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Here’s a quick run down of some of the mhba activities, discussions and happenings of the past week:

2014 State Fair Homebrew Competition Winner on tap at the 2015 State Fair

MHBA VP John Longballa’s 2014 State Fair Homebrew Competition winning beer was brewed up by Bent Brewstillery. It is available this year at the Ballpark Cafe at the Great Minnesota Get together! John shared:

As some of you know, my British Bitter won Best of Show (out of 693 entries) at the 2014 MN State Fair homebrew contest. As a result, Kristen England at Bent Brewstillery agreed to make a version of it (based on my recipe) for this year’s Fair. I was at Bent in early August, helping a tiny bit with the beer, which is called Fest Hops, and Fest Hops is on sale at the Ball Park Cafe at the State Fair this year. The beer will also be on tap at Bent and perhaps a few MN bars. Ball Park Cafe will also have Chris Smith’s German Hefe, which was produced with Chris at Lucid, as part of Chris’s victory in the BFD contest.

The Heavy Table posted this review of the beer as well:

Successful beers were the bright spots in our day: Bent Brewstillery’s Fest Hop was able to cut the sweetness and richness of several new food items. Using a 2014 Homebrew Competition winning recipe, Bent has created something for hop-loving fairgoers. Available at the Ballpark Cafe, Fest Hop struck several bitter chords and yet remained balanced and crisp.

Congrats to all the 2015 State Fair Homebrew Competition Winners

Look for a rundown in a separate article but congratulations to everyone who placed at the 2015 State Fair Homebrew Competition.

Renaissance Festival Competition Coming Up

Anyone looking for another fantastic homebrew competition to enter or help out with needs to check out the Minnesota Renaissance Festival Homebrew Competition, Byggvir’s Big Beer Cup. You can enter now and the competition is looking for volunteers to help steward and judge the weekend of October 3rd and 4th at the festival. Check out the website for more information.

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It’s hard to believe but the State Fair is almost upon us. That means the State Fair Homebrew Competition is coming up even sooner! Our friends at the Primary Fermenters run the State Fair competition and they could really use some additional volunteers to help the competition run smoothly.

Sign up here by THIS Friday afternoon on the State Fair Competition Website for a stewarding / judging session on Friday, 8/21 and/or three sessions on Saturday, 8/22.

If you haven’t stewarded or judged before, now is the perfect time. You’ll have lots of experienced judges helping you learn the ropes. It’s a great time, a great way to learn to be a better brewer and you get to drink beer for FREE!

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Just in time for our visit to Mighty Axe Hops comes a fantastic looking cookbook from a club member. If you want to expand your cooking skills a bit, go check out Hedonistic Hops, a cookbook all about cooking with hops! This looks like a fantastic excuse to go buy more hops! You can pick up a copy of the book by supporting their kickstarter right now.

Here’s an excerpt from author Marie:

I’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign for my upcoming cookbook, “Hedonistic
Hops: The HopHead’s Guide to Kitchen Badassery”. It will be my 5th
cookbook.

“Hedonistic Hops” will be a lot of fun, filled with recipes that use
various varieties of hops in cooking. We have everything from side and
main dishes, to condiments, desserts, and (non-beer) beverages!

This cookbook is the first of its kind. Aside from a couple bloggers doing
the odd experiment with hops in food, cooking with hops isn’t really a
THING… YET!

As someone with an alphabetically-arranged spice rack that now tops 80
pieces* , though… I’m always looking for new flavours, new combinations,
and new things to play with. Cooking should be fun, not a chore!

Much like salt or lemon juice can be added to dishes to perk them up, a
small amount of hops – used wisely, and with specific techniques to do so
in a balanced fashion – can really make a dish sing. This is especially
true when supporting ingredients are selected to kill the *bitter* of the
hops, allowing for the flavours and aromas of the hops to shine through.

Marie’s husband & MHBA club member Michael will be handling all the photography for the book.

Go check out the kickstarter project for Hedonistic Hops!

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DATE: 7/31-8/2
LOCATION: El Rancho Manana, by Cold Spring
Call for Reservations: See Reservation Section ASAP

Cheers,
Tom
[email protected]

Location:
El Rancho Manana
27302 Ranch Road
Richmond, MN 56368

We will be staying in one of their big unimproved camping areas. We will have firewood, picnic tables, port-a-potties, and lots of space. The park in general has many extras to offer too. The grounds contain a swimming beach, hiking and biking trails, showers, and a store. Dock space, boats and water bikes are also listed as available for rent, and horseback riding may be available. All is a short walk from where the unimproved camping is.

NOTE: We could use larger tent/tarp type structures to use for sun/rain shelters. If you have one you could bring let me know.

Reservations and Costs:

Camping cost is $25 plus tax per adult for the weekend in our primitive area. Please call Kevin ASAP for reservations at 320.597.2740 and state you are with the Minnesota Homebrewers Camp-Out. Note, if you want more amenities you can talk to Kevin about alternative sites they may have available.

There will also be a charge for those participating in Saturday’s dinner. Final costs will be determined on site. I am expecting around $10 per adult, no charge for kids. Please let me know ahead of time if you are planning on coming or even if you are a maybe so we can plan Sat food accordingly. Email me at [email protected] at least one week in advance.

Master of Malt competition:

This fun competition between clubs has been held at the campout since 1992 (yes this will be year 24). Each club can enter up to four brews: one for ALES, one for LAGERS, one for BELGIANS, and one for MEAD/CIDERS. There will be awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in all categories and best of all, you will be competing for the coveted title of Master of Malt! The win is recorded forever in history for your club AND you get to spend a full year with the prestigious Master of Malt trophy. It is kind of like the Stanley Cup (but not really)!

Cheers and good luck!

Sour Hour:

We are going to get a sour hour together again this year. Sometime in the lull between after Master of Malt and dinner we will get together and break out some sour beers. It is a very casual thing. Bring and share if you like sours.

Sat Dinner:

Saturday’s dinner will be prepared and hosted by the Prairie Homebrewing Companions. Popular thought right now is Gumbo, corn bread muffins and maybe a salad of some kind. Maybe that will stick maybe not. If you really want to know ahead, let me know and I will update you. I will need numbers so please email me at [email protected] at least one week in advance.

General Other Camping Notes:

Please bring your own food to prepare for meals other than Sat dinner.

Jockey boxes, bottles, growlers and any other beer containers are encouraged. The PHC jockey box will be there. If you are bringing kegs and need a line we will try to fit you on that.

This is a primitive site so no electricity and water on site through community water spigots.

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