End of Summer Recap

Summer has fled, and with it, the last of my light, effervescent English Bitter. The time has come for more robust brews: Oktoberfests, doppelbocks, strong ales, porters and stouts -- and for and end-of-summer recap. In addition to numerous impromptu weekend brew sessions in recent months, we grew our membership to 15 and provided a variety of brews to sample at Catholic Man Night with Archbishop Nienstedt in August. The men in attendance were highly complementary of the selection and brews themselves, and I believe we are on tap to do something similar in November

A gathering of Catholic men for Catholic Man Night in August.

Archbishop John Nienstedt speaks on
the topic of "Jesus Christ, Defender of the Family."

Another first for the club: we supplied a homebrewing sampler and Introduction to Homebrewing prize package for the Silent Auction at the St. Michael Catholic Church Fall Festival. The winner, St. Michael parishioner Joe Donlon, received a locally brewed sampler -- two bottles each of Honey Nut Brown Ale and Cream Ale by Karl Becker, two bottles of my English Bitter, and a large bottle of Mike Engel's Scottish Light Ale -- plus the opportunity to brew two cases of the ale of his choice with Bottomless Pint Brewers -- we supply the ingredients, the equipment, the bottles, everything. (We said we would even brew it for him, but it turns out, Joe is interested in brewing and was looking forward to trying it out without the expense of buying equipment and bottles.)

Our first Silent Auction prize package...

The Fall Festival was pleased with the results of this first BPB foray into the Silent Auction -- now all we have to do is brew great beer for Joe! The date for his brew session (the next club session) has been set for Saturday, Oct. 13, at Butch Nielsen's house -- we'll likely start in early afternoon. Anyone who wants to brew is welcome, so come on out!