The OBC...no, it's not a silly teen drama series TV show on FOX. It's actually much better than that....it's the Oregon Brew Crew. This homebrew club is located in Portland, Oregon and is one of the largest and oldest clubs out there. Last night was their monthly meeting. Typically, they hold these meetings at a homebrew store, F.H. Steinbart's. The store itself offers a wonderful selection of grains, gadgets, and beer geeks...my version of utopia. I highly recommend you check them out.
The OBC meetings are fantastic. It offers a chance for beer geeks to come together, share some homebrew, talk about upcoming events, share some homebrew, meet new members, share some homebrew, and if there is time left, share some homebrew. Typically, there are about 100 people at these meetings. The menu style was Fat Tuesday (Creole and Cajun), and there were about 4 different delicious keggies on tap and tons of growlers. One of the beers was an Imperial Stout that had been aged 4 months in a bourbon barrel. It was incredible! The beer totally picked up the scent and taste of the bourbon and was a tad sour. Another beer was a Dry Stout on nitro (like Guinness). The brewmaster that made this one works at FH Steinbarts and brews about once a week. His beers are always great. I sampled some Oktoberfest, IPA's, and even a beer fermented with ginger root. The great thing about these meetings is that there is such a variety of beers. People are always willing to share their story about their beer...how they made it, what hops they used, and alcohol percentage (ironically, people seem to do the Tim Allen grunt for anything over 7%). At the end of the evening, we all say our goodbyes, wish each other luck on upcoming homebrews, and reluctantly try to flag down the number 20 bus to take us out of our idyllic paradise and back to the real world.