If you want it done right, you have to brew it yourself!

Hey folks! This is just my annual reminder to play it safe this New Year's Eve. If you plan on drinking (and my guess would be that you are), have someone else drive or get a cab. It's not worth endangering yourself or others. Or you could just do what I'm doing and stay home (I have relatives over)! Then I just have to worry about navigating the stairs.

I received an email from our illustrious president. Here's what he had to say:

At the January 8th meeting, the first all grain Club Brew will be on tap (if it makes it through New Year's Eve). It was brewed on November 6th and has turned into a reasonable facsimile of an American Pale Ale. This parking-lot-brew is certainly worth the trip to the meeting to sample and evaluate it.

I hope to have samples of my latest Altbier at the meeting too--once again contingent on whether or not it survives the 31st.

I received email from gak today saying that Nick Egan lost his battle with cancer yesterday. He was 54. The complete obituary will be in tomorrow morning's Green Bay Press-Gazette. Our deepest sympathies go out to those who survive him.

Our Christmas party was a great success. gak's Old gak Scotch Ale all went to good homes. Congratulations to our new president: Bob Franklin! Mike Conard has taken John Parsons' treasurer duties in exchange for John taking his newsletter duties. I remain your faithful webmaster with cruel but handsome eyes. We also were informed that Life Tools is now giving club members 10% off all brewing supplies! Thanks for supporting the Rackers!

Because of the threat of a lawsuit from some jerks who will remain nameless (other than that their name rhymes with "plummet" which is what they'd do if you pushed them out a window--not that I'm suggesting for a second that you should do that), gak will soon have to rename his website from beerismylife.com to BeerMe.com. The switch to the new name should take place this week.

With all this new information, I had to update a bunch of pages on this site. If I hosed any of them up in the process, please let me know.

gak sent along a press release about a new website called eSake that is selling sake (Japanese rice wine) directly in the U.S. They ship to twenty states now, including Wisconsin. The site also has quite a bit of information on sake styles, history, and brewing.

Oh, don't forget about the Christmas party at the Musicians Union Hall this Saturday!

Happiness is a fresh batch of Altbier in the primary and a freshly kegged batch of Kriek. It's about time on the Kriek, I brewed it in October of 1999.

Well, if you missed last night's club brew, you missed a peck of fun. It was probably one of the best if not the best one we've ever had. It'll be interesting to see how Bob's all-grain pale ale turns out!

The Christmas meeting on December 1 will be held at the Musicians Union Hall. We will have a catered meal. We plan on having some very special beer there too. More details will follow on that. Stay tuned.

Our very own Bob Franklin has courageously accepted the invitation to be our club brewer on Tuesday. We will once again be meeting at the Musician's Union Hall. This time we will be joined by the folks taking the Beer Appreciation / BJCP-prep class. Plan to be there! For those of you looking for directions to the Musicians Union Hall, you can find them here.

An SOB member named Troy Landwehr has opened up Kerrigan Brothers Winery at N2269 County N in Appleton. Here's what he has to say:

I currently have ready is a dry strawberry, tart cherry, medium sweet apple, tart raspberry, blueberry/cherry mix, blueberry and blackberry ready for sale. Right now I have cranberries in the fermenting tanks and a side batch of mead wine fermenting. Free tour and tasting extended to all card holding brew members.

Store Hours:
Tasting only: Weekdays 9 to 5
Tours and Tastings: Sat. 11:00am to 7:OO pm and Sun. 1:00 pm to 4:00 PM

Stop in and say, "Hi!" Tell him you heard about Kerrigan Brothers at Rackers.Org!

After consultation with the Rackers' braintrust, we decided to hold the November club brew at the Musicians Union Hall at its regular date and time. We need a brewer! Email me ASAP if you would be able to brew for us.

Bob Franklin also reminded me about the 9th Annual BrewFest at the KI Convention Center/Regency Suites Hotel in Green Bay on Friday, October 19, from 7-10 P.M. Sample microbrewed beers and Wisconsin wines to your heart's content. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door and are available at Titletown Brewing, the Bay Area Humane Society, and the KI Convention Center. All proceeds will benefit the Bay Area Humane Society (where I got my dog!).

We had Belgian styles at the Beer Appreciation/BJCP-Prep Class. Suffice it to say, a good time was had by all.