Hi from Niwot Hops!

Just a reminder that we're open for picking this Saturday and Sunday (8/28 and 8/29) from 9-3. We have Chinook and Cascade hops that are ready to pick. I think the Crystal will be another week.

We'd like to ask for $3/lb if you pick them or $9 if we pick them. We really just want to make it fun, and we want everyone to leave feeling good about the hops.

My goal in this document is to present a ‘Cliff’s Notes’ version of the Judging Mead section of the Mead Study Guide prepared by several members of the BJCP and available at this URL: http://www.bjcp.org/mead/Mead_Study.doc This document is very long and is intended to include all information needed to pass the BJCP Mead certification exam. Every bit of the following discussion is taken from this tome.

Judging mead differs from simply drinking mead as a judge is to compare his/her drink to idealized standards and discuss why it does and does not fit the profile.

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March 2010

March 2, 2010 - Munich Helles

So I really liked a Stoudt's Gold that I bought as part of a mixed case last time I visited my folks in Pennsylvania. This beer is a Munich Helles style lager and is the opposite of a Pilsner, it is malt accented and hops only help balance the malt. It is a somewhat sweet (from pilsner malt) malty light lager. Since I enjoyed the decoction process the week before, I decided to see if I could find some undermodified pilsner malt for a batch. While picking up Dredhop entries in Ft Collins, I found that they had a sack of undermodified bohemian pilsner malt.