HOMEBREW KOREA

A short, yet interesting article by Besty Mason over on Wired.com on how the beer purity law got started way back in 1516.

1516: Two Bavarian dukes issue a decree that limits the ingredients used in brewing beer to barley, water and hops.

Referred to today as the Reinheitsgebot (purity ordinance), the decree has come to be known as a beer-purity law that was intended to keep undesirable or unhealthy ingredients out of beer. But the original text doesn’t explicitly state the reasoning behind the regulation.

See the full article here: April 23, 1516: Bavaria Cracks Down on Beer Brewers.

For years people have been able to buy wine in a box, even if frowned upon by some people (personally, I think it’s a great idea!) but buying beer in a box was never available.

Australian industrial design student, Thomas Hussey has tackled this issue with his beer-in-a-box design.  It allows maintains a constant CO2 pressure inside the bag while keeping O2 out and the box is more environmentally friendly than the small ‘pony’ kegs.

Awesome work Tom!!

Check out the article by Jason Gelt over at Brand X Daily for the full read.

All seats are now full for the lunch/judging half of the event (if you wish to enter a SMaSH beer, please email me). I’m sorry to move the closing date forward a few days, but I must do so to make sure that there is enough beer to go around for the judging. I hope you understand, sorry for any inconvenience.

The second half of the event is of course open and free. Sampling of the remaining beer will happen on a first come, first serve basis with one sample per person per beer. This is to make sure that as many people as possible get a chance to taste the beer as possible.

Again, my apologies for any inconveniences.

I am happy to announce that Homebrew Korea will be hosting a SMaSH-off brewing contest June 12th at the Gecko’s Jukjeon location (pictures here).  A SMaSH beer is a beer brewed with just a Single Malt and Single Hop.  This is a great way to see the different flavour profiles that ingredients and brewing methods have on a beer.

Anyone is able to participate.  The event will cost 20,000won, all of which goes toward the venue and providing some food (more details to come on this).  The SMaSH-off is planned for the afternoon of June 12th.  The Gecko’s Jukjeon has a great rooftop patio that will be perfect to lounge around and sample each others beers.

The rules for the SMaSH-off are as follows:

1. You may brew ANY style of beer you wish.
2. You may choose and use only ONE of the following three malts: pilsner, vienna, and munich for use in your recipe.
3. NO OTHER MALT would be allowed (this would included roasting or toasting these three base malts).
4. You may use only ONE kind of hop in your brew. How much/when is completely up to you.
5. Yeast up to each individual as well.
6. Mashing methods, schedules, fermenting profiles, etc are up to the brewer. This is where you can really make your beer unique.

There is a thread in the Homebrew Community Forums for more discussion on the event.  There are two months to go so get brewing those beers!

EDIT:

So if you are planning on brewing a beer and attending the SMaSH-off, I ask that you please send me 20,000won. This is to cover the venue and lunch, with the remainder going towards prizes for the best beers. Only people who pay will be involved in the first half of the event (1pm ~ 3pm), which is the sampling of all the beers, judging and lunch. You are allowed to bring guests (whom didn’t brew), but they will also need to pay 20,000 towards lunch and prizes. We need you to bring around 6L of beer to cover all of the planned events. 3L or so will go to the sampling/judging and the remaining beer will go towards a public sampling from 3pm ~ 5pm on a first come, first serve basis with one sample per person per beer (while supplies last). I am going to try and have some prizes for this part of the afternoon this as well, where the winner is voted upon by the ‘public’ but this depends on what kind of sponsorship we get from the local brewshops.

Cheers,

Rob

Happy Brewing

Here is a link to the Homebrew Korea Facebook Group.