Prost0101




				*Jan/Feb 2001* *Volume 24* *Number 1*

		*The San Andreas Malts' Newsletter* *Our 24th Year*
	INSIDE &OUT:		RIP - SENATOR ALAN CRANSTON Former California Controller, Senator, and champion of the homebrewer, Alan Cranston died New Years' eve. The stories I saw never mentioned his support of our craft, so I'm doing it here. I once went to a dinner at the California Culinary Academy which honored his efforts on our behalf. For you newer Malts - we comped him our newsletter (until he left the Senate) to show our appreciation. Too bad his career got scarred by the Keating BS - in my book, he was a damn good one!
a melange for your reading pleasure, including... BHJ - & EL PRESIDENTE EXCERPTS FROM REAL BEER PAGE NEXT MEETING? XMAS PARTY REVIEW
			XMAS PARTY HILITES For once, we had a reasonable turnout. Over the afternoon & evening, close to 20 Malts made their way to Dawson's place to chow down on ham, turkey (THANX MIKE PORTER!), & a few side dishes & desserts. 2 firsts (for me - I've been to 17-18): NO GOOSE! And no Karl Krauss & Rose - hope it was just a scheduling conflict & we'll see them at the Oyster BBQ. We consumed copious amounts of beer (Jack's creations, leftovers from Stern Grove, & other stuff folks brought), & Mother Nature cooperated so folks could hang out on Jack's deck without getting wet! Sean brought his Maltlet along - I think that kid got his dad's tall gene - a moose in the works (think NFL/NBA, SS - more $$ than WSL - unless he hits it big in Europe). Those present also got their pick of Steve Norris' donations - we put a fair dent in them (thanx again to Mike Porter for bringing his bagging device so we could seal stuff for storage!) There's some stuff still available - call Jack if you're interested. And of course we did the new officer thing - which, with one exception, turned into a job swap. VP Mark Kornmann took on 2 hats (one of which he hopes to give up in 6 months - see BHJ), Prostman & El Presidente; El Presidente Jack Dawson became VP; & Y2K Prostman Jay Stanley is now just the Web-meister. David Najman replaces Pat Loughran as Treasurer - he fits right in, as he also lives close to Jack. Now that I have a good e-mail address for him - all is well. Thanx to all who contributed food &/or libations - mjk
FIRST MEETING OF 2001
WHEN: LATE JANUARY (PROBABLY 29/30/31) Check the web site in a couple of weeks - your editor will e-mail everyone he has an address for once we confirm a date WHERE: 21st AMENDEMENT - on 2nd St a couple blocks west of Pac Bell Park, SF. WHAT: Brewery tour, no-host chow, & whatever else Jay &/or Pat can arrange ... hang out & quaff a few - minus the major crowds of baseball (and possibly XFL) season. DIREXIONS: TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IF YOU CAN! MUNI N line stops 2 blocks away - get off at Pac Bell Park & walk the 2 blocks west on 2nd St (or walk about 3/4 mile east on 2nd from Montgomery BART. If you must drive ... VIA 280 north, take King St exit, north on King to 2nd, then left on 2nd & look for Parking. From 101 below 280, take 280 north & proceed as above. From the East Bay, take the 1st left exit (1st/Harrison), L on Harrison to 2nd, then L on 2nd - once you reach Townsend, start looking for parking. From NW SF/Marin, Bay to Embarcadero/King is probably the best bet ... I'd recommend Bush to 1st to Harrison, but there's now construction on 1st, so it may be wise to figure an alternate route.
WHEN YOU SEND IN YOUR DUES, PLEASE GIVE US AN E-MAIL ADDRESS IF YOU HAVE ONE, PLUS AT LEAST ONE PHONE NUMBER - WE NEED TO UPDATE OUR RECORDS!



2 JAN/FEB PROST 2001

		B^REWER'S Comments & Opinions Home Journal
	SAN ANDREAS MALTS P O Box 884661 San Francisco, CA 94188-4661 http://www.river.org/~mumbly/malts/ Prez/Editor - Mark Kornmann 510/528-5351 (h) 510/466-3495 (w) yupbashr@pacbell.net (h) beerman49@msn.com (anywhere) Vice President - Jack Dawson 415/841-1433 (h) jsdawson@pacbell.net Treasurer - David Najman 415/585-1384 (h) dnajman@earthlink.net Webmeister - Jay Stanley 415/990-6951(cell) jaystan@well.com Contributing Emeritus Officers Pat Loughran Alec Moss Bill Stender Russ Wigglesworth Dave Suurballe *** * * * * * * It's easy to become a San Andreas Malt. Dues are $15/year, renewable in January. Mail them to our PO Box or pay at any meeting/club event.** The Malts publish the Prost* semi-monthly. Our copy deadline generally is the 25th of the even-numbered months. You may reprint our articles as long as you cite the *Prost* as the source. *Editor's note:* Send me material on the net/on 3.5" disk (< 1.44 Mb) in Word (< 7.5), WordPerfect (< 6.5) or ASCII (text only) files. If you send Word/WordPerfect files, send an ASCII backup just in case. Mail discs to: Mark Kornmann 1621 Mariposa Street Richmond, CA 94804-5017 * prost \pröst\ interjection, [German fr. Latin], used to wish good health, especially before drinking.	B^REWER'S Comments & Opinions Home Journal
		(ALMOST) FULL CIRCLE?? Read on. I'm doing part history lesson, part look to the future. All my KUDOS are on Page 1, except for one to the imaginative gent who got Budwar into this area under a different label (see Real Beer Page excerpts on p. 3). History first ....... I joined the Malts in 1982 - the club had ~ 40 members. Today - ~ 60 - & 30% of them antedate me/joined 1-3 years later. In '82, the prez did the newsletter - on a typewriter! Today (& for along time before) we do it on a PC & convert to HTML to post on the web. In '82 we had a secretary who actually took minutes at meetings where we voted on issues - we had close to 50% turnout! As we evolved into a more social group, that job became secretary/treasurer & reverted to treasurer when we made the Prost Editor an officer. We held the Oyster BBQ in Terry Brandborg's back yard in Fairfax. We outgrew his yard, moved first to a park in Corte Madera, then to Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park, and for the last 10 or so years to San Pedro Park. Until the late 80's, we ran the home-brew contest at the San Mateo Co. Fair. (we handed that over to the Worts of Wisdom). We did the same for the SF Fair in the early 90's for a couple of years - at that one we had a brewing demo booth once & gave out homebrew samples. At Xmas parties in the early 80's, we exchanged gifts, which in most cases were bottles of exotic brews/beer gadgets/ingredients ... I brought a box of See's dark Chocolates to the first one I attended (at Ed Chainey's long-ago abode on Kansas St in SF, not far from SF's 2nd-most winding hill on Vermont) & got a lot of dirty loox! For years, we'd have more than half the members & their guests - the last few have drawn 30 or less. Besides the oyster BBQ, the only other relative constant has been the Stern Grove gig - we've gotten heavy turnout forever! The first time we won the Anchor award, the party was on a Saturday afternoon & the food was catered - they started the in-house steak thing in the evening a couple of years later (much better!). A storied history - but how long will we be able to embellish it? Stern Grove & the Oyster BBQ keep us in business. Regular meeting attendance has sucked bigtime for 2 years - even the once-popular Stout & Pale Ale Bouts have lost their appeal. To make things a little more interesting - I've stolen Dawson's idea that we discussed last year & making it a reality: REAL ELECTIONS AT THE OYSTER BBQ!! Officer terms will be July 1-June 30; paid members as of that day can vote. SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATIONS! I only want to be Prostman!! As long as I wear 2 hats, I'll publish the *Prost* jsut semi-monthly - extra issues as the need arises. General issue date will be the 8th-10th of the odd months. We'll still have monthly planning meetings, but regular meetings will be as we see fit & mostly "event" types (at brewpubs or club contests) unless you demand otherwise! Also - red dots will return in March to remind unpaid members to ante up!! Pay up now!! Peace & good brewing/quaffing - MJK



	3 JAN/FEB PROST 2001


				OTHERS STUDIES TOUT BENEFITS TO EYES, HEART Additional research shows that antioxidants in beer can reduce the risk of cataracts and heart disease. Researchers in Canada and the United States presented results at the 2000 International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies showing that beer, especially the darker ales and stouts, may reduce the incidence of atherosclerosis and cataracts by as much as 50%. Darker beers have more antioxidants than the lighter lager beers, according to Canadian researchers John Trevithick, Ph.D., and Maurice Hirst, Ph.D., of the University of Western Ontario, and Joe Vinson, Ph.D., of the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. The Cana-dian team focused on determining why antioxidants in beer seem to help reduce the risk of cataracts, especially in diabetics. Vinson investigated beer's beneficial effect in reducing the risk of heart disease. At the University of Scranton, Vinson, a professor of chemistry, found that giving hamsters the human equivalent of two beers a day halved their rate of athero-sclerosis. "This is a significant effect," he noted. "Beer has a fair amount of antioxidants compared to other beverages. There is a definite benefit from the antioxidants in the beer." To subscribe, send a message by e mail to: RBPMail-subscribe@realbeer.com -- in the BODY of the message type: subscribe Or you can subscribe on the web at: http://realbeer.com/cgi-bin/lm?ml=rbpmail

	EXCERPTS FROM REAL BEER PAGE (JAN) *(I subscribe-you'll be seeing more from this excellent source!)* THIS CZECH'S FOR YOU Beer drinkers in Northern California can now buy a pilsener brewed in Ceske Budejovice, home of Budejovicky Budvar, the Czech brewer involved in a long-running trademark dispute with U.S. brewing giant Anheuser-Busch for the rights to sell beer under the "Budweiser" name. The beer, called Czechvar, uses the same Moravian malt, Czech Saaz hops and deep well water as Budvar Budweiser. Is it Budvar Budweiser? "I can't answer that," said Mike Cechetini of Wine Warehouse, which distributes the beer. "You can try the beer and say what you want." Importer Kip Bruzzone's goal is to avoid any trademark wrangling that would put him in court instead of out selling a beer that tastes like the one he fell in love with more than 20 years ago. "We're going to sell it based on the beer in the bottle, not the name," Bruzzone said. *(Ed Chainey - get me some ASAP!!)* SMUTTYNOSE BREWING COMPANY (love that name!!) Founded in 1994, Smuttynose Brewing Company is named for one of the Isles of Shoals, a small, rugged archipelago that lies offshore from Portsmouth. Smuttynose beers include Shoals Pale Ale -- recently cited by the Boston Globe as "the closest thing to an English ale in an American bottled beer" -- Old Brown Dog, Portsmouth Lager, Robust Porter and the Big Beer Series. http://www.smuttynose.com COORS, BELGIANS SETTLE LABEL DISPUTE Coors Brewing Co. has agreed to change the labels on cans and bottles of its "Blue Moon Belgian White" beer to settle a lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed by the Confederation of Belgian Breweries November 1999, alleged the packaging on Coors' Belgian-style beer led drinkers to believe it was brewed in Belgium. The group, which represents the majority of Belgian brewers, also alleged that the labels on bottles and cans saying that the beer is Belgian-style are too small and can be obscured by packaging of six-packs. As part of the settlement, Coors agreed to increase the size of the label with the words "Belgian-Style Wheat Ale" and to place it in prominent places on its bottles, taps and other promotional material. JAPANESE STUDY FINDS BEER GOOD FOR BRAIN A modest amount of alcohol a day is good for the brain cells, according to a Japanese study that found moderate drinking can improve intelligence. A team from the National Institute for Longevity Sciences tested the IQs of 2,000 people aged from 40 to 79. They found that on average men who drank moderately had an IQ 3.3 points higher than those who did not drink. Women drinkers scored 2.5 points higher than females who did not drink. The Japanese scientists defined moderate drinking as less than 540ml of sake or wine a day. They said the type of alcohol did not influence the results. Volunteers drank beer, whisky, wine and sake. The scientists also concluded that drinking alcohol excessively impaired intellectual ability.			A FEW QUICK BEER NOTES ... Pyramid still has last year's 5000 BW on tap - *$2 for a 9-oz glass!* I get some every time I have dinner there. Snowcap is still the special - $3/15-oz, $4 for a 22-oz. Regular beer prices went up a tad recently & they stopped brewing & serving Expresso Stout there quite a while back. Pizza prices there are getting a little high, however - the portobello mushroom one that was $8.50 in June is now $11.25 - the classic combo is now $12.50! ... TJ's beers vary like mad store-to-store. Some things are constant, but I can get Goose Island 12-pack boxes consistently only in Capitola, & oc-casionally in SF; Emeryville lately has had a lot of Ommegang (Cooperstown, NY -good Belgian-style & cheaper than Chimay); also got some pale & brown from a Lewes, DE brewery there ($5.99 + CRV/6) that wasn't bad ... Tried a less than usual share of holiday brews - Celebration still is the winner by miles! Anchor's was smooth as usual, but still a tad too spicy for my taste. Where the hell was Hibernator this year? PCBC had a good selection of holiday brews in mid-Dec, & may still have some ... Magnolia still has those excellent fish & chips on Wed nites - and excellent brew to chase with ... Boathouse @ Lake Merced has good burgers & decent micro selection, but $4/pint for Liberty & others seems a tad high Post me with any reviews - good or bad - MJK


4 JAN/FEB PROST 2001
		CALENDAR
	Sunday, April 29, noon to dusk - OYSTER BBQ @ San Pedro Park in Pacifica. Saturday, Nov 10, all day - STATE HOMEBREW CLUB COMP @ STERN GROVE (no confusion in 2001 like there was this year!). *Recreational/Educational Activities:* Devise a weekend "road trip"/outing! Call an officer/attend a Planning Meeting/post details to the PO box to run it up the proverbial flagpole! WE HAD A DEAD Y2K - LET'S MAKE 2001 BETTER!!!!! *YOUR '01 DUES arE DUE!!* *don't be one to get the red dot!!*
January - date TBA - regular meeting at 21st Amendment. Jan/Feb - date TBA - Party for Steve Norris @ SFBC. Watch the web - or we may send you a postcard! Late Feb - Celebrator Anniversary Party @ Pyramid; entries due for World Cup of Beers. Mid-Late March: Stout Bout at Pat Loughran's WE NEED A MEETING HOST FOR FEB! Call/E-mail your editor if you're willing!! Tue/Wed/Thurs evenings or Saturday afternoons are fine!



*1ST CLASS*