Beer Olympics Update (Team Events)

We're are less than one month away now from The Bashore BrewHaus' 3rd Annual Beer Olympics. Here is a list of who has signed up to participate in team events with Captains in BOLD.

1. Matt Bashore
2. Irene Bashore ***
3. Matt Junak
4. Jamie Wilmoth ***
5. Randy Flick
6. Alan Mills
7. John Tramontana
8. Alex Rabe
9. Aren Rabe
10. Michelle Flick ***
11. Jason Hill
12. Karen Thomas ***
13. Kurt Blasius
14. Kris Bakken
15. Adam Bailey
16. John Maksimchuk

Here is a list of the 5 team events this year and time frames for each event

Boat Race - 1130 - 130
Flip Cup - 1130 - 130
Climax Relay Chug 1130 - 130
Long Pour Relay 330 - 430
THE Relay Race 330 - 430

All events will be based on time it takes to complete, NOT the team you are up against.

Points will be awarded to the teams per events as follows

1st place - 5 points
2nd place - 3 points
3rd place - 1 point
4th place - 0 points

At the end of the 5 events our referees will tally the total number of points each team has and award the Beer Olympics trophy to the Grand Champion. That team will receive a fantastic prize.

All team participants need to bring:
*a swim suit and a towel (you will get wet)
*$5 to cover the cost of beer
*a dish to pass for the BBQ or just to snack on all day
*EITHER a white shirt to decorate with your team colors (we'll have markers) OR a blue, red, green and black shirt to represent.

Team selection by the captains will take place during our first event, Volume Chug at 11 am. Please ensure you arrive to the Bashore BrewHaus by 11 am.

NOW ON TAP

NOW ON TAP
Wild Horses
Wild Ale
6.0% ABV

It's been a while since I've had a few moments to post.....life has been crazy! But we have a new beer on tap called Wild Horses which is the cousin of Cheeky Monkey. Both are the same base beer and both have been aged on a bed of raspberries, but Wild Horses has also had lactic bacteria added to it to give in a slightly sharp acid punch. The beer is light on the mouth and refreshing, but tart and fruity. Stop in and have a pint before its all gone! Only 3 gallons of this beauty and I've been drinking it like crazy......YUM!!

Downtown Kalamazoo to get an Oktoberfest this fall

KALAMAZOO — The organizers of last year's inaugural Boiling Pot Music Festival have made some drastic changes to this year's event they anticipate will bring larger crowds.

While many details are still being worked out, festival organizer Darren Bain, who also co-owns The Strutt, has a few key elements cemented.

The Boiling Pot Music Festival will have a new theme — Oktoberfest — and the event will be moved to Sept. 29 through Oct. 1. Like last year, it will be held at the Arcadia Creek Festival Place in downtown Kalamazoo.

The inaugural event, held during the Fourth of July weekend, had lower attendance than organizers expected, due to the holiday and many college students returning home for the summer.

Bain said this year's theme will be incorporated into all aspects of the event, from art to beer. Organizers expects to have many Michigan breweries and imported beers on hand, several Michigan musicians, collaborative art efforts, major art installations and sustainability components, the event organizers said in a press release.

The event, organized by Bain and his Kalamazoo Coffee Company and The I.D.E.A. Association (Interdisciplinary Development through Education and Art), plan to make more announcements about the entertainment lineup, ticket sales and volunteer opportunities June 15.

Now on Tap: Devil's 3way Imperial Weis Bier

Now on Tap
Devil's 3way Imperial Weis Bier
8.15% ABV

The Bro Code
Article no. 34

"Bros cannot make eye-contact during a Devil's Three-way"
"that's right.........2 dudes"

My homage to Barney Stinson.

I was sad to hear about this

Last Saturday, Texas and the world lost one of our most beloved craft beer icons. Pierre Celis, milkman-turned-world-famous brewer, succumbed to cancer at the age of 86. He was a huge influence on many of our local brewers through his Celis Brewery in Austin in the 1990s.

Celis is credited with saving the Belgian Wit style of beer when the last brewery in his hometown of Hoegaarden, Belgium, shut down. A Wit is an unfiltered wheat beer spiced with coriander and dried Curacao orange peel. It's exotic and yet approachable for the masses.

His first brewery was named after his hometown, and Hoegaarden Witbier can still be found on a lot of store shelves and in pubs. Long ago, it was purchased by the forerunner of today's mega-brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev. It's still a very good beer, though not what it once was.

Later in life, Celis moved at least part time to Austin from Belgium. Kevin Brand, owner and brewer at (512) Brewing in Austin, who was mentored by Celis in the early days of his brewery, recalled Celis' motivation for opening a brewery in the United States.

“During World War II, his town of Hoegaarden was evidently a location for a field hospital. His interactions with the Americans and his account that the troops liberated his town inspired him to find a way to give back,” Brand says.

So Celis, along with his daughter and son-in-law, opened his eponymous brewery and began brewing Celis White along with a Grand Cru, Pale Bock, Raspberry, Dubbel and Pale Rider, which was made for Clint Eastwood.

Brock Wagner, founder of Saint Arnold, was friendly with Celis through the years and had much in common, having spent four years in Belgium in his youth. He says of Celis, “Pierre helped begin the process of making beer drinkers in Texas aware of the flavor and diversity that exists in the world of beer.”

I certainly recall my first sip of the White on my parents' back porch in Austin in the late '90s. It immediately changed my perception of what beer can be and turned me into a craft-beer lover.

Sadly, Celis' partners sold out to Miller, which eventually shut down the brewery. Bobby Mason, owner of Michigan Brewing, was looking for equipment and purchased the Celis Brewery and moved it to Webberville, Mich., outside of Lansing. The Celis brands were also for sale, and Mason purchased those as well. Celis, along with his brewing engineer Jean Luc Suys, visited the brewery in 2002 a few times and made sure they were brewing it right. Mason said that “he helped a lot and then we started taking awards with it.” Mason later visited Celis in Belgium and the two spent a couple of weeks touring breweries.

You can still find Celis beers at a few locations in town, but it can be hit-or-miss. Mason is still bringing some of the equipment online and will be expanding capacity so more of the beer can flow into Texas. He says the only difference from the original recipe is that they use local wheat instead of Texas wheat.

Jason Davis, head brewer at Freetail Brewing, who worked at the Celis Brewery from 1998-2000, says that he “was always friendly with everyone at the brewery — from the guys palletizing cases on the line to the folks culturing yeast in the lab.”

“He was a genuinely nice, generous man. I remember when he brought the trial version of his Grottenbier to share with us there — I felt like an honored guest working in his brewery!”

That's a fine tribute to man who was remembered by everyone I talked to as uncommonly generous with his time and counsel.

Cheers, Pierre.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/A-toast-to-Pierre-Celis-one-of-the-greats-1337652.php#ixzz1K4IMBHVb

New on Tap this Week: One in the Chamber

On Tap this Week!
One in the Chamber
Belgian Style Ale
made with Rose Hips, Date Sugar and Licorice Root
6.75% ABV



Sometimes throughout the course of brewing I end up with extra ingredients that I didn't need all of to complete a certain type of beer. This is where the name "One in the Chamber" comes from. Basically, this is a beer that was thoughtfully thrown together in order to use up surplus stocks. The Rose Hips are left over from Emma Rose Abbey Ale (it was the rose water and not the hips that made this beer taste like perfume), and the Licorice Root was left over from Red Ryder Christmas Ale.

Overall, I think all the ingredients came together well, the beer has a great smell and a subtle sweetness. A super drinkable beer along the lines of a Belgian Single, but with a little more alcohol. I didn't have any hopes with this beer, but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

Russian Roulette! I wanna go First!!

Kwik Hit: Summer Update!

Kwik Update, we seem to be pretty well stocked with beer on tap as well as beers that are conditioning and will be ready to go on tap so we probably won't be brewing a ton of beers for the summer (I never make beer for Beer Olympics because it seems pointless).

However, I will still be busy. Look for an Imperial Weis Bier called The Devil's 3Way to be on tap toward the middle of May. I'm also planning to do a Cherry Beliner Weis this summer as well as an Apfulweizen....but should be fruity, light and easy drinking.

I will be brewing beers to get ready for the fall including a sour pumpkin ale, a massive Imperial stout and an ALT bier.

Also, we are in the process of acquiring a refrigerator to use for lagering, so don't be at all surprised to see the return of Bashore Fest this fall.

C'mon Summer......I need warmth!
Cheers!