I just finished the first round of our Christmas beer swap. I have two bottles left of each recipe in cold storage. one round for mid summer when an old beer friend will be visiting, and the last for next year comparison. That is except for Jeremy's Abby Weizen where only the bomber remains and probably wont make it to December. Any way, I just wanted to say that I found all of these beers to be amazingly good and well made. Each being different, I consumed them as the first beer of the evening, and only one a day to analyze them properly. I was a bit wary, thinking that as a group of brewers unknown to me previously, anything could happen. What I found happily, was that each had a fine character of its own. Each was worth enjoying as a premium treat that encompassed the brewing skills and efforts of this group, and I want to thank all of you. In my opinion, this was a success and worth doing. I also enjoyed meeting you all on swap day, and with only home brewing as a common thread, I felt that we had a nice connection. SWMBO got a kick out of us not being able to get the count right. You would think swapping three beers apiece would be easy. Go figure.
So, Anybody want to do it again? I've been thinking about it and here is what I came up with. All of which is subject to change. This is only to get the conversation started.
1) Schedule the swap for mid to late July. This would give us two and a half months to brew and condition.
2) We could go with a theme of summer beers (wit, weizen, kolesh, blonde, amber, Pale) or..
3) We could just each make what we consider our best beer recipe. What ever style, whatever tweeks, as long as it is your best beer. I would only exclude the Randy Mosher Christmas recipes as they have been done, and may be on again for this Christmas season.
4) I think we should be exclusive to the original group at first to at least give them the option to join, before opening it up to newcomers. Nothing wrong with new blood, just want to give the first group first dibbs. Also we should probably limit it to 12 entries, as any more than this can hinder the ability to cover the spread if your batch comes in short.
5) I am an Idea guy, but not much of an organizer, so if anybody wants to take the lead with this PLEASE be my guest. If this is left for me to do it probably will fail. Jeremy had talked at the meeting about this but I'm not sure he is on HBT.
6) We probably should start a new thread. This thread is the only way I have to contact all of the original group.
7) One last thought. When we swap, lets let the wives organize the procedures. That way we can drink, and things will go more smoothly.
What do you think?
Can we get the band back together?
Mark