Our dear friend (and fellow award-winning homebrewer/meadmaker) Kathy Stock is battling brain cancer at her home in Saint Paul, MN. Chop & Brew is one of many groups, companies, homebrew suppliers and breweries that have contributed to an amazing list of items for a fundraiser to help Kathy and her husband Curt Stock deal with medical costs. The event if Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at the Czech Hall above the Glockenspiel restaurant, off West Seventh in St. Paul. Check out this list of auction items. Doors open at 5. Hope you can make it.
If you can’t but want to help see the details on this flyer for how you can donated to the Stocks.
Auction items for support of Kathy and Curt Stock
Equipment and Supplies
30-gallon Rye Whiskey Barrel
A freshly dumped oak barrel from Scot and Karen Schaar and the Mississippi River Distilling Co. in the Quad Cities. The barrel will be freshly dumped and available at the event, hand-delivered by Scot and Karen. Scot emptied the barrel on Dec. 9. Perfect for aging strong beers. Compare at $200+.
Brewing Equipment from Northern Brewer
A Megapot® brew kettle, a burner and more. The list is still being assembled.
Signed “Land of Amber Waters” Minnesota Brewing History
Author Doug Hoverson has a signed copy of his coffee table book on the history of brewing in Minnesota. Full of great old photos and artwork. Retails for $39.99.
1 x 50-pound bag of Rahr two-row malt
Donated by Juno Choi and Chris German of Brewers Supply Group. $39 retail value.
1 x 50-pound bag of Rahr pilsner malt
Donated by Juno Choi and Chris German of Brewers Supply Group. $49 retail value.
1 x 55-pound bag of Weyermann pilsner malt
Courtesy of Brewers Supply Group. Retail value: $70.
Start Homebrewing! 1 Homebrew starter equipment kit and one beer ingredient kit
Both the equipment kit and the beer kit donated by the good folks at Brewers Supply Group. This is all you need to start out on the homebrewing hobby. $120 retail value.
Two New Northern Brewer counterpressure fillers
Bottle beer from a keg without foaming. Donated by Joe Gerteis. Brand new, retailing at $59.99 each.
New Brewmometer (weldless)
Top quality brew kettle thermometer, brand new. Donated by Joe Gerteis. Retails at $32.99.
New Boddington’s Stout Faucet
Donated by James Henjum. Retails for $50.
From Still H2O Brewing Supply in Stillwater
Two flip-top growlers and two $15 gift certificates.
Activities
Get a Tattoo!
Amy Bambi Wendt, owner of Jackalope Tattoo and a member of Primary Fermenters, is offering $50 off a tattoo or items in the aftercare line. Value: $50
Private Tour and Tasting for 10 at Summit Brewing
See the state’s largest craft brewery on a Saturday evening TBD. Meet a Summit brewmaster and tour special places, such as the new fermentation cellar, that are not on Summit’s regular tour. Finish with a conducted tasting in Summit’s hospitality room. Figure almost three hours for the entire experience. Some private tours of Summit have fetched thousands at charity auctions. Minimum bid: $300.
Private Tour and Tasting at Pour Decisions Brewery
This Roseville brewery has the most adventuresome and well-brewed beers of any small brewery or taproom in the area – one man’s opinion. Its offerings have included a fresh-hopped ale, a tart and refreshing Berliner Weisse, and a German Gose beer made with salt. Brewmaster and Grandmaster beer judge Kris England will personally lead a tour and conduct a tasting.
Private Tour and Tasting at Brau Brothers
Dustin Brau and Brau Brothers Brewery of Lucan, Minnesota, is offering a guided tour of their brewery along with a tasting. Justin will lead the tour personally. See how they make offerings like Moo Joos oatmeal milk stout and Sheep Head IPA.
612 Brew’s Private Tour for Four
The brewer-conducted tour comes with a growler of beer and two signed bottles of 612’s limited edition Tuned Galaxy IPA.
Finnegan’s Charitably Delicious Tour
Finnegan’s is offering a brewery tour without the brewery. Learn about the concept of producing beer where profits go to charity. Up to five people will meet with the Finnegan’s crew, enjoy snacks and pints, take home a case of beer and a whole variety of Finnegan’s paraphernalia.
Ward 6 Restaurant $25 Gift Certificate
This fine restaurant at 858 Payne Ave. in St. Paul is offering a $25 gift certificate.
Three-Hour Beer Tasting with Gourmet Snacks for Six People
Try at least eight personally selected beers and ciders with a snack selection from Roets Catering. Beverages will be chosen after a consultation with the buyer. The tasting session can be at Tim Roets’ home in Chaska, or at his new brewery in Jordan, Minnesota. Tim normally charges $350 for such events. Minimum bid: $175
Two-night, weekend stay at W Hotel in downtown Minneapolis
The W is an exclusive, boutique hotel near the action in downtown Minneapolis. Donated by the “W” and sales director Bjorn Berg. The normal prices for a two-night stay on the weekend is $400.
One-Night Deluxe Accommodation Stay for Two at The St. Paul Hotel
This is the four-star hotel in downtown St. Paul. Karla Richards, HR director at the hotel, heard about Kathy’s event and asked to help. Treat yourself to a great meal at the famous St. Paul Grill, drink a little too much, and simply walk to your luxury room. Or perfect for pairing with a Wild game or a chamber orchestra concert. This would be a value of more than $175.
Gift Certificate to the Glockenspiel Restaurant
Joyce, the proprietor of the Glockenspiel restaurant, conveniently located beneath the Czech Hall location of this fundraiser, is offering a gift certificate on their fine German beers and food. You can stop down and make use of it tonight.
Timberwolves and Wild Tickets
Dave O’Brien has come up with these:
4 Timberwolves tickets for Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014 vs Portland Trailblazers, prime location. Retail value: $197 each ticket or $788 for all four
4 Wild Tickets for Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 vs Edmonton Oilers, prime location.
Retail value: $82 each or $328 for all four
Two VIP Tickets to Mankato Craft Beer Expo (Jan. 11, 2014)
Donated by Juno Choi and Chris German of Brewers Supply Group. $80 retail value.
Brew with a Veteran Homebrewer – and get the beer
We have three long-time homebrewers with indoor breweries who will work with you on a style and recipe and brew five gallons of beer. You can participate in the brewing as much as you want – and remember that tasting past brews is part of the brewing process. Bring 48 empty, clean, non-twist-off beer bottles (available from bars) to collect the beer after it ferments. Buying two cases of craft beer easily could run $70, but that doesn’t include the brewing experience. Ingredients donated by Northern Brewer. Commercial brew-your-own places charge $145-$195. Minimum bid: $90.
1. Steve Piatz. Grandmaster beer judge and the second highest-ranked beer judge in the country with many best-of-show medals. Also a national Meadmaker of the Year. Steve has an expansive brewery in his basement in Eagan that could entertain 6-8 visitors. Also part of the brewery is a cooler capable of storing 17 kegs.
2. Paul Dienhart. A National beer judge, national gold-medal winner, and brewer for 13 years. The Minnetonka brewery located in a heated shop includes a beer fridge with two taps. The brewery is large enough to accommodate six visitors.
3. Rick Oftel. Rick has a unique, hand-fabricated brewery, The Garden View, located in his basement in Edina. The brewery is fairly tight quarters but can entertain 2-3 visitors. Substantial space is consumed by a commercial fridge containing more than 20 kegs and outfitted with seven taps. A truly decadent experience.
Make Mead with a National ‘Meadmaker of the Year’
Curt Stock taught us about making mead, an amazing beverage based on honey. It’s like fine wine, only a lot better. Two of the top meadmakers in the entire country are offering to create 5-gallon personal batches with you. Mead is expensive, requiring six or more quarts of honey along with fruit contributions. You simply can’t buy mead this good. If you could, you’d need to pay more than $200. Honey donated by Northern Brewer.
1. Mead and wood-fired pizza lunch. Thomas Eibner is a two-time National Mead Maker of the year and winner of numerous best of shows. Thomas is offering an artisan pizza lunch (from his backyard wood-fired pizza oven, weather permitting) along with making a fruit mead (melomel) or a mead made with vintage grape juice (pyment). Thomas lives on the east side of St. Paul. Minimum bid: $150
2. Mead Making and Tasting. Steve Fletty is a National Mead Maker of the Year. Steve has won numerous best-of-shows and gold medals for his meads made with white grape juice (pyments). Think of a great semi-sweet wine, only three times as good. Steve lives near the fairgrounds area of St. Paul. Minimum bid: $120
PedalPub Ride at a Steep Discount
For team building, male bonding or bachelorette parties, there’s nothing quite like the PedalPub, a traveling bar pedaled by 12 riders. Seats 15. Two-hour tours run $385 on weekends. This certificate will reduce that by almost $200. Donated by Pedal Pub Twin Cities owners Al Boyce, Beth Williams and Eric Olson. Value: $193.00
Star in a Brewing Video AND take home the beer
Chip Walton, professional videographer and producer of the “Chop & Brew” internet video series, is offering the chance to co-host an episode where you will get to choose the brew and the show will cover all the ingredients and the brewing. So, star in a video, learn about video production and also take home five gallons of beer when it has finished fermenting. Minimum bid: $100.
Fine Beverages
Non-alcoholic
Case of Craft Root Beer
Twelve, 22-ounce bottles of Mark Glewwe’s famous root beer. Mark sells this commercially at farmers’ markets in the Twin Cities, and people line up because it’s better than anything on supermarket shelves. Mark will be attaching special labels to commemorate this event. Commerical value: $42.
The Beer and Mead
Ken Schramm’s Heart of Darkness Mead
The international guru of mead is donating TWO bottles of his famous Heart of Darkness mead, made with an unimaginable amount of home grown fruit and premium honey. Called “the elusive prize of international mead lovers,” Ken produces only 150 bottles of this every year. Retails for $99 a bottle.
Growler a Month from Barley John’s Brewpub
Brewmaster John Moore is donating a growler-of-the-month deal worth more than $120. Stop by every month and get a free fill.
A Year of Beer Monthly Growler Refill from Vine Park
Dan Justesen is offering a growler with monthly refill from his brewery just up the street on West Seventh. Retail value more than $120.
A case of Summit Rebellion Stout
Just released as No. 2 in the Union series, based on an 1896 recipe from a Cork brewery. This beer is already sold out and only a few cases remain at the brewery. It will age well for many years. Crafted by Summit head brewer Damian McConn. Easily worth $100+; already collectable. Donated from the few cases left at the brewery. Minimum bid on this: $75.
A case of Summit Biere de Garde
This Unchained Series #14 French country “ale for keeping” is almost sold out at this point. A $50 value, not including future appreciation.
Rare St. Feuillien Tripel from Belgium
A giant, 3 liter bottle donated by Artisanal Imports, this higher alcohol, golden, effervescent beer retails for $85. There are few breweries in Belgium doing a better job than St. Feuillien.
Two Bottles of Indeed’s Old Friend winter warmer with pint glasses
This is Indeed Brewery’s holiday beer offering, and Thomas Whisenand of Indeed is sending both a 2012 and 2013 vintage of the 750 ml bottles, rated at 7% ABV. And you can drink it in style with the included pint glasses.
2012 Surly Darkness
Provided by Thomas Liquor in St. Paul. A cult classic Russian Imperial Stout. Eric Wentling also has a bottle of this in the auction. Retail value: $40.
Thomas Liquor Two $10 Gift Cards
From the well-stocked and friendly liquore store located near St. Thomas University.
Great Waters Gift Pack and Private Tour
The downtown St. Paul brewpub is offering a tour, growler, $25 gift card, pint glasses and a shirt.
Fulton Beer Gift Box
This swag box includes a growler with refill card, pint glasses, a t-shirt and more.
Rare beers donated from the cellar of Eric Wentling
Eric of the Jack of All Brews Club offers this support:
2012 Goose Island Juliet ($30 retail)
2012 Goose Island Bramble Rye ($40 retail)
2012 Goose Island Bourbon Country Stout ($15 retail)
2012 Surly Darkness ($40 on line) – A cult beer classic.
Vintage beers from the cellar of Thomas Eibner, with assist from Jesse Stremcha
(Three separate items for raffle
1. New Glarus collection: tripel, sour brown, Berliner Weiss and Russian Imperial Stout.
2. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot vertical tasting collection: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.
3. Bell’s collection: Batch 6,000, Batch 7.000 and Batch 8,000
Vintage beers from the cellar of Jesse Stremcha
4. 1998 Brew Reserve Old Hophead Barleywine by Humes Brewing, California
5. Sprecher barleywine (more than five years old)
6. 2004 Ommegang Three Philosophers
Rare Beers from the Personal Cellar of Joe Falkowski of JJ Taylor
These are two rare to even mention. Check them out. Joe is a sales representative for JJ Taylor liquor distributing, so expect some fine discoveries.
Gift Basket from JJ Taylor Liquor Distributors
Great stuff. Check it out.
Herkimer and moto-i Gift Basket
Gift Collection from Herkimer Brewpub and from moto-i bar, courtesy of Blake Richardson and the crew at his two establishments at Lyndale and Lake.
Four Gift Packs from Scot and Karen Schaar of Mississippi River Distilling Co.
1 Wake Up Pack
MRDC Iowa Coffee Company Coffee Liqueur with official coffee mug
Retail value: $28
2 Winter Warmer Package
MRDC Queen Bee Honey Whiskey
MRDC Flask w/ funnel and MRDC Beanie
Retail value: $54
3 Buffalo Bill Cody Drink Special
MRDC Stone Fence Apple Cider-Flavored Whiskey
Bottle of Ginger Beer and Christmas Pint Glass
Retail value: $29
4 Hangover Recovery Kit
MRDC River Pilot Vodka
Irish Dog Bloody Mary Mix
Benny’s Beef Straws
LeClaire Canning Co. Jalapeno Stuffed Olives
Official Bloody Mary Pint Glass
Retail value: $60
2007 New Belgian La Folie
Only available at the brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado, this beer gets a 100 percent rating on RateBeer. It is a wood-aged Flanders Red/Brown style (as much as Belgians adhere to style) that improves with aging – and this one has been aged six years. Donated by Paul Dienhart. Retail value $40.
Two bottles of Cantillon Lambic (Belgian sour ale)
BJ Haun of Pour Decisions Brewery pulled these two bottles out of his cellars. Anyone lucky enough to visit Cantillon in Brussels knows this is one of the most special breweries in the world, still using wooden vessels and a unique microflora for its sour beers. One is very rare and worth upwards of $100.
Rare Beers from Chateau Fletty
Mead Maker of the Year Steve Fletty dug deep in his cellar and came up with:
3. 1 bottle 2010 Dark Lord ($50 value)
4. 1 bottle 2012 Lift Bridge Commander Barleywine ($25 value)
5. 4 wine bottles of Steve’s medal-winning tart cherry mead ($20 minimum each)
6. 2 wine bottles of Steve’s tart cherry and black current mead ($20 minimum each)
7. 4-pack pepper mead sampler: cherry chipotle, mesquite chipotle, mesquite lime chipotle and raspberry chipotle (bargain minimum of $15 for all four)
Surly Syx
Now a rare beer, no longer produced. American Strong Ale that is 14.5 percent ABV. Scores an 86 on Beer Advocate. Donated by James Henjum. Original retail price was $20.
2007 Lagunitas Olde Gnarlywine
Dan Herman of Primary Fermenters was given this as a gift from the brewery when he brewed at Lagunitas earlier this year. Their take on a barleywine abounds with caramel, toffee, bread and biscuit flavors, along with some nice alcohol warming. Current value: $25.
2013 Surly Pentagram
This American Wild Ale, brewed with 100 percent Brett, medaled at the Great American Beer Festival. It was released in February and is no longer brewed. Donated by Tim Roets, proprietor of the Tim Roets Brewery in Jordan, Minnesota. Retail price: $25
More from the Cellar of Tim Roets
Etienne Dupont French Cider
North Coast Old Stock Ale (2012)
Boulevard Rye on Rye (2013) Retails for $14
The Wine
Three Amazing Selections from the Cellar of The Wine Company
These vintages and fine glassware were generously supplied by sales rep Josh Landy:
1. Quinta do Noval Port paired with Riedel Port Glasses!
Vintage Port 2000
Score: 96
Release Price of port: $80
Very fine young Port. Fascinating aromas of crushed fruit, tar and wet earth. Turns floral. Full-bodied, medium sweet, with chewy, velvety tannins and a long finish. Grips your mouth. A balanced and caressing Noval. Best after 2012. Only 1,500 cases made.
Paired with a set of two Riedel Vinum Port Glasses (retail value of glassware $50).
2. 2003 Guigal Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde paired with Riedel Syrah Glasses!
A Syrah Dry Red Table wine from Northern Rhone, France
Retail price of wine: $75
Robert Parker in Wine Advocate, April 2007: “The 2003 Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde is probably the finest cuvee of regular Cote Rotie that Guigal has produced since 1999 or 1991. Stunningly rich, it offers a beautiful, sweet nose of cassis, mocha, espresso, bacon fat, black olives, and underbrush. Some smoked meat notes also make an appearance in this rich, lush, opulent wine. This is a beauty.”
Paired with a two pack of Riedel Vinum Syrah Glasses (retail value $50)
3. 2009 Alexander Valley Cyrus paired with Riedel Cabernet Sauvignon Glasses!
A Proprietary Blend Dry Red Table wine from Sonoma, California
Retail price of wine: $55
Antonio Galloni in Wine Advocate, April 2013: “The 2009 Cyrus emerges from the glass with fresh, floral aromatics that give the wine an attractive sense of weightlessness for a wine made from Bordeaux varieties. Sweet raspberries, rose petals, spices and new leather flesh out as the wine opens up in the glass, all supported by silky, polished tannins that are rare in Alexander Valley reds. This tasty, polished wine should drink well to age ten, perhaps beyond. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2019.”
Paired with a 2 pack of Riedel Vinum Cabernet Sauvignon glasses (retail value $50)
2006 Cakebread Cellars Zinfandel
Zinfandel from California’s North Coast. Donated by Tim Roets, proprietor of Tim Roets Brewery in Jordan, Minnesota. Prices online run $46.