Subject: Digest for the period 2/24/2007 - 2/25/2007 Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 01:02:16 -0500 Table of contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. RE: Sample Glasses (Mike Bennett) 2. Tasting Glasses...yet again (Peter Garofalo) 3. Drunk Monk Challenge -- Call for Judges (Mike Uchima) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike Bennett Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:52:39 -0800 Subject: RE: Sample Glasses Something to think about... Getting the wine/brandy glasses from a wedding/banquet rental place. Get them clean, return them dirty. A quick web-check shows glass rental is about $0.50/glass. Purchase is about $2.50-$3.00/glass. Then you have to worry about storage for the rest of the year. Just my $0.02. -- Mike Bennett Professional Brewer, Eugene, OR [1963.9, 287.2deg] Apparent Rennerian mjbefn.org mjbennett69gmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peter Garofalo Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:55:19 -0500 Subject: Tasting Glasses...yet again Fellow beer geeks: I simply can't resist adding my angle to the tasting glass discussion. Jeff McNally opines that plastic is better in many cases. I respectfully disagree, and have even used my re-rinsed water glass at many competitions to evaluate beers from. I find that many plastic glasses have a characteristic aroma (sometimes the expected plastic/phenol, sometimes a sickly sweet note, sometimes other off-putting smells). Sometimes these will dissipate if the cups are aired out, sometimes not. I prefer glass, though as Jeff points out rinsing with proper water is key. In the cease he cites, tainted rinse water (not glass vessels) is the problem. I should note that I will sometimes even rinse and re-use plastic cups. What can I say? I hate to waste. The NY State Fair competition has the unique distinction (I believe) of providing fresh, clean *glasses* for all judges to evaluate beer from. The State Fair folks provide us with dozens of glasses, and a dishwasher to clean them on the fly. What a setup! We also have fresh rinse water courtesy of Skaneateles Lake, one of the cleanest aquifers in the country. Oh, all are welcome to join us to experience this marvel in person this coming June. I don't have the exact date yet, but if you are interested please drop me a note at pgarofa1`at`twcny.rr.com. Cheers, Pete Garofalo Syracuse, NY ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike Uchima Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2007 18:09:08 -0600 Subject: Drunk Monk Challenge -- Call for Judges Fellow beer judges, It's that time of year again -- time for the Urban Knaves of Grain Drunk Monk Challenge! The competition will take place on Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10. The main competition (Saturday) will be held in Aurora IL, at America's Brewpub (located in Walter Payton's Roundhouse Complex). The DMC is AHA sanctioned, a qualifying event for the MCAB (Master Championship of Amateur Brewing), and a leg of Midwest Homebrewer of the Year. We are one of the largest competitions in the Midwest, typically receiving over 400 entries. For more information (including how to enter), please visit: http://knaves.org/DMC There will also be a judge's/volunteer's party Friday evening, and a raffle on Saturday afternoon after the PM judging session. For judges attending Saturday's sessions, breakfast and lunch will be served; judges also receive a complimentary DMC 2007 commemorative tasting glass! If you are interested in judging at the DMC, please contact me (Mike Uchima, uchima`at`pobox.com, or 630-416-9518). We need judges for both the Friday evening (mead and cider) session, as well as the Saturday (beer) judging sessions. Please let me know which session(s) you are interested in judging, your experience level, style(s) you are entering in the competition (if any), and perferences regarding styles you want (or don't want) to judge. Hope to see you there! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Important Subscriber Information ***** To post a message to JudgeNet, send it to judge`at`synchro.com. Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments. Make sure you use a meaningful subject. Quote only as much material as is needed for context. To manage your subscription, go to http://synchro.com/judge/subscriptions.html or send an email to judge-request`at`synchro.com with the subject: help judge. JudgeNet is also available as an NNTP newsgroup, go to news://news.synchro.com/synchro.judge