA
National is sloppy and disorganized to the extent that it simply cannot
provide what it claims to its customers, which is fair, rational, and
articulate comparison of homemade beers.

Norm Hardy, if you're unhappy with what an Alt beer judge said, forget
it.  The AHA doesn't want to know about it.  The judge won't be reprimanded.
My advice is to stop investing your time, money, beer, and emotion in
a competition as poorly run as the AHA National.

Chuck's article, which he has designed to sound like fact, is just his
opinion, and I think he should be more careful to identify it as that.
It's his opinion that the Beer Judge Certification Program, which he
has bought into, is worthwhile and valuable.

I haven't bought into it because it reminds me of the Boy Scouts, with
levels to attain, and badges to earn, and uniforms to wear.  That's my
opinion.

Suurballe

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Date:         Tue, 16 Oct 90  15:56:40 EDT
From: Ray Mrohs <IRMIS971%SIVM.BITNET at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject:      Rolling Rock after IPA

From: Ray Mrohs
*** Resending note of 10/16/90 15:52
     Systems Programmer, CSMD
     Smithsonian Institution

I was convinced by all the talk about Ballantine's India Pale Ale to hunt
down a six-pack and try it.  I must say its quite good, especially when
you consider the source.  However, I made the mistake of drinking a bottle
of Rolling Rock right after an IPA and it tasted like I just bit into an
ear of corn.  In fact, I was so repulsed by this phenomenon that I haven't
bought Rolling Rock since.  Maybe that's a good thing (?).  BTW - we were
buying Rolling Rock because it's supposed to be the purest beer available
from any commercial US brewery - any opinions and/or facts regarding this?

Ray Mrohs (Rhymes with Stroh's)


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Date: Tue, 16 Oct 90 13:16 PDT
From: ARUTUNIANEB%WHITMAN.BITNET at CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu
Subject: A couple of questions for homebrewers

First off, does anybody know the name of the Homebrewing Instructional Video?

Secondly, how do you re-use the same yeast for another batch of HB?
Does the beer get progressively better?

I would appreciate any and all responses.

Thanks,
Richard

ARUTUNIANEB at WHITMAN.BITNET


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Date: Tue, 16 Oct 90 15:36:03 -0500
From: ralph at ecn.purdue.edu (Ralph L McCallister)
Subject: Brewers caramel....

I have run across a recipe that calls for brewers caramel???
I have looked in my local brew supply house and at serveral
mail order catalogs and can find no one that carries it, yet.
Does anyone have suggestion as to what I can substitue in its
place?  I have thought of regular caramel and I will use this
in one stout recipe I have, but if there is a better substitute
or if I can find a vendor that carries brewers caramel I would 
rather use that.

I am assuming that it is caramel in some sort of powder or flake
form that has the flavor without the consistency of candy
caramel.

	...Ralph...  "..what's going to happen.... something wonderful..."

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Date: Tue, 16 Oct 90 20:09:32 PDT
From: polstra!norm at uunet.UU.NET (Norm Hardy)
Subject: AHA Judging

Chuck Cox gave a wonderful description of the judging process and weighed
the pros and cons of the system as it is now.

He also wondered if my initial comment was about a low judging score I
received....  well, no, not really, the beers have received fair scores but
have had some wierd comments at times and occasionally a rude comment:
(your beer's aroma smells as though the yeast ate sauerkraut, hahaha).

The new 1991 regional system should be much better than before.

Thanks Chuck.....Norm Hardy


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #519, 10/17/90
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