February 2002 Meeting Minutes
By Mark Tumarkin
Dave called the February meeting to order at Sara's house; thanks Sara, and you too, Dave. The March meeting will be held at Karen's house. That may be the last time we'll see George, as the new brewer is due in April. Pete Turner will be hosting the April meeting and Dave Williams volunteered to hold the May meeting at Julie's house. I guess he figures that's the only way he'll make it to a meeting.
Dave began the meeting trying to suck up to me by saying nice things about my tenure as Primary Fermenter. Perhaps this was to balance viciously slamming me as the 'non-brewing Fermenter.' No, I'm just kidding - it was good to hear that my efforts for the club are appreciated; and I know the digs about my recent non-brewing are certainly merited.
Perhaps with me in mind, Dave laid out his new policy of encouraging group brews. It will be good for the club, and some of us non-brewers in particular. His idea is to do a large group brew on someone's brew system every other month and also to encourage people to invite others over whenever you want to brew. This will give us all the chance to see each other's brew systems, learn new tricks & techniques, and just plain brew more often.
Dave plans on using the Executive Committee approach to get as much of the mundane business as possible done at separate business meetings, thus freeing the Last Friday meetings for more fun and interesting presentations. These Executive meetings are open to any who want to participate, not just the club officers. Look for an announcement on the Hogtown list of the time and place for these meetings.
There are lots of events being planned for the next few months. First will be a party at Wayne and Sue's on Saturday, March 9th. After all, we've got some Guinness and Bass from the Faire that needs to be drunk. Erin is working on plans for the next Hogtown Navy canoe trip, tentatively scheduled for April 27th, though this is dependant on rain and the resulting water level in the river. We are looking at destinations for this year's Road Trip/Pub Crawl. Look for upcoming destination options and a vote on same on the Hogtown List. Also being talked about are a Beer Dinner with dishes prepared with beer and paired with a complementary beer, and a separate Thai dinner/cooking class to be held at Craig & Nancy's.
Also discussed was a possible camping trip. As mentioned before; though there are some great State Park locations, they don't allow alcohol. So please let us know if you know of a private campground that would be beer friendly, reasonably priced, and offer other activities (canoeing, springs, good hiking, etc).
Wayne then gave a report on the results of the Medieval Faire. The short version · the Faire didn't suck. We did better this year than ever before. The treasury is fat and the officers are selflessly going on an exploratory trip to Belgium to plan out the club's big Road Trip Extraordinaire. Great work everyone. As Sue said, reach around and give yourself a pat on the back. Our success is largely attributable to the incredible level of participation shown by everyone.
Sue gave a very brief presentation/tasting on Fruit, Spiced and Smoked beers. Her offerings were limited as certain Parties Who Shall Remain Nameless forgot to bring back beers from a recent Tampa trip, though they did report on all the great fruit and smoke beers that were available.
After that, the meeting degenerated into the typical drinking and debauchery expected at your average Hogtown Brewers meeting. Don't miss the next one!