Cheers from rainy Dallas. Aside from the gloomy weather forecast poo-pooing the chances for nice weather, 2015 Brew Riot was a hit. And it was incredibly nice weather after all, so #suckitdelkus.
Dallas Homebrew Collective had a great location this year, right in front of Lucia on Eighth street. After we got set up at our TWO tents, we got down to the business at hand: placing kegs, rigging up gas lines, and menu creation. Oh, and sampling some of our own beer, of course.
Thankfully, our tents were just out of nose-shot from the cigar roller tent on Bishop Ave. I understand the draw of a fine cigar, but the perpetual wafts of cigar smoke tainted the sensory experience of tasting beer. Tasting is much more about using your mouth. In Randy Mosher’s book Tasting Beer, he talks about tasting with your nose. He describes the tasting experience:
Now take another sip, and this time, try to get some of the aromas to volatize up into your nasal cavity where the receptors are. Wine tasters use a technique called “aspiration,” in which you hold a small amount of the liquid in the bottom of your mouth, against the sides of the tongue. and allow it to warm up. Then, put the tip of your tongue behind your two top front teeth and draw air in through your mouth, slowly letting it gurgle through the liquid. this releases aromatics, and with a little shallow in-and-out breathing, you can get it up into your nose, which has a similar effect. There’s no best way. Just be aware that the object is to get the aroma molecules up in the top of your nose where they can trigger olfactory neurons.
Tasting is more about your nose than your mouth. I’ll get down from my soap box now. However, I am likely not alone in my anti-cigar sentiment, and I feel like the event organizers should know about it. Okay, okay, that’s the end of my rant.
We served 9 beers total:
- Soberish Session IPA
- Woo Girl Blonde
- Smarter Than Your Average Amber
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch
- Shut the Bock Up
- Krooked Kölsch
- Big Bird Imperial IPA
- Blitzkrieg Bock
- Quartz Cream Stout
- Limestone Belgian Wit
- You Down With BPP? (Bourbon Barrel Porter)
We didn’t enter all of our beers for official competition, but two DHC members did great. Notably, Shawn Kidwell took 1st place in the Bock category and 3rd place overall in the Lager category with his Blitzkrieg Bock. And Cassidy MacPhail took 2nd place with her Krooked Kölsch.
Overall, the event was a great time to catch up with fellow club members, meet some new people, and spread the word about Dallas Homebrew Collective. There were some excellent beers and enthusiastic, friendly people. It feels great to see the Dallas homebrew scene growing, and see so many beer fans out supporting this great hobby.