Head Kahuna Korner
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Mike Hall

Last month we had a rousing competition for the coveted Atom Masher Only Stout
and Porter Cup. After the smoke had cleared, only 1.9 points separated the top
five entries! The winner was Scott Robinson with a very nice Brown Porter,
with aspirations toward being a Dry Stout. Second and third places were
taken by similar brews, made jointly by myself and Jim Morel. Both started
with the same wort, but Jim's version, which came in second, was made with
a lager yeast, while my version was made with Chico Ale yeast and used twice
as many dry hops. Congratulations are due all the winners, and an honorable
mention goes to Travis Mitchell whose raspberry stout that finished second
by the numbers was disqualified because we didn't have a category for fruit
stouts (fitting in a category was a requirement of the competition).

The NM State Fair homebrew competition is coming up next month. The
deadline for entry is August 17th, and the judging will take place on August
23-25th. We'll probably be getting together to take all of our entries down
to Laure's in SF, so get in touch with one of the officers if you'd like to
enter something.

Speaking of judging, there will be a Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP)
exam sometime in the near future, maybe as early as September. If you're
interested in taking the plunge and proving your merit, contact me to get
on my list. So far I've got Dale Leschnitzer, Sandy James, Brent Newman,
Greg Ludwig and myself as potential test-takers.

Stan Primak contacted me recently on behalf of the Los Alamos Chamber of
Commerce about the Summer Fest Celebration to be held on Sunday, August
18th. It's going to be a big festival that shuts down Central Ave. from the
Post Office to Furrs and includes several bands. Stan thought that such a
party would benefit from quality beer, and naturally that led him to us.
There are two possibilities for our involvement. The first is having our
club serve as a liaison between area breweries and the Chamber of Commerce
to entice the breweries to set up booths to sell their wares. The second
is setting up some kind of booth ourselves, to do brewing demonstrations,
answer brewing questions, give away samples of homebrew (I don't think we
can sell it) or sell T-shirts or glassware. What do you think?

Our biggest item on the agenda for this next meeting is deciding what we'll do
for our August meeting. We've had discussions over email with the campout group
and the officers, but we still haven't come to any conclusion. Our original
idea of a campout was nixed during the drought, but may be revisited now
that the rains have come. Another idea was some kind of a pub crawl/brewery
tour in Albuquerque, Northern New Mexico or even Colorado. This might involve
renting a bus or an overnight stay, depending on the wishes of the group and
the itinerary chosen. Yet another idea that was suggested recently by Brook
Sandford is a joint outing with the Los Alamos Sailing Club. We would help
them crew their vessels in the morning and then adjourn to an afternoon of
drinking, swimming, sunning, and mayhem. There are plenty of campsites around
so we wouldn't have to make the 2 hour (?) drive back from Heron Lake that
night. Come to the meeting with your ideas and opinions on these options.

This month's tip is to check out beers from the Riverside Brewing Company
of Riverside, CA. I've tried Golden Spike Pilsner and Pullman Pale Ale
(both available at Kokoman's) and have been very pleased. Both have won GABF
medals. The Pullman Pale Ale has a strong hop presence that is sure to please.

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your carboys...