Big Brew 2015

B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate hosted the 2015 Corpus Christi edition of the American Homebrewers Association’s Big Brew. Three teams from the Bay Area Association of Homebrewers (B.A.S.H.) brewed the AHA’s selected recipes for this year in an outdoor, public demonstration. The weather was beautiful and the B.A.S.H. canopy provided ample shade.

Club President Cory Mathews, assisted by Drew Burkhardt and Claudio Montiel, brewed a 5-gallon batch of “Old-School” American barleywine. This big beer had no fewer than ELEVEN ounces of hops – featuring Cascade, Tomahawk and Centennial. Vice President Sabrina Krueger and Andrew Herzig used the brew-in-a-bag technique to make a Columbus pale ale. Treasurer Carroll Pate brewed an extract version of “Killer Kölsch”.

We joined in the AHA’s global synchronized toast to homebrewing pioneer Charlie Papazian at noon Central Daylight Time, followed by toasts to latecomers Phil Sims and Travis Clapp.

All three beers were eventually completed and will be consumed by club members beginning in July. The barleywine turned out a little watery, but this years’ Chris “Boom-Boom” Edwards award goes to Carroll. After nearly overflowing his brew pot on three occasions, witnesses confirm the fourth boilover ended with a telltale wort stain on the pavement. Oops!

As we enjoyed draft and bottled beers from B&J’s ample inventory, our tongues loosened up. The following quotes were overheard:

• Sabrina (in a panic) -- “My purse and my beer! My purse and my beer!” 
• Wild Bill Lehfeld – “F*@k your purse! Save your beer!” 
• Tom Freund – “Sabrina – she’s like a bag lady” 
• Paul Kalaghan – “It was the top leg that lifted out” 
• Paul Kalaghan – “You can only hold so much between your legs” 
• Phil – “When I started A&M you had to be a high school graduate, free of venereal disease” 
• Wild Bill – “So how’d you get in?” Phil – “A lot of penicillin” 
• Phil – “I spent some on women, I spent some on whiskey, I spent some on gamblin’ and then I wasted some” 
• Claudio – “Think hoppy thoughts” 
• Doreen Kalaghan – “I don’t think that paddle’s big enough” 
• Wild Bill – “Hey Carroll, I’ve got pen in hand – don’t say anything stupid” 
• Carroll – “I don’t have to put all of it in” 
• Carroll – “After about 30 seconds it seemed perfectly natural” 
• Carroll – “The mouth recovers remarkably fast” 
• Chris Swanson – “Hey Carroll, it’s rising again” 
• Paul Kalaghan – “I know it was devious – she saw it from the get-go” 
• Claudio – “It must be French or something” 

Upcoming B.A.S.H. events:

• 17-May-15: B.A.S.H. meeting (3rd Sunday, John Daniels) 
• 14-Jun-15: B.A.S.H. meeting (Daniel Nutting, English ESB/Pale ale competition, BJCP 8C) 
• 12-July-15: B.A.S.H. meeting (B&J’s Pizza on Staples at Timbergate, hosted by Paul Holder) 
• 9-Aug-15: B.A.S.H. meeting (Daniel Fearn, <4% ABV aka Session Beer competition) 
• 13-Sep-15: B.A.S.H. meeting (Mark Woerner, demonstration brew) 
• 11-Oct-15: B.A.S.H. meeting (Andrew Herzig/Sabrina Krueger, sour ale competition, BJCP 17A - F) 

See you at The Daniels’!