Welcome to the Basin Brewers Homebrew Club Website.

Our club was established in 1994 in Permian Basin of west Texas, and we have been proudly brewing ever since.

Membership is open to anyone who enjoys quality craft beer and can come up with $24 per year. Perks include sampling homebrew and microbrews, club mugs and t-shirts, discounts on grains and hops, free copies of Southwest Brewing News, and a friendly atmosphere.

If you have any news about homebrewing or Texas Breweries, email The Webmaster

Basin Brewers in the News

They want legislators to listen to them about rules for small breweries

By RONNIE CROCKER
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
July 16, 2011, 8:03PM

The unsuccessful effort over the last three legislative sessions to tweak Texas beer laws spotlighted tensions within the state's three-tier system that requires breweries to sell their product to distributors, who then sell it to stores, bars and restaurants.

But a group of Houston-area beer lovers says the lawmakers need to start listening to yet another tier — consumers.

"The fourth tier wants to speak up," said Ted Duchesne, a Clear Lake-area beer blogger and president of a nascent nonprofit organization that pledges to work on behalf of consumers to increase the availability of craft beer in Texas.

The group, Open The Taps, hopes to do so by encouraging legislation - such as the stifled efforts to expand the ways small breweries and brewpubs get their goods to market - and regulatory changes often cited as a deterrent by out-of-state craft breweries that want to do business here.

Duchesne and the other founders believe they can tap into a large, passionate base that prefers craft beers to mass-produced ones. They are set to launch a fund-raising drive in major Texas cities and next month will be recruiting members at a public home brewing event in Seabrook.

Duchesne said he put the organization's application for 501(c)(6) status in the mail Friday. It will model its efforts on groups like Free The Hops, which successfully lobbied this summer for changes to Alabama state law that allow breweries to open on-site taprooms and offer tours.

Another nonprofit, Raise Your Pints, is pushing to remove alcohol limits in Mississippi that keep out many craft beers and imports.

Changing Texas law has thus far proved impossible in the face of well-financed opposition from some of the biggest distributors and from Anheuser-Busch InBev, which runs a brewery in Houston. A bill to allow restaurants that make beer on site to package some and sell to distributors never made it out of committee, while a measure to let small breweries distribute a small amount to visitors during tours was killed late in the session.

The founders of Open The Taps say the recent explosive growth of craft beer in the state and the number of new breweries prove there is grass-roots support here that they can leverage into legislative action through lobbying. One of their first initiatives is to recruit 100 people willing to contribute $100 apiece in each of the state's four biggest metro areas: Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas/Fort Worth.

"We know we're never going to match AB InBev," said founding member Cathy Clark. "If we raise a half-million, they'll raise a million. If we raise a million, they'll raise 3 million."

But, she and other say, this is a chance to see if Texas politicians really do support small, often family-owned businesses.

"At the end of the day, this is the right thing to do," treasurer Chris White said. "And this is the right time to do it."
ronnie.crocker@chron.com twitter.com/rcrocker

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7656401.html#ixzz1SeLtzPbf

Donate to Texas Beer Freedom

The fight for HB 660, which would allow brew pubs to sell beer to distributors and enter the supply chain has a new tool: www.texasbeerfreedom.org. Texas Beer Freedom is raising money to help with expenses related to ensuring HB 660's passage, most importantly a lobbyist to help the bill get through the legislature, and a consulting firm to help with events coordination and PR. While you and I writing our legislator every day to voice our opinion is a good thing, politicians really only listen to lobbyists, not to the hoi polloi.

Head on over to TexasBeerFreedom.com, and shoot 'em a $20 bill. It's a good cause. And keep writing your Legiscritter. Maybe if we bother them enough, they will do what we want them to do, rather than what large corporations want them to do to us.

Beer found in sunken ship to be analysed and possibly brewed again

Scientists examining chemical structure, and searching for live yeast

Beer that was raised by divers from a sunken ship in the waters of the Åland Islands is to be analysed by experts of the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). The semi-autonomous province of Åland is anxiously awaiting the findings of the analysis, and a number of breweries in different countries have expressed interest in starting production if a working recipe can be reconstructed on the basis of biochemical analysis. The provincial government of Åland, which has claimed ownership of the vessel, has brought a bottle to VTT for analysis. In addition to beer, some of the world’s oldest known champagne was found in the sunken ship.

Briefing journalists on the matter at VTT in Espoo, Rainer Juslin, an official of the provincial government, pondered how well a brand name like “wreck beer” might sell. On Monday, a bottle of the salvaged beer was ceremonially opened, using a set of sterilised instruments, creating the air of intricate surgery. The precautions proved unnecessary, as the cork opened unexpectedly easily. However, it is feared that the content of the bottle might have been affected by the sea water.

Research engineer and taster Arvo Wilpola, has used his taste buds professionally for 30 years, but sampling centuries-old beer was clearly a stunning experience for him. At first the panel had sniffed the beverage intensely. The first whiff was that of hydrogen sulphide – the odour of rotten eggs. However, it dissipated quickly. Wilpola believes that the smell was probably caused by broken yeast cells. There was also an odour reminiscent of French cheese.

Journalists gathered at the event were allowed to sniff the beverage, and it was agreed that it still had the unmistakable aroma of beer. The researchers were surprised by the strong acid taste, which made it difficult to evaluate the possible alcohol content. The taste of salt was a strange experience. Good news was that intact yeast cells were found. If the yeast is still alive, the cells will gradually start to multiply in cultures taken from the sediment on the bottom of the bottles. The original yeast would give a special character to the beer, says yeast expert John Londesborough.

The colour of the beer is golden yellow, and it is clear, even though Londesborough would have considered it more likely that the beer in the sunken treasure would have been a darker porter-type beverage, like that which was found off the British coast in a ship that sank in 1825. The date of the sinking of the vessel found off Åland remains unknown, although estimates are that it may have gone down in the early 19th century. Those sampling the beer treasure said that it was most reminiscent of a Belgian Lambic.

The yeast and other microbes will be analysed for DNA to ascertain their structure. There are hundreds of different kinds of beer yeast, but the significance of yeast was not known very well in centuries past. Lambic beers also use lactic acid bacteria in the brewing process. The researchers are trying to ascertain if hops were used in the brewing; the expert tasters could not detect any. Other questions are whether or not the grain that was used was barley or wheat, and where the salt came from. About 200 years ago the water was not always up to today’s purity standards for tap water. The laboratory tests are expected to take about four months.

HELSINGIN SANOMAT Photo Credit: VILLE MÄNNIKKÖ

HB 660 and 602 Rally in San Antonio

Scott Metzger, owner of Freetail Brewing Company in San Antonio, is planning a February 25 rally to show support for both house bills beginning at 5:30pm at Main Plaza in San Antonio. The rally will feature a press conference by Representative Mike Villarreal and discussion from other speakers, live music from 3 bands, and of course lots of Texas beer!

HB 602 would allow breweries to charge for tours and include a 6-pack, 12-pack, or case (up to 48 12-ounce bottles) in the tour price. Brock Wagner, owner of Saint Arnold Brewing Company supports this bill. He argues that it would let him generate a little extra income to update and modernize his brewery. HB 660 would allow brewpubs to bottle and sell their beer to distributors for resale to retail accounts. Metzger supports this bill, which he says will help him grow his business.

Metzger has a blog called Brewed and Never Battered that chronicles his efforts to get HB 660 passed. Back in January, Metzger took a trip to his local HEB, and compared the size of the shelf space alloted to Texas beers with those of out of state breweries that own restuarants or pubs and found out of state brewpubs had over twice as much shelf space as Texas beers. Texas brew pubs are not allowed to sell their beer in other outlets. So he asked, why can Tommyknocker, for example, sell beer in a Texas outlet, and Freetail can't?

In order to bring fairness to Texas beer laws, contact your local State Representative and let them know that you supoort Texas jobs and Texas breweries and HB 602 and HB 660.

Jester King Brewery is having their Grand Opening January 29 at their farm brewery outside of Austin. Sounds like a road trip!

No Label Brewing Makes First Official Sale

Just in time to be clocked in as a 2010 New Brewery, No Label Brewing in Katy sold their first keg on December 28 to The Public House Bar in Katy. Their first beer was Ridgeback Amber Ale. Don't expect a large production run, though. The brewery is waiting on their 15 barrel system which should arrive in the next few weeks.

Jester King Brewery Starts Brewing

On Thursday, September 23rd, five months after breaking ground at the site, Jester King Brewery began production of its first batch. Appropriate to the farmhouse setting, the inaugural brew is farmhouse ale called “Boxer’s Revenge”, in honor of the stalwart, hard-working farm horse in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Boxer’s Revenge is an oak barrel aged wild beer that is golden in color and brewed with Belgian pilsner malt, American hops and French Saison yeast. Following the initial fermentation, it will be dry-hopped with a blend of Cascade and Centennial hops and transferred to neutral, French Oak wine barrels for additional fermentation and aging with a blend of wild yeasts. The finished beer will be quite dry and effervescent, with an anticipated ABV of 7.5%.

Shiner 96 Comes Out of Retirment

National Homebrewers Conference

It's that time of year again! It's time for Gary and Jeff's annual Mission From God. This year, they will travel from Midland to New Glarus, Wisconsin, to Minneapolis, Minnesota and back in ten days.

Pray for their livers!

Follow the shenanigans from Jeff's Twitter feed. Sign up for Twitter while you are there. It's a fun way to keep up with friends and family.

Then, come back here in July, when Gary and Jeff will give all the detail of their trip: The Mission From God IV: The Search for Beer or Drink Harder. (They're still working on the name.)

Another Texas Brewery

While surfing the Web, I ran across No Label Brewery in Katy, Texas. A family run brewery, it looks like they are about to start brewing. According to the site, they will have a hefeweizen, an American Amber, an American Pale Ale, a Blonde Ale.

DUI Victim Confronts Woman Who Put Him in Wheelchair

by Jeff Holt

As home brewers, we enjoy drinking good beer, and having a good time. We shouldn't need a reminder to drink responsibly, and to always have a desginated driver. But, if you do need a reminder, here's a moving story from Fort Worth about Matt Lundy who took the stand at the trial of Erica Kolanowski. Kolanowski broadsided Lundy's car in January, crippling him and killing his friend, Josh Carter.

New Texas Brewery Round-Up

by Jeff Holt

In the last few weeks, there have been a plethora of brewing announcements centering on Austin and the Hill Country. Already announced new breweries include Jester King, Circle Brewing, Pedernales Brewing in Spicewood (who have changed their site a bit), and Black Star Co-Op. Some in the planning stages include Hops and Grain Brewing, Moonlight Tower Brewing, South Austin Brewing, and Thirsty Planet Brewing. Also in the news is Pecan Street Brew Pub in Johnson City, and Brewsters Pizzeria in Wimberley. Oh, and there's Root Cellar Cafe in San Marcos producing small batch Belgian style beers.

And Beorne Brewery was announced just last Saturday.

2010 National Homebrewers Conference

by Jeff Holt

If you have had a chance to check out Gary's account of our trip to last year's road trip to Oakland, you'll remember how much fun we had. We are planning to go this year's conference in St. Paul. The conference is 60% sold out. St. Paul is1200 miles away, and we've planned to visit brewpubs along the way, including at stop in New Glarus, Wisconsin.

I hope some of the rest of the members can make it this year. It's always a lot of fun, and it's amazing to see that many homebrewers in one place.

Texas' Next Craft Brewery - Jester King

by Jeff Holt

Austin is becoming the hotbed of Texas brewing. Austinis it home to (512) Brewing Company, Independence Brewing Company, Live Oak Brewing Company, North by Northwest Restaurant and Brewery, GABF winner Uncle Billy's Brew and Cue, Draughthouse Pub and Brewery, Lovejoy's Taproom, and nearby is Blanco's Real Ale Brewing Company . There are a few breweries in the start-up phase: Black Star Co-op, Circle Brewing Company and Jester King Brewery.

Jeffrey Stuffings at Jester King Brewery just announced that he's purchased a new 30 barrel brewhouse from Newlands Systems, Inc. of Canada. It will take Newland Systems six weeks to build the brewhouse and then it will be shipped to their ranch in Southwest Austin. The brewery also order four 30 barrel conical fermenters from Pacific Brewery System Technologies. Also, he concrete foundation for the warehouse will be poured later this month, and is scheduled to be finished at the end of March. Last time I spoke with Jeff, they were expecting to ship their first beer by summertime.

Basin Brewers Brew-Off

by Gil Van Deventer

The Brew Off went great. We need to hold off reporting the results because we still need to judge the Best of Show and don't want to tip off any potential judges with the winners. Best of Show judging is planned to occur at Lobsterfest August 15, where we want only non-entry folks to judge and would like to further limit it to folks who know enough about beer and, better yet, are brewers themselves. Based on the Evite for Lobsterfest only 2 known brewers: Corky & Dustin, have committed to coming so far. I would expect a few more to show up. I sent them and others a separate email to encourage the non-entry brew guys to come to Lobsterfest early for Best of show judging.

We had the following judges for the brewoff: Greg, Elaine, Holly, Emily, Todd, Manny, Aaron, and Gil. It was a lot of judging for Greg, Holly, & Todd since they had no entries they were qualified to judge all categories. They had to judge 8 Belgians and 5 of the Other category! Judging started about 1 PM and went on until 5 or so. Took a while because of lack of judges so we had to use Greg, Holly, & Todd for the bulk of it. I thought they did a splendid job - worked hard and gave each brew a fair tasting. Based on their laughter I did notice they were having a greater and greater time as time progressed. Tom did most of the stewarding since he could not judge. We kept all brewers away from the judges while judging, except for the categories they were allowed to judge in. We had neutral crackers and water to clean the palate and clear plastic glasses.

I hope you don't mind waiting until Lobsterfest for the final tally.

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New Beer Taxes on the Horizon

by Jeff Holt, Webmaster

Charlie Papazian, founder of the American Homebrewers Association, recently warned of pending beer tax increases to pay for universal health care. Our Congress is contemplating tripling the beer tax, which would raise the price of a case $2 to the brewer. By the time the distributors and the retailers have added their markups, you and I will pay about $4 a case more. They are also proposing raising the taxes 20% on liquor and 233% on wine.

Papazian writes: "If you spend $3.38 on anything these days you need to actually earn about $5.40 (assuming 25% income tax bracket +4% state income tax rate). The bottom line is that a beer drinker will need to earn $5.40 (before income related taxes) in order to pay for that mythical $2 a case excise tax increase."

The main problem with raising excise, or sin, taxes is that the tax increase reduces sales, and ultimately revenue. The tax will also force those microbreweries on the edge to fail, increasing unemployment.

So, guess what this all means? That's right! It's time to contact your Congresscritters and let them know how you feel. Don't know who to talk to? Here's a website that can help you out.

Be polite, but be firm. Your salary isn't going up as fast as your taxes are.

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It's Too Late

by Jeff Holt, Webmaster

HB 2094, the bill that would allow microbrewers to get extra income from combining tour and beer sales, has died in committee. According to a post on the Houston Chronicle's Beer, TX blog, Houston's Rep. Jessica Farrar said, "It's very clear that ... it got buried." I say it was buried by the wholesaler's lobby, who contribute big bucks to every state representative's campaign. It takes a true statesman, like Rep. Farrar, to stand up to that kind of cash.

If you contacted your representative, thanks. The bill is dead until the legislature meets again in 2011. In the meantime, if you believe that supporting Texas brewers is a good idea, let your state representative know how you feel when they run for re-election.

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It's Still Not Too Late!

by Jeff Holt, Webmaster

Thanks, everyone, for contacting your representative. Now you have to do it again! The Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee Voted 5-2, with 2 absent, to send HB 2094 to the Calendar committee. It should be noted that Rep. Charlie Geren, who said he didn't know anything about the bill, why it was being blocked, and that he would "probably" vote for it, voted against it.

The bill now moves to the House Committee on Calendars who will schedule the vote. If they don't schedule it, we lose. Please contact your state representative and let them know you support this bill. If your representative is on this committee, let them know you want this bill to go to the House floor.

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It's Not Too Late!

By Jeff Holt, Webmaster

Legislation has been introduced in the 2009 Texas House and Senate that would allow microbrews like Rahr & Sons, Real Ale, and Saint Arnold to sell beer directly to the public as part of a brewery tour. This would give small Texas microbrewers a little more money to spend improving their facilities, hiring new sales employees and other general improvements. Breweries in other states can sell directly to the consumer. That's why it's easier to find beers from Colorado on your store shelves than those from Texas brewers.

The bill is stuck in the nine member Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee, chaired by Rep. Edmund Kuempel (R-Seguin). The bill must be released by the committee by May 14, or the bill will die there. Rep. Kuempel said that if four other committee members support the bill, he would vote to send it to the floor.

According to the Houston Chronicle, "State Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, who sponsored the legislation in 2007 and again this year, said she has the necessary four votes and late in the day got a commitment from Kuempel. She said he was scheduling the vote."

Earlier in the year, Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth) and Rep. Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton were identified as the key members blocking the bill from coming to the floor. Now, however, Rep. Geren says he would "probably" vote for it.

The Licensing Committee's vice-chair Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) said there was still time to get the bill to the floor, but it will still face stiff opposition from the Texas Wholesale Lobby. They are afraid this will cut into the monopoly's income, and are opposing it.

The wholesale lobby has so much power because it represents most of the beer distributers in Texas. Each state representative has at least two distributors in their district who contribute to the lobby, while there are only four microbrewers in the entire state. Those brewers simply cannot match the political contributions the wholsalers can make.

So it comes down to us, the craft beer lovers of Texas. Contact your state representative. Let them know you support House Bill 2094. Ask your representative to help get the bill out of committee. And then ask your friends to do the same.