| Hogtown Brewers Newsletter | March 1999 |
Mark Tumarkin
I don't know about y'all, but I felt our first regular meeting was a success. We had a turnout of about 15 or so club members. This is about half the roster of current dues-paying members. (Yes, that is a hint -- if you haven't paid your dues yet, go see Wayne and get that taken care of!) Not only did we have a good turnout, but people seemed to enjoy themselves and also seemed enthusiastic about the new directions we are taking as a club.
We now have leaders for all our committees. Some volunteered for service--our thanks to Bradley, Erin and Anne. Some were volunteered--thanks to Ray and Donna; although Donna showed up shortly after she had been volunteered and graciously accepted the nomination. Let that be a warning to you, this club has a history of appointing people that don't show up to all kinds of positions and duties. So protect yourself, come to the meetings or you may unexpectedly find yourself in a position of power and responsibility.
Erin and Anne not only volunteered to be leader for the Events committee, but have already come up with the idea for an April Moonlight Canoe trip. So I think we are on the way to an awesome year of events -- already in the works are the canoe trip and a possible road trip by charter bus to Jacksonville/St Augustine.
We covered a lot of other topics at the meeting, but the one I'd really like to stress is the style of the month competitions (see the calendar of styles elsewhere in this newsletter). I think these competitions will be good for the club in a lot of ways. They should encourage us all to brew more often, and to brew styles that we might not otherwise try. We will learn about new styles and get a chance to get more formal feedback on our brewing efforts. We'll all get the chance to try judging and learn about that side of competition as well. The first two styles will be Pale Ales in April, and Lagers in May. So get started brewing now, pale ales are quick but you want to give those lagers time to lager.
We also had three guests, one of whom is very interested in becoming a brewer and possibly a member. Kevin works with Erin and would like to see the brewing process before he commits himself. Personally, I don't understand his reticence -- at least half the brewers in the club ought to be committed. Anyway, sounds like we need to schedule a boil party soon, or if you'd like to invite Kevin to see your next brew session, give Erin a call to get Kevin's phone number.
And since this is a homebrew club, we ought to give recognition to the beers that were part of the meeting. Ken Colson brought a stout that was well received (unfortunately I missed it, but look forward to sampling some at a later date). I brought out my hoppy wheat ale. Dr. Bob said "needs more hops." So I brought out some Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and gave it to him as a mystery beer. He didn't identify it but did say it was well balanced and hoppy. I was truly amazed, finally a beer with enough hops for Dr. Bob!!!
On the micro-brew side, Dr. Bob brought along the full line from Highland Brewing in Asheville, NC. They had a nice Gaelic Ale that I really liked, as well as a full range of other styles. And we can't forgot to mention all the Studley Ale and Bikini Ale from First Coast, leftovers from the Medieval Faire. Actually, we still have cases and cases that we need to drink up to show the proper appreciation and thanks due to the distributors who so kindly donated these brews. So hope to see you at the next meeting (which will be at Sue and Wayne's -- March 26th). We need your help to continue to show the proper appreciation to these brews -- as the man said, it's a dirty job but somebody has to do it.
Hogtown Brewers Newsletter
March 1999
http://hbd.org/hogtown/news/9903/mark_0399.html