Brandon OBrien

Quick and Easy Hop Water at Home

Having an N/A option on tap is a great choice for those looking to cut back on their alcohol intake, or to share with friends who may have given up alcohol entirely. I started keeping hop water on tap a year or so ago and have made over 20 gallons of it. What is hopContinue reading “Quick and Easy Hop Water at Home”

Pressure Fermentation & Saving CO2

The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the benefits of fermenting in kegs or other pressurized vessels. Fermenting under pressure, purging a serving keg using CO2 generated during fermentation, and transferring to a serving keg under pressure are all ways to avoid oxygen coming into contact with your beer. These techniquesContinue reading “Pressure Fermentation & Saving CO2”

July 2024 Meeting Minutes

The July meeting was hosted by Charles and Letty and a few of their neighbors joined us as well. There was only a brief interruption from the rain. The meeting agenda items were: Below is the full beer list, commercial beers are italicized. Brandon: Loral + Pilsner SmaSH, Rye Saison Ben: Pretty Nice Little Saturday –Continue reading “July 2024 Meeting Minutes”

Summer of Saison: The Winners!

We’re pleased to announce the results of the Summer of Saison competition, including both the People’s Choice and Pro tastings! But before we get to the winners, I’d like to thank everyone involved in organizing the competition, including: We appreciate you all! But now, on to what everyone is waiting for: the winners! PRO TASTINGContinue reading “Summer of Saison: The Winners!”

Summer of Saison People’s Choice Judging

Good news! We’ve secured a venue that will allow us to take our time with the people’s choice tasting (and won’t require us to start drinking at 9am)! Here are the details: Where: Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery Production facility, 32 Bisbee Ct #3-4, Santa Fe, NM 87507 (Attention: NOT the Agua Fria taproom) When: Saturday, June 22 at 1PM What:Continue reading “Summer of Saison People’s Choice Judging”

Memorial Day 2024 Campout

Our 2024 Memorial Day campout happened at the Taos Junction campground, right next to the Rio Grande. Tom was quick to action and booked a group site that could hold 40 people, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to make it himself. Friday night had Ben plus Brandon and his family. Ben brought his Ooni pizzaContinue reading “Memorial Day 2024 Campout”

Summer of Saison 2024 Competition

Hello, Santa Fe and Albuquerque homebrewers! Do you love saison? Here’s your chance to have your beer judged by two local pro brewers with a long history in the style: John Rowley (Rowley Farmhouse Ales) and Averie Swanson (Keeping Together) We encourage you to enter saison, but we are opening the competition to several other pale BelgianContinue reading “Summer of Saison 2024 Competition”

April 2024 Meeting Minutes

We had a great meeting with a lot of big beers which was surprising for a warm Spring day. The big topic of the meeting was Club Elections. Brandon stepped down and will solely be managing the website while Ben and Michael are taking the presidency on as co-presidents. Tom and Ken will continue theirContinue reading “April 2024 Meeting Minutes”

March 2024 Meeting Minutes

This was another great meeting, as usual, with our usual group of club members. In total, we had 27 beers to share and discuss. In addition to the beers, we also had a decent amount of club business which I’ll cover below. Some topics we covered at the meeting included: Next Meeting – Tuesday AprilContinue reading “March 2024 Meeting Minutes”

March 2024 Whiskey Tasting

Our club’s first whiskey tasting was a huge success! In total, we had 17 different whiskies to try which was no easy feat. We covered just about every style of whiskey, ranging from stuff that’s easy to find on the shelves to some fairly rare bourbons. I want to give a huge thanks to MichaelContinue reading “March 2024 Whiskey Tasting”