Volume 8 Issue 3
By Paul Urevig

Well, the Wort Hogs fiscal year has come full circle once again. The March meeting will bring about the election of the new Wort Hogs President and Treasurer. It has been a great year filled with great beers, and it's with pride that I send out the last newsletter of my term.

Tim started off the night with Amstel light, the lager from Holland that has been advertising on TV that it is a light beer with more flavor. We found this beer to be as advertised; it was very clean with more flavor (and a good flavor at that) than other light beers.

Gregg brought out what he called an 'Extract Wheat' beer that he made using Northwestern wheat Extract and a little bit of Oak chips at the end of the boil. The beer was bottled about two week prior to this tasting and turned out a little darker than Gregg anticipated, but we all thought it had many complex flavors that blended well making it yet another of Gregg's successful wheat beers with a personal touch.

Mike shared a beer that I hadn't heard of yet, Genesee Beer from Rochester New York. This was a very drinkable beer with great clarity and light color, and having a smooth flavor. Add Genesee to your vocabulary of beers for future reference.

Paul's "Working Man's Ale" was next. This beer was an attempt at an ale version of Budweiser using Alexander's extract, a pound of rice powder and no finishing hops. This gave it a faint malt nose, light color, and a lacey head with flavors familiar in Bud. This is the beer that you drink on a hot day and share with people who have never tried homebrew or dark beer (or serve towards the beginning of the meeting.)

Owen followed up with his beer that when we pressed for a name, he said "It's Kinda Hoppy, that's what I'm callin' it." This was another clear golden brew (our club is getting this clarity thing down pretty good, huh?) that had a full spicy hop finish that left your tongue with a clean feeling.

Peter poured out one of my favorites, a pumpkin beer. With our club based out of Anoka "The Halloween Capitol of the World," I think this style should officially be one of our club's signature style (we should discuss this at our next meeting "Here's a topic, talk amongst yourselves.") But focusing again on Peter's beer, it was made with pureed pumpkin and spices with extra effort put in to not have the pumpkin overwhelm the beer. This produced a beer with light body, delicate pumpkin flavor, and full spice flavors.

Tim warned us before serving the next beer that it was "Problem Beer." Those of us that have had the opportunity to sample the beers that Tim brings in know that the two problem beers that he has brought in taste better than some of our OK beers, but with a unique flavor that Tim would like to identify and analyze the cause so it is not repeated. Unfortunately we were not able to come up with a decisive answer on this one. The closest we could come up with was "it tastes like a German bier, but with a 'Red Wax Lips' flavor." Sorry we couldn't help you much Tim.

At this time, we took a break to have the monthly "Wort Hogs Door Prize Drawing."

• Paul and Gregg won stir paddles for stirring wort.
• Jim won the hydrometer sample tube.
• Owen won the Semplex Gift Certificate.

I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to mention that I used the stir paddle this month while boiling a batch of beer that used extract and the paddle was excellent for getting the extract out of the can (the shape got into the corners and was much easier to use than a spoon) and was great for stirring the wort in the boiling pot. I would highly recommend these stir paddles, they are available at Semplex, and you should seek them out from a homebrew supply store near you.

Jim rounded out the night with a sampling of Schmatltz's Alt from the Shells Brewery of New Ulm Minnesota. This is a dark German style which is full bodied with warm roasted flavors that culminate into a sweet malt finish (I wrote that myself, it wasn't on the bottle...No, really.)

Well, I guess that just about does it. Thanks to everyone for allowing me the honor of serving as the Rum River Wort Hogs president this year. I know we will all give the next president the same support I have had this past year.