MBAA District New England holds summer meeting in Newport, RI - Master Brewers Association of the Americas - Brief Article

Modern Brewery Age, Oct 8, 2001

District New Englnd at the Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA) held its summer meeting this year in Newport, RI, hasted by Brewers Wholesale Supply Company. "An excellent tasting of northwest beers presented by beer writer Fred Eckhardt kicked off the weekend events," says Travis Audet of Redhook New Hampshire. "His stories and insights on the beers presented were fascinating."

According to Audet, the event was catered by the Coddington Brewery, and the meal accompanied by a wide range of beers. "We sampled some terrific Northwestern beers," Audet says, "including Widmer Sommerbrau Kolsch, Anchor Steam Beer, Young's Danger Dark Ale, Skagit Brown Ale, Elysian Saison Elsee, Deschutes Pine Mountain Pils, Alaskan Smoked Porter, Pelican India Pelican Ale, and Hair of the Dog Fred. We'd like to thank all participating breweries for providing us these excellent beers."

Audet reported that many participants took advantage of the sights and activities that Newport had to offer, including sailing, shopping and sunning on the beach. "The annual golf tournament was a huge success with a very competitive showing by all teams," Audet reports. "The wrap up to the weekend's events was the BBQ at the Newport Polo Club grounds. We were treated to a great polo match between Newport and Yale in which Newport was the victor. The skill of the riders and the agility of the horses combined to make a thrilling spectacle. This was a rare sporting event where we were actually rooting for the game officials. This was because our very own host, William Crisp, was officiating the match on horseback!"

Audet says that the chapter has benefited from enormous support from industry suppliers in recent years. "This year's meeting, and the success of District New England in general, simply would not have been possible without the tremendous support of our sponsors," he says, "In addition to contributing to the events in Newport, industry sponsorship also helped District New England to establish the district's first scholarship committee. The committee will be dedicated to providing opportunities for further education in brewing for all district members,"

Audet cited a large number of suppliers for making generous financial contributions to support the chapter and the summer meeting. In particular, Audet singled out Aftek Inc., BevBuy.com, Briess Malting, Canada Malting Co. Ltd., Cargill Malt, Cuno Filter Systems, Dubois-Diversey-Lever Ind., Esquire Gas Products, Gusmer-Cellulo, Hop Union, Lithotech, Loeffier Chemical, MWM Co. Inc., Pall Filtration, Paul Mueller Corp., Rochester Midland Corp., Saint Gobain Containers, Seitz-Schenk Filter Systems, SS Steiner Inc, Upaco Adhesives, Vopak USA Inc. and Yakima Chief.

Audet reports that the next MBAA District New England meeting will be held November 9th, and hosted by the Redhook Ale Brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The topic will be the theoretical and practical applications of cleaning regimes in breweries.