Meeting "Minutes"

Here are the minutes. Now, the parlimentary procedure stuff is there, but minimal, and I can only be so anal. Since it was the first meeting, "new business" and "old business" didn't apply. I put some things out of order (slightly) if it made more sense. Some stuff is in list/note form; if you have trouble figuring it out, email me and I'll clarify it as best as I can. -Bradley

Meeting information

Getting started

The first meeting of the new and improved Hogtown Brewers happened at Mark and Anne's house on Friday, 26 February 1999. After complaining a bit about Market Street for half an hour, we decided to get call "order" and complain about other things instead.

Meeting begins with Mark Tumarkin welcoming all.

Next meeting: Wayne and Sue Smith's, 26 March 1999, 7:00 pm. More details on email.

Committees

We're trying to set up committees so that not-the-same people are doing everything. Or at least so the same people who do everything can delegate some responsibilities to others.

A marketing and communications committee has been established. Bradley Dilger will coordinate. They will handle Web site, newsletters, press releases, publications, etc.

A telephone and membership committee has also been set up. Donna Huseman was volunteered as committee chairperson (and, we're happy to say, graciously acquiesced when she arrived, fashionably tardy). Donna will be in charge of recruiting members and getting a phone tree mobilized should the need ever arise (eg, if there's a sale on Sierra Nevada somewhere).

Erin Easterling and Anne Tumarkin will lead the events committee. With Ray, if contests are involved, they will coordinate events and try to make sure we have adequate planning, notice, funds, et. al. Everyone was encouraged to think of events (fishing, camping, boiling parties, whatever) for the future.

Money

Wayne Smith gave the treasurer's report. We have money, some of which was raised at the recent medieval Faire. (Sorry, we can't publish how much on the Web.) This does not include the money some of our members (who have not paid up) owe in dues. Wow. So then we talked about possible ways to spend the money. That was loosely the frame of discussions for the next hour or so:

• Donna proposed we invade Belgium. This was considered generally a good idea, but a bit larger in scope than present company were willing to tackle.

• Sue asked about having the BJCP homebrew judging exam. Ed Wolfe, a nationally ranked judge we are lucky to have among us, will gladly lead a study group and if enough people are interested, can proctor an exam. The study group will be about two hours a week for nine weeks. Nearly everyone was interested, so the decision was made to start a study group in mid-April. It was proposed, and approved, that the Club would pay all or part of the $50 testing fee for members who passed the BJCP test. Details will be ironed out by Mark and Ed in the next few weeks.

• Once a month style tastings were proposed by Erin. Mark noted that this was nicely compatible with his plans to have monthly beer contests in the Club, and send the best of those competitors to national contests held by the AHA and other organizations.

  Some discussion ensued about once a month being too frequent. Fred pointed out that in his tenure as president it was hard to have an annual contest. Mark stressed the casual nature of the contest and argued that with more contests it would be easier to get entries.

  There are several parts to this: One or two months before a given competition, at our regular meeting, we will have a tasting of the certain style coming up for competition. Sample beers in the tasting will be paid for by the Club. At the same time, one member will give a presentation on the history and characteristics of that style so everyone will know at least something about it, and be able to brew for the contest.

  A schedule of styles (dates of tasting, competitions, etc) will be posted on the web site and in the newsletter soon.

• A road trip was proposed by somebody. Raucous approval was instantaneous (it should be noted that the Club secretary was particularly raucous and neglected his Secretarial duties. Bad Secretary!)

  Mark called some bus companies and found that a 47-passenger bus to Jacksonville or St. Augustine would run about $550, round trip, all day. We could drink on the bus, as long as we didn't have glass. Some people proposed minivans or club driving instead, but the whole alcohol issue kept coming up. It was agreed that the Club could pay for the bus, and members would pay $5 or so per person to ride with to help defray the cost of the trip. Mark will look into more details.

• Fred made fun of Wayne's paper record-keeping system. Bradley noted it did not have a Y2K problem, and worked. Wayne concurred.

Propagandist's report

The newsletter will be distributed on the Web in Adobe PDF format. If you don't have Acrobat reader you'll need to download it. There will be a link on the web site.

Web forms for submitting articles and emailing all the brewers will be set up. A web form for getting information about the brewers for mailing will also be set up. Bradley will handle this to make sure no one who doesn't need it gets our information.

We'll have a business-card style information card made up. Every brewer will get a stack to keep in their wallet, etc, so that if someone asks for information about becoming a brewer, they can get all the info on one pre-printed card.

We'll also be making more T-shirts. There will be a web form for ordering shirts. You won't have to pay until they arrive, but we'll know how many we need that way, and what color, size, etc. so we don't have 50 XL shirts no one wants to buy.

Ken and Jane proposed small stickers with the HB logo on them. Bradley will get prices on them and report at the next meeting.

Some pressure was placed on the HB logo. Bradley will take a stab at simplifying and/or redesigning the HB logo so it is more recognizable, etc. New designs will be available on the web soon.

Other business

1 May 1999 is National Homebrew Day. The AHA usually has one recipe and asks for volunteers to brew it. Will we participate? Mark will look into it.

Several members pined for the beer brewing class Ray taught through Santa Fe CC, and wished for a similar way to "get new brewers started."

Cooperative buying of some kind will start soon. A web form, signup sheet, or trip to a homebrew store in Orlando, Jacksonville, etc. will be the way to go.

The Medieval Faire was a great success, but what happens next year? Mark, Fred, and Ray will meet with the City (Linda Piper) to figure that out. We'd love to be there having fun and giving away our beer, but do we want to sell beer (and we mean Beer, not $30 a keg swill) to the masses? Can we? There will be more reports in the future; we should all think about it a bit.

Some members have not paid dues. Bug 'em if you know 'em.

Hogtown Brewers Newsletter
March 1999
http://hbd.org/hogtown/news/9903/minutes0399.html