Club Panel at the 2012 NHC

Homebrew Clubs
1

So the group’s been deathly quiet here for a little bit, but I want to know what topics people would like discussed this year in Seattle!

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  1. Dealing with growth. That has to be on the radar already.
  2. Ways to motivate new members to pitch in and work behing the scenes at big activities. You can’t just always show up and drink beer - though some do.
  3. Dealing with a club competition that has experienced large growth. Yes this is sort of 1 and 2 smashed together. Our comp went from around 300 to 400 entries last year to this year, and that is causing some strain. Other clubs have experienced larger growth in the competitions.
  4. How to motivate club members to look into joining the AHA.
  5. How to motivate club members to enter homebrew competitions, so that they can get feedback on their beers and then improve thier beers.
  6. How to motivate club members on becoming a BJCP judge, or at least take a tasting class to increase their beer literacy.
  7. Diversity in the club ranks, as just suggested by my wife. She said it can’t just be all middle aged white guys with glasses, facial hair, grey hair/balding, with too many pounds around the waist, wearing shorts, sandals and a T-shirt. Wait a minute, that sounds like me!!!
3

Dealing with growth is probably the biggest issue our club faces.

4

Growth definitely seems to be the issue at hand for folks.

We’ll make to give some advice, rack our brains, etc.

Bring plenty of questions and opinions!

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  1. Club brewing activies
    8a. Brewola - make recipe kits of the same malt, hops, yeast. Have brewers brew it then taste the beers at a meeting. Some will be surprized by the variation. Good education for old and new members.
    8b. Barrel aged beers, in large whiskey barrels. The AABG has a solera barrel that is 6 years old now, it is continualy changing beer as it ages and new is added.
    http://aabg.org/2007/10/10/bourbon-barrel-barleywine/#more-42
    8c. Barrel aged beers in wine barrels, our club has 2 of these. This has produced some very flavorful beers. The first barrel was a Saison that turned out great. Then that barrel was inoculated with the bugs and critters for a Flanders Red. That was excellent. One of the guys kept 5 gallons of his 10 gallon batch at home for TLC. He ended up winning a best of show in a big local competition. Since I was charged with the recipes for that barrel, I can brag now!

Crispy might talk about another barrel project he has been involved in.

  1. Group cider pressings at a local orchard. This has turned out to be one of my favorite Saturdays of the year. Fun to taste what everyone does with the juice when they bring it to a meeting.