Brew club

Tonight was our brew club meeting at Sierra Nevada brewery. It's always the first Thursday night of the month which sometimes coincides with my singing practice so I don't get to go every month, but since I'm not singing during April or May (because of the throat surgery) I get to attend at least those two months. Each month there's a beer theme for the national all-club competition. This month was Scottish and Irish Ales. Anyone who'd like to submit one for consideration at the national competition brings their ale to the meeting and we, the members, taste and vote for our club favorite to send. This month we had one Scottish Ale and one Irish Ale to sample. After a close 18-22 vote our neighbor Doug's Scottish Ale was chosen as the club submittal. We like Doug, but both Chris and I preferred the more palatable Irish Ale. Doug doesn't brew anything that won't grow hair on your chest. After official voting business we get down to drinking random beer samples from club members.

This is Chris sniffing a sample that he immediately announced smelled like "feet". Then changed his mind to a more politically correct "straw" like at a fair. There's some winners and a lot of losers. The only time I perked up was at the very end when I heard the words "cherry mead". Yes please! Our group has grown so big that sometimes it take a loooong time for a bottle to make it around the room for a pour, or worse yet, people at the beginning of the line take too much and there isn't any left for those at the end.

We meet on the upper mezzanine of the gift shop area at the west end of the brewery. Thankfully it's big enough to meet our seemingly ever expanding group. It's a lot of younger members joining who are at least bringing beers to sample and not being the freeloaders that I suspect others are. But after 8 or 10 beers everyone starts getting a little loud and unruly and it's hard to hear the brewer of the sample beer talk about it. That's when our neighbor Doug comes in handy. He's a club officer and has a big, booming voice that gets everyone's attention when he tells them to be quiet. You get 'em Doug! We close shop at 8:00 pm, pack up our tables and chairs and head out. A lot of the members then go downstairs to the restaurant for more beer and snacks, but we eat before we go so we just head home. Besides, the gluten free brownies I made last night are a lot better than any sweet treats they've got at the restaurant!