Meeting Recap for February 13, 2012

Monday was Past Presidents’ Day for Rotary Club of Sacramento at the Doubletree and so, as you would expect, the agenda was rife with sex, violence and alcohol.

Current president, Ken Noack, Jr., who has made beer a pre-meeting staple this year, was the inspiration for inviting Dr. Charlie Bamforth, author of Beer is Proof God Loves Us, to be keynote speaker.

President Ken was joined by 21 past presidents, one of whom led the club 50 years ago and two of whom have had sex together (or, so one of them claims). Top that, Point West!

That pretty much covers the alcohol and sex. What about the violence? Two past presidents had vehicles stolen during club meetings, several saw combat duty and then there was the sex thing…

Moving right along…former “Emperor” Wes Yee led the portion of the program that honored past presidents. Imitating Alex Trebek, he invited Rotarians to identify false claims about PPs.

For example, there is the “urban legend” of a Past President who once showed up for an event wearing a burial suit (pin-striped, backless, boxers showing). C’mon! Who would actually do that!?

Exonerated (for the most part) Past Presidents in attendance Monday included: Henry Teichert, Charlie Gray, Bob Cole, Jack Bowker, Herb Rodebaugh, Carl Schubert, Dave Murphy and Dan Cole.

Also, Ernie Farrington, John Frisch, Frank Poelman, Hal Bartholomew, John Hamlyn, Diane Mizell, Rob Scherer, Skip Lawrence, Fred Teichert, Walter Dahl, Tim Pinkney and Beverly Brautigam.

Chair of the Day David Eastis introduced beer evangelist Bamforth, who is the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting & Brewing Sciences at UC Davis’ Robert Mondavi Institute.

Among Bamforth’s notable accomplishments: authoring several books about brewing, the ability to order beer in 77 different languages and the second most popular course at UCD (after sex education).

Bamforth asserted that beer is healthier and more sophisticated than wine and, contrary to another urban legend, is fat free.

“Boiling the ingredients kills all the nasty bugs,” he said. “When was the last time you saw Safeway recall beer? And it is alcohol that contains the calories, not the beer per se.”

Also known as the “Brew Master General” of the United States, Bamforth offered a number of helpful hints to heighten the beer-drinking experience:

Beer remains the freshest in cans, not bottles. Air can leak into the bottle through the cap, but cans are air-tight. Beer should be kept cold; it can last a year or more when stored at low temperatures.

If you are buying beer in a bottle, always get beer in brown bottles. Clear bottles and green bottles shorten its shelf life. And never drink beer from a bottle or can. Pour it into a glass.

(The latter two facts led to some embarrassment for President Ken and Chair David, who were drinking Stella Artois out of green glass bottles without benefit of a glass.)

Bamforth also explained several “ancillary” uses of beer related to personal hygiene, but we can’t describe those here because this here is a family publication.

Keith Pershall provided the Thought for the Day.  Bill Badham of Umpqua Bank was sponsor of the day. Bill Watson and PP Walter Dahl provided the wine for the pre-meeting reception.

The Club will be “dark” next week for the President’s Day holiday.  Herb Brown of the FBI will be our speaker on Feb. 27 at the Woodlake Inn.

By Steve Heath
Roving Correspondent