June Meeting and Belgian Tasting

A big thanks to everyone who came out to our club meeting and tasting last night.  A good time was had by all, and thank you to Inca Trail Peruvian Restaurant for hosting us.  (FWIW, the food was amazing--if you haven't had a chance to try it yet, click here for a $14 coupon for $7.) 


Goes great with a cold beer. And since Inca Trail is BYOB, you can bring your favorite homebrew.

Our theme this month was Belgian-style ales and, wow, did we do it up right! A whole lot of variety and some really great beers. Our club tastings just keep getting better and better!  In the end, we actually had a tie for the favorite beer of the night.  Congrats to Tony Tielli, who kept his winning streak going with a Belgian Dark Strong, and Ross Harper, who got his first club win with an excellent tripel.  (I apologize to those at the meeting who heard me announce the results incorrectly. Math was never my strong suit.) Third place went to Rich Brucker for his Dark Strong.

Just a few of the great beers we got to sample.

Also, congrats go out to those who had the "best of style" in each category:

BJCP 16A Witbier:  Wes Glinsmann
BJCP 16E. Belgian Specialty: Nick Slepko
BJCP 18C Belgian Tripel: Ross Harper
BJCP 18E Belgian Dark Strong: Tony Tielli

In addition to the tasting, we also conducted a little business.  Tony gave a brief presentation on the history and characteristics of Belgian beer styles.  Wes reported that we're going to try to have an educational component at each of our future meetings.  Next month, we'll be talking about proper sanitation techniques.  So if that topic (or something else you're knowledgeable about) piques your interest as something you'd like to talk about, let Gail or Wes know and we'll make sure to plug you in.  Also, Bricktown Brewery has given Gail an obscene amount of Perle hops. So if that's something you could use in a future brew, stop by The Brew Shop with a zip-loc bag and Gail will hook you up.

Don't forget--the July meeting (tentatively scheduled for July 21st) is our "pro-am" competition, at which we'll be sampling all the beers we brewed with our friends for the AHA's Big Brew Day last month. So be sure to bring your friends with you and introduce them to our club and the wide, wide world of homebrewing.  We've got a good lead on a location for our July meeting, and we'll let you know for sure once we have that confirmed. 

Hope everyone is able to stay cool this weekend.  Happy brewing!