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Novice wine, mead, and cordial tasting at Pennsic War

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Pewter_of_Deodar

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Hey all,

House DeLondres will be hosting a mead, wine, and cordial tasting at 2 PM Wednesday afternoon of War week. The very informal event is open to everyone that brews and admission to the event is one 750 mL bottle of your own brew.

The meet is targeted at all levels of experience but is intended particularly for novices and intermediate brewers. The sample you bring will be shared with everyone there. We will have two Baron Master Brewers from House DeLondres in attendance to provide feedback and instruction. The meet is intended to be a social as well as a learning experience.

Please do NOT feel like your sample has to be a perfect brew. Bring what you make and let everyone try it. And if you happen to be stuck right now with no batches that are not fermenting, please come anyway. Some of our samples will likely be the meads our household has on tap at War each year...

I'd ask you to RSVP to me (using my profile here) if you are thinking you will probably attend so I can have a rough idea of how many to expect. The first time we held this event, we had about a dozen individuals show up and got to taste Wrathwilde's Maple Syrup Mead (which was excellent). The more, the merrier...

Pewter
 

Pewter_of_Deodar

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Pennsic War was the last week of July and the first week of August. It was held at Cooper's Lake Campground in Slippery Rock, PA. It is around 12,000 SCA members and friends gathering to play medieval for two weeks. Kinda like a Ren Faire on steriods if you are not familiar with the SCA...

It will occur again next summer and there will likely be another tasting as well...
 

Pewter_of_Deodar

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UDV said:
Is there going to be a repeat in 08?

Yes, if I make it to War. The chances are about 50-50 right now. What day will also depend on when my Household has their Bardic (used to always be Tuesday night, may be Wednesday now) and so the day of the bardic will be out. It is generally around 2 in the afternoon. This year I also want to avoid Grim's tasting/class if at all possible so that people can attend both. Also dependent upon the availability of the Barons to provide advice and comment on the things sampled.

But the "price" for admission is to bring a bottle of something of your own (cordial, wine, or mead) to share with the others in attendance. Hopefully see you there...

As always, all my friends from Gotmead are always welcome to stop by our camp and fix a broken mug (by filling it with good mead) any time I am in camp. We are the camp with the solar showers in our front yard (X-04?). And you can always bring by samples to share even if we do not have a tasting...

See you there!

Pewter of Deodar
(Ward to House DeLondres)
 

UDV

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Sadly the only thing I have bottled is a Chimay clone that's well, pretty awful.

I don't think anything I have brewing will be ready by then.
 

Pewter_of_Deodar

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UDV said:
Sadly the only thing I have bottled is a Chimay clone that's well, pretty awful.

I don't think anything I have brewing will be ready by then.

Show up anyway. Or better yet, read a bit on cordials and try making one. They only take a few weeks...

And you can still bring it so that we can help you analyze what went wrong...

Good luck and hopefully see you at War,
Pewter
 

UDV

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And you can still bring it so that we can help you analyze what went wrong...

[/quote]

I will definitely bring that. I might have a small 2 or 3 gallon load of JAO done by then as well!

I'm with Circus of the Damned, do you know the geography at all of how to get there? The last time I went was 95, and I was *so* lost.
 

Pewter_of_Deodar

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Ok, it's official now...

The Novice Mead Tasting will be held on Wednesday afternoon of War week at 2 PM in the camp of House DeLondres (X-05) right behind the solar showers. Please take this opportunity to stop in, share your brews, sample the brews of others, receive some expert advice, and learn some more about making your own meads, wines, and cordials. Everyone is asked to bring a 750 mL bottle of their own brew to share although this is not absolutely mandatory. We will have at least one and maybe two quad category master brewers (one a brewing laurel) to sample your items and provide some constructive feedback on what you can do to improve you potables. This event is usually small and very casual so please plan on attending...
 

pain

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OK, I'll mark it on my schedule, and pray my household doesn't have plans for me to be shooting someone then.

All I managed to get finished enough to bring is the meadowfoam, but it is pretty yummy. Life got in the way of pitching batches, and I've got a kitchen covered in carboys, bottles of apple cider, blackberry juice, and a freezer full of strawberries....LOL. I have to pitch like 5 batches the day after I get home from War, or my hubby will divorce me, I think. He can't stand much more of weaving around my brewing supplies......

Plus, I've got an interesting collection of commercial meads that I can bring, including some of the last of the Spruce Mountain Meadery mead (good stuff) I got last time I was there, and stuff from Poland, and who knows what all else.......
 

Pewter_of_Deodar

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Vicky - the Meadwench said:
OK, I'll mark it on my schedule, and pray my household doesn't have plans for me to be shooting someone then.

All I managed to get finished enough to bring is the meadowfoam, but it is pretty yummy. Life got in the way of pitching batches, and I've got a kitchen covered in carboys, bottles of apple cider, blackberry juice, and a freezer full of strawberries....LOL. I have to pitch like 5 batches the day after I get home from War, or my hubby will divorce me, I think. He can't stand much more of weaving around my brewing supplies......

Plus, I've got an interesting collection of commercial meads that I can bring, including some of the last of the Spruce Mountain Meadery mead (good stuff) I got last time I was there, and stuff from Poland, and who knows what all else.......

Hey girl,

I have some Trance bottled for you. But for the tasting just bring your own stuff. The focus is on what we are doing, not what the companies are up to...

That said, please bring the commercial stuff by some afternoon/evening and share a place at the fire and we can taste and chat up our favorite hobby.

I am actually bringing a bottle of my 2nd Cyser. It has NOT aged very well. The apple has disappeared or greatly reduced and the spices have come forward. I may go with unspiced cysers in the future but I want to get comments and critique to improve rather than show something off.

My absence in the Brewlogs for about a year should indicate my level of activity. I hope to keg two or three batches for the camp tap so you may get to taste some more of my stuff assuming any of it is any good. I will taste and keg tonight or tomorrow. I am not packed at all since the son used the van and only unpacked it late last night. I have a rope bed to make and kegging to do so I may not leave until late Saturday or even Sunday. But yeh, I have tons of batches to pitch when I get back and kegging will free some carboys.

BUT please stop in a few times during War... seriously...

Hugs,
Pewter
 

pain

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I won't get up until middle weekend, on Sunday. But I will stop by.

I'm not at all packed either, and have to make a couple kaftans this weekend, and bottle the mead.....
 

BeeFolks

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The Bee Folks will be present again, and we will probably have our own mead tasting at some point. Keep an eye on the Independent, or ask at our booth (just downhill from the showers).

I won't be there personally, unfortunately - pregnant with triplets, could easily pop while Pennsic is ongoing. Ben will be the manager in my absence. I believe he is also offering honey tastings in the camps this year (you need to make reservations at the booth), and will be offering a free delivery service for large orders.

We will have a limited number of buckets for sale, and we have some honeys that are not currently on our website (Almond, Bamboo). The folks who have tried the Almond say it is great for brewing. Has a bit of a nutty taste.....

And Hey, Vicky - if you have a chance, send a bottle of that Meadowfoam my way! I haven't been able to start the two batches I want yet (although I have started a pure Heather Honey and something that I hope will be a Sparkling Strawberry). I can't drink now, but once I'm off the meds for the cesarean, I'd love to try some!

Lori Titus
 

UDV

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I will be down at War from until 8/2 until i think packing up. I am not sure when 'war week' actually is if it's the first or second week. I'll be camping near W10.

I am awful at maps/directions so hopefully I will find someone there!
 

pain

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That second week is War Week. I'll be camping with the Outlanders (the home of the Virgin Sacrifice most years), way out past the fighting field up in the trees.

Those that will be there that want to get up with me, email me privately and I'll get you contact info....
 

Oskaar

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Egaad!

You won't have any of that commercial mead with you .... will you?

:cheers:
 

pain

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BeeFolks said:
I won't be there personally, unfortunately - pregnant with triplets, could easily pop while Pennsic is ongoing. Ben will be the manager in my absence. I believe he is also offering honey tastings in the camps this year (you need to make reservations at the booth), and will be offering a free delivery service for large orders.

We will have a limited number of buckets for sale, and we have some honeys that are not currently on our website (Almond, Bamboo). The folks who have tried the Almond say it is great for brewing. Has a bit of a nutty taste.....

And Hey, Vicky - if you have a chance, send a bottle of that Meadowfoam my way! I haven't been able to start the two batches I want yet (although I have started a pure Heather Honey and something that I hope will be a Sparkling Strawberry). I can't drink now, but once I'm off the meds for the cesarean, I'd love to try some!

You got it Lori! A bottle of the meadowfoam is set aside with your name on it.....

That almond sounds good.....wonder if I'll have the cash for it..
 

BeeFolks

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Remember what I said about potentially popping during Pennsic?

Well, it's not "potential" anymore. :cheers:

The triplets arrived at approximately 9:10 Sunday night (8/3/08), at 29 weeks and 2 days. :eek:ccasion13: The water on one of them broke early 5:30 Wednesday AM, Dave drove me to the hospital, and they prolonged labor long enough to get two days worth of steroids into me (to help the babies' lungs develop quickly). It looked like they were going to be able to prolong labor a bit longer, and there was talk of keeping me in the hospital until 32 weeks. However, Sunday afternoon, after a visit from the rest of my family, I discussed the "minor" labor pains I had been feeling all afternoon with a nurse. She hooked me up to a monitoring system, and they recorded contractions 5 minutes apart. A quick exam showed that one baby was already descending. A check on my vitals showed I was running a temp of 100.3, indicative that either me or the baby was coming down with an infection (which can happen after a water breaks early). So, an emergency c-section was performed on Sunday night.....

They are currently in NICU, and doing relatively well. They are having minimal help breathing, although they still need to be reminded to breath when they are asleep. I have been allowed to hold two of them so far, and the largest of them seems to get very comfortable in my arms, then open his eyes to try to look at me. It is very touching, and I feel much more bonded to them now then when I was actually pregnant.

Names were kinda fun to pick. While I was preggie, they were referred to by the ultrasound team as babies A, B, and C. So, we decided to pick names beginning with A, B, and C, and Dave was very insistent that he wanted the initials to spell something. We settled on Arthur Raymond Titus (Raymond was Dave's father), Brannon Ash Titus, and Charles Ares Titus (Charles is my dad's name, and Dave was insistent upon having a god's name SOMEPLACE). :triplets:

Anyhow, enough for now. Will post pics when I get a chance. I expect to be released from the hospital tomorrow, the babies will likely be released around the first week of October. And, thanks to everyone who has stopped by our booth at Pennsic to inquire about us.
 
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