MONTHLY MASH

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF

SOUTHERN NEVADA ALE FERMENTERS UNION

BEER DIET PART II

BY-LAWS

SNAFU EDITOR SURVIVES FIRST YEAR EDITING MONTHLY MASH

Yeah, it really has been one whole year that I’ve been doing this. I’m not ready to give up yet (unless someone is ready to take it over). I haven’t hit the burnout stage yet, but I do feel I’m not as funny and creative as I once was.. I have been pleased in recent months with the amount of input I’ve received in the form of articles written by or submitted by club members. That makes my job a lot easier. Keep those cards and letters coming.

WELCOME TO JEFF CRISMAN

By Bob Barnes

As president of SNAFU, I would like to be the first to welcome Jeff Crisman to our homebrew community. For anyone who hasn’t heard, Mr. Radz has been sold to Jeff Crisman. Jeff will be on hand at our next SNAFU meeting to meet SNAFU members and to talk about his plans and ideas for his new venture into homebrew supplies in Las Vegas. Greg Radziewicz will be handing over the reins to Jeff at that meeting. Greg also has promised to provide snacks. Free food? I’m there! Jeff currently owns and operates two successful homebrew supply stores in Southern California, so he must know a few things about how to run a homebrew supply business. I spoke to Jeff on the phone recently and he seems like a homebrew kind of guy. The Temecula Valley Homebrewers currently meet at his shop in the Temecula area and Jeff has offered to let SNAFU continue to meet at Mr. Radz. He also informed me that he may in the future expand to another location in Las Vegas. I’m sure that’s welcome news to all those like me who live on the other end of the valley. I’m looking forward to working with Jeff. His reputation precedes him as being a brew shop owner who works well with and supports homebrew clubs. Sheldon Jackson spoke to him at length at the Temecula homebrewers festival last May and reports that Jeff seems to be very knowledgeable about the homebrew industry. Sheldon also tells me that Jeff is good friends with Ray and Carolyn Ballard in California and the Ballards claim he runs a great homebrew supply shop. I’m also very pleased that we will continue to have a homebrew supply store in town. I hope that SNAFU members will give Jeff a chance and support his endeavor by buying supplies from him. I encourage you to attend our August 14 meeting to meet Jeff and hear what he has to say.

ALE TO THE CHIEF

by Bob Barnes

Well, the big news this month is the changeover of Mr. Radz to Beer and Brew Gear. I’m looking forward to working with Jeff Crisman and I wish Greg Radziewicz the best in his new life in Denver. I appreciate Greg providing a home for our club for the past 3 years. Our next meeting on August 14 is one not to be missed. Show up to say farewell to Greg and hello to Jeff. And bring an appetite. Free pizza among other things. Oh, yeah, and we’ll have beer to go with it. (It’s a sacrilege to eat pizza without beer.) As usual we have a bevy of activities planned for our club in the next few months. There’s the campout/hike at Mt. Charleston on Aug. 22, outdoor Super Summer Theatre at Spring Mountain Ranch on Aug. 12, a brewing class on Aug. 29, and a mead class on Aug. 21 for August, and our annual picnic and hike at Spring Mountain Ranch on Sept. 13. Then in October there’s the Renaissance Fair at Sunset Park on Oct. 10 and the Las Vegas International Microbrew Festival at Sunset Station on Oct. 24. SNAFU will have booths serving homebrew at both of these Oct. events. If you haven’t checked out our web site yet you need to. It gets better every day. Not only can you read this newsletter and some back issues, you can also check out recipes, look at pictures from our Valley of Fire campout and the Temecula Homebrewers Festival, and print out a membership application to join the club. Thanks again to Keith Perrault for all the many hours he’s spent on it. Keith wants as much member input as he can get. Please e-mail Keith your thoughts, compliments, recipes, pictures, etc. I still have those two hotel rooms in Denver for the GABF Oct. 1-3. Rooms are currently sold out everywhere within walking distance of the festival site so this may be your only way to get a room where you want it. I’ll continue to hold onto them until the end of Sept. Finally, read through our revised club by-laws. As you can see it’s nothing fancy, but puts into writing the aspects most vital to how our club is run.

News from the secretary treasurer: 7-98 Steve was out of town camping during our last meeting so he asked me to just relay the present treasury information and to also give credit to the generous members who contributed to our raffle. After covering expenses for the monthly newsletter and our Mt. Charleston campout reservation, our July raffle and new members’ dues increased our club’s funds by $46. Our balance is now $1345 plus $200 in petty cash. Donations for our July raffle were made by: Kent Bolton-in an unprecedented generous gesture, Kent purchased and then donated 10 raffle tickets which we raffled off first and he also donated 2 mixed 4-packs of microbrews Mike Alber- 3 Pete’s Wicked Ale pint glasses Bill Street-a 6-pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Jay Lefkowitz-4 packs of cinnamon sticks,& a bottle of Fat Tire Ale Tom O’Leary- a bottle of Warthog Ale Jasbo-a 6-pack of mixed microbrews Joe Sutton- a Leinenkugels pint glass Bob Barnes-a 6-pack of Beartooth Blueberry Ale and a Holy Cow growler jug Dave Otto-4 Holy Cow free pint coupons Bob Hall-a cassette tape of German beer songs Dave Miller-a pack of Avanti Italian cigars and a bottle of the only beer you can still taste after smoking an Avanti (one of Dave’s of course) Mr. Radz-a packet of beer bread mix and a canned kit of Kriek SNAFU-a Fat Tire Amber Ale pint glass.

Thank you to all who so generously donated. Remember that anyone who makes a donation to our raffle receives one free raffle ticket.

Reservations for our Mr. Charleston Campout are filling up fast. We have already filled 18 of our 24 spots. It’ll cost you only $5 which will include inclusion in our campsite (which can accommodate 24) as well as our main course food, plates, cups, etc. Everyone is asked to bring a dish to share and of course BEER. We’ll have a hike before dinner led by our very own Nature Boy-Steve Mac Millan (who is himself a former park ranger). The campout is at Hilltop Campground which is located on the road that connects Kyle Canyon to Lee Canyon and is at the top of the hill (hence the name) and there are showers! We have site #7. Check in time is 2:00. If you don’t want to campout, you can still come and we won’t include you in our maximum count of 24. Just let us know when you sign up. You can sign up at the next SNAFU meeting or call one of the club officers.

3RD ANNUAL LAS VEGAS PUB CRAWL BEST ONE YET

By Bob Barnes

Our 3rd Annual Las Vegas Pub Crawl is now in the books. And, having attended all three I can say unequivocally that this one outshone the first two. I think what made it so great is that each of the three brewpubs we visited took such good care of us and each seemed genuinely pleased to have us as their guests. The first stop for our 20 ‘crawlers’ was Holy Cow. For a very reasonable $7 which included tax and tip (this $7 was included in the $12 price of the pub crawl) we were filled with pizza, chicken wings, and sausages. They even threw in a vegetable plate for our vegetarian friend, Dave Miller. And best of all they kept it coming until we couldn’t handle any more. Brewmaster Dan Rogers kindly treated us all to our first beer for FREE and also allowed us all to come into the brewery for an informal tour. And finally assistant brewmaster Dave Otto threw in two growlers full of the gold medal winning Holy Cow Pale Ale to keep us from getting parched on the not long enough bus ride over to Barley’s. Well, we found out the party had just begun. When we arrived at Barley’s brewmaster Billy Baldwin had a table set up just for us in the outdoor mister area. Billy sent us several pizzas (some even vegetarian), several pitchers of each of his brews, and even had two kegs set up next to our table that we were able to tap from! And all for the amazing price of FREE! And, as if that wasn’t enough, Billy also let us each take home a Barley’s pint glass. What an incredibly generous host. It was all so good and the atmosphere outside in the misted area was so relaxing it was with much regret that we had to pull ourselves away to get back on the bus to head on over to our third and final stop. Once we arrived at Main Street brewmaster Eddie Kuehne was there to greet us and to lavish us with more kindness. Eddie provided us all with brew bucks which allowed us to pay a measly dollar for all of the pints we could handle. As usual the company made this a great time and the camaraderie on the bus was cool, but the hospitality of our four brewmaster hosts was unsurpassed. A huge thank you is in order for Billy Baldwin, Eddie Kuehne, Dave Otto, and Dan Rogers. Let’s further thank these guys by revisiting their fine establishments.

TOP 10 THINGS YOU MISSED IF YOU WEREN’T ON THE PUB CRAWL

NEW BREWERS WANTED

MEAD CLASS

SORRY GIRLS

Submitted by Mike Alber

"Yesterday scientists revealed that beer contains small traces of female hormones. To prove their theory, the scientists fed 100 men 12 pints of beer and observed that 100% of them gained weight, talked continually without making sense, became emotional, and couldn't drive. No further testing is planned."

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

This month’s recipe is a food recipe and comes from ‘The Spiceman’ Jay Lefkowitz. Who better to know how to spice up a marinade.

JAY’S QUICK AND EASY FAJITA MARINADE

Ingredients: 1 TBSP. ground cumin 1 TSP. chili powder 1 TSP. ground black pepper 1 TSP. granulated garlic 1/2 TSP. salt 1 lemon cut in 1/4’s 1 pint of pale ale (or any light to amber ale)

Combine ingredients except for the beer and lemon. Add 1 1/2- 2 pounds chicken or beef strips (boneless). Coat meat in spices. Pour beer over meat and squeeze lemon onto meat. Refrigerate 24 hours or more.

SANTA BARBARA BREWING COMPANY REVISITED

By Bob Barnes

Well it was finally my turn to go somewhere. Last month I took my family to one of our favorite beach towns, Santa Barbara. I always love the place because it’s so laid back, and (make that a big AND) they have a brewpub. I had visited the Santa Barbara Brewing Company on my last visit to S.B. some 3 or 4 years ago and had written a review of it for our newsletter. If you will remember I rated it very mediocre with mostly bland appeal to the masses kinds of beers. Well most things in life don’t stay the same and fortunately this is one of them. It’s amazing what hiring a new brewmaster will do for the taste of your beer. The new brewmaster Ryan Aikens is proof of that. The Santa Barbara Brewing Company is now a place not to be missed in Santa Barbara. I actually had been alerted to the fact that this brewpub had vastly improved weeks before my trip. Dave Otto from the Holy Cow had been there and spoke very highly of the beers. Also Dave (a Santa Barbara native) from Mr. Radz said ditto. Upon arriving at the brewpub I asked for the brewmaster, pulling out his business card which Dave Otto had thoughtfully provided me with. While waiting for the brewer, Ryan Aikens, to arrive I ordered the sampler which included a whopping 7 different beers and all for only $5. Ryan kindly spent about 15 minutes visiting with me talking about his brews as well as homebrewing in general. It turns out .he still does some brewing at home (he’s our kind of guy!). Well enough gab, on with my impressions of the beers.

In summary all of the beers were very clean and FLAVORFUL! This is one brewpub that has made a complete turnaround. Not only is the beer great but the atmosphere is bright and sunny with big windows on one end. If you go try to make it between 3-6 for their Happy Hour. It’s half off all their appetizers. And ask for the bartender Sean and his lovely girlfriend Sara for some good intelligent conversation about quality beer. They also have a pretty cool selection of Belgian beers-Mort Subite (cherry, peach, or raspberry), Piraat, and Augustijnig. And children are welcome and there’s no smoking (one thing we can thank California for). Santa Barbara Brewing Company is located at 501 State Street, which is the main drag right off of the beach. Phone # (805) 730-1041 www.sbbrewco.com

SUPER SUMMER THEATRE

A FEW WORDS FROM OUR SPONSOR

Greg Radziewicz

Greetings and Salutations. This will be the last time that I write this column. No, we are not hiring a professional writer, but we have sold Mr. Radz. Jeff Crisman from Murietta Homebrew and Beer and Brew Gear in Escondito, CA has purchased Mr. Radz. The name will change, some faces will change, but the local homebrew store will remain! It has been an interesting ride for me. I started a small company in 1992 and the past six years have taken me into professional brewing, university lecturing, a retail homebrew store and a bunch of little stops in-between. The most recent being a move to another state to embark on a new life and life-style. Tonya is returning to school to become a dental assistant, I have a job in mortgage banking. I am sure we will see some of you during the yearly Great American Beer Festival. Who knows, I might even work with Jeff on a GABF tour or something. During this ride, we met a lot of people. Some were great, some were not. Overall, we had a lot of fun with Mr. Radz Homebrew. We have a list of people who we would like to point out as helping to make a difference with Mr. Radz. These are the people that made the daily operation easier, the day brighter, laughed with us and supported us the whole way. They were not always the big money spenders or the frequent brewers, they were the people who made a difference. Here they are: Bob Barnes (one of our first customers and current SNAFU President), Doug Wooldridge (brought SNAFU to Mr. Radz), Tom O’Leary (Competitor, employee and supporter), Dan White, Joe Sutton, Joe Spangler, Karl Gustafson, Ralph and Judy Goodman (always the first to help out), Sheldon Jackson, Dangerous Dave, Ranger Jack, Dan Rogers, Dave Otto, Mike Ferguson, Shannon Newby, Rich Lovelady, Eddie Kuehne and the Main Street Crew, Steve Mayer, Jasbo and Dod, Bill Street (Great Grain Mill Cover), Steve Mikes (no amex), Dennis Mitchell, Dave Depaoli, Tom Kramer, Bernie Gonzales, Jason Zimmerman, Kevin Kennedy, George Yalich, Richard Losco, Scott Tittle (Grain Mill Motor Man), Reid Harrison, and of course, Mike ‘Radzie’ Plinski. We are certain there is someone we are forgetting and apologize. There are many others not listed. As a parting favor, we ask all of you to welcome Jeff as the new local homebrew shop owner. He has a lot of experience and some great ideas. We ask you all to remember that operating a small business is not an easy chore. The shop owner has rent, mortgages, car payments, utilities and a whole load of taxes and other bills to pay. Spend money locally to help ensure a local shop. We are not saying not to mail order, no shop can carry everything, but spend as much locally as possible to help keep a local shop. A local shop will support local clubs, local events, local brewers. As long as local brewers fully support a local shop, everything will be local. This town is tough, that is why we went from three homebrew shops to one. We have a good mailing list, a local shop should do well. We wish Jeff the best of luck! We will miss some people a lot and a lot of people some. Sincerely, Gregory M. Radziewicz

BEER DIET PART II

Submitted by Rick Dusek

It seems that a lot of people are dieting recently, trying everything from an all-carbohydrate to an all-protein mix. I have another suggestion, one that has worked through the ages: the "Beer-Me" diet. Personally, I have a "liquid dinner" every time I go to the club on Friday night!

FACT: Beer drinking is often done in bars, where other forms of exercise are common. Dancing, for example, is a BEER DIET II- continued from page 5 good way to build up a thirst, as is chasing members of the opposite sex. If you really want to maximize your workout, try actually walking up to the bar, versus using a waitress. To take this to the extreme, you could even get up and get someone else a beer - perhaps someone who is newer to the diet plan than yourself.

MONDAY: Return to work, feeling thinner, well rested, and surprisingly mellow. Mark your log book, and begin preparation for the upcoming weekend.

This is not set in stone. This newest version of our club by-laws incorporates changes suggested by members at our last SNAFU meeting. And we’ve managed to keep it down to one page without using a size 6 font! We will open it up to discussion at our next meeting. If all goes well we’ll be ready to ratify this thing in September. If you have any suggestions for changes voice them at the August 14 meeting or call or e-mail a club officer.

BY-LAWS; SOUTHERN NEVADA ALE FERMENTERS UNION

Southern Nevada Ale Fermenters Union’s primary purpose is to promote fine home brewed beers, and to inspire and educate its members in the art of brewing quality beers. Meetings will be held at least once a month. The club will hold elections once a year to elect a president, two vice-presidents, and a secretary-treasurer to serve a term of 1 year. Nominations will be held at the meeting in November. Elections will be held at the meeting in January. All candidates will submit a statement of their reasons for wanting to serve as an officer which will be published in the club’s monthly newsletter. To vote, one must be a current dues paying member. Any dues paying member who is unable to attend the January election meeting may submit their vote in writing in a sealed envelope which will be opened during the elections at the January meeting. Dues for members will be $12 a year and a member’s dues will come due on the anniversary month of when they joined. There shall be a minimum of 4 officers’ meetings a year to transact the business of the club. Officers’ meetings will be open to the membership. Members may attend as observers. However, a portion of each officers’ meeting will be set aside to allow members to speak on any subject pertaining to the club. Expenditures of the club, other than normal operating expenses shall be voted on by present members of the club at meetings. Normal operating expenses shall include Winterfest, local brew festivals, the Temecula festival, Renaissance Fair, club campouts and picnics, and monthly newsletters. Amendments and deletions to these by-laws shall require a two thirds majority vote. Amendments and deletions must be presented, and arguments published in the newsletter prior to vote

Las Vegas, NV 89129