Zoo City Zymurgists

Happy hour

It’s Homebrew Club Happy Hour time again!!!!
 
We have thus far patronized all the Missoula breweries but one, so on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012, it’s time for us to visit the fine, fine folks at Kettle House.  This gathering will be held at their original location – 602 Myrtle Street, Missoula, Montana, USA – from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. 
 
All members who have paid their dues for 2012 will get a free beverage on the club – I have a list of the 21 folks who paid at the Xmas party.  For anybody else, I will be accepting 2012 club dues during the event.  Dues are $10 for the calendar year 2012.  Cash works great.  Checks should be made out to me, Patrick Markert.  Credit cards are not accepted.
 
See you there!

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Deadline for the Community brew and stuff

This years community brew deadline is fast approaching. All entries should be submitted the week of Jan 9th to Big Sky Brewing Co. Each bottle should have labels removed and be labeled with the base style of the beer the brewers name and contact info. Remember you have to have your club dues paid in order enter.

The holiday party was a great time! Thanks Mike and Paula for hosting. A great time was had by all.

The new T-shirts are available and they look great! Contact Asa to get one. The Quote this year is “Buy a man a beer and he will waste an hour, teach a man to brew and he will waste a lifetime”  and they are chocolate brown in color. (hides wort stains well) 

Stay tuned for Januarys happy hour meeting date!

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Info for the holiday party

Hi All,
 
Only 6 shopping days left till the ZCZ Holiday party.
 
Where: Mike and Paula’s – 2306 Garland Dr, Missoula; our part of Garland is off of 23rd, not Gharrett.
When: Saturday, Dec. 17th at 6:00 pm.
Drink: Club will have 5 gallons of beer that we brewed at the October meeting. Bring what ever else you want to drink and share.
Food: ZCZ will provide heavy appetizers. If members want to bring good stuff to eat, we should be able to find room on the table.
Activities: White Elephant gift exchange starts at 7:30pm. Remember, these are white elephant gifts, so if you are buying something, keep it on the inexpensive side. Make sure you wrap the gift or, if wrapping challenged, have it hidden in a bag. If you are bringing guests, make sure they also have a gift so everyone gets to join in the fun.
 
If you have darts, steel tipped, bring those too. Late night drunken darts downstairs has been a tradition.
 
And most importantly, plan on safe driving home. If folks want to crash, we have extra rooms. Cab rides from our house to most places in Missoula are usually $15-20. Lots cheaper than dealing with Missoula’s finest. I assume after the past two weekends, they are on a roll.
 
Send questions our way.
 
Cheers!
Mike and Paula
543-4205

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Holiday Party

Holiday party this year is December 17th at the Hoffer’s house. Club dues will be due – 10 dollars this year. We’ll also have new t-shirts by then, so be ready.

We’ll have our usual white elephant gift exchange, and the question burning in all our minds will be answered – “Who gets the Bush Monster this year?”

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Fire em up!

Time to fire up the brew kettles zymurgists!

The English IPA contest is just around the corner and judging will take place at the october meeting. So break out the fuggles and the gypsum. This is a great way to have others judge your beer honestly and get some useful feedback. There will also be a prize for the winner, not to mention bragging rites and the instillation of fear into your fellow brewers who hope to win the community brew. Speaking of which…

It’s official the 2011 community brew category is Belgian Specialty Ale, aka category 16E from the BJCP style guidelines. These are the beers many of us started brewing in order to emulate, and this is the ultimate test to see if you succeeded. So make them belgian and make them special. Belgian IPA? Hell yeah! Saison de stout? Bring it! You have four months to prepare your masterpiece(s). So Fire em up!

For those who are a little more interested in drinking beer….

Its Time for another Homebrew Club Happy Hour!!!!!  It will be on Tuesday, September 20th, and this time we are going visit another one of our newer establishments, Flathead Lake Brewing Company of Missoula.  The two previous happy hours seemed to work well, so we’ll stick with the same program, 5:30 – 7:30, first beverage is on the club for all current dues paid members.
 
For anyone not yet familiar with their location – it’s in downtown Missoula – 424 North Higgins – right next to Charlie B’s (south side) – on the SECOND FLOOR, so you need to go UPSTAIRS, above Sapore Restaurant. 

A big thanks again to Pat for organizing the happy hour! (not to mention hosting the summer party) You da man! Pat!

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Summer Party!

Here’s what you need to know about the summer party:
 
When:  Saturday, August 20th – starts 2:00 – dinner 6:00-7:00ish – ends dark thirty
 
Club will supply: main course for dinner and the 5 gallons of beer that we brewed at Pam’s in June 
 
I will supply:   all the fixins for smores, some pale ale he has kegged, lawn games, large yard, lots of trees, fire pit, hot tub, hammock, Rottweiler drool
 
You will supply:  pot luck side dishes to share if you are so inclined, homebrew for tasting, chairs - I only have 8 outdoor chairs so if a few folks bring along some folding ones that might be a good idea
 
Where:  For those not familiar with my place, I have a house on 24 acres in the woods in the Evaro area – I’ve attached directions to the place, which I suggest you copy to bring with you as you travel.  Cell phones have coverage at my house, but depending on your carrier, from the highway in Evaro and driving up the road it can be spotty at best, so having someone “talk you in” as you are driving up might not work so well.
 
Friendly dogs are welcome – there’s plenty of room for all – the back yard is fenced, although the fence is only 4 foot high.  If your dog is inclined to jump the fence and run and get lost in the forest or if they will interfere with lawn games – chasing croquet balls and frisbees and such – you may want to leave them at home or keep them restrained. 
 
As always, carpooling and/or having a designated driver is encouraged.  Any and all are welcome to stay overnight at my place.  Mike and Paula have already reserved the guest bedroom for the evening.  There is some floor space and one old futon couch available inside.  Since I’ve got 24 acres in the woods, pitching a tent anywhere would work .  I’ve also got two “cabins” on the property – the larger 165 sq ft, the smaller 85 sq ft.  These are unfurnished, no beds or anything – think boy scout/girl scout camp type of cabins – very basic – but they would save you from pitching a tent, keep you out of the elements, and keep the woodland critters off of you.  The cabins can be driven to – the larger of the two has electricity – both have screens in the windows for ventilation – there’s a water outlet between the two – both are just a short stroll from the house.  Should anybody wish to reserve any of these spots just let me know – first come first serve.
 
That’s all I can think of, if I’ve forgotten anything let me know – email or call me with any questions or concerns.
 
See you in two weeks!
 
Pat

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Wednesdays Pub Meeting

Thanks to everyone who showed up on Wednesday for the Pub meeting, and thanks to Pat for putting it all together! A good time was had by all. We had some new members sign up and Jared from the Green light showed up and gave out Pint glasses and Bumper stickers, thanks  Jared and the green light for the beer paraphernalia! Looks like the community brew vote on the grup think is heating up. Currently Belgian Specialty ale is leading with 9 votes followed by Peanut butter stout, Irish red, and Belgian tripel, all with 5 votes each. There is plenty of time to add a category or vote for your favorite. The deadline is Aug 19th so get out there vote.  For those who entered a beverage in the fair contest the drop off dates are this Monday and Tuesday Aug 1st and 2nd. You can drop them off at the culinary building (#16) between 8am and 8pm. The next meeting is Aug 20th at Asa’s house, times and directions will be sent out via the brewlist so check your email. Until then…

Brew On!

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Upcoming Events

There are some exciting goings on this summer for the club. First, the next ZCZ Happy Hour gathering will take place on Wednesday, July 27th at Tamarack Brewing (the Missoula Tamarack, NOT the Lakeside one).   5:30 – 7:30 – first beer is free for all club members.

Next is the Homebrew contest at the fair. There are 4 beer categories, 5 wine categories a cider and a liqueur category. There are gift certificates from big sky brewing and lolo peak winery as prizes. Also there is no entry fee. Just remember to register online before July 25.

We are also working on a couple possible tours of the new draught works brewery. The club will get to tour the new facility and mingle with the brew folks towards the end of their construction phase, before they start producing beer.  And then get to tour the place again once they start making beer so that we can sample some product.  This second tour would be done before they open to the public – a sneak preview of things to come just for the club.  As these events will depend on the construction progress at the brewery, we do not have definite dates yet – possibly late July/early August.

The next club meeting will be our annual summer party/bbq.  It will take place on Saturday, August 20th and Asa has volunteered to host, so mark that on your calendar NOW!!!!!  Directions and more details will follow closer to the event.

At the last meeting it was decided to hold a contest to be judged for the october meeting. The style will be English IPA. Please refer to category 14a of the bjcp style guidelines for judging rules on this style. There will be a gift certificate and bragging rights for the winner. 

We are also starting to think about the upcoming community brew.  A vote will be posted on the grupthink with a deadline of the summer meeting.

UPDATE: The grupthink is up and running. You can vote here if your a member of the club. If your a new member and do not have access to the grupthink send out a message to the brewlist and we’ll get you hooked up.

As always the best way to keep up to date on the goings on is to join the brew list and check your email.

Brew On!

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Community Brew Now Available at Big Sky Brewing!

Tonight, (March 3, 2011) is our unveiling party for this year’s community brew.  After tonight, the winning brew will be available at the Big Sky Taproom for sampling and for growler fills.  Half of the proceeds benefit this year’s nonprofit – Animeals.

Grizzly growler has an post about it  here :

http://grizzlygrowler.com/2011/03/02/2011-community-brew-winner-available-friday-at-big-sky-brewing-co/

Bill Ruediger won this year with his Missoula 5-o Chocolate Coconut Imperial Porter.  Congratulations Bill!

In other news, don’t forget about the upcoming Missoula Brew Fest in May.  Volunteers are needed, so join the club and help out.  Also our April meeting will feature a new for the club “Iron Brewer” Challenge.  Members drew random ingredients out of a basket and now have to brew a beer with that ingredient. Some should be amazing, some should be quite interesting, to say the least.

UPDATES:

Missoula 5-o took best in show at the brewfest!

Joe fairchild won the Iron brewer event with a peanut butter stout that was superb! Doug Pinto came in second with his Green Tea blonde, and Andres Buitron and Dan Lee tied for third with their Scotch coffee Ale(Andres) and Gingerbread amber (Dan). This was a great meeting and contest with a high probability of being repeated in the future.

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December Meeting 12/4

Brewers and humans who enjoy that which is fermented, here are the details of the December meeting/party. From our illustrious leader Asa:

The winter party/meeting is this Saturday (December 4th). Bill and Lucy have once again graciously offered their house to host the event. (starting at 6:30PM: click for map).

Remember: everyone bring your dues ($5)

If this is your first time attending a winter party/meeting, please be aware that we have a white elephant gift exchange during the event. The gifts should inexpensive and are normally comprised of beer or liqueur shwag and funny, funky junk. We love re-gifting!

I will bring what club shirts we have left, but sizes are limited. If you want a shirt, I recommend purchasing one right away upon arrival.

I will bring the normal heavy appetizer-style food that we normally have. Bringing a a side dish or dessert is not mandatory, but we would love anything you may want to share– especially dessert items (as we typically have few of these).

The club-brewed Smoked Porter will be on tap.

If you have a sample of your contest beer, please bring it to share!

Please RSVP as soon as possible (by Thursday would be great); it makes shopping much easier.

Any questions? Contact asahohman@gmail.com

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