LR13 - The Bay Area Mashtronauts

Official Program
Please remember our generous Lunar Rendezbrew XIII sponsors
Howdy!
The Bay Area Mashtronauts are pleased to welcome you to Lunar
Rendezbrew XIII, the best little homebrew party in Texas!
Actually, “little” probably isn’t too accurate any more. Since its humble
beginnings back in 1994, Rendezbrew has grown considerably. In fact, this
year the Mashtronauts had to move the site of the event from Seabrook
Community Center – where Rendezbrew had been held for several years –
into the Bay Area Community Center at Clear Lake Park.
The new digs will provide many benefits for Lunar Rendezbrew patrons.
First, there will be elbow room galore. Second, all food, drink, music, fun and
games can be housed in one area. Finally, every guest can have as much
air-conditioning as he wants!
But, all of these advantages from the new site does not mean the Seabrook
Community Center has been totally abandoned by the Mashtronauts. That
venerable venue was used by the BAMmers for first- and second-round
judging. The old hall performed well, too.
So, as the Mashtronauts look back at past good times and move ahead into
the future, please join in the fun and frolic that is Lunar Rendezbrew XIII!
Schedule of events
4:00 p.m.
6:00 p.m.
6:00 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
7:15 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
9:00 p.m.
11:00 p.m.
Doors – and taps – open
Tuna Sin hits the stage
Darts tournament
Washers tournament
Corny O-ring toss
Soda contest – kid judged
Dinner is served
Bubba blind beer contest
Paper airplane contest
Awards ceremony
The party’s over
Welcome to the party
Mission Commander Mike “Mr.
Drysdale” White expresses his
thanks at your attendance at the
Biggest Little Homebrew Party in
Texas
Welcome to the thirteenth annual Lunar Rendezbrew Homebrew Competition
hosted by the Bay Area Mashtronauts. This event has come about after a
year of planning and preparation by a lot of hard working people. The
Mashtronauts are the primary organizers, but this event could not be
undertaken without the help of the other area clubs, including the Foam
Rangers, the Kuykendahl Gran Brewers, Brew Bayou, the Golden Triangle
Homebrewers, Barley Coherent and the CIA.
Lunar Rendezbrew would not be possible without the generous contributions
of our sponsors listed in this program. We sincerely appreciate their help in
funding this competition and other homebrew competitions around the state.
We appreciate all of the homebrewers who toiled over a boiling brew kettle to
create some fantastic beer for judging at this year’s event. This competition is
about you and the hobby that you love and support! Towards the end of the
evening it will be your time to be rewarded for all of your hard work. The Bay
Area Mashtronauts will award medals in 34 different judging categories of
beer, mead, and cider. We will also award medals for both wine and
liqueurs. Lunar Rendezbrew is the only competition in the state that awards
medals in the Alternative Beverage category. One homebrewer will leave this
evening knowing that he or she is at the top of their hobby after being
awarded the Best of Show medal.
This year our competition has joined the newly formed Lone Star
Homebrewing Circuit. The circuit includes other competitions in Dallas, Fort
Worth, Lubbock and Houston and soon San Antonio. The loop provides a
chance for homebrewers to be recognized as the best in Texas.
Our hobby is growing and events like Lunar Rendezbrew help expose more
and more people to the fun and camaraderie of homebrewing. I hope all of
you here today have a great evening. Enjoy the food, music, games and the
vast array of beer, mead, cider, wine and liqueur.
Thank you all for being here and helping all of us enjoy the hobby of
homebrewing!
What’s on tap for the evening
Lunar Rendezbrew XIII will feature a host of fine beverages for party-goers to
consume. Though final tallies were not available at press time, the Bay Area
Mashtronauts planned to have at least 18 different adult brews available.
At printing, the following homebrew delights were planned:
American Pale Ale - two
Octoberfest
Session Cider
Red Raspberry Strong Cider
Honey Wheat
Spiced Belgian Pale Ale
Scotch Export 80
Jorge Spiced Ale
Stout
Ordinary Bitter
Bitter
Red Ale - two
Blonde Ale
India Pale Ale
Sweet Mead
Cherry Mead
American Brown Ale
Also, there were plans for several examples of fine brews from Houston
brewpubs and microbreweries.
Your complete transportation management team
The fare is more than fair
Lunar Rendezbrew will feature a fine foray of food this evening. The fare will
be in keeping with the Texas theme and will center on BARBECUE!
The main course will feature chopped beef, sausages and hot wings.
Assorted salads – potato, pasta and coleslaw will also be on hand, as will
baked beans, onions, pickles, jalapeños and big ol’ squeezy, doughy buns.
For those looking for more variety, a baked potato bar will also be in the
house. Along with the hot spuds, butter, cheese, bacon, chives and sour
cream will abound.
Finishing up will be a belly-buster of assorted desserts, iced tea and
lemonade.
“Tune us in,” says Tuna Sin
Providing music at Lunar Rendezbrew XIII will be the always eclectic Tuna
Sin.
The band plays what it calls Americana music, which in this case means a
whole lotta wide-reaching stuff. Their recipe for the musical gumbo says to
start with country, add folk, western swing and a dash of bluegrass and
there you are.
Tuna Sin’s shows seem to change every night, so a current play list is nigh
impossible to provide, but the guys have been known to play material from
Slaid Cleaves, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan, Canned Heat, Flying Burrito
Brothers, Byrds, Eagles, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen,
plus, a smattering of originals.
Happily, Barry Manilow does not grace Tuna Sin’s repertoire.
For more information on the band, check out www.tunasin.com.
Hard work leads to night of fun
A lot has happened over the last few weeks to make Lunar Rendezbrew XIII
possible.
First, there was registration and organization of entries. This year, just like
virtually every other year in Rendezbrew history, the Bay Area Mashtronauts
saw an increase in entries. The 2006 total was 376 homemade delights, up
10 percent from the 2005 total.
Second, knowing that proper storage of these brews was of utmost
importance; BAM built a portable walk-in cooler. The Bill Kilty creation is
outstanding, to say the least.
Finally came the judging. The past three weekends saw more than 40 judges
and stewards from the Mashtronauts, KGB, Foam Rangers and Brew Bayou
gather at the Seabrook Community Center and various unnamed bunkers to
taste the wares of the best that Texas homebrewers have to offer.
The result is evident today, as this year’s winners are the best ever. The
Mashtronauts are extremely proud of this and wish to thank all of the judges
for and stewards for sacrificing so much time to make this day possible.
H
How to judge a beer
As told originally by Lee Janson
1) Smell - Once the beer is poured, pick it up right away and smell. A lot of
people look at the color and clarity at this point while all the nice aromas are
getting away. Why miss some of the best parts of a beer? I promise the colors
will be the same as it was when the beer was poured; the smell may not. Now
... when you smell a beer, really smell it. Put your nose in the cup and take a
good whiff. You're trying to get a measure of the malt and hops aromas and
any specialty smells that are correct for the style. Those smells are going to be
at their best now, so pick them up and note them. You can also pick up some
important off-smells (corny-sweet, band-aid, solvent-like, baby diapers or
cardboard, etc.). Its going to take around fifteen to thirty seconds for your nose
to reset itself, so now that you've got your first good whiff, take the time to start
scoring the Bouquet/Aroma section. When you're through, take another good
smell and verify your conclusions.
2) Look - Now's the time to pretend you're a wine judge and do the cool "look
at the clarity and color" thing. Is the color right for the style (check out the
description, or better yet, the Color Standard Reference Method "SRM"
numbers)? Don't hold the cup up to a light or a wall, though; it may throw your
color perception off. The best way to judge color is to place the cup on a white
piece of paper and look straight down into the beer. As a measure, Straw/Gold
Pilsners (like Budweiser or Pilsner Urquell) are 2.0 to 4.2 SRM. Bass Pale Ale,
an amber beer, is a 10 SRM. Michelob Classic Dark, a brown beer, is 17 SRM.
Continued on page 10
How to judge a beer – part 2
SRM. Stouts (like Guiness) are 35 and higher SRM and are considered black
beers. Also, check the clarity. You may have to find a bright light and tilt the
glass a fair amount to be able to see through the beer. Also, remember to wipe
the condensation off the glass. For you judges doing wheat styles, keep in
mind that they're supposed to be cloudy. Finally, check the apparent
carbonation and head retention. Remember what the head looked like at first
pouring. Is it still there? Score all of these things in appearance.
3) Taste - Finally, a taste of that delicious homebrew (at least you hope). At
this point, you're probably thinking "I wish I wasn't judging and I could just sit
back and taste it for enjoyment." Well, that's exactly what your first taste
should be. Don't worry about numbers now ... just take a taste, swish it around
your mouth and get an initial and overall impression of the beer. Is it good, is it
really good, or does it make the hair on the back of your neck stand up?
Decide and then find an approximate rating from Excellent to Problematic in
the box on the bottom of the judge sheet. When you get all the numbers
added up in the end, they should fall somewhere around your first overall
impression score. With your relative score in mind you can now get down to
the nitty gritty. Take another taste and start dissecting the beer. Get the beer
all through your mouth and over your tongue; the tongue's taste detection
areas are: tip...sweet, sides...salty to sour, back...bitter. If the beer is supposed
to be sweet, pay attention to the tip of your tongue. If its supposed to be
hoppy, feel the back, middle of your tongue. Think about off-flavors and try to
see if you pick any of them up. Score accordingly.
Continued on page 11
BJ’s Restaurant and Brewery
How to judge a beer
How to judge a beer – part 3
You'll also have to score conditioning, aftertaste and balance in this section.
This gets a little bit harder to do, but think about what the beer is supposed to
taste like and if all the flavors blend together to give you an appropriate and
enjoyable drinking experience. Conditioning refers to whether or not the beer
is young, just the right age, or too old. One fellow judge noted that he
determines conditioning by the size of the bubbles in the head - small is too
young, huge is too old, and somewhere in the middle is just right. Certainly an
acceptable method to get a feel for the conditioning, but I would also put a lot
of weight on the taste. Young beers tend to have stronger and more separate
flavors that don't quite blend into a pleasurable drinking experience. Older
beers are often filled with cardboardy, stale flavors of oxidation. Wellconditioned beers smoothly lead the drinker through the style's correct flavors,
from start to finish. Speaking of finish, aftertastes in certain styles of beer are
not only acceptable, but required. A style with a strong hops finish, should
have just that - a strong hops finish. Beer styles that should end "clean" should
leave the mouth empty and refreshed, but not wanting. Balance and Other
Flavors finishes up the taste section. Both are very dependent on the style and
include a measure of the relative amounts of malt, hops, and specialty flavors
Continued on page 12
How to judge a beer
How to judge a beer – part 4
flavors that should be in the beer.
4) Wrap It Up - You've got the important and hard things finished - the aromas
and flavors. Now take another smell and drink to make sure you've picked up
everything you should. While you're doing the final check, also think about the
body of the beer. Some styles should be light and thin, others heavy. Is the
body appropriate for the style? Now you get to give a score on Drinkability and
Overall Impression, basically your subjective view of the beer. Put the first
number down that comes in your head - it's probably your gut feeling on how
good the beer is.
5) Check Things Out - Add up your numbers. Now think about the overall
score you got when you took your very first taste. Did a beer you thought was
Problematic make it into the Good category or higher - if so, there may be
something wrong. There are a number of places you can make adjustments
without significantly changing your whole judging sheet. Make changes in your
Drinkability and Overall Impression score if you want to. Body, Other Aromatic
Characteristics, and other Flavor Characterics are also good places to add or
subtract a point. You may also want to think about your other scores. Now
may also be a good time to compare your score with the other judges to make
sure you're within the AHA point spread. If there's a problem, someone's going
to have to do some modification in their scores. Its always the case, that you
or someone else can add or subtract a point or two here and there to get
within the point spread, but still maintain your own personal judging critiques. If
everything is happy, give your sheet to the steward and get ready for your next
beer by having some bread and water.
A Glass of Beer
by James Stephens
The lanky hank of a she in the inn
over there
Nearly killed me for asking the loan
of a glass of beer;
May the devil grip the whey-faced
slut by the hair,
And beat bad manners out of her
skin for a year.
That parboiled ape, with the
toughest jaw you will see
On virtue’s path, and a voice that
would rasp the dead,
Came roaring and raging the
minute she looked at me,
And then threw me out of the
house on the back of my head!
If I asked her master he’d give me
a cask a day;
But she, with the beer at hand, not
a gill would arrange!
May she marry a ghost and bear
him a kitten, and may
The High King of Glory permit her
to get the mange.
Local hotels
Holiday Inn Express
2720 NASA Road 1
Seabrook, TX 77586
La Quinta Inn
3636 NASA Road 1
Seabrook, TX 77586
281-326-7300
Comfort Inn
2901 NASA Road 1
Seabrook, TX 77586
281-326-3301
Lunar Rendezbrew XIII Category Sponsors
Category
Sponsor
Light Lagers
Brew It Yourself Homebrew Supplies
Pilsners
Tempo Logistics
European Amber Lager
Defalcos Home Wine & Beer Supplies
Dark Lagers
Boondoggles
Bocks
B & S Brewers Guild
Light Hybrids
BJ's Brewery and Restaurants
Amber Hybrids
The Kolache Bakery
English Pale Ales
The Bayview Duck
Scottish & Irish Ales
Rambo Engineering
American Pale Ales
Clear Lake Animal Hospital
American Amber & Brown Ales
The Brew Stop
English Brown Ales
Mollys Pub
Porter
Skip Moore Services
Dry Stout
White Labs Yeast
Stout; Sweet, Oatmeal, Foreign & American
Saint Arnolds Brewery
Imperial Stout
Brew It Yourself Homebrew Supplies
English & Imperial IPA
Tempo Logistics
American IPA
Defalcos Home Wine & Beer Supplies
German Wheat & Rye
Boondoggles
Witbier & Belgian Pale
B & S Brewers Guild
Saison , Bier de garde & Belgian Specialty
Molly's Pub
Sour Ales
Rambo Engineerings
Belgian Blonde, Dubbel & Tripel
White Labs
Belgian Strong Ales
Saint Arnolds Brewery
Old Ales
The Bayview Duck Restaurant
Barlywines
Brew It Yourself Homebrew Supplies
Fruit Beer
The Kolache Bakery
Spice, Herb & Vegetable Beer
Boondoggles
Smoke & Wood Aged Beer
B & S Brewers Guild
Specialty
Tempos Logistics
Traditional Meads & Melomels
Defalcos Home Wine & Brewing Supplies
Other Meads
BJ's Brewery & Restaurant
Standard Cider
Mollys Pub
Specialty Cider
Brew It Yourself Homebrew Supplies
Alt Beverage -Wine
Skip Moore Services
Alt Bev - Liqueurs
Clear Lake Animal Hospital
Best of Show Alternative Beverage
The Bay Area Mashtronauts
Best of Show Cider & Mead
The Bay Area Mashtronauts
Best of Show Beer Honorable Mention
The Bay Area Mashtronauts
Best of Show Beer - Runner up
The Bay Area Mashtronauts
Best of Show Beer
The Bay Area Mashtronauts
Moving into new areas
This year, Lunar Rendezbrew steps into a bold new arena, namely, the Lone
Star Circuit.
Basically, the Lone Star Circuit is a competition that is about, by and for the
homebrewers of this great Republic. The LSC is a collection of competitions
throughout Texas where homebrewers can earn points so that an overall state
champion can be crowned.
This is the inaugural year of the circuit. In 2006, homebrewers can vie in six
different competitions. Along with Lunar Rendezbrew XIII, the other events are
Bluebonnet Brew-Off, Celtic Brew-Off, KGB Big Batch Brew Bash, Cactus
Challenge and Dixie Cup.
When all is said and done, prizes will be awarded to the Lone Star
Homebrewer of the Year, Lone Star Homebrew Team of the Year and Lone
Star Homebrew Club of the Year.
Much of Lunar Rendezbrew XIII’s growth from last year can be attributed to
the Lone Star Circuit. This year, we received delectable delights from across
the state, with many coming from North, South and Central Texas.
If you run into anybody from the far-flung reaches of the state, make sure you
give them a big Rendezbrew “Howdy!”
The Deaux Clan
Gig ‘em Ags & Eat ‘em Up Coogs
Republic of Texas
1-8tu-ckf-exas