The Battalion
riday
djoD ovember 10, 1995
3
1:15
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re hi
uality,
ot quantity
c d. E;l| !
^frewfest II puts home-
ialic- • ■ | | U
more wed beer to the test
inter p
h y auy Katharine Deaton
'HI BA I I'Al-lON
nyone passing by Carney’s Pub this weekend may look twice
at what is going on — people exchanging recipes, live bands
performing and, of course, beer drinking. Brewfest II will be
llaielkl tomorrow at Carney’s Pub at 2 p.m.
idoiu |erald Smith, owner of Home Brewers Supply, said Brewfest II is
P e ike “a big festival.” Bands such as Sneaky Pete, Kenneth S. Tramm
. ) ' n j |nd the Maps and the Boxcar Poets will perform. A dart tournament
" ind a “Name that Beer” contest will be held.
^■’he main focus of Brewfest II is home-brewed beer. People who
(eiirrjrekv their own beer can enter their brew in a variety of categories to
ch, le judged by three “well-known, world-renowned” judges, Smith said,
hai'ipmith said a winning beer is “something that is very drinkable and
| true to its style.” He said that a lot of the time, the recipe plays a big
ole in whether a beer is good or not.
‘fceith Klemta, a home brewer and Class of ’88, said Brewfest is a
fyat place to meet and talk to fellow beer brewers.
IJJ'It’s a way to be around a lot of people who enjoy a common hobby,”
p“ Uemta said. “Everyone talks about beer. Everyone has their own
p ; jlcks or secrets, and it’s a way to see how your beer stacks up against
sveryone’s. It’s kind of social and kind of competitive.”
■Klemta said the challenge of brewing beer is what attracted
ier lim to it.
502foB“It’s also hard to find [German and Scotch Ale] in stores,” Klemta
up laid. “You can make beers you can’t find and impress your friends.”
■Gary Halter, an associate professor of political science, said he be-
jan brewing beer for the same reason.
."J“I didn’t like what you could buy,” Halter said. “Most American
jeers are pretty awful. But there’s getting to be better commercial
.11 beers on the market.”
g vWou create something, and that's enjoyable. It's
R£ |ersonal satisfaction just being able to do it."
— Keith Klemta
home brewer, Class of ’88
Klemta said brewing beer is easy and inexpensive.
“It’s not as hard as everyone thinks it is,” Klemta said. “You need
t a few things. It’s pretty basic. You don’t need a big Budweiser
wery to make it.”
form: r j’i ie f our ma in ingredients in beer are barley grains, hops, water
Rmc ^ Y east - r ^ ie ingredients are mixed, boiled and put in a five-to-six
lion container. It is then fermented for four to seven days, condi-
ned and bottled.
A good competition beer takes about one month from start to finish,
emta said. For standard, “around the house” beer, start to finish
ces about two weeks.
Home brewers often follow recipes to brew beer with their desired
. ^iracteristics, Smith said.
Jf “Home Brewers Supply has a recipe sheet available with about
,000 recipes,” Smith said. “There are about 47 different styles of
sr. Some brew right off the sheet, and some make changes.”
Klemta said the beer most brewers make is a darker, richer Eu-
jean style.
Everyone associates beer with Coors and Budweiser, and that’s re-
poratfly light,” Klemta said. “In Europe, they call that water. We’ve gotten
•turc feed to it. It’s generic beer. Making Budweiser is just one style. Euro-
^ >ean beers are darker. It’s a challenge to make one like Budweiser, but
( t depends on if you want to experiment or stick to what you know.”
■ Klemta said he enjoys brewing beer for the relaxation.
■ “You create something, and that’s enjoyable,” he said. “It’s personal
sen ai isfaction just being able to do it.”
mdfil But Klemta said people’s views of beer brewers are “beer-bust kind
lltffflguys,” and he said those views are wrong,
cfili “People who brew don’t brew for quantity,” he said. “They brew
t ' esl, J)r quality.”
stamt
Shane Elkins, I'm Battalion
Becky Penderson, a sophomore business major, and Amy Magness, a junior civil engineering major, work on Bonfire.
WBC strives for equal opportunity at Bonfire
By Katharine Deaton
The Ba italion
T hirty years ago, the voices of women
could not be heard at Bonfire or cut
site. But today, men and women
work together to keep the tradition alive,
without the exclusion of women.
“Basically, everything guys do, women
do,” Kathryn Noser, Women’s Bonfire Com
mittee senior assistant coordinator and a
senior speech communications major said.
“They cut, load and stack.”
Noser said women were only recently
allowed to participate in all aspects of
Bonfire. Women were not allowed to stack
until 1974 and were allowed to go to cut
site for the first time in 1979. Noser said
women were motivated to participate by
“the same thing that motivates the guys in
Bonfire. It’s the Aggie spirit, the tradition
and it’s fun.”
Many women are involved in Bonfire
through the Women’s Bonfire Committee.
The committee began as a subcommittee
of the Aggie Bonfire Committee to provide
water, lunches and tobacco products to men.
In 1991, WBC was recognized as a separate
organization.
WBC and Bonfire Reload Crew provide
an option for women who want to be in
volved with Bonfire but do not want to be
involved in manual labor.
Although women are now allowed to cut
and stack, the WBC still maintains its origi
nal purpose.
“As far as the WBC is concerned, we’re
responsible for providing food and water at
cut site,” Noser said. “WBC has a shack at
the Bonfire field that provides water and
lunches for people at stack. Whenever stack
is open, the shack is open.”
Noser said there are mixed reactions
from men about women participating in
Bonfire.
“A lot [of guys] are motivated by girls
working as hard as they are,” Noser said.
“There are still some who feel like girls
shouldn’t be in the woods and that Bonfire
is for guys. Girls should be on trucks like
good little water wenches.”
But Noser said most of that attitude is
gone and women are accepted as a part
of Bonfire.
“At the beginning, as when anything
starts new, everyone resists change, es
pecially at this university,” Noser said.
“Everyone is satisfied with the status
quo. But most of that is gone, and it’s
turned more into, ‘Gee, glad you’re here’
than, ‘Go home.’”
Paul Young, a junior redpot and business
administration major, said the men general
ly do not mind the women at cut site.
“The girls on the water trucks do a
great job keeping the water and food
coming to people,” Young said. “The girls
who cut do a great job, too. Most guys
don’t mind as long as they come to work.
But it’s the same for guys.”
Noser said that sometimes, motivation
plays a bigger part for the women than
the men.
“Sometimes I think the girls do a better
job, not because they can cut down more
trees or lift more, but because they’re moti
vated to prove they can do it,” Noser said.
“If you’ve been told you can’t do something,
you strive more to prove you can do it. It’s
like telling a guy, ‘You’re cutting like a girl.’
It makes him cut harder.”
Noser said sexism does exist at Bonfire
but it is not as severe as some people make
it out to be.
“Sexism is everywhere, and you do what
you can to deal with it,” Noser said. “Before
we go to the woods, we prepare the girls.
The guys say what they do because they’re
guys. It’s not personal. Nothing is directed
at anybody — nothing to be intentionally
cruel. I can’t think of a time when things got
so bad girls would yell, ‘Harassment.’”
Micki Helm, a Mosher Bonfire co-chair
and sophomore business administration
major, said sexism does not appear much
during Bonfire.
“It doesn’t bother me when guys call me
water wench,” Helm said. “It’s all in fun.
They’re not doing it to hurt you. They would
die if it weren’t for us. It’s gotten a lot better
than in previous years. It’s not as bad as
some people think it is.”
Young said the men are surprised when
there are accusations of sexism or harass
ment because their intentions are good.
“Most guys are shocked because they
don’t mean to harass the girls,” Young said.
“They push the limits but don’t mean to go
too far. It’s not something they try to do.”
Noser said most of the women know how
to handle offensive comments.
“Most just say, ‘Ha, yeah right,”’ Noser
said. “They respond like you must in every
day life. On the truck, there’s no cussing, —
nothing to reflect badly on WBC. Crude
ness and Bonfire don’t go hand in hand. It’s
a matter of courtesy.”
Heather Perrine, a sophomore business
administration major, said although she is
not involved in Bonfire, she’s glad she has
the opportunity.
“I think it’s good if [women ] feel comfort
able to be out there,” Perrine said. “It’s cool
that there’s a place for women and it is not
restricted to men.”
Young said as long as Bonfire gets built,
it doesn’t matter who builds it.
“It’s going to be built one way or the oth
er,” he said.
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