Tuesday, August 5, 2008

FOAM

No not that kind! A few weeks ago, I stopped by The Flying Barrel in Frederick to watch an all-grain brewing demonstration. It was being given by a guy who won Best of Show at the Frederick Fair Homebrew Competition. I met a lot of people and sampled a lot of very good homebrew. Eventually I was informed that everyone I was talking to, as well as the guy giving the demonstration, were members of FOAM - Frederick's homebrew club. I was invited to attend the next meeting and join up. Based on the quality of the beers I had been tasting, the decision was a no-brainer - hanging out with these guys could only help my beer.

The meeting I attended was last night. It was a special meeting as it was judging night of the FOAM Cup - the clubs internal brewing competition. Because of this the meeting was not held at The Flying Barrel as usual, but in the Tap Room at Flying Dog Brewery. Nice! My dad attended as well and I think he enjoyed trying all the Flying Dog, Wild Goose and the FOAM Cup winning beers.

I ran into a few of the guys that I had met at the demo and a lot of new people all of whom were very nice. There seemed to be a wide range of ages and backgrounds, but everyone was borderline obsessive about beer and brewing which will be a good outlet for me - I think Jess and others are getting tired of listening to me ramble on like a crazy person about brewing.

It was also great to hang out with a few of the guys from Flying Dog who, of course, really know their shit and love to talk about it as well. They have a 20 gallon 'test system' there and they are constantly experimenting and getting their 'homebrewing' fix that way.

Here is the kicker for the evening though: They had a 50/50 raffle and I won. The money more than covered my club dues for the year and the price of the raffle tickets I bought. Sweet! The next ticket, my DAD won How To Brew by John Palmer which he gave to me. SWEEEET! The final prizes were Flying Dog posters and when the brewery guys saw them they said, "Those posters suck - we'll throw in a case of beer with each one." Really cool! I would have loved to win a case of FD, but I'm glad I didn't as it would have been a little embarassing.

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