Bubblings From the Fermenter
By Mark Tumarkin

This will be my last Bubblings column before I pass the ceremonial fermentation lock to our new Primary Fermenter, Dave Perez. So I thought I'd take a look at where we've been and, perhaps speculate on where we're going as a club.

Hogtown Brewers has a long history from it's inception in 1985. The club has been through a lot of ups and downs since then. For a while, like many clubs; it went through a rough time when it grew too fast. Many of the members were more into drinking than brewing. As a result, the club almost disbanded after Ray shut down the Hogtown Brewer brew supply shop. For several years after that the club held no meetings. In fact, other than occasional parties there really was little club activity.

Before Anne and I moved to Gainesville; I was fortunate to be part of MASH, the Miami brew club. MASH is a small but very solid and active club. As a member of this club, I was part of a group that held organized tastings and monthly in-club competitions, had group brew sessions, sponsored the Coconut Cup, held annual events like a picnic on Natl Homebrew Day, worked to support beer education (through a club library, etc), and similar activities.

So when I was asked to become president of Hogtown Brewers, MASH was the model that I was familiar with. Over the last three years as Primary Fermenter, I have tried to move Hogtown Brewers in that direction. I have served as a focus, providing some ideas and energy, but it's been a group effort. And I think a very successful one.

HB is now one of the best clubs in the state, actually one of the best in the nation. We may not be the biggest, but we've got a great group of brewers. Our membership has been slowly growing. As a University town, we have a transient community. So we lose members each year, but we've attracted some great replacements and the club is on a slow growth curve. I think that's a good thing for the long run.

We seem to have a solid core group. Our meetings and events are always well attended. Our tastings/presentations have become awesome, rivaling those available anywhere. We have continued old club traditions like the Hogtown Navy canoe trips, and started new ones like the Road Trip/Pub Crawls and the Monster Mash. We have a yeast bank and a growing club library (though I'd like to see both used more). And let's not forget our website (great job Bradley and Robert!).

Beer education and culture is an important part of who we are. We had a successful BJCP study group that produced a crop of new judges. Those judges, along with the other judges in the club, have become an active part of the competition circuit in Florida. This has really made Hogtown Brewers part of the larger brewing community. Our current BJCP study group is a continuation of those efforts. This level of commitment to beer says a lot about who and what we are as a club. This is a group you can really be proud to be a part of - I know I am.

We are very lucky to have the beer sales at the Medieval Faire to fund our treasury. It provides us with resources that few clubs our size have. This allows us to hold our pub-crawls and send our members out on beer-hunting expeditions to supply our tastings. But to me, the most fantastic thing about the Faire is the strong group effort. We've had almost 100% participation. This is truly a phenomenal event. It's a lot of fun and creates a really close bond in our club.

There are still many areas for improvement, and new things to explore in the future. I'd like to see the club host an annual homebrew competition. I'd also like to have more technical presentations at meetings, and to have more pro-brewers join us from time to time. There is generally a good level of participation by the members, but I'd like to see more people take the initiative in coming up with and facilitating events, activities, etc. I think we should establish an executive committee to meet monthly. This would give a broader base for making decisions on club business, while at the same time freeing the club meetings from this routine business (and allow us to get to the presentation/tastings more quickly!).

I know that some of you wanted me to remain as President for Life, but I think it's better for the long-term health of the club to change the leadership. That way one person doesn't get burnt out, and it also gives the club the benefit of different perspectives, leadership styles, new ideas, etc. Going back to the MASH model, they rotate to a new person for president every year.

I feel very comfortable handing things over to Dave Perez. He's got a lot of energy and love of brewing to bring to the job. Just remember, Dave may be a relatively new brewer; but this is the man who sliced his hand on his first batch, and still finished the brew before going to get medical attention. With that kind of dedication, he'll be a great Primary Fermenter.

And if you're trying to think of a way to say thank you for all my efforts, or even if you just want to get rid of me·. those tickets to Belgium are really cheap now!

Back to January 2002 front page