Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Walking the Dog 183, February 2006





WALKING THE DOG …
… Is the electronic newsletter of FOSSILS (Fermenters of Special Southern Indiana Libations Society); a home brewing and beer appreciation club located in New Albany, Indiana. It will be sent out on the first of each month from now on. Visit FOSSILS on the Web at www.fossils.org
Since 1990 … FOSSILS: Carbonated – Not Carbon Dated!
The newest compiler of "Walking the Dog" is I, Scott Boyer (admin@fossils.org). Don’t hesitate to contact me with anything you like, dislike, or want to see changed about the newsletter or web site. Submissions for the Dog will be credited to the author of the submitted material, but please be sure to get yours to me early; I need some time to get everything together.
Fossils is generously supported by the following beer friendly businesses (In no particular order):
• Youngstown Cigar Shop - Tobacco lovers will find cigars, pipes, pipe tobacco, lighters, humidors, and many other accessories at Mike's fine establishment. The shop is located behind Regions Bank, East 10th Street in Jeffersonville, 1 mile from I-65 (exit 1).

• RichO's & Sportstime Pizza - Roger & his crew have always been an integral part of the Fossils Club. They graciously host many of the club meetings and have always given us their support. His establishment has the best beer selection in the area, and his food is excellent. As for the beer brewed there: Indiana State Fair's professional best of show '04 - Bourbon Barrel Stout. What can I say; we know it, we love it. Keep it up Roger & company!

• Cumberland Brews - Matt Gould has some great beers on tap. The atmosphere is great, and the food is very tasty. Our club meeting there was a lot of fun, and I know we will all be back again, again, and again! 1576 Bardstown Rd., Louisville, KY. (502) 458-8727

• Memphis Meat Processing - These are the guys who donate the very cool buffalo femurs we make into lamps. They offer great quality buffalo meat at good prices. Click here for their contact information & a full price list.

• Old Mill - These guys have a great selection of both beer & wine. They are so good that they made '03 best of Louisville. Old Mill is in the modern shopping center at Blackiston Mill and Charlestown Roads, just off I-265 south of the Charlestown Road (IN 311) exit. (812) 941-1350

• Destinations Booksellers - New to Southeast Indiana, the store is located just west of St. Mary's Catholic Church, at 604 East Spring Street. The owner is Randy Smith, and he helped us out with our new library cart & some nice additions to our brewing library. Randy has a nice selection of beer and beverage books, and out-of-stock customer orders are usually filled in a day or two. Call the store at (812) 944-5116 or e-mail. FOSSILS members are especially welcome.

• Sarah Ring with Harrison Realty - Understanding the needs of beer drinkers since 1993 through Bluegrass Brewing Company, Now wheeling and dealing houses for FOSSILS and Friends in Southern Indiana. Referrals always welcome, Call 502-550-9503.

• The Keg Liquors, located in Clarsksville, now carries a nice selection of micro and imported beers. Over the past several months Todd Antz has brought in the selection of beers that "FOSSILS" drink. Check some of the beers out at 617 East Lewis and Clark Parkway, Clarksville, IN (812) 283-3988

FOSSILS sponsorship is an effective way to reach discerning and intelligent readers who are your friends and customers. Not Dog advertising is bartered for goods and services donated to the club. If you are interested, please contact me (admin@fossils.org).

ISSUE NUMBER 183 - February 2006.
As many of you know, the Fossils web site is in the process of changing. Be sure to check it out (www.fossils.org). If you see anything you would like to add or modify, feel free to contact me (admin@fossils.org). You will be seeing significant expansions & additions in the future as I get the time. In addition, I need help rebuilding the email list of all of our members; much has been completed, but I want to make sure I have not omitted anyone. Have anyone you know who should be receiving the newsletter contact me at the address above. If you see anything that isn’t working or needs to be updated on the web site, please let me know; I’m an amateur webmaster doing this in between a lot of other activities.

Message From Your FOSSILS President:

Hello FOSSILS folks, I want to start by thanking all the fine people who entered the Pungent and Funky Appetizer Competition. This was one of, if not, the best turn out (20 entries, I think) ever! Bob Capshew deserves a pat on the back for his best of show winning calamari and plum sauce; it was fantastic. In addition, a special thanks goes to my better half (Beth) for all her work organizing the competition. Both Jessica Waters and Ed Willard showed incredible judging stamina; we will all lift a pint of Alka Seltzer to them!

Moving to February, we are taking our meeting on the road! Our next meeting will be Sunday February 12 at the BBC Tap Room on Clay and Main Street in Louisville KY at 6:00 PM. This will be a fine meeting including a tour of the brewery, and tasty BBC beer for all! And yes, my normal lecture; don't forget to bring a cool raffle item! If you don't know how to get there do not hesitate to email me at beersnobs@msn.com.

Also, plan to brew a beer for our upcoming competitions. April is the Magical Mystery Brew. Just brew magical and mysterious, no guidelines are allowed! May is the President’s Choice competition. This year’s challenge is to brew the best British mild ale.

Cheers,
Dave Howard


WINE-RELATED LEGISLATION IN THE INDIANA LEGISLATURE AS OF JANUARY 26, 2006

The Indiana House killed the direct shipping bill of Indiana wineries (HB1036). Senate bill SB110 will probably not pass out of committee. These bills would allow wineries located in or outside Indiana to sell and ship wine directly to an Indiana resident.

The only bill left is House bill #1190, sponsored by the wholesalers which would:

1. Forbid shipping by Indiana wineries to Indiana customers.
2. Forbid shipping by wineries outside Indiana
3. Compel Indiana wineries to sell their entire product intended for retail customers to wholesale distributors.
4. Establish rules that would force small wholesalers out of business.

Indiana wineries cannot afford to do this! Many will have to close their doors! The Indiana Small (Farm) Winery Act (since 1972) has granted wineries permission to sell directly to retail customers without the profit-robbing need to sell to a middle man. If this bill is passed, the price of wine will increase when sold at beverage stores, grocery stores, and restaurants. Wineries would also lose their freedom.

Please let your legislator know that you opposed bill HB1190.

To find and email your legislator, simply click on the link below. You will be asked for your zip code and what elected office you wish to inquiry. After clicking “Go”, you will get a map and a list of legislators for your area. When you click on the name, you will be able to send an e-mail. It’s that simple!

Thank You,
Charles R. Thomas, M.D., President, Chateau Thomas Winery

http://www.in.gov/apps/sos/legislator/search/

Simply copy and paste this message and e-mail it to your legislator:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,

I support HB1036 and SB110

I oppose HB 1190

Signed _________________________________
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Other Items of Inerest:

We are excited about the March meeting featuring NABC beer and Jessie as our speaker. He will speak about the growth of the brewery and the beers that will soon be flowing. Cheers to NABC beer!

Brewerania 2006 is coming soon! The sale is Saturday, May 13th and will be held in the new party room at RichO's. Things will start at 10:00 AM and continue until 5:00 PM (Maybe longer, if the vendors are still doing good business). Roger will be opening early and will have his rare and limited beer sale. The FOSSILS meeting will start at 5:30.

The July meeting will be at the Thomas Family Winery in Madison. The date is Saturday, July 15th. Jim and Debbie Frazier spoke with Steve Thomas about the menu. We recommended the menu be the same as last year, except we preferred no bread pudding for dessert. We asked the attendees at the Organizational meeting about a dessert preference and the recommendation we will present back to Steve is that no dessert is needed. Kira and Debbie said that if there is dessert, it should involve chocolate. Steve asked about our music preference and it was decided that it was up to Steve. Debbie has already contacted the Broadway Hotel about reserving the entire hotel for our use. More details will be available soon.


PICNIC NEWS: PLEASE TAKE NOTE!!

Deneen and I met last week and discussed plans for the picnic. It will be on the weekend before Father’s Day weekend. The difference this year, and the reason we need to be thinking about this now, is that we will be in a new location this year. Specifically, we'll have 5 bunkhouses each sleeping 16 people. The cost is greater and we need to figure out how we will not only cover our expenses but also get the people who want bunkhouse space into them! It has been suggested that we invite other homebrew clubs to join us and rent bunkhouses to them. Deneen and I thought that before we do this we should see how many members of Lagers and Fossils are interested in reserving bunkhouse space. If you think you might be interested in staying in one of the bunkhouses, please email me at mormsc@epowerc.net or call Deneen at 502-448-9695. You don't have to commit to it right now, we're just trying to get an idea if we'll fill them ourselves or should invite other clubs to come to this event. If you have children and would be interested in sharing a bunkhouse with another family (or 2), maybe even hiring a teenager to stay in the bunkhouse with kids while the party's going on, let us know that as well. If you have any other ideas about how we should handle this please let us know. Please contact us ASAP if you're interested in bunkhouse space at the picnic!!!

Mor Capshew

Hurricane Relief Raffle

As we did with the 911 tragedy, FOSSILS decided to donate an entire raffle to the hurricane relief fund. The raffle was held during the October meeting & raised $370. Your generosity was greatly appreciated. Here is the thank you that we received from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. If you would like to contribute again or if you didn’t get a chance to participate in the fundraiser raffle, here are a few links to assist you:

http://store.yahoo.com/redcross-donate3/
http://www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org/

As some of you already know Rich O's and the BBC Tap Room have sold pints of Abita Gold and Abita Purple Haze to raise money for The American Red Cross. At this time Abita Brewing Co is New Orleans' largest craft brewery with distribution across the country. Their web site is http://www.abita.com/. On it they are selling items who's profits go to disaster relief.


FOSSILS dues are $18 a year for an individual, with the privilege of bringing a guest to meetings. The dues-paying individual only is considered to be an active member for the purpose of voting in elections and other member benefits (sale-priced t-shirts, for example). Dues are $18 a year for a family: you and your husband/wife/significant other. Both designated adults are considered to be active members for the purpose of voting and other member benefits. Make sure your dues are current.

The End.

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