Here and there

Homebrew Day ... Big Brew ...

We missed it Saturday. Somewhat intentionally, given there has been too much to get done lately.

Originally, our plan was to do a video piece about that ridiculous (and insidious) $15 annual permit the state says you have to have to brew at home. But, alas, too much to do, not enough time to fit everything in. (But that damned permit remains on the list of things to give video treatment to.)

At the top of the to-do list this wet weekend was putting up a new trellis for our Centennial hops, which have come back quite strong from last season. We were late getting to the trellis work, but the 4 x 4’s are up now, as are the lines for the bines to climb.

Odds & Ends
Here’s a sweep of somethings we’ve been trying to mention lately but have – sigh, again – been strapped for time.

• Brian Boak (Boak's Beer) sent these photos of his fermenter’s delivery to Butler at High Point Brewing last month. We’re fairly certain it has beer in it by now. Or maybe in bottles (gotta pay for that stainless steel, you know).

• Flying Fish makes New York magazine’s Approval Matrix. It’s at the bottom right of that Web page, a mention of the Exit series beers.

We have to admit, our eye was immediately drawn to Rachael Ray being on the judging panel at the Tribeca Film Festival (guess she only judged 30-minute films), and that capsule of Rick Perry’s dimwit secession talk. (Hey Rick, remember the Alamo? Texas already had a crack at going it alone. Didn’t work out.)

We’ve suggested that a bottle or two of Exit 4 be sent to the governor’s office, with label samples. The aim is to get it in the NJ State Museum, which is, if memory serves, where a lot of unsolicited items sent to the governor’s office end up, since the governor can’t actually accept them.

We also suggested sending a bottle to the Colbert Report. It’s easy to picture Stephen tossing it into one of his roundups between the show’s opening and the closer, the guest interview.

Lastly, that beer fest we mentioned was in planning stages for this month (thereabout) at the Turtleback Zoo in West Orange ... it was postponed for a variety of reasons, and may come to fruition sometime in the fall.

However, High Street Grill in Mount Holly has a spring festival set for May 30th, a follow-up to their successful winter beer festival.

And of course, the Garden State Craft Brewers Guild is doing lucky 13 – the 13th incarnation of its annual festival, that is – on the 20th of June aboard the USS New Jersey at the Camden waterfront. (More on this later.)