A collection of Zymologists from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa area, CRAZE is dedicated to drinking, discussing and brewing great beer.

"Tastes like a band-aid"

While comments like this (Overheard at our January meeting.  Thanks Warren!) aren't normally good things, there is a benefit to understanding how and why flavors such as "band aid" might develop in your homebrew and learning to recognize those flavors.

The theme for the February meeting will be "Off Flavors" and will feature several of the standard flavors addressed during the Beer Judge Certification Program.  Ben Schafer will doctor beer to feature several standard off-flavors and discuss what causes them to occur.

The meeting will be held:

Thursday, February 11th

The home of David Scheil

1316 W 2nd St., Cedar Falls

David requests that you enter at the side door along the drive way (on the left side of the house as you face the house).  Leave shoes in the basement so people are welcomed to bring slippers. He also mentions that a few extra folding chairs wouldn't hurt.

We will start with the social meeting around 7:00 and start the education portion of the meeting about 7:30.

Looking Ahead

Don't forget that our March meeting is replaced with our annual "March Madness(tm) Brew Day" (The term March Madness is owned by CBS and they would probably object to us using it but...)

The date will likely be held either Sunday, March 14th or Saturday, March 20th.  The final call will be made closer to the event and will depend on the weather.

The tradition of March Madness started in 2007 when a handful of the founders of CRAZE met on a Sunny Sunday afternoon to brew 3 batches of brew.  Since then, we have held the event every March with an increasing number of attendees and beers brewed each year.  You are welcome to bring your turkey fryer or use the electric stove in Ben's garage to brew your own beer.  You are also welcome to simply bring a chair and come eat, drink, and be merry with some of the members of the club.

This annual event is always a good time to enjoy the waning days of winter and the blooming days of spring!