December Meeting - Lagers!

McLean, VA - These were quite enjoyable. I'm not much for lagers, but these did have an impression on me. The first place brew was a Penn Dark brew from Penn Brewery (left in the photo). The malt was much more subtle than the other beers, which is why I think I enjoyed it. The second place beer was a homemade Octoberfest that was very delightful. Andrew was responsible for this one. I have to say, the homebrews have been pretty doggone good, holding their own against professional brewers. The final two beers were a Tommyknocker Butthead Bock and a Troegenator Dopplebock Lager. Both were just ok for me. They were pretty heavy on the malt, which as I mentioned before, I'm not a huge fan of. Anyway, here's to another successful beer club. Prosit!

June Meeting

Today is our monthly club meeting where we will be celebrating lagers. The theme was in flux the 24 hours before the meeting so a true theme and the meeting's materials are still TBD. I will update this post after the meeting with that information and the identities of the mystery selections.

On a somber note, Charles Koch passed away earlier this week. I would like to dedicate today's meeting in memoriam of Charles Koch. Here's to helping spearhead the craft brewer revolution in the 1980s.

May's Meeting

Voting Results for May's Meeting

Today's meeting featured several delicious Belgian ale selections.  Beyond our normal protocol of voting amongst 3 beers, we had the fortune of choosing amongst 5 selections.  The 5 beers selected for today's meeting were
A) Affligem
B) Biere du Boucanier
C) Kasteel Cuvée Du Chateau
D) Grimbergen Blonde
E) Brugse Zot
The winner of the meeting was Biere du Boucanier.  See the inset table for detailed voting results.  Thank you to Brandon and Andrew who procured today's meeting materials.  All were great selections.

An administrative point of order - Today is the first day that the club's blog has been available to its members.  To sign up you will need a Google account.  You can create this through the blogger site.

April Field Trip

April's field trip was to the Lost Dog Cafe in McLean. I enjoyed myself greatly, having a couple tasty brews whose names I can't currently remember (#fail). Despite my failing memory, I do remember that there was a vast selection of bottles with about 15 taps. Most selections were quite unique and I do not remember seeing Big Bud. The venue was inviting. The bartender was quite knowledgeable, although we did have to show him how to pour the perfect pint. He also had an odd cadence to his speech. Adds to the experience I say. I would definitely like to return. It's only a few minutes from the office so it wouldn't be a bad casual trip after a workday. Until the next meeting...
Cheers!

Plans for the New Season Are Underway

First of all, a congratulations is owed to Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse Mian Grunes for winning the inaugural drS Beer Club Tournament. The competition was certainly delicious and...um...competitive but in the end, there was one clear choice for winner. The decision was unanimous and reasonably so. So unto you Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse Mian Grunes, we bestow the drS Blue Ribbon and retire your label for the near future. For details on the voting, please view the 2011 drS Beer Club Tournament page.

Now on to the new season...

drS management have met for the first time to discuss this season's themes. We are going to design the themes so that both major paradigms of beer are represented in this season's championship: ales vs lagers. Currently, the ale themes are going to be Belgian, Irish, British, and German. The lager themes are going to be
Octoberfest, Bocks, Pilsners, and American Lagers. We'll stagger the ales and lagers so that they'll alternate months. A PDF will be posted to help guide a meeting's hosts to buy the proper beer. A new rule was discussed to help keep the competition open to new beers. We would like to exclude beers that have made the previous season's tournament or in other words, won their theme from the prior season.

The first meeting is looking to be Feb 16.

I will be following up later with more documentation. The PDF I mentioned earlier will be posted as well as a mission statement.