FLOPS
Fayetteville Lovers of Pure Suds
445 East Township Street
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72703
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FLOPS/
FLOPS is a social organization committed to the art of homebrewing. FLOPS meets beginning at 7:00 PM on the 3rd Thursday of each month at The Home Brewery in Fayetteville.
2003 Officers
Tom Ford Lynn Gann
Andy Sparks Dr. John Griffiths
Steve Foley Keith Besonen
Daniel Linton
Man, what a month. I have been incredibly busy. Of course, I always say that, but I mean really busy this time. J The minutes are fashionably late as usual. This project is killing me, but thank God it’s almost over. Well, “over” is a relative term, but it’s almost in production anyway. Good thing too, because I was sure this would be the one that kills me. Ugh, too bad there’s not much of a living working in a brewery. (Well, that and we have no freaking breweries.)
Other than work, it has certainly been quite a month with the war opening in Iraq. Sure does provide conversation around the pub with news breaking every day. It looks like things are going well for our troops right now. This war has been very controversial, but I trust that everyone can put their political differences aside and support our troops in the field who fight for our way of life. They are what make it possible for us to gather monthly and do our duty, which of course is turning beer into piss. If you see a veteran in a pub, do your part and shake his hand and buy him a pint because every day in a free country is Veteran’s Day.
OK, back to business. Be sure to come to my son’s christening this month on Easter Sunday. Don’t let the invitation fool you; we will be consuming mass quantities just as we did at my place for Oktoberfest back in… well, October. It is the day after Spring Fest, another beer drinking event not to be missed. We will be manning the booth again this year collecting names and scoping cleavage.
Once again, take a moment now to ensure that you are going
to receive the next FLOPS newsletter! If you are not currently on the mailing
list, go to groups.yahoo.com and
search for FLOPS and sign yourself up. This will ensure that you do not miss
out on the news. If you have any trouble, please contact our list owner and
Secondary Fermenter, Andy Sparks. Andy usually can be reach at The Home Brewery
on Saturdays.
Upcoming Social Events
We will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the 21st amendment, which legalized the sale of alcohol in the United States, on Monday, April 7th at the Ozark Brewpub on Dickson street in Fayetteville. The gathering time is usually 7PM, but some of us may arrive a little earlier.
Saturday, April 19th is Spring Fest, again on Dickson street. FLOPS will be manning a booth to spread information about homebrewing to the curious public. Bar hopping likely to ensue. More information will follow in our April meeting.
On Easter Sunday, April 20th at noon, there will be a party at Tom Ford’s house to celebrate the christening of his son, Collin. Bring your favorite homebrew and enjoy a hot dogs and an impromptu bocce tournament.
I've drank to your health in taverns,
I've drank to your health in my home,
I've drank to your health so damn many times,
I believe I've ruined my own!
- Source unknown
The April regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 17th at The Home Brewery. Plan to arrive around 7:00; business begins around 7:30. Bring your best brew! We will be discussing Spring Fest at this meeting.
Erin go Boulevard and get it while you can! This seasonal and traditional Irish red is made from 5 malts to achieve a clear reddish hue. The Nugget and English Kent Golding hops are well calculated to provide sufficient bitterness to balance the malty sweetness. This seasonal ale is only available from mid-January to mid-April, so this is your last chance. I have not been able to find it bottled anywhere this year and the kegs at West Mountain are floating, however you may still be able to get a sip at Brewski’s if you hurry. Visit the Boulevard Brewery on the web at www.blvdbeer.com.
Our meetings seem to have more in attendance each month, which is nice. (11 this month.) We started out be going around the room and reintroduced ourselves as some of us were returning old members and others were new members. We seems to have an even mix of experienced and new members, so there should be many brewing notes to share.
We got right down to business and discussed a new club website, which is something that we would like to pioneer. We have a number of ideas for URL names to choose from, but there is still time to suggest your own idea. For grins, I threw in BarleyWhores.com, and that seemed to be the favorite. However, we should consider what kind of impression that might have on people as we try to get our name out to other homebrewers. We might want to either choose a different name or have two addresses, the other being a nicer name that redirects. Help on a new website was offered, so be sure to let me know if you also want to help out.
We had a nice selection of beers available at this month’s meeting. Gone are the days of Sierra Nevada pale ale only and it is getting to the point where you have to pick and choose what you want to sample and still be able to drive home safely. This month we had wheat and holiday ales, stout, porter, English and American pale ales, European barley wine and mead to choose from, all homebrewed by our membership. What a selection. We also had some eclectic commercial beers to sample from various locations on the map. Very nice indeed.
We covered the upcoming brewing contests, but none of the styles particularly appealed to everyone. We will continue to keep an eye out for an AHA sanctioned contest for which we can have a club brew-off. Thanks Dr. J for the information.
You have the opportunity to meet homebrewing icon Charlie Papazian in Little Rock at the Diamond Bear brewery on April 24th from 6-8PM. The cost is $15.00. For more information, contact head brewer Charlie King at (501) 708-2739.
Lots of good social activities coming with the warm weather. We will be discussing Spring Fest at the next meeting and be sure not to miss the Easter party. Social night is on the 7th at OBC.
Until the next meeting, cheers!